-419- EDWARD HORNIBROOK, M.D., is one of the popular and successful physicians and surgeons of Cherokee. In a publication of this character where various classes of representative men are given a place for personal mention, it is truly befitting that one representing the medical fraternity should appear. While the banker is given as representing one class, the merchant one, and the agriculturist another, he who looks after the health of the community must not be forgotten. As well as Dr. Hornibrook may be known in Cherokee County and Northwestern Iowa, there are many incidents connected with his career away from this vicinity which have place in this notice, -420- and which will be read with much interest. Edward Hornibrook was born in Grenville County, Canada, October 29,1 838. He is of Irish descent, his parents having removed from Ireland to Canada, settling in the town of Wolford, Grenville County, in 1826. His father, Edward Hornibrook, was a farmer, which occupation he followed through life. His mother was Fanny Burchill, a daughter of Samuel Burchill, Esq., a native of Ireland. The Doctor is the fifth son of a family of twelve children; he received a good common and high school education, and also received instruction from private tutors. Early in life he was thrown upon his own resources, and at the very early age of fourteen years he began teaching school, which profession he followed for three years. At the end of that time he martriculated in the arts department of the University of Toronto, taking first-class honors in the natural science branches, and entered the medical department of Victoria College, then located at Toronto, Canada. He was graduated from that institution with honors in 1861. During that year he settled in Mitchell, Canada, where his fine professional abilities won for him a practice seldom equaled by one of his years and experience. He contested South Perth in the conservative interests, and it is worthy of note that in that constituency, which naturally gave a reform majority of several hundred, he only ran seventy-seven votes short of his opponent, James Trow. In 1879 Dr. Hornibrook removed to Cherokee, where he engaged in the practice of his chosen profession. Though repeatedly urged to fill offices of public trust and honor, he has declined; but he has always taken a lively interest in the public schools, and served as a member of the School Board of Mitchell for fourteen years. In 1863 Edward Hornibrook, M.D., was united in marriage to Rosina Stephens, a native of England. This union has been blessed with six children: Fanny, Rose, Mary, Edward J., Freeman H. and William H. The Doctor has been an able contributor to various medical journals for the past quarter of a century, and has been a member of important committees in medical associations; at the present time he is chairman of the Committee on Publication of the Iowa State Medical Association. In 1877 he represented the Dominion of Canada in the American Medical Association, of which he is still a member. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, having attained the degree of Knight Templar, and is now a member of Crusade Commandery, No. 39. Dr. Hornibrook has had long years of actual experience in his profession, and being a constant reader of the latest medical works, he stands high in his profession, and from a business and social point of view he is one of the most popular men in his county. See photo here. Read 1914 biography here. ORSON GAGE, who will form the subject of this review, is the present recorder of Cherokee County, to which office he was elected in the autumn of 1884 by a unanimous vote, there having been 2,522 votes cast for him, and 2,561 was the total vote cast at that election. He served one term of two years, and was re-elected in the fall of 1886, and again in 1888, at which time his majority was 913 over J. W. Dwyer, the Democratic opponent. None but a faithful and capable officer could possibly sustain such a reputation within a county where so many able and available men are to be found for such offices. Mr. Gage has been a resident of Cherokee County since November 9, 1870. He is a native of Michigan, born September 29,1 843, in Branch County. He -421- is the second son and third child of a family of seven children of Elias and Eliza (Vanaken) Gage, natives of the State of New York. Elias Gage was born July 13, 1804, in Albany County, and was the son of William Gage, who was from New England, and of Puritan ancestry. The mother of Orson Gage is a native of Onondagoa County, New York, and is the daughter of Cornelius Vanaker. Elias Gage was a farmer in New York until 1835, when he came to Michigan. It was there he married, in Lenawee County. He afterward settled in Branch County, Michigan, entering a Government tract at an early day. It was a timber land, and it was no light task to clear it and improve it. He remained there until his children grew to the age at which they needed better school facilities, when he sold his place and located near Coldwater, Michigan, where he passed the remainder of his days. He died December 25,m 1875. He was a hard-working man, who served his county by filling numerous offices of trust and responsibility. He was the first assessor of Girard and Butler townships, Branch County, Michigan. In politics he was of the Free-Soil party, and later aided in organizing the Republican party. His widow remains upon the old homestead, at the advanced age of seventy-five years. The son, Orson Gage, was reared to the life of a farmer, and attended the schools common to that day. He remained with his parents until the dark war cloud of the Rebellion hovered between the North and South, threatening the destruction of our free institutions, when he said farewell to home and friends, and enlisted in Company C, Nineteenth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. His regiment was attached to the Third Division of the Twentieth Army Corps in the Army of the Cumberland. On January 1, 1863, the regiment was stationed at Danville, and belonged to Colonel Coburn's brigade. As a reserve corps they moved to Nashville, Tennessee, arriving there February 7. On March 4, with 600 cavalry and 200 additional infantry, they took part in a reconnoissance in force. Skirmishing soon commenced. The Nineteenth fought against fearful odds; attack after attack was repulsed. They took the colors belonging to the Fourth Mississippi, and several prisoners, but at last were compelled to surrender. The rebel officer refused to take the Colonel's sword, saying, "An officer so brave and gallant deserves his sword." The Nineteenth entered this action with 412 men, and lost 113 of the number. At the time the command was taken prisoners of war, Mr. Gage was ill, hence escaped. The regiment was reorganized at Camp Chase, Ohio, June 1, 1863, and from that date had an eventful history, taking part in the great march to the sea with General Sherman, and back by way of Richmond to Washington, participating in the grandest display of military forces ever congregated in America, the grand review at Washington in June, 1865. The 10th of that month he was mustered out of the service, and June 25, 1865, he was honorably discharged at Detroit, Michigan. He then returned to a fairly won home in the land of the free. Mr. Gage worked at the millwright business until May, 1868, when he came to Iowa and settled in Butler County. In November, 1870, he removed to Cherokee County, and there engaged in the millwright business and in milling. He assisted in the construction of a mill at Sac City, and at Greene, Butler County. He then worked at plain carpenter work for a time. After having done faithful work at the bench, he was called in 1884, without opposition either in convention or at the polls, to fill the office of recorder, as before stated, and is now serving his third term. Mr. Gage was married October 7, -422- 1872, to Miss Kittie F. Bliss, a native of the city of Chicago, and a daughter of J. W. Bliss. Her father was a native of New York, and was for a time a resident of Eastern Iowa. He removed to Cherokee County in October, 1870. He was a miller by occupation. He died in Nebraska, July 24, 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Gage are the parents of four children: Minnie E., Charles E., Morgeanna and Emma. Politically Mr. Gage has always been a firm believer in the principles of the Republican party. He is an acceptable member of Speculative Lodge, No. 307, A.F. & A.M.; of Burning Bush chapter, No. 90, R.A.M., and of Crusade Commandery, No. 39, K.T. He served as High Priest of the chapter for two years. He also belongs to the A.O.U.W., Lodge No. 197, and is an honored member of Custer Post, No. 25, G.A.R. ESPY L. DeVORE.—The subject of this brief biography is a man whose natural talents would, were it not for his excessive modesty and retiring disposition, place him in positions of trust and public honor. He has been identified with the interests of Cherokee County for fifteen years, and is one of its popular and progressive citizens. He is a native of the Keystone State, born in Bedford County, September 28, 1848. His parents were Jacob G. and Mary (Studebaker) DeVore; the father was also a native of Pennsylvania, of French descent, and the mother was a member of the noted Indiana family of that name; the Studebakers are of German ancestry. Espy is the seventh of a family of nine children: George; Catherine, wife of E. W. Miller; Louisa, wife of W. H. Calhoun; Samuel, who was wounded at the siege of Vicskburg, and died on the hospital boat just as he had attained man's estate. Henry, who died at the age of eighteen years; Levi, Espy, Mary, wife of A. K. Eby, and Jacob. When Espy was a boy of seven years his family removed from their picturesque Pennsylvania home to the broad prairies of Stephenson County, Illinois. Jacob DeVore was a blacksmith by trade, and followed that occupation in connection with carpenter work, and also engaged in farming and dealing largely in lands. His death occurred in 1872 at the age of fifty-six years; his wife survived him eight years. Espy DeVore passed his youth on a farm, and became accustomed to hard labor. The educational advantages of that day were meager, and he attended only the country school, but he attributes much of the success with which he has met to the lessons learned under the old-fashioned masters. When but fifteen years old he enlisted at his country's call, January 16, 1864, in Company K, Forty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. While the army was in the rear of Vicksburg he was wounded by the accidental discharge of a comrade's gun, the ball entering his right side and passing to the opposite side where it still remains, a painful reminder of those troublesome times. The results of this accident have placed him upon Uncle Sam's pay-roll. He was at once placed in a hospital, and did not return for duty for six months; when he again resumed his place in the ranks he was not able to attend to the ordinary duties of a soldier. He participated in the memorable five days' siege of the Spanish Fort, and participated in the charge of Fort Blakely when it surrendered April 9, 1865, after one of the bravest charges made during the war. He was at Mobile, was sent on the Red River Expedition at the close of the war, and was not discharged until January, 1866. Mr. Devore was married at the age of eighteen years to Miss Emma J. Leonard, a native of the State of Ohio. she was born July 4, 1847, and is the daughter of Keelin and Elizabeth Leonard, now residents of Aurelia. The wedding occurred in Stephenson County, Illinois, March 19, 1866. Mr. DeVore at once engaged in farming, and for the following four years contented himself in his Illinois home. Thinking he might better his condition he started for the West, with his family, Kansas being the objective point; he bought land in Bourbon County, Kansas, and began the years with high anticipations, but at the close of the years he concluded that Kansas would not suit him, and he returned to his home in Illinois, even repurchasing his old farm. After four years the spirit of unrest again seized him, and this time,accompanied by his old friend and brother-in-law, T. B. Parker, he came to Iowa, and was charmed with the beauties of the broad prairies of Cherokee County. In the spring of 1875 he purchased a small farm in Pitcher Township, and lived upon this place for two years, during which time he was carrying on his farm and selling agricultural implements, with his headquarters in Aurelia. In 1877 he went to Gilman, Iowa, and embarked more extensively in the farm machinery business, but at the end of three months sold the entire business and returned to Cherokee County. He then began to improve his present beautiful farm, but continued to deal in farming implements until 1883. His farm consists of 160 acres, all of which is highly improved with excellent buildings and modern conveniences. He is interested in the propagation of pure-bred Chester White swine, and is doing much toward the advancement of the grades of live-stock. For several years he was engaged in shipping grain, mainly in car-load lots. Mr. DeVore's mind being of an eminently practical turn, he has naturally fallen into the habit of experimenting with labor-saving contrivances, and the result of his study is shown in a number of really worthy inventions, which deserve a more extended mention than can be given in a short article of this character. Politically he is a stalwart Republican, and frequently represents his township in county conventions, and was a delegate to the gubernatorial convention that name Hitchinson for Governor of Iowa. He is a consistent member of the Brethren Church, and was a delegate to the National Convention at Ashland, Ohio, in 1887. Mr. and Mrs. DeVore are the parents of five children: Samuel F., Newton I., Robert L., Mabel, who died at the age of eighteen months, and Katy May. Samuel F. was born March 10, 1867. He is of a studious disposition, and attended the High School until the age of eighteen years, when he became a tacher, following the profession for two years. During this time he began the study of phrenology, his attention being called to that beautiful science by a series of lectures on the subject which he attended in Aurelia. He eagerly read all the publications of noted authors on the subject, and began lecturing; he was received with such favor that he decided to make it his life work, and so entered the American Institute of Phrenology at New York City, and was graduated in October, 18887. Since that time he has been lecturing in the Eastern and Middle States, being received with marked favor. He has a commanding and pleasing address, and being a gifted speaker, he can entertain an audience with perfect ease. O. B. FOBES, the present clerk of the courts for the county of Cherokee, was elected to such position in the autumn of 1888. He is making a reliable and highly efficient officer, and being prompt -424- and willing to perform his duty, he has already won the universal admiration of his fellow-citizens, regardless of party lines. In his manner he is quiet and reserved, scarcely a true type of the office-holders of the modern day, who usually talk whether their words imply much or not. Mr. Fobes has been a respected citizen of the county since 1877. He is a native of the State of New York, born in Genesee County, May 5, 1855. His parents are G. M. and Emily (Blodgett) Fobes, also natives of the State of New York, but of Scotch and English descent. In his infancy his parents removed to Iowa, settling at Decorah, Winneshiek County, where the father engaged in the packing-house business and also owned a large tract of land. Nothing especially eventful marked the youthful days of Mr. Fobes. He attended the public schools, and when he had acquired a sufficient knowledge he engaged in teaching school, for which profession he seemed well fitted, and which he followed for fourteen years, the greater portion of the time in Cherokee County. He also engaged in agricultural pursuits in connection with his school-teaching, and now owns a finely cultivated quarter section of land near the stirring town of Marcus. Upon his election to the county clerkship, Mr. Fobes removed from his farm to Cherokee, where he has already won many friends who appreciate a good citizen, a genial gentleman, and the social friendship formed by the acquaintance of Mr. Fobes and his wife. January 10, 1883, he was united in marriage with Miss Alice Russell, a native of Hamilton County, New York, and a daughter of C. H. and Jane (Whitman) Russell. Mrs. Fobes came to Iowa with her parents in the spring of 1879. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fobes are consistent and devoted members of the Christian Church. Politically our esteemed subject is a Republican, because in his judgment this party best represents the great principles of our self-governed people. The home circle of Mr. and Mrs Fobes is blessed with one child, Russell G., born January 29, 1887. REV. WALTER L. FERRIS, the present pastor of the Congregational Church of Cherokee, Iowa, was born at Oneida, Knox County, Illinois, July 31, 1852, and is a son of Lyman B. and Harriet A. (Newcomb) Ferris, who were among the early settlers of that county. He was reared to farm life, and till the age of twenty-one years he worked for the neighboring farmers by the day and month, attending the Oneida public schools in the winter. It was not until he had attained his majority that he entered Wheaton College; there he found himself all but penniless, but he was filled with an intense desire to do something in the world, and he set to work with a fixed determination to go through at all hazards. His hardy farm life here came in play; he plowed and husked corn, trimmed hedges, sawed wood, did anything to earn the fifteen cents an hour paid the students for their labor. In June 1879 he graduated in the regular classical course of this institution. The following eight months he supplied the pulpit of the Congregational Church of Wataga, Illinois, teaching at the same time a district school near by called the "Hard Scrabble School," and justly reputed one of the most difficult to control. In September, 1880, Mr. Ferris began a course of theological studies at Union Park Theological Seminary, Chicago. The first years of his seminary course he filled the pulpit of the Congregational Church at Prospect Park, Illinois. Then for a year and a half he was pastor of the Northwest Branch of the First Congregational Church of Chicago. -425- All the while he was learning the practical with the theological. At the close of his three years' seminary course he was called to the pastorate of the Congregational Church of Dundee, Illinois. This he considered his first permanent work. Though his labors had been blessed for nearly four years he could now feel that at last the time had come when he could devote all his time to his chosen calling. He spent over six years at Dundee, and the church was blessed with several revivals; during this pastorate 130 united with the church, many of them being heads of families. In May of 1889 Mr. Ferris received a call from the church in Cherokee, and began work here the first Sabbath in July, 1889. He has ever been a radical temperance worker; while at Dundee he was repeatedly called to speak to the various Prohibition clubs, and other temperance organizations in the towns about him. He is a man of deepest sincerity and exceeding earnestness of purpose and begins the work in his present field with very encouraging prospects. The congregations are large, the membership united; the Sabbath-school is prosperous; the outlook seems propitious. Mr. Ferris was untied in marriage August 9, 1882, to Miss Harriet McEwen, daughter of Ezra and Mary McEwen. Two children were born of this union, Millie and Hattie. Mrs. Ferris was called from this earth September 26, 1887. JOHN M. STARBUCK, proprietor of the Cherokee Brick and Tile Works, one of the largest concerns in the entire State of Iowa, is the subject of this biographical notice. This plant was at first started near the Fountain House and magnetic well in 1874, but two years later it was removed to its present site. A full description of these works may be found in the city history of Cherokee. Mr. Starbuck has come to be widely known throughout Northwestern Iowa, and to acquaint the reader with his earlier career the following facts have been learned from our subject. He was born in Logan County, Ohio, near West LIberty, October 24, 1840, and is the second son and fourth child of Joseph and Rebecca (Lupton) Starbuck. The parents died when John M. was four years of age, and he then went to live with his uncle, William Lupton, with whom he remained until he was thirteen years old. He then started out in life to battle for himself, and his journey has been a successful one. He enjoyed only limited educational advantages, and after leaving school went to learn the trade of a brick-mason and stone-cutter. In a short time he abandoned this, and concluded he would learn the jeweler's trade, but it was not long until he tired of indoor work and returned to his former trade. He soon drifted west to Jay County, Indiana, and afterward lived in Fort Wayne and Camden, Indiana. His next move was to Fulton County, Illinois, where he engaged in work at his trade. In 1856 he came to Linn County, Iowa, and stopped there but a short time before he went to Wisconsin, where he resided eighteen months. He then returned to Iowa and built a stone mill on the Wapsa. In 1861 Mr. Starbuck was married to Miss Hattie E. Wiggins, of Waubeek, Iowa, a daughter of George W. and Hattie Wiggins; she was born in New Hampshire. In 1862 our subject became a member of Company A, Twentieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was sent to the State of Mississippi; he belonged to the Thirteenth Army Corps, and took part in the following battles: The siege of Vicksburg, including its final fall, Yazoo City, Port Hudson, New -426- Orleans, and Brownsville, on the Rio Grande River. He then returned to New Orleans, and thence up the White River, where he participated in numerous engagements; he was at Fort Powell and Fort Gaines; afterward went to Florida, and was at the capture of Mobile. On July 8, 1865, he was mustered out of the service, and in 1865 he came to Cherokee, Iowa, and engaged in the manufacture of brick, as above stated; this has grown to be a large and profitable business, the pay-roll of the establishment amounting to about $4,000 monthly. Politically Mr. Starbuck is an adherent to the principles of the Republican party. He belongs to Custer Post, No. 25, G.A.R. at Cherokee, Iowa.

This nonprofit research site is an independent affiliate of the American History and Genealogy Project (AHGP), and proud to be hosted by USGenNet, a nonprofit historical and genealogical Safe-Site Server™ solely supported by tax-deductible contributions. No claim is made to the copyrights of individual submitters, and this site complies fully with USGenNet's Nonprofit Conditions of Use.

Mardos Memorial Library