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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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Chester
Sloanaker One
great exemplification of the fact that wealth attends upon industry and that
comfort is a close follower in the wake of thrift is shown in the life career of
Chester Sloanaker, the popular and able vice-president of the First National
Bank of Newton and a potent factor in the financial circles of the locality for
many years, being regarded as one of the leading and substantial citizens of
Jasper County; however, his is a plain record, rendered remarkable by no strange
or mysterious adventure, no wonderful and lucky accident, and no tragic
situation, Mr. Sloanaker being one of those estimable characters whose integrity
and strong personality must force them into an admirable notoriety, which their
modesty never seeks, who command the respect of their contemporaries and their
posterity, and leave the impress of their individuality upon the age in which
they live. Mr.
Sloanaker was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1856, of a
sterling old New England family, members of which have figured more or less
prominently in various walks of life since the old colonial days. He is the son
of Isaac Morgan and Mary Trego (Hartman) Sloanaker, the father a native of
Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he grew to maturity and was educated, and
for many years he engaged successfully in the wholesale mercantile business in
the city of Philadelphia, under the firm name of Sloanaker, Kilpatrick &
Company, wholesalers and importers, which firm did an extensive and thriving
business. His wife was the daughter
of Maj. Gen. George W. Hartman, who took a conspicuous part in the War of 1812.
His father, Major George Hartman, was a drummer boy when fourteen years
of age at the battle of Brandywine, during the Revolution, and he was wounded in
that engagement. His father was
Major Peter Hartman, an officer in the patriot army.
Peter Hench, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Isaac M. Sloanaker, lived at
Valley Forge during the war for independence, and while Washington's army was
camped there, and he turned out his herd of cattle to the commander, to be used
as food for the soldiers, for which worthy service the government later voted
him money. His wife baked bread for
the army. The
maternal side of the family is traced back to Plymouth Rock, through the Weaver
and Sharpies families, the subject's grandmother having been a Weaver.
The earliest progenitor of the Hartman family in America was John
Hartman. Dr.
William Dell Hartman, uncle of the subject, was a member of the Academy of
Science at Philadelphia, and during his career as professor he made a fine
collection of shells which was eventually purchased by the Carnegie Museum at
Pittsburgh. Isaac
M. Sloanaker, father of Chester, was a Whig and an Abolitionist. He was a
strong-minded and a useful man, and his death occurred in 1863; his wife
survives, having attained the age of eighty-seven years.
She makes her home with the subject and is a woman of gracious
personality. She is the mother of
two children, Chester, of this review, and Mrs. Edith Mary Lyday, of Newton. Chester
Sloanaker was educated in the public schools and the State Normal at West
Chester, Pennsylvania, and also studied at two private academies there.
He first turned his attention to farming, which he continued in his
native state for five years, then came to Newton, Iowa, in 1881 and was one of
the organizers of the First National Bank here in 1882, becoming its cashier,
the duties of which position he discharged in a most worthy manner for a period
of ten years, his courteous treatment of the bank's patrons and his conservative
and judicious management of its affairs rendering it one of the most popular
financial institutions of central Iowa. He became its president, which important position he held for
a period of ten years, during which the bank enjoyed a still greater period of
prosperity; he is at this writing vice-president and is devoting part of his
time to real estate and other large interests. He is essentially an organizer
and promoter by nature, and he possesses rare business acumen and foresight,
being able to forecast with remarkable accuracy the future outcome of a present
transaction, and he has been very successful in a financial way, having, by his
individual efforts, accumulated a handsome competency and extensive property
interests, including one of the most attractive, modern and desirable residences
in Newton, the presiding spirit of which is a lady of culture and genial
personality, known in her maidenhood as Elizabeth Failor Lyday, whom Mr.
Sloanaker married on September 13, 1881. She
was born in Springfield. Ohio, and came to Jasper County, Iowa, in her youth.
She is the daughter of Joseph H. and Mary (Failor) Lyday. This union has been
blessed by the birth of six children, namely: George Hartman died when thirteen
months old; Joseph Lyday, who lives near Fresno, California, graduated from Iowa
College, Grinnell, class of 1908, and engaged in the eucalyptus tree industry,
maintaining a large nursery at his home; Ruth married Earl C. Guessford, teller
with the First National Bank of Newton; Ralph Chester is with Graber & Miles
Garage Company, of Newton; Mary Cecelia graduated from the Newton high school
with the class of 1911; Hiram Lyday is a student in the local high school. This
family belongs to the Lutheran church, of which Mr. Sloanaker is an elder, and
he has been identified with the church council since he has resided in Newton.
Politically, he is a Republican. He
is a genteel gentleman at all times and a man in whom the utmost confidence is
reposed owing to his honest methods. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 534. |
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