Available Sources
Records
1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas
1880 Dubuque County History
Honorable William B. Allison
Eugene Anderson
Sanford A. Atherton
Honorable Isaac W. Baldwin
Dickson Beatty
F. E. Behrens
Henry Bockenstedt
John Bomacke
General Caleb Hoskins Booth
Nicholas Bray, M. D.
William Bray, M. D.
Edward Brown
John D. Bush
Edward Butler
Cascade Biographies
Dr. Rodolphus Clark
Bernhard Claus, Jr.
Frank W. Coates
Honorable Dennis Nelson Cooley
Reverend Mark Cooney
Hugh Corrance
Patrick F. Cunningham
Mell H. Cushing
Peter Dawson
John Driscoll
Charles Henry Eighmey
Jesse P. Farley
George Fengler
Mrs. Catherine Fries
Albert Gasser
Henry Gehrig
A. P. Gibbs
Theodor Goerdt
John R. Goldthorp
Honorable Julius Graves
Charles H. Gregoire
Ezra Gregory
Daniel Hallahan
Nicholas Hansen
Honorable Thomas Hardie
Henry Henkels
Rev. James Hill
Nancy R. Hill, M. D.
Asa Horr, M. D.
James Howie
Edward R. Jackson, M. D.
Francis Jaeger
Henry J. Jecklin
Reverend Clement Johannes
Evan E. Jones
General George Wallace Jones
John Kantlehner
Joseph K. Kaufmann
James Kelly
John Kleinschmidt
F. H. Klostermann
A. R. Knight
Honorable Frederick M. Knoll
Paul Lattner
Honorable Wendelin Lattner
Thomas Lochner
Christian Loetscher
Norton J. Loomis
Delos E. Lyon
J. E. Maguire, M. D.
W. A. Manhart
George Marshall
M. H. Martin
Honorable James McCann
Benjamin McCluer, M. D.
Susan Ann McCraney
A. S. McDermott
James and Martha McGee
James McGrath
M. F. McNamara
Jacob Michel
Charles Miller
Adam Mink
George Mollart
William J. Morgans
James Mullin
Dorrance Dixon Myers
Nicholas P. Nicks
Frederick R. Nitzsche, M. D.
J. J. E. Norman
Honorable Peter Olinger
Bernard J. O'Neill
John P. Page
Frank Paley
John Palmer
Rev. Frederick William Pape
Thomas Phillips
Joseph Platz
Andrew Rahe
Honorable James Rowan
Reverend Roger Ryan
George Salot
Colonel C. J. W. Saunders
John Sauser, Jr.
Joseph Schemmel
George Schmitt
Short Biographies
Joseph Simones
John F. Sloan
Charles F. Smyth
Johanna (Baker) Specht
Ralph Spensley
Daniel Stallard
J. Peter Stendebach
Honorable William W. Stewart
Oren Stuart, M. D.
James Sweeney
John Tibey
Paul Traut
Matthew Tschirgi
Hon. Christian Anton Voelker
Chester H. Walker
William Watson, M. D.
F. W. Wieland
Louis Witter
Jacob Zollicoffer
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Asa Horr, M. D.
Extracted from Portrait and Biographical Record of Dubuque, Jones and
Clayton Counties, Iowa, 1894 Reprinted by Higginson Book Co., Salem,
Massachusetts, p. 135
ASA HORR, M. D., who has had a long
and a successful career as a medical practitioner in Dubuque, has been
located here since August, 1847, being the oldest member of the profession
in this locality. He is Chief of the Medical Staff of Mercy Hospital and
belongs to the American Medical, the State and County and the Cedar Valley
District Medical Societies. Several times he has been President of the
County Association, of which he was one of the organizers. During the
war he was Post Surgeon at Camp Franklin and also examined recruits for
the regular army troops, being- later for ten years Pension Examiner ill
this city. The Doctor is a noted scholar both in the languages and in
many scientific departments.
Dr. Horr was born in Worthington, Franklin County, Ohio, in September
2, 1817. His paternal grandfather was a farmer in Massachusetts and removed
to Lewis County, N. Y., in the early days of its history, when it was
known as the Black River Country, and there he continued in agricultural
pursuits until his death. The Horr family is of English descent and the
name was originally spelt Hoar, but our subject's grandfather had the
name changed by the Albany Legislature to its present spelling. The father
of the Doctor bore the name of Isaac, and his birth occurred in the Bay
State, where he grew to manhood and was married. He took part in the War
of 1812, and five years later became a resident of Worthington, Ohio,
having removed there from Lewis County, N. Y. He engaged in merchandising,
being successful for several years, but about 1826 returned to Lewis County,
N. Y., where he died one year later, aged forty-one years. His wife, Nancy
Smith, was born and married in Salem, Mass., and after her husband's death
in the Empire State returned to Ohio, where she died when in her sixty-ninth
year. Eight of her ten children grew to maturity, but only four are now
living, our subject and his three sisters. Leonard was a Captain in tile
Twenty first Iowa Infantry until, his health failing, he retired, His
death occurred in this city, where he had been engaged in the real-estate
business.
Dr. Horr until ten years old lived in Ohio, where he attended Worthington
College, of which Bishop Chase was Principal, and one of his classmates
was Salmon P. Chase, late Chief Justice of the United States. In 1826
he returned to New York, and on his father's death the children were scattered,
being taken by various relatives to bring up. From his earliest years
he was a zealous student, and often worked by the light of hemlock and
spruce knots. In working on the farm he hurried to complete his task in
order that he might devote himself to his beloved books. His brother Leonard
was a carpenter and it seemed best that he should be apprenticed to the
same trade. He remained for six months working for one man, and during
this time had become quite familiar with drafting. When he returned to
the country he made a drawing and superintended the building of a frame
house, this being when he was only fourteen years of age. His brother
engaged with a contractor to build a large flouring mill in Canada, north
of Kingston, and Asa went with him, working for about a year and receiving
a man's wages. Later with his brother he engaged in contracting and building
in Dundas, Canada, remaining there until 1836, and during this time the
ambitious youth drew the principal plans of buildings which were put up
by the firm.
The first time that the Doctor had thought seriously of entering the medical
profession was during the cholera epidemic of 1834 - 35, when several
of his employees contracted the disease, and as there were no physicians
in the locality and he had assisted his mother, who was a good nurse in
former years, he determined to use his best efforts for the afflicted
men. Using the old fashioned remedies of smart weed and pennyroyal, with
good nursing he managed to bring the men through all right and was often
afterward annoyed by the many people who carne to him for treatment of
various disorders. In 1836 Mr. Horr went to Ohio and entered the Worthington
Medical College, from which he was graduated two years later with the
degree of Doctor of Medicine. For two years subsequently he practiced
with Dr. Hyland, of Fairfield County, and then for six years practiced
in Baltimore, Ohio. In 1846 he graduated from the medical department of
the Western Reserve University of Cleveland, receiving a degree.
With the intention of going to Galena, Ill., he visited a brother at Elizabeth,
and was there prevailed upon to assist the doctors of the place during
the epidemic which was prevalent. After a year's time he removed to Dubuque,
arriving here in August, 1847, when this was a village of only two thousand
inhabitants. Dr. Horr built an office at the corner of Fifth and Main
Streets and has since conducted an extensive practice, his office being
now at No. 1125 Main Street. For one year he was County Physician and
is a member of the Public Health Association of the United States.
In Baltimore, Ohio, Dr. Horr was married in 1841 to Eliza Sherman, a native
of Worthington. She was reared as a member of the Vinal family in Springfield
and died in Dubuque during the war. Her three children are, Edward W.,
a merchant of Blandville, Ky.; Augusta S., Mrs. Hackbusch, who died in
February, 1894; and May H., wife of Charles G. Sternes, of Waterloo, Iowa.
The present wife of Dr. Horr, Mrs. Ella S. Booth, was born in Galena,
Ill., and presides with true hospitality over her pleasant home at the
corner of Thirteenth and Main Streets.
The Doctor is a fine botanist, geologist and astronomer. He has made large
collections of Ohio and Iowa plants, has an interesting collection of
geological specimens, and in 1864 erected a private astronomical observatory
and was the first to determine accurately the longitude of Dubuque. A
member of many learned societies, he has been President of the Iowa Institute
of Science and Arts, and in company with J. M. Bigelow published a catalogue
of the plants of Fairfield County, Ohio. For fifteen or twenty years Dr.
Horr had charge of the city clock and took the time astronomically. He
has the finest medical and chemical library in this portion of the state,
and is an advocate of phonetic spelling. For some years he has been interested
in real estate and owns a number of pieces of business property, as well
as an interest in some coal mines. In politics he is independent, and
fraternally is a Knight Templar Mason. |