Welcome to
Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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Albert S. Macmillan Jasper County, Iowa, has been especially honored in the character and career of her public and professional men, but in every community there are to be found, rising above their fellows, individuals born to leadership in the various vocations, men who dominate not alone by superior intelligence and natural endowment, but by natural force of character which minimizes discouragements and dares important undertakings. Such men are by no means rare and it is always profitable to study their lives, weigh their motives and hold up their achievements as incentives to greater activity and higher excellence on the part of others just entering upon their first struggles with the world. These reflections are suggested by the career of Albert S. Macmillan, the able editor and publisher of the Newton Herald, a man who has forged his way to the front ranks in the exacting field of journalism, and who by a strong, inherent force, directed by intelligence and judgment of a high order, stands today among the representative citizens of a community widely noted for the excellence of its professional talent, although he has only recently cast his lot with the people of Jasper County. Mr. Macmillan was born in Cleveland, Ohio, February 19,
1853. He was educated at the high school in Waverly, Iowa, having come to that
city when a boy arid there grew to manhood. Later he attended Cornell University
at Ithaca, New York, from which historic institution he was graduated in the
class of 1878.
Returning to Waverly, Iowa, well equipped for life's duties, he
learned the newspaper business in. the office of the Republican of that city,
also the Waverly Independent. He went to Vandalia, Minnesota, in 1879 and
started the Journal, which he continued to publish with success for a period of
fourteen years, then moved his plant to Wadena, Minnesota, and continued the
publication of the Journal there for four years.
He established the Motley Citizen in 1888, which he published for two
years. He moved from Wadena to
Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1897 and there he resided for a period of ten years
during which he conducted a job office and also conducted the Robbinsdale Park
Progress (the latter town being a suburb of Minneapolis).
This was in 1904 and he continued the publication of the same two years,
then purchased the Enterprise at Barlow, North Dakota, in 1908, which he
continued three years. He came to
Newton, Iowa, on April 1, 1911, and on October 1st of that year purchased the
Newton Herald, of which he is now proprietor.
He has increased the circulation of this paper, improved it in mechanical
appearance and news and editorial efficiency, rendering it a valuable
advertising medium. He is a
careful, painstaking, progressive and persevering newspaper, man, who is
eminently deserving of the high rank, which is accorded him by the newspaper
fraternity of the north middle section of the United States where his efforts
have been confined. Mr.
Macmillan has long taken an abiding interest in public affairs in the various
communities where he has resided, his support having always been on the side of
right as he saw and understood the right in all public matters. He was County superintendent of schools in Wadena County,
Minnesota, for one term; he was president of the school board at Verndale,
Minnesota, for six years. He was
speaker's clerk in the House of Representatives of that state in 1889.
He was postmaster at Verndale, Minnesota, and at Barlow, North Dakota.
As a public servant he performed his duties in an able and conscientious
manner, always to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned. Religiously, he was one of the first members of the
Congregational church at Verndale. Mr.
Macmillan has been employed in the job offices of the Faithorn Printing Company
and Donnelly & Sons, of Chicago; the Pioneer Press Company, of St. Paul, and
Miller & Davis, of Minneapolis. Mr.
Macmillan was married in 1882 to Eliza Dougherty, daughter of a highly esteemed
family of Waverly, Iowa, and a lady of many praiseworthy characteristics.
This union has been graced by the birth of three children, namely:
Ethel, who was graduated from the University of Minnesota, and is now
teacher of English in the high school at Rochester, Minnesota, having formerly
been principal and teacher of English of the high school at Sauk Center, that
state, for a period of three years; the two sons, Edward D. and Ralph A., are
assisting Mr. Macmillan in the publication of the Newton Herald, each giving
promise of bright future careers. Personally, Mr. Macmillan is a genial and companionable, well-educated, public-spirited and honorable gentleman, whom to know is to respect and admire. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 1005. |
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