Hon. Willard Chauncey Earle
Willard Chauncey Earle
Probably no man is better known and more highly respected and
esteemed in Waukon and throughout Allamakee county than Dr.
Willard Chauncey Earle, for he is not only one of the pioneer
physicians of this section of the state, but throughout a period
of residence here covering fifty-nine years has been one of the
greatest individual forces in its financial, commercial,
political and moral development. His activities have touched and
influenced in an important way practically every phase of
municipal and county advancement and his great success has
rewarded a life high in its purposes, beneficial in its effects
and upright and honorable in all its relations. Had he no other
claim to the respect of his fellow citizens, his long and loyal
service in the Civil war would constitute a valid and lasting
one.
Dr. Earle has been a resident of Waukon since 1854 but was born
in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, October 7, 1833. His family is of old
English origin and the line can be traced back directly to a
Saxon ancestor who lived in Great Britain before the Norman
conquest. It is also of old American establishment, its firs
representative in this country having settled in Newport, Rhode
Island, as early as 1634. Members of the family were prominent in
that state for a number of years, later moving to Massachusetts
where Calvin Earle, father of the subject of this review was born
February 1, 1790, his birth occurring in Hubbardstown. He there
married Miss Betsy Foster and they later moved to Pennsylvania,
locating in what is now Honesdale, that state. The father built
the first house on the site where now stands a flourishing
community of three thousand inhabitants. Calvin Earle made his
home there until 1840 when he returned to Hubbardstown where he
remained until he came west in 1858, joining his son Willard C.in
Waukon. He here spent the remaining years of his life, dying in
October, 1872.
In the acquirement of an education Willard Chauncey Earle
attended public school in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and
later under a private tutor prepared to enter Brown University.
He was obliged to abandon this intention on account of poor
health, however, and instead joined his elder brother, J. W.
Earle, and came west to Tiffin, Ohio, where both engaged in
railroad work. In 1854, Willard C. Earle came from Ohio to Iowa
and in June of that year located in Waukon, where he has since
maintained his residence. His first investment here was in a
sawmill and for some time thereafter he engaged in the
manufacture of lumber in association with a partner. He
afterwards purchased his partner’s interest and conducted
the business alone with great success until 1860.
Dr. Earle was among the first to respond to President
Lincoln’s call for volunteers for service in the Civil war
and in October, 1861, joined Company B. Twelfth Iowa volunteer
Infantry, being elected captain. The regiment was sent to
Dubuque, where it was drilled for a time, later going to St.
Louis and thence to the southern battlefields. He participated in
numerous important engagements, among which were the battles of
Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Jackson, Black river Bridge,
Champion’s Hill and Vicksburg. After the latter engagement
Captain Earle was ordered to raise a regiment of colored troops,
the headquarters of which were to be with General Joseph Mower.
He carried this work forward to successful completion and, much
to his surprise, received the commission of colonel of the
regiment, which was entirely unsolicited on his part. He
afterward learned that it was at the request of Colonel J. J.
Woods, of the Twelfth Iowa Infantry, and through the influence of
General James Tuttle and General Mower that this honor had come
to him. General Mower laid Colonel Earle under many and great
obligations for advice and instructions in organizing this
regiment, the general being a graduate of West Point, an ideal
and efficient officer and a true-hearted patriot. The regiment
participated in the battle of Natchez and in the campaigns along
the Mississippi river and remained in active service until the
close of the war. Colonel Earle has always found the greatest
satisfaction in the thought and it is the sweetest memory of his
life that he was able to help Abraham Lincoln to destroy the most
powerful and infernal labor trust ever conceived by man and,
moreover, he finds his reward in the thought that the black man
continues in his upward development as the years roll on and that
as times passes the civilized world will better and better
appreciate the magnificent grandeur of thought and beauty of soul
of that honest and remarkable man, Abraham Lincoln, as he
expressed and exemplified them in his life and actions.
With a creditable military record marked by brave, able and loyal
service in the Union cause, Colonel Earle received his honorable
discharge and returned to Waukon, whence he went to Chicago in
order to enter Rush Medical College. He took a course of lectures
in that institution on 18665-1866 and during the following winter
spent some time at the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia,
where he completed his studies, graduating with the class of
1867. After receiving his degree he returned to Waukon and formed
a partnership with Dr. I. H. Hedge, beginning the general
practice of his profession in this city. His partner, who was one
of the earliest physicians in Waukon, had built up an extensive
patronage here and in the vicinity, and to Dr. Earle as the
younger man fell a large portion of the long rides and midnight
call incident to a country practice. The two physicians later
established a drug store and conducted it successfully for some
time. Dr. Earle later purchased his partner’s interest and
in 1870 added to his stock a fine line of general merchandise,
rapidly securing a lucrative trade. So steadily did this branch
of his business expand that after several years he erected a fine
brick business house, in which he continued to conduct a separate
mercantile concern for a number of years. Even at this time,
however, this was not his only business connection, for as early
as 1867 he had formed a partnership with his brother in they
buying and shipping of stock and grain. J. W. Earle remained the
active manager of this enterprise until his death in 1885 when
the business was taken over by the subject of this review who
continued to carry it on for some years.
Ever since beginning his active career Dr. Earle has been one of
the leaders in all work of public development and many of the
most important business and public institution owe their
inception and continued growth to his ability and enterprise. He
was one of the promoters of the Waukon and Mississippi Railroad
Company, which was built by subscription from Waukon and
Allamakee county citizens. Dr. Earle gave largely of his time and
means to promote this project and was one of the greatest
individual forces in its successful completion. In Waukon he has
built and is still the owner of a number of substantial business
houses and has a comfortable residence in the city besides
valuable holdings in Allamakee county farming land. All of his
business interests are carefully and conservatively conducted and
in their management he has met with that success which always
results from ability, enterprise and well directed organizing
power.
During his half a century of residence in this city Dr.
Earle’s interest have not been confined to lines of business
development, for he has for many years been active in local
politics, his influence being always on the side of progress and
reform. After the close of the Civil was he identified himself
with the republican party and supported its principles and
policies for a number of years. In 1884, however, he allied his
interests with democracy and, representing that party, was
nominated and elected to the lower house of the nineteenth
general assembly, receiving a majority of five hundred votes over
his nearest opponent. After serving one term he was elected to
fill out an unexpired term occasioned by the Election of Mr.
Larrabee to the office of governor, and he discharged his
important duties with honor to himself and to the satisfaction of
his constituents and friends. His political activity has always
been of a constructive and progressive kind, and his public
service has been beneficial and far-reaching in its results.
On January 1, 1860, Dr. Earle was united in marriage to Miss
Ellen Augusta Hedge of Waukon, a daughter of Dr. Isaiah H. Hedge,
one of the pioneer physician of Allamakee county and one of the
best known practitioners in Waukon for many years. Dr. and Mrs.
Earle became the parents of three children. The eldest, Minnie
Charlotte, is the wife of Grant C. Hemenway, for some time a
lumber dealer in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and now a resident
of Paris, France. They have three children, Charlotte, Willard
and Genette. Dr. Earle has one son Carlton Hedge, who is a
prominent business man in Waukon, where is well known as cashier
of the Citizens’ Bank. William Allison Earle, youngest son
in this family, died April 21, 1866.
Among the forces which have directed the growth of Waukon, and
which have been the greatest contributing elements in the general
advancement, Dr. Earle’s fifty-nine years of continuous and
well directed activity are of utmost importance, for they have
affected politics, business and public morality and have elevated
standards along all lines. Dr. Earle is well known and highly
esteemed in the community where he makes his home and his name
stands for all that is honorable and loyal in citizenship and
upright and worthy in business relations.
-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by
Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich
Return to 1913 biographies index