1914
Delaware Co., IA History Vol. 2 pgs. 8-12
Hon. Millard F. LeRoy
did much to develop the business and industrial possibilities of Delaware county and
was one of the county's most prominent and valued citizens. He was president of
the First National Bank, a prime mover in the organization of the Manchester
& Oneida Railway Company, was for two years mayor of Manchester and served as state representative.
His death, which occurred on the 21st of February, 1914, was a great loss to Delaware
county, as men who have the initiative and the courage that are necessary for a
leader are few, but these qualities he possessed to a high degree.
Mr. LeRoy was born in Manchester, Dearborn county,
Indiana, on the 16th of January, 1850, but during his early childhood the
family removed to Morris,
Illinois, and there the greater part of his
youth was spent. In 1869 he was graduated from Moore's Hill College at Moore's Hill, Indiana, with the degree of
Bachelor of Science. His mother had died in 1860 and his father came to this
county, where Millard F. LeRoy came after his
graduation from college. He then entered the law department of the Iowa State University at Iowa City and was graduated there from in June,
1870. Although he was under age, he opened a law office in Manchester and practiced alone until the fall
of 1873, when he formed a partnership with the late Charles E. Bronson, the
firm later admitting the Hon. E. M. Carr.
Mr. LeRoy remained in practice for several years and then
became connected with the banking business, assuming the management of a
private bank
operated by his father-in-law, the late Allen R. Loomis. Upon the organization
of the First National Bank, in 1890, Mr. LeRoy was
elected cashier and upon the death of Mr. Loomis, a few years later, succeeded
to the presidency of the institution. He was connected with many of the local business
concerns and was one of the most prominent figures in financial circles of this
part of Iowa. He was one of the organizers of the Manchester &
Oneida Railway Company, and his business acumen and executive ability were of
great service to that corporation. Although his business interests made heavy
demands upon his time, he was always ready to do his part in the management of
public affairs and was for two years mayor of the city, his administration
being without doubt the most progressive and beneficial the city has ever
enjoyed. He was also for many years a member of the school board and in 1912 he
was elected representative from the county, his record as a public official being
a most creditable one. For some time he was a member of the executive committee
of the Fraternal Union of America, an insurance company with headquarters at Denver.
Mr. LeRoy was married on the 2d of June, 1874, to Miss Jennie P. Loomis, and they
became the parents of three children: Dora M., Alma M. and Allen R. Mr. LeRoy had long been identified with the business, social
and educational interests of Manchester and his demise was sincerely
mourned by a host of friends. Fraternally he belonged to a number of orders, in
all of which he stood high. He belonged to both the York and Scottish Rite
Masons and was a past eminent commander of Nazareth Commandery,
No. 33, Knights Templar. He was also affiliated with
the Hyperion Lodge, No. 186, K. P., and with the Odd
Fellows, in which society he was a leader in Iowa, having been honored by the post of
commander of the Patriarchs Militant, the highest position in the gift of the
order. All who knew him conceded him to be a man of unusual ability and also of
great public spirit and unswerving integrity, and no resident of the county was
held in higher esteem.
At the time
of his death the Manchester Press contained many tributes from friends and
associates to his high personal worth. Among those who attested to his splendid
character were United States Senator Albert B. Cummins, Governor George W.
Clark, Congressman Maurice Connolly, Senator E. C. Perkins, Major E. M. Carr
and Captain J. F. Merry. In the same issue of the Manchester Press there
appeared the following:
"A review of the life of Mr. LeRoy in this
community, brief as it must necessarily be and as he would have it, is a review
of the progress and upbuilding of the community
during the forty years of his residence in it. This is true because every
effort to improve Manchester, to make it a better town to live in, to promote
its material and moral interests, to advance the growth and extension of its
business facilities and to help it outgrow the rawness and crudity of the
crossroads village-every such effort found him either a leader or an
unhesitating contributor. To his energy and liberality and enthusiastic loyalty
to his home city, Manchester owes more than can be measured in a
stickful of type or rewarded by the gratitude of those
in position to know the facts. His sympathy and his influence and his means
were at the instant disposal of any project which promised to benefit Manchester, and when enlisted in furtherance,
of it his own business interests became secondary. In the various positions of
trust imposed upon him, lie made ungrudging sacrifice of his leisure and
allowed no demand, however urgent, to encroach upon duties to which he had
pleaded fidelity.
In this
respect his example was singular, and in a day when the holding of minor
offices is a preferment rather than a trust it was rare and exceedingly
praiseworthy. In a personal sense, the death of Mr. LeRoy
removes a man who was truly a friend to him who needed friends, an unquestioning
helper of the unfortunate or distressed, who gave unsparingly and without the
expectation of return. * * * A record of his unseen kindnesses would tell the
story of renewed courage and hope to many a man who came to him in the hour of
need and found not merely temporary aid but lasting friendship."
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