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History of Fort Dodge and Webster County, Iowa H Unless noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.
No student of history can carry his investigations far into the records of Webster county without learning that the Hart family has figured prominently in its substantial upbuilding and development, and it is, therefore, with pleasure that we present to our readers the sketch of Dr. George D. Hart, long an able and distinguished physician of Otho, whose labors, however, have constituted but one phase of his life, for he has ever been mindful of his obligations and duties to his fellowmen and to city, state and nation. He was born in Adams county, Illinois, July 26, 1835, his parents being Norman and Marcia (Hale) Hart, who were natives of Connecticut. The father went to Adams county, Illinois, in 1834 and after a brief residence there removed to Kane county, Illinois, where he entered land from the government. Not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made on his place and with characteristic energy he began preparing the land for cultivation. Year after year he tilled his fields until 1854, when he sold that property and removed to Webster county, entering eighty acres of land in Otho township. The other members of the family also entered land, which he improved and cultivated to the time of his death. He died suddenly on the 31st of March, 1880, having for a few years survived his wife, who passed away in February, 1875. They were, indeed, worthy pioneer settlers of this region, arriving here when there was not a single railroad in this state, while a railway line extended only half way across the state of Illinois. It was at their home on the 13th of March, 1855, that the First Congregational church of Otho was organized, these two worthy people becoming charter members and remaining faithful thereto until called to their reward. For about two years services were held at least part of the time in their home. For a long period Mr. Hart served as one of the officers of the church and his son Norman was the first superintendent of the Sunday school. George D. Hart was reared and educated in Big Rock township, Kane county, Illinois, and there remained until nineteen years of age, when, in 1854, he accompanied his parents as they drove across the country to Webster county, Iowa. Here he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land at two dollars and a half per acre. A year after arriving here he set about improving his place and operated it from 1858 until August 16, 1862, when patriotism became the dominant element in his life and he enlisted as a member of Company I, Thirty-second Iowa Infantry. He never served in the ranks, however, for when the regiment started south from Dubuque he was left in charge of the sick at Camp Franklin and after rejoining his command at New Madrid, Missouri, on the 2d of December, following, he served as hospital warden, being thus on duty throughout the remainder of his term of enlistment. He was finally honorably discharged because of disability on the 1st of July, 1865. It was his hospital experience that laid the foundation for his profession. He became interested in the practice of medicine and on his return home pursued a course of study in the office of Dr. S. B. Olney, who was chief surgeon in his regiment. Having thus qualified for active practice, he opened an office in Otho, where he has since remained. His ability in the field of his chosen profession has been widely recognized and has grown with further reading and study, for he has kept in touch with the advanced scientific methods which are the result of modern investigation. He still owns eighty acres of the land which he first purchased here on section 28, Otho township, and he has a beautiful home in the village. On the 11th of November, 1858, Dr. Hart was married to Miss Orlinda S. Moore, who was born in Ohio on November 26, 1840, and was a daughter of Homer and Sarah (Minton) Moore, who came with their family to Iowa in 1856. In the following summer Mrs. Hart taught the first term of school and was one of the prominent pioneer women of Elkhorn township. She passed away on the 28th of January, 1883, leaving two children. Lillie H., the elder, born September 1, 1859, became the wife of Fred E. Payne and died September 30, 1898, leaving two children: Calla H., born September 6, 1881; and George E., born May 16, 1887. Hoyt N. Hart, born March 26, 1867, owns and operates a ranch at Paxton, Keith county, Nebraska. He first married Carrie M. Plummer and they had one child, Harrison Dolliver, born June 17, 1888. In 1906 Hoyt N. Hart married Miss Lula Salisbury and to them was born one child, Lois, on November 22, 1911. Dr. Hart was again married June 11, 1885, his second union being with Pervilla R. Alsever, who was born in Oswego, New York, March 20, 1857, and in 1866 came to Webster county, Iowa, with her parents, Abram and Arminda (Fish) Alsever, who were natives of New York. On arriving here her father took up river land and also bought lots in the village of Burnside, where he lived until 1902, when he retired from active business life and removed to Fort Dodge. There he remained until 1909, when he took up his abode in the town of Otho, where he passed away in January, 1910. His first wife died in April, 1877, and he was subsequently married to Mrs. Annie Perry, who now makes her home in Lehigh, this county. By the second marriage of Dr. Hart there has been born one son, Seth Norman, on August 18, 1888, who was married, November 6, 1910, to Bess R. Everett and they have one son, Norman Dwight, born September 10, 1912. Seth N. Hart has since lived in Ohio, where he owns and conducts a photographic studio, enjoying a large practice. On the 12th of October, 1895, Dr. and Mrs. Hart adopted an orphan girl, Albertina Anderson, who was born March 29, 1880, and was married January 1, 1901, to Henry W. Wakeman, a farmer of Otho township. They have four children: Florence P., born December 16, 1901; Lola B., born October 29, 1903; George M., born November 15, 1905; and Lewis A., born February 3, 1908. Dr. and Mrs. Hart also adopted a son, Dwight M., a son of J. M. Moore, who was one of the early settlers of the county. Dwight was born December 16, 1876, in Steele City, Nebraska, and in 1902 married Hattie La Valley. They have one child, Erma, born in 1903. Aside from his activity as a physician, Dr. Hart has done well for his community in public office, serving as a trustee of his township for a number of years and also as its first road supervisor. He has been justice of the peace for three different terms and overseer of the cemetery of Otho for more than a half century. He was a charter member of Fort Donelson Post, G. A. R., of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and he has always given his political allegiance to the republican party, believing firmly in its principles. He holds membership in the First Congregational church of Otho, of which he has been a deacon since 1880. He was present on its organization, March 13, 1855, and on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary celebration. He has long taken a most active and helpful part in the church work and his aid and influence are ever given to promote the moral progress of the town and county. He has a wide acquaintance and all who know him are glad to call him friend, for his has been an upright, honorable life, bringing to him the confidence and justly merited regard of those with whom he has been associated. Nobility of character, high principle and unfaltering devotion to duty in relation to home and family, to society and to the country at large, made Norman H. Hart a citizen whom to know was to respect and honor. There are few who have had as great influence upon the moral progress of Otho township and Webster county, his labors being particularly effective in Sunday-school work. His life therefore may well serve as an example to all who desire to travel the upward path, holding at all times to the highest standards of Christian manhood. Mr. Hart was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, July 1O, 1826, and was a youth of eight years when in 1834 he accompanied his parents on their westward removal to Illinois, where he remained through the ensuing two decades. During that period he pursued a four years' course in a mission institute near the city of Quincy, Illinois. He came of the best New England stock, with very pronounced ideas of what constituted Christian manhood, and at that early period laid the foundation for what proved a singularly devoted and useful life. In 1844 he first came to Iowa and for five years thereafter spent his time at Danville. In the fall of 1853 he once more came to this state in search of a location for the family and after looking carefully over the ground finally decided upon Webster county as the future home of the Harts. He then planted a crop of spring wheat and on horseback returned to Illinois to assist the others of the household in removing to the new home. The journey was made in June, 1854, with nine yoke of oxen. They settled in Otho township and from that time until his death Norman H. Hart was continuously a valuable factor in the political, social, business and moral development of the county. In the early days of his residence here he had to face all the difficulties, obstacles and hardships incident to pioneer life, but he possessed an optimistic nature in which there was no room for pessimism. He always looked upon the bright side and when he encountered obstacles and difficulties met then, with courageous and determined spirit, so that they were easily overcome. His work was carefully and systematically conducted and he won a comfortable competence, but the attainment of wealth was never the ultimate aim of his life. He desired to provide his family with a good living and succeeded in this but otherwise gave his time and attention to the higher, holier duties which affect man in his relations to his fellowmen and his Maker. He possessed a social nature and enjoyed the companionship of friends, always contributing his share toward making others happy. He was genial and sympathetic, hospitable and kindly, and his doors were ever open for the reception of friend and stranger alike. Mr. Hart was often mentioned as an ideal husband and father. He cultivated the graces and virtues of natural helpfulness, goodwill, harmony, peace and courtesy. He was married on the 21st of September, 1860, to, Jane Marrilla Fuller, who was born in Cayuga county, New York, September 11, 1830, and was a daughter of Clark and Deborah Fuller, who were also natives of the Empire state and in 1834 removed with their family to Granville, Ohio. There the daughter was reared to womanhood and took up the work of school teaching. In 1853 she became a resident of Marion, Iowa, and engaged in teaching school in that place and in Eldora until 1856, when she came to Webster county. She was a teacher in what is now Evanston and also in Otho townships and throughout her life was deeply interested in the intellectual progress of the community. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hart were born four children but three died in infancy, the surviving daughter being Mrs. Theta Wonders, the wife of Thomas W. Wonders, mentioned elsewhere in this volume. The Hart household was a Christian home. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hart early in life identified themselves with the work of Christianity, and good-will and love radiated from their home, which was never "just four square walls." Its hospitality was proverbial and a Christlike spirit was ever there found. Mr. and Mrs. Hart were ever deeply and actively interested in the church work and each attended church services on the Sunday prior to their demise. Mr. Hart passed away November 22, 1908. It was written of him: "Uncle Norman Hart, by which endearing term he was known by young and old, was no ordinary character either in intellectual power or religious principles and attainments. To a naturally vigorous and well cultivated mind he united sterling integrity of principle, sincere and elevated piety, deep humility, ardent zeal for the divine glory, sincere love for his brethren and strong attachment to the church. His real Christian work began as teacher in Sunday school, in which field he continued a faithful and inspiring worker for sixty-two years. In addition to his work as teacher he was a successful organizer, and Webster county owes to the memory of this man of God a deep debt of gratitude for the moral tone and spiritual life bequeathed by him through the medium of his Sunday-school work. For fourteen years he was one of a quartette of Sunday school workers who traveled the length and breadth of Webster county, organizing and reorganizing Sunday schools and holding Sunday-school conventions each year in every township. The other three members of the band were F. B. Drake, C. H. Payne and H. R. Bradshaw. This work proved a constant impetus to the Sunday schools of the county and out of it grew several churches. He was a firm believer in the power of Christian song and in all his church and Sunday-school work he laid much stress upon this as an important factor. He believed that men were called to sing the gospel as well as to preach it. He was an instructor in vocal music and organized many singing classes out of which went many to sing the gospel. Politically he was a lifelong republican, intensely patriotic and loyal. He firmly believed that the republic is a child of Providence and ever recognized the hand of God in the guidance of its affairs and the building of its institutions. He deplored existing evils that stand in the way of the nation's greatest progress and glory, but he died with a firm faith in the God of nations and in the future of his country. From what has already been said it scarcely needs emphasizing that his faith in the great doctrines of Christianity was complete and unbounded. To him the Bible was an inspired book, written by 'holy men of old as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.' He had no patience with theological trimmers. The word was the plummet, the ultimate standard by which he squared his life, and in the end of his days, when the body had grown weary, he was able to say: 'I have a pillow on which to rest my head,' and upon that pillow - even Jesus Ñ he breathed his life out sweetly there. His Christian motto was Ñ Onward and Upward; but he had a working motto in addition to this, which was his guide in the everyday affairs of life as he went in and out before his fellowmen, 'Do good and lend, hoping for nothing again.' The universal testimony of those who knew him best tells how closely he lived to this standard." Mrs. Hart survived her husband for little more than a year and passed away on the 31st of December, 1909. The Rev. Francis Fawkes wrote of her: "A Godly woman in the prime of life, charged with vital energy, full of faith and virtue, reverent toward God, trustful in the Savior of men, and with a lofty ambition for ministering to human welfare Ñ such a woman is the mightiest agent for righteousness the Almighty hath made on the earth. There are many such in the world and such was Mrs. Jane Hart when she first set foot on the soil of Webster county. The value of such a life to the moral and religious progress of society is far above that of gold and measured by any material standards of value, for when gold and gems have been molten and lost in the ashes of a burned world the fruit of such a life will abide and go on to grow and ripen forever and forever. Outside of the domestic circle where Mrs. Hart reigned as queen, her greatest work for humanity was the instruction of the primary class of the Sunday school in the teachings of the Bible. Her class usually numbered from fifteen to forty pupils, so in the course of a half century quite an army of these little people passed under her supervision and teaching. They were thus in the most impressionable period of life brought under the influence and in close contact with a Christian and motherly woman, who took great interest in them long after the days of childhood. Of the number who passed through this primary class, many remembered the precepts of their teacher when they reached years of maturity and reduced these precepts to service in a Christian life, and after marriage sent another generation of children to the same teacher. Mrs. Hart was one of the founders and organizers of the Otho Church Aid Society, a body of Christian women that for more than a generation have been famous for their charitable good works. In almost every department of church work in which a lady could act, her long life has been one of incessant willing activity until sickness and weakness arrested her efforts. The world's great need is that such lives should be multiplied." The memory of two such noble lives cannot but inspire and encourage all who came within the radius of their influence. Viewing such a life record as theirs, one cannot but be impressed with the fact that it is not from the few conspicuous deeds of life that the blessings chiefly come which make the world better, sweeter, happier, but from the countless lowly ministries of the everydays, the little faithfulnesses that fill long years. Membership 1898. Married June 11, 1885, to George D. Hart. George D. Hart enlisted August 16, 1862, in Company I, Thirty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry at Fort Dodge, Iowa, and was discharged July 1, 1865, at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. Rank private. Dr. Edward E. Hastings, who has been pastor of the First Presbyterian church for the past five years, is one of the most highly esteemed and influential citizens of Fort Dodge. He was born at Carroll, Iowa, on the 25th of September, 1871, and is a son of E. R. and Kate M. (Manning) Hastings. The father was a native of Ohio, whence he removed to Wisconsin, coming from there to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the early '60s. He completed his education at Western College, Western, Iowa, and was subsequently admitted to the bar, but soon withdrew from the law and turned his attention to newspaper work, following this during the remainder of his life. During the early period of his journalistic career he purchased a half interest in the "Carroll Herald," Carroll, Iowa, later becoming the sole proprietor. He was a man of fine mental attainments and a forceful writer, and readily became recognized as one of the foremost newspaper men in northwestern Iowa. He always took an active interest in political affairs and became one of the republican leaders in that section of the state, his paper heartily indorsing and championing the principles of this party. While still in his prime, Mr. Hastings was compelled to give up his work owing to failing health, and sold the Herald to John B. Hungerford, the present owner. He continued to make his home in Carroll, however, and there he passed away in 1886. He was one of the most wifely known men in the county, as in addition to editing his paper he served as postmaster at Carroll for twelve years, discharging the duties of this office in a highly efficient and capable manner. The mother, who is a native of Indiana, is still living and now makes her home with our subject. Dr. Hastings was reared amid the refining influences of a good home, and from early childhood had the advantages of an intellectual and cultured environment. At the usual age he entered the public schools of Carroll, continuing his studies there until graduated from high school. In the autumn, following, he entered Coe College at Cedar Rapids, being awarded the degree of Ph. B. from this institution with the class of 1893. Having decided to become a minister, he subsequently matriculated in the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, having been licensed by the Cedar Rapids Presbytery and received as a student for the ministry from the First Presbyterian church of Cedar Rapids, of which Dr. E. R. Burkholder was then pastor. Dr. Hastings graduated from the seminary in 1896 and was ordained by the Presbytery of Sioux City, Iowa. He began his ministerial duties as pastor of the church at Odebolt, Iowa, remaining there for four years. During the period of his pastorate he greatly increased the membership of the church and erected and dedicated a beautiful new house of worship. From there he went to Inwood, Lyon county, but he resigned his charge eighteen months later in order to accept a call to the First Presbyterian church of Grundy Center, Iowa, which is in the Waterloo Presbytery. In 1907, Dr. Hastings came to Fort Dodge, as pastor of the First church of this city. The possessor of rare spiritual and mental qualities, a pleasing personality and fine presence, he has proven to be a most influential factor in the community and is accomplishing excellent results. His discourses are scholarly and highly creditable achievements, manifesting careful preparation and deep thinking; their power being greatly increased by his able delivery. He has one of the largest congregations in the city, and the church and its various organizations are thriving, the work of the different departments being carried on in a most enthusiastic and capable manner under his leadership. At Carroll, Iowa, on the 23rd of October, 1894, Dr. Hastings was united in marriage to Miss May T. Bailey, a former school and college mate, and a daughter of Dr. T. S. and Helen (Gee) Bailey. Dr. Bailey is a native of Ohio and was educated at the Ohio State University at Columbus, being a member of the class of '69. He subsequently entered the Presbyterian Ministry and held many important charges in Ohio and Iowa, and for sixteen years was synodical superintendent of home missions of the Presbyterian church of Iowa. He made his home in Carroll for some years, but he has now retired and he and his wife are residing in Cedar Rapids. Dr. Bailey is an honored veteran of the Civil war, having remained at the front from the opening of hostilities until honorably discharged after the close of the siege of Vicksburg, where he lost an arm. Dr. and Mrs. Hastings have three children, all of whom are students of the public schools. In order of birth they are as follows: Eugene, who is fifteen years of age; Robert, who has passed the thirteenth anniversary of his birth; and Catherine, who is looking forward to her tenth birthday. Mrs. Hastings is a very active church worker and has been of invaluable assistance to her husband in the discharge of his multitudinous duties. She is a member of the Wahkonsa Club, and is interested in promoting the intellectual development of the community. The political views of Dr. Hastings coincide with the principles of the republican party, but he very often casts an independent ballot at municipal elections, considering that it is more a question of the man best adapted for the office than of political issues. He was chosen as a member of the board of trustees of Coe College in 1902, and three years later his alma mater honored him with the degree of doctor of divinity. He is now and has been for some time secretary of the Synodical Board of Iowa Home Missions of the Presbyterian church, and he has held other positions of responsibility and trust in connection with the various organizations of the church. Dr. Hastings has acquired much more than a local reputation and is numbered among the most scholarly and able ministers in this section of the state.
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