Palo Alto Co, Biographies

Palo Alto County Biographies
BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Harlan, Edgar Rubey
 A Narrative History of the People of Iowa. Vol IV.
 Chicago: American Historical Society, 1931
p. 236

JAMES HENNESSY, physician and surgeon at Emmetsburg, has
practiced medicine there longer than any of his contemporaries. Doctor Hennessy
has done his professional work well, and no citizen has a larger body of loyal
and devoted friends. He is a splendid specimen of physical manhood, tall and
straight, six feet, four inches high and the lines on his face indicate his
kindly character and a disposition for helpfulness which has been manifested in
all his work.

 Doctor Hennessy was born in County Limerick, Ireland,
September 24, 1875. He comes of a remarkable family, being the youngest of
sixteen children of Roger and Catherine (Russell) Hennessy. His parents lived
all their lives in Ireland. Dr. James Hennessy is the only representative of
this family to come to America. A number of his nieces and nephews are older
than himself. Five sons took up medicine as a career. The oldest son, after
qualifying himself for practice, encouraged the younger brother to go to school.
Roger Hennessy died when his youngest child, James, was two and a half years
old.

 Doctor Hennessy received his education in Queen's College of
Medicine at Cork and the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians at Dublin, and
after coming to America he graduated from Keokuk Medical College at Keokuk,
Iowa, in 1906. For a quarter of a century he has been in practice in Palo Alto
County, for a short time at Graettinger, and since then at Emmetsburg. Doctor
Hennessy for the past ten years has served as county coroner He is a member of
the Palo Alto County, Upper Des Moines and Iowa State Medical Associations. In
politics he votes as a Republican and is a member of the Catholic Church and the
Emmetsburg Council, Knights of Columbus.

He married Miss Bridie Davis, a native of Canada. They have
two children, Russell, born November 14, 1904, and Catherine Louise, born
February 14, 1908, graduated from State University of Iowa with A.B. degree in
1929 and is now employed in the office of Ayers Lumber Company of Iowa City.



Source:
Iowa Official Register 1909-1910; 
Biographies of State Representatives

FREEMAN C. DAVIDSON
Representative from Palo Alto county, was born on a farm near Brooklyn, Iowa,
March 3, 1871. Parents came to Iowa in 1853, first settling in Iowa county and
later in Poweshiek county, near Brooklyn. Attended school at Brooklyn and later
at the State University, receiving a degree of Ph. B. in 1891. Taught school in
Grinnell High School during the following year and after that was deputy clerk
of Poweshiek county for four years. Studied law at Drake Law School at Des
Moines and in the office of N.T. Guernsey, being admitted to practice by the
Supreme Court in January, 1899, and graduating from law school the following
June. After that removed to Emmetsburg, Iowa, where he has been in active
practice of his profession, now being a senior member of the firm of Davidson
& Burt, Emmetsburg, Iowa. Is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church,
being chairman of the Board of Stewards. Was elected County Attorney of Palo
Alto county in the fall of 1902 and served four years. Elected Representative in
1908. A Republican in politics.



Source:
Iowa Official Register 1927-1928; 
Biographies of State Representatives;
pg. 254

Wm. E.G. Saunders
Representative from Palo Alto county, was born in Blairgowrie, Scotland, in
1865. Came to the United States in 1882. Lived four years in New
Mexico and moved to Emmetsburg, Iowa, in 1886. Was quarter-master 52nd
Iowa volunteer infantry during the Spanish-American war. Elected
representative in 1922, reelected in 1924 and 1926. Republican in politics.



Source:
Iowa Official Register, 1927-1928; 
Biographies of Supreme Court Justices.

MORLING, Edgar A. --Judge of the Supreme Court, was born at Boonville, New
York, April 21, 1864. Graduated Albany Law school and admitted to the bar
at Albany, New York, 1886. Practiced one year in New York state.
From 1887 to 1889, engaged in egal editorial work at St. Paul, Minnesota.
Came to Emmetsburg, Iowa, in 1889, and has ever since resided there, engaged in
the practice of law until appointed to office of justice supreme curt October 1,
1925 by Governor Hammill. Elected 1926 to fill balance of term of the late
Justice Arthur. Married 1888 to Flora B. Tripp, who died October 6,
1920. Four children, William E. Morling (died October 29, 1926), Mrs. Ruth
M. Shover, Max M. and Maynard A. Morling.



Source:
Harlan, Edgar Rubey.
 A Narrative History of the People of Iowa.
 Vol IV. Chicago: 
 American Historical Society, 1931
p. 229

 FRANCIS X. CRETZMEYER, M.D., is an able physician and a
very popular citizen of Emmetsburg, Palo Alto County, where he has been engaged
in practice for a quarter of a century.

Doctor Cretzmeyer was born at Waverly, Iowa, April 23, 1882.
His grandfather Cretzmeyer came from Germany. His father, Henry Cretzmeyer was
born in New York State and was nine years of age when the family came to
Waverly, Iowa, where they were pioneers, Henry Cretzmeyer spent his active life
as a brick manufacturer. He married Mary Mooney, and they are not living retired
at Waverly.

Dr. Francis X.Cretzmeyer attended school during his boyhood
at Waverly. He graduated from high school in 1900 and began his professional
preparation at the University of Iowa, graduating from the school of medicine in
1906. For one year he had special training in the Mercy Hospital in Davenport
and then located at Emmetsburg, where his abilities as an able physician brought
him ready recognition. he has enjoyed a place of leadership in the medical
fraternity of the county. He is a member of the Upper Des Moines, Iowa State and
American Medical Associations.

Doctor Cretzmeyer married Mary Katherine Laughlan, a native
of Palo Alto County. Their two children are Francis X., Jr., and Margaret Jo.
Doctor Cretzmeyer and family are members of the Catholic Church.



Source:
Harlan, Edgar Rubey.
 A Narrative History of the People of Iowa.
 Vol IV. Chicago: 
 American Historical Society, 1931
p. 43

R.W. NEWELL, superintendent of schools at Emmetsburg, was
born at Des Moines, Iowa, March 18, 1893. He was educated in public schools of
Des Moines, graduated Bachelor of Arts from Des Moines College in 1916 and
received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1928.
 His record as a school man included the following positions:
Principal of high school at Lynville one year, 1915-16; superintendent of
schools three years at Lacey, 1916-19; three years superintendent at Moravia,
1919-22; seven years superintendent at Seymour, 1922-29; and in 1929 he became
superintendent of schools at Emmetsburg, Palo Alto County, his present location.
He is a member of the Phi Delta Kappa fraternity and the Iowa State Teachers
Association.

Mr. Newell is a Baptist and a Mason and Odd Fellow. He
married Lucile Schilling, a native of Ottumwa, Iowa, also a graduate of Des
Moines College, Bachelor of Music. She is a member of the Eastern Star and P.E.O.
Sisterhood. They have two children, Ellen, born November 27, 1918, Dorothy, born
February 7, 1921.



Source:
Harlan, Edgar Rubey. 
A Narrative History of the People of Iowa.
 Vol IV. Chicago: 
 American Historical Society, 1931
pg. 360

HON. EDGAR A. MORLING is Emmetsburg's
most distinguished citizen. He began the practice of law there more than forty
years ago, accumulating honors and substantial increments of success through the
years until he was called to the larger service of the state as one of the
justices of the Supreme Court and at the present time he is chief justice of
that tribunal.

 Judge Morling is of English parentage. He was born at
Boonville, New York, April 21, 1864. His parents Alfred and Eliza (Hines)
Morling, were natives of Cambridgeshire, England, and after their marriage they
came to the United States in 1857, their first home being at Gloversville, New
York, and later they settled in Boonville. Alfred Morling was a carpenter and
builder. He served as a non-commissioned office in the Union army during the
Civil war and for many years held the office of justice of the peace at
Boonville. He died February 4, 1903. He was born August 11, 1833. Mrs. Alfred
Morling after the death of her husband came out to Emmetsburg, Iowa, where she
passed away in 1911 in her eighty-fourth year.

 Judge Morling attended public school at Boonville and was
graduated LL. B. from the Albany Law School in 1886. After a brief experience in
law work at Boonville he went to Saint Paul Minnesota in 1887, and for two years
labored as a member of the editorial staff of the West Publishing Company,
assisting in the compilation of some of the first law books of that famous firm
whose publications are known to every practicing attorney in America.

Leaving the West Publishing Company in 1889, Judge Morling
located at Emmetsburg. While he served as a member of the town council and as
county attorney he devoted his time and abilities with singular zeal and energy
to the routine of a growing general law practice. It was his reputation as a
lawyer of mature experience and ability that brought him, on October 1, 1925,
appointment to the Iowa Supreme bench, for the term ending December 31, 1930. He
has written some of the important opinions of the court during these five years
and his work has been in accord with the finest traditions of the bench.

Outside of his profession the cause of religion has probably
been Judge Morling's chief interest. He has attended four general conferences of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, has served on the board of trustees and board of
education of the Northwest Iowa Conference, for many years was a member of the
official board of the church at Emmetsburg. He is one of the trustees of
Morningside College and a member of the Wesley Foundation of Iowa. Fraternally
Judge Morling is a member of Earnest Lodge No. 399, A.F. and A.M., Earnest
Chapter No. 108, Royal Arch Masons, Holy Grail Commandery, Knights Templar, the
Eastern Star, and Medium Lodge and McPherson Canton, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows.

 He married, April 25, 1888, Miss Flora B. Tripp,
of Cherokee, Iowa. She passed away October 6, 1920, leaving four children:
William E., who died at Emmetsburg October 29, 1926; Ruth M., wife of R.A.
Shover, in the real estate business at Emmetsburg; Max M., also in the real
estate and loan business at Emmetsburg, and Maynard A.

 Among other interesting and gratifying honors Judge
Morling has received in his long experience as a lawyer and jurist one was the
conferring upon him of honorary membership in the legal fraternity Order of the
Coif at the University of Iowa in April, 1930.



Source:
Harlan, Edgar Rubey. 
A Narrative History of the Peopleof Iowa. 
Vol IV. Chicago: 
American Historical Society, 1931
p. 114

ERNEST BRUCE STILLMAN is a native of Northern Iowa, and
since 1913 has been a member of the bar at Clear Lake. He is a scholarly lawyer,
enjoys a large practice, and has worked individually and with many organizations
in the promotion of matters for the general welfare.

 Mr. Stillman was born on a farm north of Emmetsburg, Iowa,
June 15, 1887, son of Linus P. and Mary G. (Phipps) Stillman. The Stillmans as a
family came from England to America in Colonial times, and several
representatives of the name were soldiers in the Revolution. Mr. Stillman's two
sisters are members of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Linus P.
Stillman, his father, was born in 1845, and came out to Iowa when a young man,
settling near Waukon in Allamakee County. He was a school teacher and later a
farmer, and at all times was actuated by high and patriotic ideals. In October,
1862, he enlisted in the First Iowa Cavalry, for service in the Union army, but
most of his time was taken up with duties on the frontier, watching the Indians
in the Black hills district of Dakota under General Polk. His brother John was
the first Iowa man to enlist for service in the Civil War, and was killed in
action, and his body was the first to be brought home and buried in Iowa soil.
Linus P. Stillman was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He died April
6, 1887, about two months before the birth of his son Ernest B. The widowed
mother is still living at Emmetsburg. The older children were: Linus P.; Laura
G.; the wife of W.R. Schroder; Roxy F.; wife of Charles E. Ellison; Mae T., the
wife of W.H. Mortling; and Charles J.

 Ernest Bruce Stillman grew up on a farm and attended country
schools. He was graduated from the Emmetsburg High School in 1906, and from 1907
to 1911 pursued the liberal arts course work in the law department, form which
he graduated LL. B. in 1913, and in the fall of the same year he located at
Clear Lake. During his fifteen years at Clear Lake he has carried on a general
practice, handling corporation, real estate and other matters but has avoided
all criminal cases.

 Mr. Stillman has allied himself with many organizations that
present the better community ideals. He is a past secretary and a past president
of the Rotary Club, is a Royal Arch Mason and a past patron and member of the
Eastern Star, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of
Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America, the Mason City Country Club and Clear Lake
Country Club. He is a past president of the Cerro Gordo County Bar Association
and a member of the County, Iowa State and American Bar Associations, also a
member of the Acacia fraternity of his alma mater. He is on the board of the
Methodist Episcopal Church and is a former superintendent of the Sunday School.
He has been secretary of the Republican state central committee, is a former
city attorney and city clerk, and during the World war was chairman of the
Liberty Loan drives, chairman of the four minute speakers, and a member of the
War Council. He is a past president of the Clear Lake Commercial Club.

 Mr. Stillman married April 15, 1915, Miss Tressa E. Heath, of Clear Lake, 
 daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James B. Heath. Her father, who was a farmer and early 
 settler in Cerro Gordo County, died in 1921, and her mother in 1911. Mrs. Stillman
 has a brother, Harry C. Heath, and a sister, Maude, wife of E.H. Rich.



Source:
Harlan, Edgar Rubey. 
A Narrative History of the People of Iowa. 
Vol IV. Chicago: 
American Historical Society, 1931
p. 229

 JOE R. WHITE as editor, owner and publisher of the Manilla
Times at Manilla in Crawford County, is one of the most important citizens
of that community. Mr. White was practically born to the newspaper profession,
his father having followed it the greater part of his active life.
 Mr. White was born at Emmetsburg, Palo Alto County,
Iowa, April 30, 1896. His father is Thomas J. White, who was born in 1870, at
Emmetsburg, and has known practically no other occupation or business than that
of printing and newspaper work. He is now conducting a commercial printing
establishment at Monticello in Jones County. His experience in the newspaper
profession could be traced through a list of newspaper enterprises, including
the Palo Alto Tribune, The Whittemore Champion, the Boone
County Pioneer, and also the Trenton, Missouri, Daily Times and the
Jefferson, Iowa, Herald. Thomas J. White married Margaret Branagan, who
was born in Fayette County, Iowa, and died in 1918.

 Joe R. White received his early school advantages in public
and parochial schools at Emmetsburg and Whittemore, Iowa. It would be difficult
for him to recall the exact time when he became familiar with the mechanical
equipment of a newspaper office. Mot of his early printing knowledge was given
him by his father. He helped his father on the papers at Trenton, Missouri, and
Boone county, Iowa. For some time he was owner and editor of the Guthrie
County Vedette at Panora. Mr. White since 1925 has been conducting the Manilla
Times. He has a well equipped country newspaper office, linotype machine,
good presses and he has the industry and the enterprise required for successful
work in the field of country journalism.

 Mr. White is independent in politics and a member of the
Catholic Church. He married Lillian Norman, who was born at Algona, Iowa. They
have three children, Lavonne, Maurice and Joan.



Source:
NORTHWESTERN IOWA ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION
VOLUME II
1804-1926

G. W. DOWNS
Among the residents of Palo Alto county who have gained enviable reputations
because of their progressive and enterprising methods, and whose efforts have
been rewarded with a goodly measure of success, stands George W. Downs,
secretary of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company of Palo Alto county and
special agent for a number of other mutual insurance companies. Mr. Downs
was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of July, 1853, and is
a son of John and Mary S. (Kuhn) Downs, the father a native of Ireland and the
mother of Westmoreland county. John Downs came to this country in young
manhood and for a number of years was employed on the construction of the York
& Erie Railroad. In 1854 he came west, locating in Allamakee county,
Iowa, where he bought a tract of government land, on which in later years he
engaged in farming. He lived in his seventy-fifth year, long surviving his
wife who died at the comparatively early age of thirty-tow years.

George W. Downs attended at the Upper Iowa University. He then engaged in
teaching school for a number of years, after which he began farming. In
1878, with twelve or fifteen companions, he came to Palo Alto county, walking
from Algona to Emmetsburg, the railroad not having yet been constructed through
this locality. Their object was to secure work on the building of the
railroad and Mr. Downs was so employed for one summer. During the period,
he and his brother, James P., bought a quarter section of land near the town of
Emmetsburg on the south, and they farmed this land in partnership for eighteen
or twenty years. He then sold his interest to his brother and bought two
hundred acres, located two miles west of his first farm. Later he added
eighty acres to this tract and cultivated that place until 1915, when he moved
into Emmetsburg, where he has since lived, though he still owns the farm.

For a number of years before leaving the farm he had been actively interested 
in the Farmers mutual Insurance Company of Palo Alto County and in 1916 was made 
secretary of this company, for which reason he moved into the town in order to 
keep in closer touch with his office. From that time he has been a conspicuous 
figure in insurance circles of this locality, also representing other mutual 
insurance companies in this field. he is a man of sound and reliable judgment and is 
energetic and progressive in his methods, his record in the insurance business 
being one that reflects very creditably on him.

In 1879 Mr. Downs was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Dungan, of Allamakee
county, Iowa, and to them were born nine children, of which number eight
survive, namely: Mary Irene, James F., Margaret C., Charles J., Leo A.,
Ruth Estella, Blanche I. and Harold D. Mr. Downs is a member of Palo Alto
Lodge, No. 252, Knights of Pythias, and the Modern Woodman of America. His
religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church. He is a man of
sterling character, takes a commendable interest in everything pertaining to the
progress or the welfare of his locality and by his life and achievements he has
merited the high place which he holds in the estimation of the public.




Source:
IOWA ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION
VOLUME III
1804-1926

J. H. GAMMON
One of the notable figures in commercial circles of Palo Alto county was the
late James H. Gammon, who passed from the scene of life's activities in 1917, at
the comparatively early age of forty-one years. For more than a score of
years he was closely identified with the business interests of Graettinger and
was widely known as one of the representative men of his section of the state.
Mr. Gammon was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in May, 1876, and was a son of
George H. and Jane E. (Knight) Gammon, the former a native of Boston,
Massachusetts, and the latter of Brooklyn. His father having been
accidentally killed in Boston, George H. Gammon, at the age of seven years, was
taken to New York city by his mother, and was there reared. Later he came
to Iowa and engaged in the lumber business at Laurens, Pocahontas county. Selling
out there he subsequently came to Graettinger, Palo Alto county, and established
a lumber yard, in which he was successful, the business being now managed by his
grandson, L. Calvin Gammon, under the name of the J. H. Gammon Estate. George
H. and Jane E. Gammon have long been retired from active affairs and are now
living in Pasadena, California, the father being eighty-five years old and the
mother seventy-eight.

James H. Gammon was reared in New York city to his fifteenth year, when the
family removed to Laurens, Iowa, where he graduated from high school. Later
he entered his father's lumber business and about 1897 bought the business,
which he profitably conducted to the time of his death, which was directly due
to an injury received while repairing an automobile on the road.

On January 1, 1898, Mr. Gammon was married to Miss Grace R. Kent, who is a
daughter of Prof. D. A. Kent, who was known throughout this stare as the father
of the Iowa drainage law. He was born near Steubenville, Ohio,
whence the family moved to Polk county, Iowa. After completing the public
school course, he entered the Iowa State Agricultural College, at Ames, where he
was graduated, and then for several years served as superintendent of schools at
Des Moines. Later he was made assistant professor of agriculture at the
state College at Ames. He then bought Mud lake, in Hamilton county, which
he drained, divided into farms and sold. After completing his drainage
project, he spent two years in Des Moines in getting a drainage bill through the
legislature, from which fact he is generally known as the father of the drainage
law. Some time later he was called to Texas to assist in solving the
problems of drainage and development of the Rio Grande valley. His
strenuous labors resulted in a physical breakdown, his death occurring in
October, 1916.

To Mr. and Mrs. Gammon were born five children, of whom three survive: L.
Calvin, who is manager of the J. H. Gammon Estate lumber yard; Helen Genevieve,
who is at home; and James William, who graduated from the Graettinger high
school in 1926. Mrs. Gammon is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church,
is president of the Graettinger branch of the State Teachers' Association, and
is president of the Ladies' Auxiliary to the American Legion. She takes an
active interest in local charitable and benevolent work, and works in church,
club and social affairs of the city. Mr. Gammon was a man of strong mental
endowment, coupled with an honesty of purpose that gained for him the confidence
and esteem of all who knew him, his death being universally regarded as a
distinct loss to the community which had been honored by his residence. He
was essentially a man of affairs, sound of judgment and far-seeing in what he
undertook, and was regarded as one of the representative men of Palo Alto
county.

***

H. L. BRERTON
Dr. Harold L. Brereton, of Emmetsburg, a veteran of the World war and a graduate
of Rush Medical College, has risen rapidly in public favor and esteem and is
today numbered among the leaders in his profession in Palto Alto county. Born
in Creston, Illinois, on the 17th of July, 1885, he is a son of Rev. James Edwin
and Mary Louise (Linhoff) Brereton. For many years the father was one of
the leading preachers of Iowa, having served sixteen years as pastor of the
First Congregational church of Emmetsburg, in which city he is now living,
having been compelled by failing health to retire from the active work of the
ministry. He was born in Will county, Illinois, October 6, 1857, and is a
son of Peter and Martha (Marshall) Brereton, both of whom were born near
Manchester, England, where they were reared and married. In 1857 they
embarked in a sailing vessel for the United States, being six weeks on the sea
and landing at New York city. They came directly west to Will county,
Illinois, where the father engaged in farming, though prior to coming to this
country he had been employed in cotton mills at Manchester. Eventually he
moved to Clinton county, Illinois, which was his home for forty-seven years, his
death occurring there in 1905, at the age of seventy-three years.

James E. Brereton attended the public schools of Clinton county, Illinois,
and pursued a classical course in the University of Illinois. He was
prepared for the ministry in the Chicago Theological Seminary, where he was
graduated, with the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, in 1884. On May 1st of
that year he was ordained to the ministry and was appointed to the charge at
Creston, Illinois, where he ministered for four years. He then went to
Ashland, Nebraska, where he served for six years, after which he was appointed
secretary of Doane College, at Crete, Nebraska. One year later he
re-entered the active pastorate at Geneva, Nebraska, where he remained three
years, and in 1895 he became pastor of the church at Waverley, Iowa, where he
remained in active service for twelve years. In March, 1908, he came to
Emmetsburg as pastor of the First Congregational church and for sixteen years
faithfully and ably served the interests of this church, his retirement from the
active pastorate being only at the insistence of his medical advisor. He
has for many years held a position in the forefront of the successful and
effective preachers of the Gospel in northwestern Iowa and his pastorate at
Emmetsburg was marked by a devotion and zeal that impelled him to work far
beyond his strength. A forceful and earnest speaker, a man of the highest
Christian ideals and of cordial and social nature, he has long held the love and
affection of his people and the confidence and respect of the entire community.

On August 5, 1884, Rev. Brereton was married to Miss Mary Louise Linhoff, of
Clinton county, Illinois, and they became the parents of four children, two sons
and two daughters, namely: Harold L.; Loring D., a paving contractor of
Emmetsburg; Winifred May, who is the wife of Harold Hall, of Iowa Falls; and
Mary Helen, who is the wife of Herbert C. Baker, a real estate broker at Lake
Worth, Florida. Rev. Brereton is a member of Earnest Lodge No. 399, A. F/
& A. M.; Earnest Chapter, No. 108, R. A. M.; and Holy Grail Commandery, No.
70, K. T.

Harold L. Brereton attended the public schools, graduating from the Waverley,
Iowa, high school in 1904. In the fall of 1905 he entered Grinnell
College, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1909.
During the ensuing winter he served as instructor in science at the
Worthington (Minn.) high school, and in the fall of 1910 matriculated in Rush
Medical College, of the University of Chicago, where he was graduated, with the
degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1914. He then served as intern for
eighteen months in the Cook County Hospital, Chicago, and in September, 1916,
began the practice of his profession in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, in association
with Drs. Pease and Flinn. A year later, on the entrance of the United
States into the World war, Dr. Brereton enlisted in the Medical Corps, in which
he was commissioned a first lieutenant. He was first assigned to the base
hospital at Camp Upton, Long Island, New York, and in March, 1918, was
transferred to Camp Dix, New Jersey, where he was appointed camp surgeon to the
Thirteenth Battalion of the One Hundred and Thirteenth Depot Brigade. He
was honorably discharged in January, 1919, and then came to Emmetsburg and
engaged in the practice of medicine. He has been more than ordinarily
successful and has built up a large and representative practice throughout this
section of the county and has the respect of his professional colleagues.



In April, 1918, Dr. Brereton was married to Miss Isabelle C. Bayne, of Fergus,
Ontario, Canada, whose death occurred in June, 1919. Fraternally he is a
member of Earnest Lodge, No. 399, A. F. & A. M.; Earnest Chapter, No. 108,
R. A. M.; Holy Grail Commandery, No. 70, K. T.; and the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows. He also belongs to the Phi Beta Phi medical fraternity, the Palo
Alto County Medical Society, the Upper Des Moines Medical Society, of which he
is now president, the Iowa State Medical Society and the American Medical
Association. He is now serving as city physician of Emmetsburg. He
is affiliated with the First Congregational church and is a member of its board
of deacons. Personally the Doctor is candid and straightforward in all of
his relations, is kindly and genial and the circle of his friends is almost
coextensive with the circle of his acquaintances.

***

J.A. BERG
Progress and improvement may well be said to have formed the keynote to the
character of John A. Berg, who was a well-known merchant of Ruthven and one of
Palo Alto county's representative citizens. Though devoted to the
advancement of his own interests, he endeavored in straightforward manner to
perform the duties of progressive citizenship, his support being always depended
upon in the furtherance of any laudable movement for public betterment. Thus
his worth as a man and citizen was realized and his death, which occurred
September 26, 1928, was the occasion of widespread regret. Mr. Berg was
born in Norway on the 18th of November, 1863, son of Andrew and Christina (Stokke)
Berg, both of whom were lifelong residents of that country, but are now
deceased. The father was a stonecutter by trade.

John A. Berg attended the public schools of Norway and then took a high school
course at a private school. In March, 1883, when in his twentieth year, he
came to the United States, and joined an uncle in Webster county, Iowa, near
Fort Dodge. The uncle was a farmer, but Mr. Berg did not care for that
line of work and during the first summer he ran a cream wagon, while during the
winter he attended school. In the following year he drove a delivery wagon
for a grocery store in Fort Dodge and later secured a position as clerk in ashoe
store in that city. In 1892 he established a mercantile business in Callender,
Iowa, but in 1895 sold out there and, in January, 1896, he came to Ruthven, Palo
Alto county, where, in partnership with E. L. Furlong, he bought out the
business of J. E. Mulroney & Company, which they conducted under the firm
name of Furlong & Berg. Later Mr. Berg bought his partner's interest
and carried the business on under his own name until his demise. By close and
intelligent attention to his trade, he won a large and representative patronage,
the community thus expressing its appreciation of his square dealing, his
courtesy and his excellent service.

In 1894 Mr. Berg was united in marriage to Miss Christina Haatvedt, a native of
Webster county, Iowa, and to them were born eight children: Arthur E., who
was graduated in electrical engineering at the Iowa State College in 1920, is a
veteran of the World war. He was sent to the artillery officers' training
school at St. Louis, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant of field
artillery, but the Armistice was signed before he received orders to go
overseas. He is now associated with the General Electric Company at
Chicago, Illinois. Lucille H., who graduated from the University of
Wisconsin in 1918, is now teaching in a private school of music in Chicago.
Olga E., who attended the University of Wisconsin and graduated from Drake
University in 1924, is a teacher of music in the public schools of Waukon, Iowa.
Kathleen, who is a graduate of Iowa State College, is ateacher in the 
consolidated schools at Luana, Iowa. John H. is assisting in the store. Cyril N. 
is a student in Iowa State University. Harold is also in the State University.
 Robert Q., in the grade school, completes the family.

Politically Mr. Berg was a republican and in 1920 was his party's candidate for
the legislature, but was defeated by a narrow margin. He was a member of
Highland Lodge, No. 487, A. F. and A. M.; Clay Chapter, No. 112, R. A M.; Sioux
City Consistory, No. 5, A. A. S. R.; and Za-Ga-Zig Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of
Des Moines. He was actively and effectively interested in local public
affairs, having served as a member of the school board for fifteen years, with
one short interval, while he was also a member of the town council two terms.

He was vice-president and a director of the First National Bank of
Ruthven. He belonged to the Lutheran church, to which he gave liberal
support. His career was characterized by duty faithfully performed in all
the relations of life and because of this, and his generous and kindly nature,
he long enjoyed the good will and esteem of all who knew him.

***

E.P. BARRINGER
Emmet P. Barringer, of Ruthven, has long been identified with the general
business interests of this section of the state and is widely known as one of
its leading financiers, being president of the Farmers' Savings Bank.

Equally noted as a citizen
whose useful career has conferred credit on his community and whose marked
abilities and sterling qualities have won for him much more than local repute,
he holds distinctive precedence as one of the most progressive men who have ever
inaugurated and carried to successful consummation large and important
undertakings in this locality. He was born in Big Springs, Adams county,
Wisconsin, on the 6th of April, 1857, and is a son of Peter E. and Amanda (Ward)
Barringer, the former born in New York state, while the latter was a native of
Ohio. In 1873 they left Big Springs, Wisconsin, and came to Iowa, settling
in Palo Alto county, about four miles east of Ruthven. The mother died on
that farm in 1891, and the father was later married to Miss Mary Pease. Soon
afterwards they moved to Ruthven, where the father died in 1909, at the age of
eighty-six years.

Emmet P. Barringer received his education in the district schools of Wisconsin,
and in 1872 came to Iowa, preceding his parents one year. He worked on the
Palo Alto farm during the summers and attended school during the winters. In
1874 he entered the Emmetsburg high school, attending two years. After the
first term, he took up teaching and taught fourteen terms of school. In
1887 he spent six months as land inspector for the American Investment Company
of Emmetsburg, and in December of that year was appointed deputy county
treasurer, in which position he served two years. In 1892 he was elected
county supervisor and was twice re-elected to the office, resigning during the
last year of his third term in order to run for the legislature. He was
elected in one of the hardest-fought district fights ever seen in the state.
Mr. Barringer ran on the straight republican ticket and was opposed by a
free-silver republican and a free-silver democrat, over whom he had a plurality
of over six hundred, while he also ran far ahead of his ticket. Prior to
this he had served four years as chairman of the republican county committee.
While in the legislature, he became one of the incorporators of the
American Life Insurance Company, of Des Moines, of which he was made vice
president, in which position he served for many years.

In 1902 Mr. Barringer, in company with M. L. Brown, of Emmetsburg, went into
Saskatchewan, Canada, and bought thirty thousand acres of land, after which they
formed a corporation, the American Colonization Company, of which he was made
vice president and general manager. The company was incorporated for a
millon dollars and had a paid-up capital of one hundred and ninety-two thousand
dollars. They were successful in this enterprise and continued to buy and
sell land until they had bought over fifty-six thousand acres. In 1909
this corporation was dissolved and the Brown & Barringer Syndicate,
organized for the purpose, took over the holdings and are still conducting the
business. In 1892 Mr. Barringer became identified with the banking
business of Palo Alto county, founding the Ruthven Savings Bank, of which he was
elected president. In 1894 a private bank at Ayrshire failed and Mr.
Barringer was appointed assignee. Immediately thereafter, in association
with M. L. Brown, he opened a private bank at that place, and in 1896 it was
incorporated as the First National Bank of Ayrshire. Mr. Barringer was the
cashier of this bank for several years and is still a member of its board of
directors. He also served one year as a director of the First National
Bank of Emmetsburg. In later years he opened a private bank in Ruthven but
it was later incorporated as the Farmers SAvings Bank, since which time he has
been its president. About 1918 Mr. Barringer became actively identified
with the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Iowa and became chairman of the
finance committee of the grand lodge, in which position he has served
continuously to the present time. Two years after assuming that position,
he was elected a member of the board of director of the farm loan board and is
the holder of extensive landed interests in California and other places.

Mr. Barringer was married in 1882 to Miss Margaret G. Ruthven, and to them were
born three children: Orie Irene; Ray E., who is a farmer in Palo Alto
county; and Harold E., also a farmer of this county. On April 8,
1918, Mr. Barringer was married to Mrs. Della Karsch. He is a member of
Highland Lodge, A. F. & A. M.; Earnest Chapter, No. 152, R. A. M.; Ruthven
Lodge, I. O. O. F.; and Esterville Lodge, B. P. O. E. His activities have
been most varied in character. His extensive business interests are but
the legitimate outcome of consecutive effort, directed and controlled by good
judgment. Strong mental powers and an invincible courage have so entered
into his makeup as to render him a dominating power in the business world and a
leader of men in important enterprises. He has not only been interested in
the advancement of his individual affairs, but his influence has also been felt
in a very definite way in the advancement of the community which has so long
been honored by his citizenship.

***

H. R. POWERS
Among the younger members of the medical profession in northwestern Iowa who are
rapidly gaining distinction because of ability and success, none takes
precedence over Dr. H. Roberts Powers, of Emmetsburg, who is receiving marked
recognition because of his remarkable skill in surgery, in which branch of the
healing art he specializes. Doctor Powers is a native of Emmetsburg, born
on the 15th of October, 1892, and is a son of Dr. Henry A. Powers, who has long
ranked as one of the leading physicians of this section of the state.

Pursuing his early education in the public schools of Emmetsburg and graduating
from high school in 1910, Dr. H. Roberts Powers then entered Iowa State
University, where he was graduated, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in
1915, He next matriculated in Rush Medical College, Chicago, where he was
graduated with the class of 1919. His university work was completed the
previous year, but Rush required a year of intern work before issuing a diploma.
Doctor Powers then went to the General Hospital and Medical College, in
Cincinnati, Ohio, where he served eighteen months. On January 1, 1920, he
began the practice of his profession at Emmetsburg, in association with his
father, but in 1922 he went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and took two years of
post-graduate work in surgery in the Pennsylvania Graduate School of Medicine,
where he was awarded the degree of Master of Medical Science of Surgery. In
1924 he returned home and again took up his practice, giving his attention
almost wholly to surgical work, while his father gives his attention to internal
medicine. The Doctor has already distinguished himself as a surgeon,
having successfully performed a number of extremely difficult and dangerous
operations, and by older members of the profession here is held in very high
regard. He is a member of Ernest Lodge, No. 299, A. F. & A. M., and
throughout the range of his acquaintance is held in the highest measure of
confidence and esteem, both for his professional success and for his worth as a
man and citizen.

***

H. A. POWERS

One of the most successful and best known physicians of northwestern Iowa is Dr.
Henry A. Powers, who has practiced his profession in the same office in
Emmetsburg, Palo Alto county, for forty-one years. During this period he
has risen in the esteem and affection of the people of that locality until today
no man in the county stands closer to the hearts of the people than he. Dr.
Powers was born in Dubuque, Iowa, March 15, 1856, and is a son of P. H. and
Catherine (Harrigan) Powers, both of whom were natives of Ireland. They
were reared and married in that land and directly after their marriage came to
America, settling first in Canada, but shortly afterwards coming to the States.
After living in various places they finally located on a farm in Buchanan
county, Iowa. The father was a cooper by trade and while the boys looked
after the farm he worked at his trade. He had charge of the cooper shops
in Waterloo, Iowa, during the Civil war, and continued to work at his trade
until near the close of his life.

Henry A. Powers was reared on the home farm and attended the district school,
later graduating from the Jessup high school. He taught school in the
winter months for four years and later was employed in the State Insane Hospital
at Independence. While there he took up the study of medicine and in the
fall of 1879 entered the medical school of the Iowa State University, where he
graduated in 1882, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. That same year
he engaged in the practice of medicine at Emmetsburg and has remained here
continuously to the present time, a period of forty-four years. He
possesses to a marked degree the happy faculty of inspiring confidence on the
part of his patients and in the sick room his genial presence and his conscious
ability to cope successfully with disease have contributed much to the enviable
standing which he has long enjoyed. He is also a director of the Farmers
Trust & Savings Bank.

Dr. Powers has been married twice, first, in 1885, to Miss Anna Roberts, of
Emmetsburg, to which union were born two children, namely, Catherine Mildred,
who is the wife of W. S. Buckhart, a produce merchant at La Crosse, Wisconsin,
and Henry Roberts, physician and surgeon, who is associated with his father and
who is referred to in a personal sketch on other pages of this work. The
mother of these children died in 1895 and in 1898 Dr. Powers was married to Miss
SArah Catherine Lamborn, of Jackson county, Iowa, to which union has been born a
son, Harold Wayne, who is now a student in the medical school of Iowa State
University. Dr. Powers is a member of Earnest Lodge, No. 399, A. F. &
A. M.; and he and his wife are members of the Order of the EAstern Star.
The Doctor was made a Mason in 1878. He is a member of the Palo Alto
County Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Society and the American Medical
Association. Keenly awake to the welfare of his community, he has always
cooperated with his fellow citizens in all efforts to advance the prosperity of
the locality and to secure better moral and social conditions. Because of
his long and useful career and his splendid personal character, he is deserving
of the high place which he holds throughout his community.



Source:
Harlan, Edgar Rubey.
 A Narrative History of the People of Iowa.
 Vol III. Chicago:
 American Historical Society, 1931
pg. 44

 LESTER L. ORSBORN.
 The young and enthusiastic element of the legal profession of Montgomery County
finds expression and representation in Lester L. Orsborn, who is engaged in a
prosperous general practice at Red Oak. During his somewhat short but very
active career he has been identified with much litigation that has been
brought before the courts, and in several cases of importance has had the
opportunity to display his possession of qualities that bid fair to carry him
far in a calling for which he is singularly well fitted.

 Mr. Orsborn was born January 12, 1896, on a farm in Palo Alto
County, Iowa, and is a son of F.T. and Susan (Miller) Orsborn. his father was
born in North Carolina and shortly after the Civil war he moved to Illinois. His
mother was born in Illinois, and belonged to a large family of children of a
pioneer of the Prairie State. F.T. Orsborn received a country school education
and was reared to the pursuits of agriculture, in which he has been engaged
throughout his life. In 1895 he came to Iowa and settled at Emmettsburg,
subsequently buying a farm in Palo Alto County, on which he still lives and
carries on extensive operations as a farmer and raiser of cattle. He is one of
the substantial and highly respected men of his community. Politically he is a
Republican and his fraternal connection is with the Knights of Pythias. Mr. and
Mrs. F.T. Orsborn are devout members of the Congregational Church. To their
union were born five children: Effie, who is unmarried and resides at home with
her parents; Zelia, the wife of Robert E. Rhea, who is engaged in the general
merchandise business at Sigourney, Iowa; Ethel, the wife of Ralph Parnham, a
farmer of the Emmettsburg locality; George, who is engaged in agricultural
pursuits in the same community; and Lester L. of this review.

 Lester L. Orsborn attended the public schools of Emmettsburg,
spending his boyhood on the farm and after completing his high school course
worked on the home place until September, 1916, when he entered the University
of Iowa. In 1917 he enlisted in the army for service during the World war. He
was first sent to Camp Riley, Kansas, for intensive training and later
transferred to Fort Snelling, but was not called for overseas duty and received
his honorable discharge in August, 1919. Upon his return to the duties of the
life of a civilian, Mr. Orsborn entered the University of Iowa, from which he
graduated in 1923 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts. In
1926 he received his degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence. He commenced practice at
Red Oak, Iowa, in association with H.J. Kneen, but after two years this
partnership was mutually dissolved and since then Mr. Orsborn has been alone.
Since setting at this place he has been successful in building up a very
gratifying clientage. He is a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association,
the Iowa State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, the Phi Gamma
Delta college fraternity and the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity and also belongs
to the Masonic Order. Mr. Orsborn is a Congregationalist in his religious belief
and has allied himself with all worthy movements at Red Oak of a civic,
educational and religious character. He married, September 3, 1929, Mary
Wallace, of Council Bluffs, and they are the parents of a daughter, Mary Sue,
born August 19, 1930

***

 pg. 199
  GEORGE BUCHANAN McCARTY during a long
career exemplified what we like to think as the best qualities and activities of
pioneer citizenship. For sixty years he practiced law in Emmetsburg. The law was
his profession and in it he achieved distinction, but it was not the complete
measure of his work and influence. He was in the best sense of the term a
community builder. He was guided by a vision projected beyond his own generation
and through all his activities ran the spirit of disinterested service.
 The McCarty family came to Iowa in 1858, when he was thirteen
years of age, from Milford, Pennsylvania, where he was born August 7, 1845. He
was a son of Alexander and Clarissa J. McCarty. It is a family tradition that
his grandfather furnished the boats which General Washington used in crossing
the Delaware in the Revolutionary war. His father, Alexander McCarty, was born
at Milford, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1812, and died January 17, 1891. Clarissa J
McCarty was born near Goshen, New Jersey, November 25, 1819, and died December
12, 1888. Her grandfather, Benjamin Hulse, was a soldier in the War of 1812.
 George B. McCarty attended school in Pennsylvania, in Clayton
County, Iowa, and the Upper Iowa University at Fayette, and studied law with
Thomas Updegraff at McGregor. He was admitted to the bar May 12, 1868, and for a
brief time practiced with Mr. Updegraff. In October, 1869, he moved to
Emmetsburg, then a frontier town on the banks of the west fork of the Des Moines
River, and was a resident of that community and a practicing lawyer until his
death on April 4, 1928. From November, 1904, until his death his partner was his
son, Dwight G. McCarty. In earlier years he had as partners Capt. E.J. Hartshorn,
later T.W. Harrison, and from 1883 until the close of the year 1900 was a
partner in the firm of McCarty & Linderman. He had a temporary home at Sioux
City from January, 1875, until the fall of 1878, while he was filling the office
of district attorney in the Fourth Iowa District. While he was a lifelong
Republican and took a keen interest in political affairs, he consistently
declined other political honors. As a district attorney he performed duties no
conducted by the county attorney, traveling with circuit of twenty counties with
the district judge. Nearly all of the travel was with team and buggy or by
stage, and often it was necessary to drive all night in order to reach the next
county in time to open court.

 While he was in Sioux City, in 1876, he and two other
lawyers, who had offices across the street, installed a crude
telephone, merely a box, with a flexible diaphragm, from which a wire extended
to a similar equipment in the other office. The sound of the voice could be
carried without the use of any electrical apparatus. This was the year that Bell
first exhibited his telephone at the Philadelphia Exposition. From that
time he was deeply interested in telephony and in 1878 he was one of the first
to install a telephone instrument in his office in Emmetsburg. Later he became
president of the first rural telephone company in Palo Alto County.
 On coming to Palo Alto County he located in the old town of
Emmetsburg, on the banks of the Des Moines River, and when, in 1874, a more
desirable location was suggested he became identified with the founding of the
new Emmetsburg. He acted as attorney for Austin Corbin, one of the owners of the
town site, helped survey and lay out the town. It was largely due to his
foresight that the main streets of Emmetsburg were made a hundred feet wide, and
because of this wise provision it became possible in recent years to carry out
the development of center parkings and a boulevard system. Perhaps nothing
suggests the beneficent side of his character more than his work as a tree
planter. Many of the most beautiful shade trees on the streets and in the parks
of Emmetsburg were planted by him in the early days. On one occasion he and his
brother-in-law, T.W. Harrison, dug up a large number of hard maple trees along
the river near Estherville, loaded them on a flat car and brought them to
Emmetsburg, planting them along the streets and in the parks. When the
courthouse was completed, about 1882, each of the businessmen of the town
planted a tree in the Courthouse Square. Many of them were of the quick-growing,
short lived variety, but Mr. McCarty set out an elm, and personally cared for it
through many years. This elm is a great stately tree, adorning the southwest
corner of the Courthouse Square, one of the most beautiful memorials that could
be desired by any man.

 Emmetsburg is also indebted to him for helping organize the
original Emmetsburg Building & Loan Association. He acted as its first
secretary and made it an institution to promote home building, home ownership,
and thrift in the community. He had a fundamental taste for outdoor life,
for agriculture and horticulture, owned a great deal of farming land, and was
very proud of his apple orchards and was a constant advocate of better farming
methods throughout Palo Alto County. He was also a director of several banks for
many years.

 He was made a Mason, March 15, 1869, at McGregor and was a
charter member and junior warden in Ernest Lodge No. 399, organized at
Emmetsburg in 1888. He also belonged to the Royal Arch Chapter, Council, Knights
Templar Commandery, and El Kahir Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cedar Rapids. He
was one of the early members of the First Congregational Church at Emmetsburg,
organized in 1872, and for many years, a member and president of the board of
trustees.

 George B. McCarty married at Emmetsburg, December 14, 1875,
Miss Maria Blair, who was born at Darien, Wisconsin, May 3, 1847, daughter of
Gaylord and Esther Sturgiss Wallingford Blair. After the death of her father in
Wisconsin her mother moved to Emmetsburg, Iowa. Mrs. McCarty is a descendant of
Nicholas Wallingford, who came from England prior to 1672 and settled at
Bradford, Massachusetts. She has for many years been active in the First
Congregational church, a member of the Friday Literary Club, the Eastern Star,
Daughters of the American Revolution, and Woman's Relief Corps. Mr. and Mrs.
McCarty had four children: Dwight G., Emmetsburg attorney whose sketch will be
found following this biography; Willis B., who married May Farley and died July
4, 1928; Mrs. May McCarty now lives at Long Beach, California. She has three
children: Barbara May, Wilise Basset and James Blair. Fred A., of Emmetsburg,
who married Anna Drummy and has three children, Richard, Merle and Fred, Jr.;
and Herbert Ray, of Plummer, Idaho, who married Marie Underwood and has four
children: Esther, Betty, Lois, and Marian Guinevere.

***

p. 200

 DWIGHT G. McCARTY, of Emmetsburg, is a lawyer whose
practice has given him more than local reputation. Besides his individual
attainments Emmetsburg people think of him as carrying on the honorable
traditions and character of his father, the late George B. McCarty, whose career
as a pioneer lawyer of Northern Iowa is sketched on preceding pages.
 Probably the best work of Dwight G. McCarty in his profession
has been in the realm of authorship. Lawyers and historians all over the Middle
West recognize his name in connection with several book titles found in law and
general libraries. These include: Territorial Governors of the Old Northwest,
published in 1910 by the State Historical Society at Iowa City; History of
the Tariff, published by the Tribune Publishing Company of Emmetsburg in
1909; History of Palo Alto County, issued by the Torch Press of Cedar
Rapids in 1910; Law Office Management, by Prentice Hall,
Incorporated, of New York, in 1926; Iowa Applied Evidence, a law book in
two volumes, published by Callaghan & Company of Chicago in 1927; and
Psychology for the Lawyer, Prentice Hall, Incorporated, 1929. These
publications have met with great success. Law Office and Management has already
run into a second printing and a great demand has arisen for the forms
suggested, which brought about the publication of these forms under the head McCarty's
Lawyers Efficiency System, of which at least parts are in use in one law
office out of every hundred in the united States in the four years of its
existence to date. Mr. McCarty has received correspondence from readers in
Canada, Scotland, England, Virgin Islands, Philippine Islands, etc. as well as
every state in the Union, which indicates the wide interest created. His book on
Psychology for the Lawyer had a sale of several thousand in advance of
publication, which also brought many interesting and commendatory letters from
all over the country. he is now working on two new volumes on legal subjects.
 The published evidences of his research and authorship
include a number of articles, including the following titles: "Early Social
and Religious Experiments in Iowa," in the Iowa Historical Record of
January, 1902; First Territorial Governor in the First Expansion of the united
States," in the Journal of American History, April, 1909; "The
Knack of Billing a Client," in System Magazine, June, 1920;
"The Lawyer's Time Record," in the Commercial Law League Journal,
November, 1925; Protecting the Public, the Encroachment of Social Legislation on
Private Rights," in the American Bar Association Journal, January
and February, 1925; "Modern Methods for the Law Office," in Iowa
Law Review, Vol. 4, page 245; "Time Records for the Lawyer," in Iowa
Law Review, Vol. 6, page 23; "Developing the Lawyer's
Personality," in American Law Review, July and August, 1926;
"Our Changing Law Practice," an address delivered before the Michigan
State Bar Association on September 8, 1927, and published in the Michigan
State Bar Journal in February, 1928, and the Commercial Law League
Journal, May, 1928; "Mental Defectives and the Criminal Law," Iowa
Law Review, June, 1929, and reprinted in the Commercial Law League
Journal for November, 1930; "System in the Commercial Law Office,"
Handbook of the Commercial Law League of America, July, 1929.

 Dwight Gaylord McCarty was born at Sioux City, Iowa, April 1,
1878. He graduated from the Emmetsburg High School in 1897, then spent four
years in Grinnell College, graduating Ph. B. in 1901, and attended the Harvard
Law School for three years, taking his LL. B. degree in 1904. Grinnell gave him
the Master of Arts degree in 1904. He was admitted to practice in the Supreme
Court of Iowa October 7, 1904, and in the Federal courts January 7, 1907. On
November 1, 1904, he became associated with his father in the firm of McCarty
& McCarty at Emmetsburg, an association that continued for over twenty-three
years and since the death of his father he has practiced alone.

 Mr. McCarty has kept himself alert by many points of contact
with men and affairs. He has been chairman of the City Plan Commission of
Emmetsburg since its creation in 1914, has been president and secretary of the
Emmetsburg Commercial Club, member of the Emmetsburg Public Library Board,
secretary of the Emmetsburg Hotel Company since 1917. he is a life member of the
State Historical Society of Iowa, vice president during 1928, and 1929 of
the Iowa Town Planning Association, member of the American Political Science
Association. He was for two terms secretary of the Republican central committee
of Palo Alto County, was an alternate delegate to the National Republican
convention of 1916, and has been a delegate to numerous states and judicial
conventions. Since 1905 he has been a member of the Emmetsburg Civic Club, a
body of business and professional men who have originated, sponsored or
advocated many projects and plans for the betterment of the community. he is a
life long member of the First Congregational Church and has served as a trustee
and is former vice president of its church council. He has been a Mason
since 1905, is affiliated with the Royal Arch and Knights Templar Orders, has
been chief advisor of the Emmetsburg Chapter, Order of DeMolay, since 1923, and
in 1928 was awarded the DeMolay Cross of Honor by the Grand Council. he also
belongs to the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern
Woodmen of America and has been a delegate to the National head camp of the
Modern Woodmen at Buffalo, New York, and Chicago.

 Mr. McCarty married, June 16, 1904, Guinevere Craven, who was
born near Kellogg, Iowa, May 22, 1884. Through her mother she is a descendant of
Joseph Mason, who was in a party of skirmishers sent by General Washington on
the morning of the battle of Monmouth, and was reported missing and was never
heard of afterwards. Her father, David P. Craven, was born November 7, 1841, and
died April 7, 1927. He was descended from a distinguished English family. Her
mother, Julia Bennett Craven, was born June 14, 1843, and died August 7, 1915.
Mrs. McCarty graduated from the Ontario, New York, High School in 1898 and from
Grinnell College took the A.B. degree in 1903. She is a member of the Friday
Club, the Eastern Star and for two years was president of the Emmetsburg
Parent-Teachers Association. Mr. and Mrs. McCarty have three children: Gaylord
Craven, born June 7, 1905, graduated from Grinnell College in 1927 and is now
assistant manager of the securities department of the Charles E. Lewis Company
of Minneapolis. On June 15, 1929, he married Marjorie Krook, and lives at
Minneapolis, Stanton Elliot, born December 14, 1911, died June 22, 1916, Dwight
Gordon was born July 30, 1917.