Hon. William S. Hart
Hon. William S. Hart, of Waukon, ranks as one of the prominent
men of Iowa, as a lawyer, orator, soldier, political leader and
legislator. He was born in a pioneer log cabin in Cherry Mount
settlement and Allamakee county has been his lifetime home. His
parents, William and Alicia (Conway) Hart, were early settlers in
that part of Paint Creek township.
William S. Hart acquired his education in the district schools of
his native township and at the early age of sixteen began
teaching a country school, following this occupation until he was
elected clerk of the district court just after coming of age. His
able service won him reelection but he resigned the office soon
afterward to practice law, having studied this profession while
serving as clerk under the preceptorship of Henry and John F.
Dayton. Few men at his age have attained more brilliant success
as an attorney, notably in jury trials and in cases tried before
the supreme court. As a specialist in telephone and electric law
his services are in wide demand and papers and addresses by him
upon this branch of his profession have been published by the
International Telephone Association. He is also consulted and
retained as special counsel in all of their important cases by
some of the largest fraternal insurance societies in America.
Mr. Hart's success at the bar has been accompanied by his growing
prominence in politics and along this line he has done a great
deal of constructive and far-sighted work in the public service.
As a member of the twenty-ninth and thirtieth general assemblies
he gave special attention to labor, railway, military and
telephone legislation and also to that on behalf of the dairy
interests and the State Agricultural College. He was chosen by
the stock shippers of Iowa to father the law compelling railroads
to transport stockmen and to furnish sanitary equipment on stock
trains and by the dairy interests of the state to champion
legislation favorable to that industry. As chairman of the
military committee he rewrote the military code of Iowa and a
philanthropical state organization of which Mrs. A. B. Cummins
was at that time president selected him to write and take charge
of a child- labor law which is regarded as a model of its kind.
the legislative committee of the Iowa Federation of Labor thanked
him in its published report for his services as a legislator on
behalf of the laboring men, while in the interests of the State
Agricultural College he vigorously and successfully to the end of
his service resisted the central educational board law and other
legislation then regarded as unfavorable to that institution.
Mr. Hart married Miss Nellie M. Holahan, a daughter of James
Holahan, a pioneer implement dealer and capitalist of Waukon. Mr.
and Mrs. Hart became the parents of six children: James; William
S., Jr.; Malcolm J.; Nellie M.; Catherine; and Ivan, who died in
childhood. In the life of Hon. William S. Hart there is a
distinguished military chapter, which includes service in the
Iowa National Guards, his rank ranging from that of private to
captain. He served during the entire Spanish-American war in the
United States Volunteers as a member of the Forty-ninth Iowa
Regiment and took part in the subsequent military occupation of
Cuba. The greater part of his United States service was spent on
detail duty as judge advocate, general court martial, Second
Division, Seventh United States Army Corps, under General
Fitzhugh Lee, at Jacksonville, Florida, and at Marianao, Cuba.
Mr. Hart's reputation as a public speaker extends far beyond the
borders of Iowa and many of his addresses and speeches have been
printed and widely circulated. He is one of the most prominent
and best known attorneys, statesmen and men of affairs in the
middle west and, being broad-minded, large-hearted and liberal,
his influence has been a force for good in the upbuilding of
state institutions and in their development along constructive,
logical and progressive lines.
-source of bio: Past & Present of Allamakee County;
by Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913 - transcribed
by B. Allen
-source of photo: Our Iowa published by T.F. Armstrong;
no date - contributed by Roseanna Zehner
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