Allen, William L., M. D. submitted by Dick Barton

Dr. William L. Allen, of Davenport, will go down in history as the man to first apply electricity as a motive power for street railways in Iowa and Minnesota. Aside from this distinction in the sphere of electricity, he has had the honor, in his professional capacity as surgeon, of extracting the largest foreign body ever removed from the human stomach with recovery by the patient. He was born in Davenport, Iowa, June 7, 1858. His father, William Allen, was a graduate of Williams College. He engaged in banking and insurance from 1856 to 1860; was chief paymaster, Department of the Cumberland with headquarters at Louisville, Kentucky, 1861 to 1865, with rank of lieutenant-colonel, and railroad contractor from 1869 to 1874. He died in 1875. His brother, Thomas Allen, of St. Louis, was president of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern railroad, and was elected to congress in 1880. A great-grandfather, Rev. Thomas Allen, of Pittsfield, Mass., served in the Revolution, as did his three brothers, and at the battle of Bennington in 1777 was given the name of the "Fighting Parson," which sobriquet remained with him through life. A great-grandmother on this side of the house was descended from Governor Bradford, second governor of Plymouth colony. Dr. Allen's mother was Miss Augusta Seabury. She was a native of Yarmouth, Maine, and her father was a ship builder. She was subsequently adopted by Judge O. B. Dorrance, and assumed the name of Augusta Dorrance.

Doctor Allen had finished Griswold College and was in the Pennsylvania Military Academy, when his educational work was interrupted by the death of his father. He then began the study of medicine under the eminent surgeon, Dr. W. F. Peck, and entered the medical department of the State University in September, 1877. He graduated therefrom in 1881, then spent two years in special work and hospital practice in Berlin and Vienna. While pursuing his medical studies at the University a former partner of his father died, which event made it incumbent upon him to assume charge of a large cotton plantation in Arkansas. At the end of a year there he had succeeded in closing up the business with a large profit. Shortly after beginning the practice of medicine in Davenport in 1884, he interested himself in trying to devise means to improve an unsuccessful horse railway, heavy grades making its operation difficult.

Upon witnessing the electric motor experiments at Richmond, Virginia, he purchased the stock of opposing shareholders, and had the Davenport street railway equipped with electric motors. The success of this road and its rapid transit developed the hill property of that city wonderfully. He then formed a partnership with others and built and operated the first electric road in Minnesota at Stillwater, where the grade was considered insurmountable. The next year they put in a combined light and railway system at Dubuque, but this venture was not successful, and the panic following the Baring Brothers' failure, alarmed an eastern banker which resulted in their being forced to give up all interest in the concern, their private property going with the rest. The Davenport road was most prosperous until the city granted a rival company rights which were most damaging to the traffic of the Allen line, and it was finally forced into liquidation. During the two years of street railway warfare the doctor was compelled to abandon his medical practice, but in 1892 it was resumed. In 1895 he was elected president of St. Luke's hospital, which had been established chiefly through his efforts. In 1895 he removed a hair-ball nine inches long and four inches in diameter from the stomach of a 16-year-old girl, and she recovered. This is the only case of that kind reported in the United States, and the sixth on record anywhere. The case attracted attention all over the world.

In 1889, as president of the Davenport Business Men's Association, he assisted J. H. Murphy in behalf of the Hennepin canal, and criticised the Davenport press for its faint-hearted support of that most important enterprise. At the same time, as chairman of the committee on electric railways for the American Street Railway Association, he made an important report showing excessive cost of repairs on electric cars and the exorbitant charges for electric apparatus and supplies. The subsequent failure of electric railways in small towns over the country substantiated the correctness of the position.

In 1896 his essay before the Contemporary Club, entitled, "The Social Evil - Should it be Regulated? Can it be Exterminated?" attracted the attention of scientists and reformers all over the United States, and is considered one of the strongest and most logical arguments ever made on the subject. This was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and quoted from extensively in different parts of the country.

He was secretary of Mercy Hospital medical board, 1885 to 1895; president of St. Luke's Hospital medical board, 1895, 1896 and 1897; president Davenport Business Men's Association 1889; president Scott County Medical Society, 1886; president Davenport Academy National Science, 1893, 1894; president Iowa and Illinois Central District Medical Society, 1892; secretary and trustee Iowa Christian Home 1885 to present time; physician to Soldiers' Orphans' Home at this time and member of American Medical Association and Contemporary Club.

He was married to Miss Alice Van Patten, daughter of John P. Van Patten of Davenport, on October 1, 1885. They have three children - Larned, Elizabeth Marian and William Seabury Allen. The doctor is a member of the Episcopal church and affiliates with the republican party.

Allison, George R. submitted by Charles Howard

Allison, George R.,of Rockwell City, was born at Oriskany, Oneida County, N. Y., August 3, 1842. His father, Robert Allison, was a noted chemist and druggist, and for thirteen years was connected with the Leeds infirmary in England. He came to this country in 1840 and settled in central New York. Farther down the line on the father's side, the ancestors were prosperous English farmers, and direct descendants of Richard Baxter, an eminent English divine. On the maternal side the family for generations engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods on a large scale. George R. Allison attended the common schools until 16 years of age, when he engaged as clerk in a country store in Oriskany, N. Y. For his services during the first year he received a salary of $8 per month, without board. But as his parents furnished the board and provided the clothing, the lad had nearly the whole of his salary remaining at the end of the year. That he made himself useful, notwithstanding his meager salary, would appear from the fact that he remained with the firm for ten years, and at the time of resigning the position was receiving a much larger salary than is usually paid for like work. His next position was with the Oriskany Knitting Mill company, as bookkeeper, where he remained for one year, and then removed to Illinois, and purchased an interest in a general store in the town of Turner, near Chicago. After four years of prosperous business, the interests in Turner were disposed of, and he engaged in merchandising in Manson, Iowa, where for eleven years he carried on a business of such proportions as is rarely built up in a small town. In speaking of the incidents in his money-making career which remain lastingly with him, Mr. Allison relates that his first dollar was earned in sawing and splitting four cords of wood for a neighbor. He still insists that it was the longest and highest and broadest pile of wood that was ever piled together.

Mr. Allison has been frequently honored with elective positions of trust and responsibility. He was the first recorder of the incorporated town of Manson, was supervisor of Calhoun county for three years, and subsequently served as county treasurer for six years. At present he is engaged in the real estate, loan and abstract business, having purchased a one-half interest in the Pioneer Abstracting company of that county. In politics he is a republican, and has held the several offices heretofore mentioned, at the hands of that party. He is a Mason; has been warden, secretary and treasurer of his home lodge. In religion he is of the Protestant Episcopal faith. June 9, 1870, he was married to Miss Emma F. Seaman, and from that union there have resulted four children: Emma F., Mary E., Robert S. and Cary [sic] J. Allison.