History of Burlington, (Des Moines County) Iowa United States of America

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Biographies:

Henry Dodge, senator, was born in Vincennes, Ind., Oct. 12, 1782; son of Israel and Anne Nancy (Hunter), grandson of John and Lydia (Rogers), great-grandson of Israel, and great-great-grandson of Tristram Dodge who emigrated from England to Block Island in 1661. His father was an officer of the Connecticut provincial army at the time of the American Revolution and settled in Kentucky in 1784. In the war of 1812 Henry commanded a company of mounted riflemen, was major of militia, and in April, 1813, was made lieutenant-colonel commanding a battalion of Missouri mounted infantry. In 1814 he was appointed a brigadier-general of Missouri volunteers, and was afterward elected major-general. In the Black Hawk war he was colonel of Michigan volunteers, and defeated the Indians under Black Hawk near the mouth of the Bad Axe, June 15, 1832. He was commissioned by President Jackson major of U.S. rangers, June 21, 1832, and colonel of the 1st dragoons, March 4, 1833. He secured a treaty of peace with the Indians in 1833 and the next year commanded an expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Congress voted him the thanks of the nation and presented him with a sword. On July 4, 1836, he resigned his commission in the U.S. army and accepted from President Jackson the governorship of the territory of Wisconsin, and superintendency of Indian affairs. He made a treaty with the Menomonie Indians, by which they ceded to the United States, 4,000,000 acres of land in Michigan and Wisconsin. He was removed from office by President Tyler in 1841; was a delegate from Wisconsin Territory to the 27th and 28th congresses, 1841-45; and again governor of the territory, 1845-48, under appointment of President Polk. He was a senator in congress from the new state of Wisconsin from June, 1848, to March 3, 1857. He married in 1800 Christiana McDonald. He died in Burlington, Iowa, June 19, 1867.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Robert Jones Burdette, humorist, was born at Greensborough, Pa., July 30, 1844. His early life was spent in the west, where, at the breaking out of the civil war, he joined the army as a member of the 47th Illinois volunteers. In 1865 he returned to Peoria, where for several years he contributed humorous articles to various newspapers and periodicals. He also worked on the editorial staff of the Peoria Transcript, removing in 1872 to Burlington, Iowa, where he formed a connection with the Hawk-eye, in the columns of which paper he caught the popular fancy, and won renown as a humorist. He was also a lecturer and was licensed as a Baptist minister in 1887. Some of his lectures were published in book form, under the title of The Rise and Fall of a Mustache, and Hawkeyetems (1877). His other publications include: Hawkeyes (1879); William Penn, 1644-1718, in Lives of American Worthies (1882), Innach Garden (1886), and Chimes from a Jester's Bell.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Charles William Hertzler, educator, was born in Burlington, Iowa, Feb. 22, 1867; son of John and Sophia (Fox) Hertzler. He attended the public schools and the business college at Burlington, Iowa; Iowa Wesleyan university and the German college at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and Baldwin university and German Wallace college at Berea, Ohio. He was graduated at German Wallace, A.B. in 1889. He studied at Berlin university, 1892-93, and subsequently travelled through Egypt and the Holy Land. He was pastor at Peoria, Ill., 1889-91; St. Louis, Mo., 1891-99, and at Jordan, Minn., 1893-95; president of St. Paul's college, Minn., 1895-1900, and was elected professor of practical theology at the Nest Theological seminary at Berea, Ohio, in June, 1900. He was married, Oct. 5, 1893, to Lillie May Zom.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Thomas M. Bowen, senator, was born near Burlington, Iowa, Oct. 26, 1835. In 1853 he was admitted to the bar and was elected to the legislature of his native state in 1856. In 1858 he removed to Kansas, where, on the breaking out of the civil war, he was captain of a volunteer company and afterwards organized and commanded the 13th Kansas regiment and served in the southwestern campaigns. In 1863 he was brevetted brigadier-general for meritorious conduct, and commanded a brigade in Arkansas up to the close of the war. He was chosen a delegate from Kansas to the national Republican convention in 1864. In 1865 he settled in Arkansas and was president of the constitutional convention of that state. After its readmission into the Union he was elected an associate judge of the supreme court of the state. In 1871 President Grant appointed him governor of the territory of Idaho, which position he resigned, returned to Arkansas, and was an unsuccessful candidate for U.S. senator in 1873. He then removed to Colorado and was elected a district judge, serving four years. He became interested in mining property and accumulated valuable properties. In 1882 he was elected to the state legislature and in 1883 to the United States senate, serving to the end of his term in 1889, when he retired to private life.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor