Buena Vista County, IA
USGenWeb Project

The record of Buena Vista county's successful and honored citizens would be incomplete was their failure to make mention of P. Henry Judge, who at the time of his retirement from business life, was connected with banking interests.  Moreover, in all of his varied relations in business, fraternal, social and political circles he merited the confidence and esteem of those with whom he came in contact.  He was born in County Mayo, Ireland, near Ballina, January 28, 1843, his parents being John and Mary (Reape) Judge, who were also natives of the Emerald isle.  Their family numbered ten children, of whom eight reached adult age, namely:  Mary, Patrick Henry, John, James, Annie, Catharine, Martin, Charles and two who died in infancy.  The father, crossing the Atlantic to America, settled first in Stanstead township, Stanstead county, Canada, and there engaged in farming, but later removed to Portland, Maine, about 1860 and was there employed in a hardware store for many years.  He died in that city when more than seventy years of age.  His wife survived him for a number of years and removed to the town of Lynn, Massachusetts, where her death occurred when she was about seventy-four years of age.

In his early boyhood P. Henry Judge left Ireland and with his parents went to England, where he remained when his father and mother crossed the Atlantic, but at the age of ten years he accompanied an uncle to Canada and attained his majority in the Dominion. After acquiring his education in the public schools he began clerking in the town of Stanstead and at seventeen years of age went to Coaticook, Canada, where he was employed as a salesman for several years.  The fall of 1864 witnessed his arrival in Wisconsin and in April, 1865, he took up his abode in Floyd county Iowa, where he conducted a dry-goods store and gristmill.  He followed various other pursuits in that locality, where he lived until the fall of 1875, when he went to Nevada City, California, there remaining for a year and a half.  In the spring of 1877, however, he returned to Floyd county, .and in the spring of 1881 came to Newell, where he secured a position in the bank of Harris & Parker.  Later A. R. Parker purchased Mr. Harris' interest and the bank was known as Parker, Judge & Norton.  Mr. Parker retiring, the name was changed to the Judge & Norton Bank, now the Bank of Newell.  Mr. Judge continued in the business for several years until failing health caused him to retire.  The bank was ever conducted along safe, conservative lines and became one of the well established and reliable moneyed institutions of the county.

On the 10th of February, 1866, Mr. Judge was married to Miss Delia C. Sutton, who was born in Barnston in the Province of Quebec, Canada, and was a daughter of Daniel C. and Cemira (Boynton) Sutton.  Her father was also a native of Barnston, Canada, while her mother was born in Coventry, Vermont.  He brought his family to the United States many years ago, settling first in Iowa, while later he removed to California, but afterward took up his abode in Mitchell county, Kansas, where he died in 1902 at the age of eighty-two years.  He was a man of genuine personal worth, and his many good qualities won him the esteem and confidence of those who knew him.  His wife still survives him, and is now living in Beloit, Kansas, at the age of eighty-five years.  They were the parents of five children of whom three are now living:  Mrs. Judge; Ellen M., the wife of J. F. Robinson, of Beloit, Kansas; and Greenleaf Boynton Sutton.  The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Judge was Joshua Sutton, whose father was an Englishman.  He died in middle life, while his wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Clifford, passed away when seventy years of age.  The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Judge was Samuel Boynton, a native of New Hampshire and a farmer by occupation.  He died on his farm near Coventry, Vermont, while his wife, Mrs. Clarissa (Gleason) Boynton, reached the Psalmist's allotted span of three score years and ten.  Their children were Samuel, Greenleaf, Ira, Clarissa, Elmira, Cemira, Eunice and Ozias.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Judge were born a daughter and son:  Myra, who is the wife of Herbert A. Harvey, cashier of the Bank of Newell, mentioned elsewhere in this volume; and Harold Eugene, a lawyer of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  He married Mrs. Susie Rice.  The death of Mr. Judge occurred July 23, 1908, when he was sixty-five years of age.  While Mr. Judge was not a member, yet he was an earnest supporter of the Congregational church.  He was identified with the Masons, taking the degrees of the lodge, chapter and commandery, while he also crossed the sands of the desert with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.  Politically he was a republican and served for two terms as mayor of Newell, giving the city a businesslike and progressive administration characterized by the utmost devotion to duty.  He was interested in all matters of public import, and his influence was ever found on the side of those interests which are a matter of civic virtue and civic pride. His life was guided by high and honorable principles and wherever he was known he was held in high esteem, his salient characteristics being such as gained him the friendship of all those who have due regard for ennobling qualities.