J. Akers

This well-known resident of Cedar Rapids, who is now serving as deputy sheriff of Linn county, Iowa, was born in Rockland county, New York, July 30, 1851, and is a son of W. J. and Eliza Akers. The father was born in the same county in 1822, and at an early age learned the blacksmith's trade, which he followed until his death. In 1876 he removed with his family to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he died in 1882, and his wife departed this life in 1899. Their family consisted of six children, namely Julia, wife of W. W. McDonald, of Cedar Rapids; Emma, wife of Horace Gates of the same place; Isabella, of Cedar Rapids; Charles W., also a resident of Cedar Rapids; Lysander, of New Mexico; and Jonathan, of this review.

(This paragraph is jumbled and meaning not clear) Our subject was reared in the county of schools. When his school days were over his nativity and educated in its public he entered upon the duties of a clerk with the firm of Cooper & Hewitt, proprietors of the iron works at Hewitt, New Jersey, (Mr. Hewitt was the former Mayor of New York) and in 1873 entered the service of the National Bank Note Company, in the Cooper Institute Building, New York city. In 1876 he came to Cedar Rapids, where he has been variously employed. For a time he held a position in the paint department with the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad, and later served as constable. In 1900 he was appointed by Sheriff Morton Evans as deputy for a term of two years, and is now capably and satisfactorily filling that office. Mr. Akers was married in 1877 to Miss Carrie D. Justice, a daughter of Martin R. and Lou Justice, of Cedar Rapids. Her father is a cooper by trade and is still a resident of Cedar Rapids. Our subject and his wife have three children: Charles A., Gladys May and Hazel Ruth. They both hold membership in the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church of Cedar Rapids, and Mr. Aker is also connected with the Knights of the Maccabees, having served as keeper of finance for his tent. By his ballot he supports the men and measures of the Republican party and he takes an active and commendable interest in public affairs.

G. W. Allen

Outside of Cedar Rapids there are many progressive and energetic business men in Linn County who have met with excellent success in their undertakings, and are now quite wealthy. Among these is numbered G. W. Allen, a well-known merchant of Bertram. He was born in Adams county, Illinois, September 25, 1843, and is a son of Franklin and Rebecca (Myers) Allen. His father was born in Dresden, New York, April 15, 1818, and came west during the 30's. He assisted in building Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and was engaged in rafting down the Missouri river for a time in connection with a brother who was drowned while following that pursuit. Franklin Allen then went to Illinois, where he engaged in milling, and in that state he was married October 10, 1842, to Rebecca Myers, who was born in Richland county, Ohio, July 25, 1825. Subsequently they removed to Missouri, where he also followed milling until the Mexican war broke out. In 1846 he enlisted with five hundred others, and was in the service for sixteen months. He then returned to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he had left his family, and followed his chosen occupation there until the spring of 1852. Being a Mormon at that time, he, with a colony and train of forty wagons, went to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he made his home until 1857, when he returned to Iowa and settled in Cedar county. He operated a mill in that place for two years, and then came to Linn county, where he followed the same occupation near Bertram until 1862. During that year he again entered the service of his country enlisting in Company A, Twentieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, but was discharged fifteen months later on account of disability and returned to his home in this county. He subsequently had the misfortune to lose an arm in the machinery of Scott's mill, near Bertram, and then removed to Bertram and embarked in mercantile business. He remained a resident of that place until his death, which occured December 16, 1890, and he was laid to rest in Campbell's cemetery. During the latter part of his life he was a member of the Freewill Baptist Church, and was always a supporter of the men and measures of the Democratic party. His patriotism and loyalty were manifested by his service in two wars, and he was ever recognized as a valued citizen of his community. His estimable wife died February 16. 1885.

Unto them were born fourteen children, of whom G. W., our subject, is the oldest; Samuel, the next in order of birth, died in infancy; Matilda is the wife of Thompson Kountz, of Bertram township, this county; Franklin married Nancy Bickford and lives in Maquoketa, Iowa; Vina, deceased, was the wife of Peter Flanagan, of Oxford, Iowa; Rebecca is the wife of James Moore, of Clinton; Jacob died April 23, 1895; Amanda is the widow of Alexander Blair and a resident of Rock Island, Illinois; Daniel died in infancy; Sarah died in childhood; Henry married and resides in Davenport; Wesley married Jessie Murphy, and is also a resident of Davenport; Edith is the wife of O. J. Knapp, of Marion; and another child died in infancy.

G. W. Allen accompanied his parents on their various removals during his boyhood, and was principally educated in the subscription schools of Salt Lake City and the district schools of Cedar and Linn counties, Iowa, but his opportunities along that line were rather limited. At the age of seventeen he commenced assisting his father in the mill, and he also engaged in the timber and tie business, and followed that until the breaking out of the war.

Mr. Allen remained at home until he joined the boys in blue during the war of the rebellion, enlisting at Cedar Rapids, August 11, 1862, in Company A, Twentieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. After being mustered in at Clinton he went with his command to Davenport and later to St. Louis and Rolla, Missouri, where they drew accoutrements. For some time they were engaged in skirmishing between Springfield, that state, and Fayetteville, Arkansas, and took part in the battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, December 7, 1862. Later they were in a number of skirmishes in that state and Missouri until June, 1863, when they returned to St. Louis, where Mr. Allen was taken sick from exposure and was sent to the hospital in Jefferson City, Missouri. Subsequently he was granted a thirty-day furlough, which he spent at home, and on the expiration of that time rejoined his regiment at Corpus Christi Bay, Texas, where they remained six months. They next went to Brownsville, opposite Matamoras, Mexico, and from there to St. Mary's Light House, where they boarded a vessel, which carried them to New Orleans. They marched up White river and were engaged in scouting around Duvall's Bluff for a time, and then returned to New Orleans, from which place they were ordered to Fort Morgan, and assisted in the capture of that stronghold. After this engagement they returned to New Orleans and later took a steamer to Pensacola, Florida, and from there went to Fort Barancas, Florida, and then to Fort Blakely, near Mobile, arriving in time to take an active prt in the siege and capture of tht fort. This practically closed the war, and they were mustered out at Mobile in April, 1865. By steamer they went to St. Louis, and from there returned to Clinton, Iowa, where they were discharged on the 27th of July.

Returning to his home in Bertram, Allen assisted his father in business until March, 1866, when he went to a point on the Missouri river near Omaha and engaged in rafting and flatboating on the river for some years. In 1879 we again find him in Linn county, and he devoted his time to railroad construction work until July 3, 1883, when he opened a general store in Bertrand and has since successfully engaged in business at that place, having the largest store of the kind in this section of the county. He is a most progressive and up-to-date business man, and has been remarkably successful in his financial ventures. Besides his business property he owns town lots in Bertram, one lot in Marion, four and a half lots in Cedar Rapids, two hundred and sixty acres of land in this county, three hundred and twenty acres in South Dakota, five hundred and twenty acres in Missouri, eighty acres in Kansas, and eighty acres in Nebraska.

Near Tipton, Cedar county, Iowa, Mr. Allen was married, February 16, 1881, to Miss Ida Wirick, who was born December 26, 1854, in Richland county, Ohio, of which her parents, Joseph and Sarah (Myers) Wirick, were also natives. Mr. and Mrs. Wirick were married in Cedar county, this state, April 1, 1852, and then returned to Ohio to visit his parents, remaining there three years, during which time two children were born to them. In the fall of 1849 they returned to Cedar county, where Mr. Wirick engaged in farming until his death, which occurred November 7, 1891. In 1896 his wife came to Linn county, and now makes her home with her children. Unto them were born fifteen children, namely Thomas married Ella Fulwider and lives in Boulder, Colorado; Mrs. Allen is next in order of birth; Loduska is engaged in missionary work at Tokio, Japan; Cassius M. who is professor of chemistry in the Boys' Manual Training School of Chicago, married Fannie Pearce and second Cora Rhinerson; Plimpton is an expert machinist, living in Greensboro, North Carolina; Orange married Addie Foster, and is engaged in mining in Salina, Colorado; Asher married Catherine Thompson, and is a blacksmith in Cedar Bluffs, Iowa; Viola married John D. Werling, and died in Carbondale, Colorado, May 14, 1889; Minnie is the widow of John Howard, and resident of Clarence, Iowa; Myrta is the wife of William Werling, a farmer, of Cedar county; Lulu is a tailoress of Salina, Colorado; Helen married Isaac Collar, and died in Cedar county, Iowa, in November, 1896; Frank is a farmer living near Tipton, Iowa; Beatrice is the wife of Frank Hunter, of Bertram; and Lucian, twin brother of Beatrice, died at the age of eleven months. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have two daughters: Cora R., born June 1884; and Oma, born December 14, 1885, on the anniversary of George Washington's death. Both will graduate from the Bertram schools in 1901.

John Anderson

Cedar Rapids has many successful business men who started out in life for themselves empty-handed and by their own well-directed and energetic efforts have prospered and are now recognized leaders in the business world. To this class belongs John Anderson, who is at the head of the City Stone & Sidewalk Company.

He was born in Sweden in 1857, a son of Magnus Anderson and Anna (Nelson) Anderson, also natives of that country, where the father is still living, but the mother is now deceased. By occupation the father is a farmer. Our subject grew to manhood in the land of his birth, and was there married in October, 1879, to Miss Lotta Johnson, also a native of Sweden. Ten children blessed this union, namely: Ida, Emma, Jennie, Oscar, Edwin, Walter, Otto, Lena and Isaac, all of whom are still living, and John, who died in infancy.

On the 27th of May 1881, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson sailed from Guttenburg to Hull, England, and from Liverpool came to New York. On landing in this country they proceeded at once to Chicago, and from that city came to Cedar Rapids. For a time Mr. Anderson worked on the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad, then being built between Clair and Emmetsburg, and later went to Illinois, where he found employment in a stone quarry across the river from Burlington. While working there he broke his leg, and then returned to Cedar Rapids and turned his attention to shoemaking, having learned that trade in his native land. To that occupation he devoted his energies for ten yers, and then embarked in his present business, founding the company with which he is still connected. He is the leader of that line of business in Cedar Rapids, having put down more miles of sidewalk than any other firm in the city, and has also done considerable work in contracting and laying sewers, not only here but elsewhere. He has met with well-deserved success in his labors, and now owns real estate in the city. He is a Master Mason and a stockholder in the Masonic Temple and Auditorium, and also belongs to the Knights and Ladies of Honor, a social and mutual insurance order. As a self-made man he deserves great credit for the success that he has achieved in life, and justly merits the high regard in which he is uniformly held by his fellow citizens.

The subject of this review, who is the senior member of the firm of Armstrong & McClenahan, has through his own exertions attained an honorable position and marked prestige among the representative business men of Cedar

Rapids, and with signal consistency it may be said that he is the architect of his own fortunes and one whose success amply justifies the application of the somewhat hackneyed but most expressive title, "a self-made man."

Mr. Armstrong was born near the present village of Clarence, Cedar county, Iowa, August 24, 1858, and is one of a family of seven children, all living at the present writing in 1901. His father, Charles Cornelius Armstrong, was born in Connecticut, and when young went to Ohio, where he married Miss Lucy Dawson, a native of Virginia. About 1845 they came to Iowa and were among the early settlers of Cedar county. The father first located on a farm near what is now Clarence in Cedar county, where he lived till 1866, when he moved to Mt. Vernon, where he lived one year, and then to a farm near Marion, afterward living at Marion and Mr. Vernon again. The father died in 1885, and the mother passed away in 1893.

The primary education of our subject was received in the public schools of Marion, and later he attended Cornell College at Mt. Vernon for a few terms. At the age of seventeen he commenced teaching school and followed that profession quite successfully from 1876 to 1879, attending school in the meantime. He began his mercantile career as a clerk in a country store at Bertram, Iowa, where he was employed for one year, and in the fall of 1880 came to Cedar Rapids, and commenced work for the dry goods firm of Foote & Whitney, remaining with them about two months, but not liking the business, he entered the employ of I. N. Isham, a pioneer merchant of Cedar Rapids, then conducting a clothing business, being with him and his successors until the fall of 1890.

On the 3rd of September, that year, Mr. Armstrong embarked in business for himself as a member of the firm of Armstrong, Fletcher & Company, opening a clothing store in a room 40 x 70 feet, the site being a part of their present location. Two years later the firm was changed to Armstrong, McClenahan & Company, the company being H. W. Fagley, of St. Paul, Minnesota, whose interest Mr. Armstrong purchased in 1897, when the firm name was changed to Armstrong & McClenahan, as it now stands. They carry a fine line of clothing and gents' furnishing goods and have met with remarkable success from the start. Their rapidly increasing trade has compelled them to enlarge their stock from time to time, and to make many improvements in their store. At first they occupied only one floor, but now use all of the three stories with a basement at numbers 120-122-124 South Second street, having sixteen thousand square feet of floor space. They have on an average of fifteen in their employ, and their extensive trade is not only in the city and county, but extends throughout this section of the state. The following is an extract from the Evening Gazette:

"Largest in Iowa - Armstrong & McClenahan's Remodeled Clothing Store - Now equipped with an electric passenger elevator and every modern convenience - Children's Department on Second Floor. The people of Cedar Rapids ought to take civic pride in the remodeled clothing store of Messrs. Armstrong & McClenahan, for that popular institution is now the very largest of its kind in the entire state of Iowa. The immense stock covers four floors including the basement, with sixteen thousand eight hundred square feet of floor space, giving the store front rank among all the great mercantile establishment of Iowa."

Mr. Armstrong was in his teens when his mother was left a widow and he was called upon to contribute to the support of the family. For nine years he was employed as a clerk, during which time, by economy and judicious investments, he managed to save a nucleus, with which to embark in business for himself. A man of good business ability, sound judgment and keen discrimination, he has met with well deserved success in his undertakings, and is now interested in a number of different enterprises. He is connected with the store of the Armstrong Clothing Company at Lincoln, Nebraska; is a stockholder in the Clark MacDaniels Company, manufacturers of overalls and shirts, and the Cedar Rapids National Bank; and a stockholder and director of the Cedar Rapids Loan & Trust Company, the latter of which he helped to organize.

On the 5th of September 1896, Mr. Armstrong married Miss Anna Cooper, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Cooper, old residents of Cedar Rapids, who were born in Ireland and are now well advanced in life. Our subject and his wife have one child, Robert Cooper, born July 4, 1897. They have a pleasant home at 1015 Fourth avenue, and are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In his political affiliations Mr. Armstrong is a Republican, and he is deeply interested in public affairs and the good of the community in which he lives. He is genial, courteous, enterprising and progressive, of commendable public-spirit and the highest integrity, and well deserves the success tht has come to him.

Thomas G. Armstrong

Thomas G. Armstrong, deceased, was for many years prominently connected with the agricultural interests of this section of the state, and did much towards transforming its wild land into well-cultivated and highly improved farms. In his farming operations he steadily prospered and became an extensive land owner - one whose success was due entirely to his own well-directed efforts.

Mr. Armstrong was born in Ireland, March 19, 1829, and there passed the days of his boyhood and youth. In 1850 he emigrated to America and first located in Harrison county, Ohio. Later he spent a short time in Muskingum county, that state, and lived for a year and a half in Coshocton county, Ohio. Prior to 1860 he removed in Poweshiek county, Iowa, where he entered one hundred and sixty acres of government land, which he placed under a high cultivation, making his home there for four years. The following two years were spent in Linn county, and subsequently he was engaged in farming in Benton county, Iowa, for a number of years. He was one of the most extensive farmers in Benton county. His first purchase there was of one hundred and sixty acres in Fremont township, which he improved and to which he added from time to time until he was the owner of two thousand and seven hundred acres, all in that township, and all of which was under cultivation. He was among the first to introduce imported cattle, and whatever he did, on the farm or in business circles, showed the master mind. He was one of the founders of the bank at Atkins, Benton county, and served as its president until his death. He was also active in farming until called to his rest.

On the 4th of July 1861, Mr. Armstrong was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Fawcett, a daughter of George and Mary Ann (Haines) Fawcett, natives of Ohio and New Jersey respectively. In 1855 her father came to Cedar Rapids, and after spending a short time in Linn county, located near Shellsburg, Benton county. At that time there were but three families living in his township, and he assisted in its organization, being the one to propose its name. At the first election held there only six or seven votes were polled. Being one of the leading men of his community Mr. Fawcett was called upon to fill nearly all of the township offices, and was a prominent and influential member of the Presbyterian church. During his residence in this state he met with excellent success and became the owner of seven hundred and sixty acres of valuable land. Both he and his wife are now deceased. In their family were eleven children, seven of whom are still living. Two sons, William H. and John Albert, were in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion. The former participated in the battles of Shiloh and Pittsburg Landing, the siege of Corinth and Vicksburg, the battles of Iuka and Jackson, and the Atlanta campaign. On the 22nd of July, 1864, he was taken prisoner and sent to Andersonville prison, where he was held for four months, and then taken to Florence, South Carolina, suffering all of the privations of southern prison life. John A. was in the one-hundred-day service and died about the time of expiration of his term of service.

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong were John C., an extensive farmer of Benton county; George, deceased; William J., also a farmer of Benton county; Hettie May, wife of Albert Slotterbeck, of the same county; Newton A., a farmer of Benton county; Horace T., deceased; Mary J., wife of Alfonso Ramelsburg, of Benton county; Louis N., a resident of Texas; Minnie, wife of C. W. Meek, attorney of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Fred and Chester A., who are attending college in Cedar Rapids; and one who died in infancy.

Mr. Armstrong continued to actively engage in farming until his death, which occurred on the 12th of July, 1895. By his ballot he always supported the men and measures of the Democracy, and took an active interest in the welfare of his county and state. He was widely and favorably known, and no man in his community was held in higher regard or had more warm friends than Thomas G. Armstrong. His estimable wife still survives him and is also highly respected and esteemed. She continued to reside on the home farm until 1896, when she removed to Cedar Rapids and purchased her present handsome residence at No. 603 Third avenue west, which is supplied with every modern convenience and is a most attractive home. While in Benton county she was a member of the Presbyterian church, of which her husband was a liberal supporter. Since coming to Cedar Rapids she has been a member of the Christian church, the church of her choice, but which was not convenient for her to attend in Benton county.

Reuben Ash

Among the representative citizens and honored pioneers of this county the subject of this sketch is deserving of prominent mention. He was born near Louisville, Kentucky, on the 26th of January, 1812, a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Swaring) Ash, and received a very limited education in his early boyhood days. At the age of fourteen years he accompanied his parents on their removal to Putnam county, Illinois, where he attended the public schools for a short time, but most of his time was devoted to assisting his father in the labors of the farm. During the Black Hawk war he was in the employ of the United States government. He remained with his parents until 1839, when he came to Iowa with his brother, Alfred, driving across the country in a prairie schooner. On their arrival in Mt. Vernon they found that their combined capital was only fifty cents. This city at that time contained only one log house and a blacksmith shop, and the surrounding country was all wild and unimproved, giving little promise of its present thriving condition. Reuben Ash entered a tract of government land, and also purchased a claim of a Mr. Roland, making a farm of two hundred and forty acres. He immediately turned his attention to transforming the unbroken prairie land unto a highly cultivated and well improved farm, and to its operation he devoted his time and energies for many years. He broke his land with oxen hitched to a primitive plow, made by nailing a piece of iron on a log of wood.

On the 4th of January, 1844, Mr. Ash was married in Mt. Vernon, to Miss Hannah Day, who was born in Ohio, January 16, 1828, and came to this county in 1840. They became the parents of nine children, namely: Harriet, born November 11, 1845, married Homer S. Bradshaw, an attorney of Ida Grove, Iowa, and died in Chicago, on Decoration Day, 1896; Jane, born February 17, 1848, is the wife of Rev. A. K. Baird, of Mt. Vernon, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; L. Homer, born January 10, 1850, was married in March, 1898, to Mamie Maguer, of Chicago, and is a commission merchant on the board of trade in that city; Augustus, born April 18, 1852, was married in Marion, Iowa, October 14, 1874, to Fannie Hughes, and died in Hastings, Nebraska, February 25, 1881, leaving a widow and one daughter, Amy; Isaac, born August 1, 1857, is associated with his brother, L. Homer, on the Board of Trade in Chicago; Mary May, born May 1, 1860, died March 30, 1872; Olive H., born December 19, 1862, was married October 14, 1890, to Dr. Thomas, Baird, a son of Rev. A. K. Baird, and died July 30, 1891. Alfred and Dora both died in infancy.