Iowa Historical Record - 1885-1902

Iowa Historical Record
v1-18; 1885-1902

Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Richard Barton.

Between the time when Iowa was admitted into the Union as a State and the opening for settlement of Kansas and Nebraska, an unusually large number of brilliant young men came to the new State attracted by the reported fertility of its soil and the prospect of its future importance when its resources were fully developed. Political and professional prominence for young men had been of slower growth in the older States then than now, and the idea of "growing up with the new country" has its attractions for the ambitious.

Prominent among those who in the coming years reached distinction in state or national affairs or professional careers were Allison, Henderson and Shiras of Dubuque, John N. Rogers, John F. Dillon and James S. Lane of Davenport, O'Connor and Brannan of Muscatine, Edmonds, Ransom and Rush Clark of Iowa City, James F. Wilson of Fairfield, Trimble of Bloomfield, McDill of Afton, G. M. Dodge and D. C. Bloomer of Council Bluffs, Kasson and Cole of Des Moines, Gov. Carpenter and John F. Duncombe of Ft. Dodge. In the legal profession most of these men attained distinction, and all more or less impressed themselves upon the character of the State during the process of its development. They either assisted in making its laws or aided in their interpretation. Without claiming more than is justly their due, it may well be questioned whether any of the States produced in proportion to their population an equal number of able men.

Among these Mr. Duncombe took a very prominent place. Fortunately for him he belonged to a political party that locally and in the state was largely in the minority and his mind was not diverted to any great extent from his profession by efforts toward political preferment, although at times he was a candidate for office and held several public positions. It would seem proper that a sketch of his life should appear in the RECORD published by the Historical Society of which he was for many years a Curator.

We learn from the Fort Dodge Chronicle that Mr. Duncombe was born on a farm in Erie County, Pennsylvania, October 22nd, 1831. He died at Fort Dodge, August 2nd, 1902. His early education was acquired at a country school house. Afterwards he was a student at Allegheney College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, and graduated with high honors at Center College, Danville, Kentucky, in June, 1852.

Although a college bred man, he was none the less a self-made man. Like a very large number of those who have become eminent in public or private life he spent parts of his earlier years in teaching in order to procure the means necessary to meet the expenses of his education. To the man who goes forth alone and unaided to struggle for position in the world, there is no time spent, nor experience gained more valuable than that while he is a teacher. He soon recognizes that his is the leading mind of the little community over which he presides. His greater age and acquirements place him much in advance of the duller boys. But considerable study and effort is required to keep enough in advance of the brighter boys to merit their respect and esteem. He thus acquires a knowledge of human nature that assists him through life in dealing with men. He learns their weak points and accommodates himself to them. He learns that to maintain himself requires careful preparation and the exercise of all his powers often pushed to extreme tension.

In April, 1855, Mr. Duncombe came to Fort Dodge. This had been a military post and most of the lands in the surrounding region were still owned by the general government, and all in sight was practically an unbroken prairie. An office for the sale of lands had been opened and there was around the old military quarters a rush of investors seeking choice locations. The nearest railroad terminated at the Mississippi river about two hundred miles distant. The surroundings were new and crude, but Mr. Duncombe had the tact to fit himself to these conditions and to every other situation in life in which he found himself. He saw that Fort Dodge from its location was the natural center of a region that before long must be cultivated, and that the rich prairies when subjected to cultivation would eventually produce wealth. He early learned that the coal fields of the Des Moines valley underlay this region and that a large tract of treeless country must be supplied with fuel from these coal fields. He saw the exposures of gypsum, and had faith that in the future it would be utilized. He lived to see all that he had anticipated realized, and even more.

Within two years after reaching Fort Dodge the Spirit Lake massacre occurred. A band of Sioux Indians, excited by some real or fancied wrongs, having started at some point on the Sioux river went north through the groves on the Okoboji and Spirit Lakes and killed most of the settlers and carried some women into captivity. To relieve the situation and furnish such assistance as was practicable, a military expedition was organized under the leadership of Major Williams, former commandant of Fort Dodge. The expedition was made up mainly of young men from Webster and Hamilton counties. The men were divided into three companies and a captain chosen for each. Mr. C. B. Richards of Fort Dodge, was captain of the first company, Mr. Duncombe of the second, and J. C. Johnson of Webster City, of the third. Poorly equipped, in severe weather, through deep snows, they followed the Indian tracks to the Minnesota line, buried the dead, and after further pursuit was impracticable returned. On the return, two young men, Captain Johnson and William Burkholder, were lost and their skeletons were afterwards found near the line of march. The sufferings of this little band and the massacre have been commemorated by a monument built by the State on the banks of Lake Okoboji. Mr. Duncombe was one of the commissioners to superintend its erection.

From the Fort Dodge Chronicle we copy the following:

"But pioneer days passed and other conditions were found in the once wild western district. Business developed and in the activity of commercial and industrial life, as well as in the line of his profession, Mr. Duncombe bore an active part. In 1858 he became one of the editors of the Fort Dodge Sentinel, which had been established in July, 1856, by A. S. White. Some years later he was editor and proprietor of the Fort Dodge Democrat, but he never relinquished his law practice while connected with journalism. His fellow citizens recognizing his fitness for leadership, called him to public office and throughout the entire period of his residence here he has exercised strong influence in moulding public thought and opinion. In 1859 he was nominated by the Democrats of the thirty-second district, consisting of twenty-three counties, for the position of State Senator, and the election returns placed him in office for four years' term. Twice he has represented his district in the lower branch of the General Assembly, and for eighteen years he was one of the Regents of the State University, while for ten years he lectured on Railroad Law in that institution.

"He was honored with the appointment to the position as one of the Iowa Columbian Commissioners having charge of the Iowa exhibit at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. Few elective offices has he filled, for he was always been an advocate of the Democratic party, which has ever been in the minority in Iowa. He has been his party's candidate for Lieutenant Governor, Supreme Judge, and Representative in Congress, and it is said that had he been a Republican he could have gained any office within the gift of the party in the State, but he has never wavered in his allegiance to what he believed to be right and has ever maintained his stern position as a free-trade Democrat. He has for many years, however, occupied a most distinguished position in Democratic circles. In 1872 he was Chairman of the Iowa delegation to the Democratic national convention in Baltimore, where Horace Greeley was nominated for the Presidency. In 1892 he was again Chairman of the Iowa delegation at the Chicago convention, but having been selected to present the name of Governor Boies as a candidate for the Presidency, he resigned his chairmanship and in a speech characterized by great eloquence and power, placed the name of Iowa's Democratic executive before the meeting.

"Throughout all the years of his residence in Iowa, Mr. Duncombe has remained a distinguished member of the bar and has been connected with some of the most important litigation tried in the courts of the district. As a lawyer he is sound, clear-minded and well trained. The limitations which were imposed by the constitution on federal powers are well understood by him. With the long line of decisions from Marshall down, by which the constitution has been expounded, he is familiar, as are all thoroughly skilled lawyers. He is at home in all departments of the law, from the minutia in practice to the greater topics wherein is involved the consideration of the ethics and the philosophy of jurisprudence and the higher concerns of public policy. But he is not learned in the law alone, for he has studied long and carefully the subjects that are to the statesman and the man of affairs of the greatest import, the question of finance, political economy, sociology, and has kept abreast of the best thinking men of the age. He is felicitous and clear in argument, thoroughly in earnest, full of the vigor of conviction, never abusive of adversaries, imbued with the highest courtesies and yet a foe worthy of the steel of the most able opponent. While he has given his services largely to the legal business of the Illinois Central Railway Company, holding the position of District Attorney, having twenty-three counties in four states in his jurisdiction, he has also a large general practice. He has defended in twelve trials for murder and prosecuted in three. When the great legal contest was made over validity of the prohibition amendment to the State constitution, Mr. Duncombe, Judge C. C. Nourse and Senator James F. Wilson were appointed by the Governor to represent the State in sustaining the legality of the act.

"Although his attention has been chiefly given to his law practice, Mr. Duncombe has also aided in controlling business enterprises of vast importance to the community. He was one of the incorporators of the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railway, the Mason City & Fort Dodge Railroad, the Fort Dodge & Ridgely, now the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad, and all other lines projected to enter Fort Dodge. He also was one of the first to develop the coal mining interests in this section, and was the builder of the principal hotel in Fort Dodge. For many years he has been engaged largely in coal mining and in the manufacture of stucco and all its products from the extensive gypsum deposits which underlie a large tract of the country about Fort Dodge.

"Mr. Duncombe married on the 11th of May, 1859, Miss Mary A. Williams, daughter of Major Williams, the founder of Fort Dodge and for many years one of the best known citizens of Northwestern Iowa.

"Such in brief is the life record of one who, for forty-seven years has made his home in Fort Dodge. Material interests owe their advancement to him; public progress has been promoted through his efforts. He has attained distinction at the bar and in the walks of private life has ever commanded unqualified respect. While undoubtedly he has not been without that honorable ambition, which is so powerful and useful as an incentive to activity in public affairs, he has ever regarded the pursuits of private life as being in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts. His is a noble character - one that has subordinated personal ambition to the public good and sought rather the benefits of others than the aggrandizement of self. His has been a conspicuously successful career. Endowed by nature with high intellectual qualities, to which have been added the discipline, and embellishments of culture, his is a most attractive personality. Well versed in the learning of his profession and with a deep knowledge of human nature and the springs of human conduct, with great shrewdness and sagacity and extraordinary tact, he is in the courts an advocate of great power and influence. Both judges and juries have always heard him with deep attention and interest. If his efforts had been confined alone to his practice, his life had not been in vain, but it has been enriched by an unselfish devotion to the public good, and Iowa honors him as one of her most prominent and valued citizens."

One of Mr. Duncombe's friends says of him "that he was splendidly endowed by nature, he had a superb physique and was gifted with a powerful and analytical mind," tall and commanding in appearance he had a certain natural dignity and at the same time a frank, genial manner and a marked sincerity of purpose that influenced almost every one with whom he came in contact. His own description of his first interview with the late Governor Kirkwood is so illustrative of the two men that it should be preserved.

In 1865, before the Governor (in this State) had turned his attention to politics, he, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Ezekiel Clark, owned and operated a flouring mill on the Iowa river near Iowa City. Mr. Duncombe had been to Iowa City for some purpose, probably to send something away by the railway. He had a team and lumber wagon, and as this mill was almost the only one between Iowa City and Fort Dodge he concluded as a speculation to buy some flour and take it home with him, the price there being much higher. He bought a few sacks and loaded them into his wagon. As he was about to start the Governor remarked that he had room for a good deal more, his reply was dictated by his naturally frank nature and to the point. "I have bought all I can pay for." The Governor looked at him intently for a moment and said: "Young man, I like your face and will trust you with all the flour you can haul, send me the money when you have sold it." Mr. Duncombe always remembered this, and humorously remarked that the Governor was good judge of men.

We cannot close this article more appropriately than by inserting in full the tribute paid Mr. Duncombe by Senator Dolliver who had known him for many years and had frequently been in contact with him professionally. It is creditable to both.

"The death of Mr. Duncombe removes the most famous survivor of that extraordinary group of men who directed the development of the Iowa frontier. They were in a true sense founders of the State. They were builders of cities. They converted the open prairie into a garden of fruitfulness and beauty.

"Mr. Duncombe was among the first of the early settlers of Fort Dodge and from the time he came here an ambitious boy, ready for the battle of life and eager for its rewards and honors, he as been foremost among those who have given distinction and influence to the city. He has been a worker in many fields. For thirty years he was a leader of the Iowa bar, though during his whole life he was a man of affairs, always interested in large business enterprises. His talents as a lawyer arose from the natural frame and structure of his mind, and if his lot had been cast in some great city and his attention given exclusively to the legal profession, it cannot be doubted that his fame as a lawyer would have given him rank with the great jurists of our times.

"His ability to deal with large questions of law was well illustrated when he appeared before the Supreme Court to argue the motion for a rehearing in the case involving the validity of the prohibition amendment to the Constitution of Iowa. His argument in that case went to the very foundations of popular government, and while the final decision of the court was adverse to his contention, yet his presentation of the case will be remembered as a land mark in the annals of our jurisprudence.

"Nearly all of Mr. Duncombe's business enterprises were local in character and many of them were part of his long interest in the material development of the community in which he lived. He had many vicissitudes of fortune, but in all stages of his career he was an investor, an employer of labor, and a contributor to the prosperity of the people among whom he lived. He was always on the lookout for an opportunity to help the city and he never failed to come forward with a contribution equal to the zeal and interest which he professed. Outside the immediate circle of his family there is no place where Mr. Duncombe will be missed so such as when the citizens of Fort Dodge come together to take counsel for some new enterprise involving the growth and progress of the city.

"It has often been said that if Mr. Duncombe had had different political affiliations he would have received at the hands of the people of Iowa all the highest honors of public life. It is probable that this is true, yet we cannot forbear to acknowledge the manly sincerity of a political career which throughout a long life was steadfast to the principles which he espoused in the days of his youth. This aspect of his career is only part of the solidity of character which he exhibited in all the relations of life. At such a time as this it is natural that those who knew Mr. Duncombe best should think of him not so much with reference to his professional, business and public activity as in those homelier relations which brought him close to the firesides of the people among whom he lived and died.

"He was gentle, kind, helpful and generous, as a neighbor, fellow citizen and friend. The poor and needy never sought his sympathy in vain. Upon his three score and ten years filled with labor and crowned at last with the fullest measure of success, there is no stain. As the people of the city which he loved gather about his grave they will be thinking not so much of the commanding talents which gave him renown and honor while he lived, as 'of that companionship and confidence which unite old neighbors in the closest ties, and give to friendship its fullest development, its most gracious attributes.'"