Des Moines Iowa

Van Hoomissen, Condon J. “Jerry” – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Condon J. “Jerry” Van Hoomissen, 76, a longtime Baker City resident, died July 4, 2003, at his home. His graveside service will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Mount Hope Cemetery. The Rev. Robert C. Irwin of St. Francis de Sales Cathedral will conduct the service. After the committal, family and friends are invited to the Van Hoomissen home at 320 Foothill Drive to swap stories and visit. Food and drink will be provided, but if you wish to bring a dish to share, please do so, it will be appreciated. Jerry was born on Jan. 24, … Read more

Biography of Reverday J. Pierson

Reverday J. Pierson, junior member and business manager of the well-known firm of Holmes & Pierson, the editors and proprietors of the Riverside Daily Press and Weekly Horticulturist, of Riverside, is a native of Licking County, Ohio, and was born in 1848. When a child his parents moved to Springfield, Illinois, and thence in 1857 to Poweshiek County, Iowa. He was engaged in his attendance in the public schools until fifteen years of age, and then apprenticed to the printers trade at Montezuma, Iowa. After serving his apprenticeship, he commenced his travels as a journeyman, and was engaged on the … Read more

Biography of Irvin F. Benest

Irvin F. Benest. The Benest family came to Kansas in 1871. Two years later came the great financial panic following the failure of Jay Cooke on the famous Black Friday. It was an era of wide spread distress, but Kansas people during those years had even more grievous burdens than hard times. The grasshoppers came as a plague, there were successive seasons of drouth, crops were a rarity, and there was little market for what the farmers did produce. It was during the height of the hard times of that decade that Irvin F. Benest, a lawyer and president of … Read more

Biography of Woodford P. Evans

Woodford P. Evans. Among the able and valued newspaper men of Kansas, one who gave the best years of an active and achieving life to journalism was the late Woodford P. Evans, whose closing twenty-one years were spent at Lebo as editor and owner of the Lebo Enterprise. He was well known in other parts of the state and in other sections of the country, and was an honored veteran of the Civil war. Throughout his entire career he was an earnest and fearless advocate of right, irrespective of class or station, and he inspired such universal confidence that many … Read more

McNeil, Catherine Audna – Obituary

La Grande, Oregon Catherine Audna McNeil, 90, of La Grande, died Dec. 20. A memorial service will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday at the La Grande Church of the Nazarene. Daniels-Knopp Funeral, Cremation & Life Celebration Center in La Grande is in charge of arrangements. Catherine was born Jan. 13, 1917, to Walter and Laura (Wittenburg) Winburn in Des Moines, Iowa. The family moved to the Grande Ronde Valley when she was young. On Aug. 1, 1937, she married Bertrand L. McNeil in La Grande. While their son was young she stayed at home and was involved with the PTA. … Read more

Biography of James W. Shankland, M. D.

Dr. James W. Shankland, a St. Louis surgeon who for some time was surgical chief of the Embarkation Hospital at Newport News, Virginia, during the World war and who is now practicing successfully in the metropolis of Missouri, was born in Noble county, Ohio, April 4, 1867. His father, James M. Shankland, was a native of the Buckeye state and a representative of one of its old families of Scotch-Irish descent. The founder of the family in America was Rhodes Shankland, who came to the new world from Scotland prior to the Revolutionary war and settled in Delaware, where during … Read more

Brewer, Harry P. – Obituary

Harry Brewer, 80, Greeley, died Saturday, Dec. 19, at Fort Collins Heath Care Center. He was born Feb. 7, 1907 [headstone says 10th] to Ernest N. and Maude (Parkhurst) Brewer in Oskaloosa, Iowa. On June 4, 1939, he married Hazel Lee in Fremont, Iowa. She died Feb. 12, 1978. On April 18, 1978, he married Fern Lakey in Fort Collins. Mr. Brewer grew up in Iowa. He entered the U.S. Navy on Jan. 23, 1942, in Des Moines, Iowa. He was an aviation chief radio technician. He was discharged on Sept. 14, 1945, at the U.S. Naval Training and Distribution … Read more

Southwick, Arthur – Obituary

Wallowa, Oregon Saturday evening Mr. and Mrs. B. E. Southwick of Promise received word that their son, Arthur, who was a Corporal in Company A, 14th Infantry was seriously ill with pneumonia. They immediately left for Fort Dodge near Des Moines where he was stationed. Monday word came that he had died of pneumonia following an attack of Spanish Influenza. Wire was immediately dispatched to them and they were over taken at Sidney, Nebr. and returned home at once. The body will be sent to Wallowa for burial by the government. Wallowa County Reporter, Thursday October 17, 1918 Monday morning … Read more

Trainor, Mrs. Guillia – Obituary

Joseph, Wallowa County, Oregon Mrs. Guillia Trainor passed away at the Sheets Hotel last Saturday morning after a long illness. She was a pioneer of Wallowa County, having lived here since 1883. Guillia Scott was born in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 10, 1870 and died in Joseph Feb. 6, 1937, aged 67 years, 26 days. She came by covered wagon with her family when a small child and after living in Milton a short time the Scott family came to Wallowa County. She was married Sept. 10, 1885 to Allen J. Kutch and to this union was born Mrs. Belle … Read more

Hanson, Sue Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Baker County, Oregon Sue Hanson, 66, of Baker City died June 14, 2005, at Ashley Manor after a five-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She joins her husband, Dick, who died six weeks earlier. Today would have been their 46th wedding anniversary. Disposition was by cremation. There will be no funeral. A celebration and remembrance for Sue and Dick will be scheduled this summer to allow distant friends and relatives to attend. Sue was born on April 6, 1939, at Des Moines, Iowa. She graduated from high school at Des Moines and married Richard Lee “Dick” Hanson on June … Read more

The Descendants of Franklin Mary Noyes Rowe of Humboldt County, Iowa

Home of Franklin and Mary Noyes Rowe 1887-1905

This book, “The Descendants of Franklin Mary Noyes Rowe of Humboldt County, Iowa, with Some Notes on Their Ancestors,” authored by Velma Rowe Coffin in Storm Lake, Iowa, in 1955, is a meticulously researched genealogical record spanning 87 pages. It traces the lineage of Franklin Rowe, born December 30, 1836, in Onondaga County, New York, and provides insights into his ancestry and descendants. Free to read or download.

Conner, C. W. – Obituary

Mrs. H.H. Hug and Mrs. I. Denham received a telegram Wednesday morning from Des Moines, Iowa, conveying the sad news of the death of their father, C.W. Conner, which occurred Tuesday, Sept 12. Mr. Conner had been ill for several months and died from paralysis. Elgin Recorder Friday September 15, 1905

Biography of Mary Pearl Smith, D. O.

Mary Pearl Smith, D. O. The theory upon which osteopathy rests is that most diseases and pains are due to some mechanical interference not permitting a free flow of forces and nourishment between the parts of the human anatomy so as to establish normal tissue and harmony of conditions. This adjustment theory had long since passed the experimental stage, and osteopathy is now a widely recognized science. It is a sane factor in lessening the suffering of mankind, and through it, in many thousands of cases, there had been re-established harmony of conditions and action known as health. A capable … Read more

Armon, Samuel D.

Wallowa, Wallowa County, Oregon Retired Farmer And Logger Dies At Enterprise Hospital Samuel D. Armon, a retired logger and farmer of Wallowa who had been in failing health for several weeks, passed away Friday, Sept. 12, 1975 at Wallowa Memorial Hospital. He was born July 31, 1888, near Des Moines Iowa, son of James Harvey and Frances Armon, and he had lived in Wallowa County since 1906. He was married on Jan. 1, 1911, at Enterprise to Melvina Mae Lortie, who preceded him in death on Aug. 6, 1975. He is survived by one son, Wayne, of Enterprise, three daughters, … Read more

Biography of Robert Bruce Spilman

The name Spilman has for half a century been one of prominence in Riley County. The people of that county, including both the bar and the general public, will always recall with special marks of affection and esteem the life and services of the late Judge Robert Bruce Spilman, who was one of the pioneer lawyers of Manhattan and for ten years occupied a seat on the district bench. A son of William and Dorcas Jane (Garrison) Spilman, who were natives of Kentucky, and early settlers in Indiana, Judge Spilman was born at their home at Rockville, Indiana, August 7, … Read more

Biography of William George Jack, M. D.

William George Jack, M. D. Though born and reared on a farm and spending most of his early years in the vicinity of Chautauqua, William G. Jack had an early ambition for a professional career and gratified it after a thorough course in colleges and clinics and for the past fifteen years had successfully practiced as a physician and surgeon at Chautauqua. He is regarded as one of the best informed physicians and most skillful surgeons in this section of the state. A resident of Chautauqua County since he was nine years of age, William George Jack was born in … Read more

Biography of Benton Killin

Benton Killin, one of Portland’s prominent citizens, was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on the 5th day of August, 1842. When only three years old his parents crossed the plains, and settled on the old homestead, on Butter Creek, Clackamas county, Oregon, in the spring of 1847. Here his aged mother still lives, enjoying, in the evening of life, a rest from the severe toils of her earlier years. On this farm the next twelve years of young Killin’s life was spent in the hard labors of a farmer’s boy. But while thus surrounded, with but little to arouse his … Read more

Biography of Joseph S. Homan, M.D.

Dr. Joseph S. Homan, an alumnus of the St. Louis University in which he won his professional degree, has throughout the intervening period successfully engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in St. Louis. He was born in Buchanan county, Missouri, January -, 1882, and is a son of Henry Homan, a native of Maryland, who represented one of the old families of that state of German lineage, founded in America prior to the Revolutionary war. On leaving Maryland Henry Homan came to Missouri in 1870. He was a Civil war veteran, acting as a bridge builder with the … Read more

Biography of Edward P. Cadwell

EDWARD P. CADWELL. – This substantial capitalist of Washington, and leading member of the legal profession of Tacoma, was born in Independence, Iowa, December 23, 1855, and was the son of Carlos C. and Emily E. (Ross) Cadwell, his mother having been a sister of Chief Justice Ross of Vermont. He resided in his native town, where he attended a public school, and in his seventeenth year entered the Iowa State Agricultural College, graduating as civil engineer in 1875. Returning home, he became principal for one year of the grammar department of the high school at Independence. Upon the completion … Read more

Reynolds, M. M. – Obituary

La Grande, Union County, Oregon M. M. Reynolds Passes Away Has Been Ill For The Past Several Months Was One of Early Pioneers of This County, Coming Here in 1876, Retired 15 Years Ago Merritt M. Reynolds, one of the early settlers in Grande Ronde valley, passed away last evening at his home, 1607 Adams avenue, following an extended illness lasting for the past year. Born in Chautauqua county, New York, Mr. Reynolds later went to Indiana with his family and then later to Des Moines, Iowa. On February 8, 1861, he was married to Miss Mary A. Wheeler. To … Read more