History of Mount Pleasant, (Henry County) Iowa United States of America

Our database does not include an historic photo for Mount Pleasant, (Henry County) Iowa, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

George C. Van Allen, a prominent business man of Mt. Pleasant, Henry county, was born July 6, 1830, on the north shore of Pillar Point, Jefferson county, N. Y., and was the oldest child of Cornelius Van Allen and Lory Ann Ackerman, his wife.

The family consisted of eleven children, nine of whom are still living. Besides the subject of this sketch they are: Martin, a Chicago real estate man living in Ravenswood; Sarah H. White, of Carthage, N. Y., widow of Gen. D. B. White; Lory Ann Hoover, of Chicago, Ill., widow of George Hoover; Catherine Grinnell, of May Fair, Cook county, Ill., widow of G. G. Grinnell; Mrs C. M. Beckford, of Hampton, Va., widow of Selwyn E. Beckford; Cornelius A., real estate, of Effingham, Ill; William, surveyor, of Ukiah, Cal., and Florence O. Baulch, wife of J. J. Baulch, of St. Louis, Mo. In 1831 the family moved to a farm of their own near by, overlooking Black River bay. Across the bay could easily be seen Madison barracks, where General Grant was once quartered, and the village of Sackett's Harbor, famous in one of the early battles of the war of 1812, in May, 1813. Upon this farm the boy grew to manhood, attending the country schools, working at the forge and in the ship yards, and at times engaged in hauling heavy timbers out of the forest into the shipyards. Living so many years near the water he grew to love it, for it afforded him pleasure as a boy and helped to earn his living as a man, in the early days before railways took the place of boats. In this vicinity Mr. Van Allen taught in the public schools, and later attended Falley seminary in Fulton, N. Y. From there he went to the Old Wesleyan university in Middletown, Conn., where he was a member of a secret society organized by a few congenial fellows, including William and Andrew Roe, O. W. Powers, Mr. Bailey, and David J. Brewer. The latter, then one of the most modest of young men, is now a judge of the supreme court of the United States. Mr. Van Allen remained there a little less than two years, when he was obliged to return home, carrying with him gentle memories of the kindness of student friends, especially Brooks, Fellows, and Bishop. He had good standing in his classes in school, but the teachers did not deeply influence him, for he was a close student and reached his own conclusions, taking but little on the authority of teachers alone.

After some weeks recuperation at home at Pillar Point, he took what little money he had and started west by way of the great lakes. The trip was a delightful one, and gave him broader ideas of the size of the world than he had ever obtained from books. Detroit and Milwaukee were beautiful cities at that time, but Chicago was a dirty little village, although full of hustling men, broken sidewalks, and muddy streets, with a disordered levee and railway yards. Mr. Van Allen went to Dubuque, expecting to secure employment at surveying, but finding nothing in this line, an old friend, George Rogers, secured him a place in the business office of the Dubuque Herald as bookkeeper. The Herald was then published by J. B. Dorr, afterward colonel of the Eighth Iowa cavalry. In the spring the young surveyor secured a place with Webb and Higby, surveyors, and afterward with Charles Smith, local engineer of the Dubuque & Pacific railway. In July his brother Martin secured for him a still better position in the land department of the Illinois Central railroad. At first he traveled for the company in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. January 1, 1857, he was promoted and sent to Effingham, 200 miles south of Chicago, on the Illinois Central, to sell the company's lands. His sales by the first of October amounted to 13,000 acres. One could hardly see a dozen houses in an hour's ride on the cars, except a few at the scattered stations. During this season of prosperity Mr. Van Allen was married, August 6, 1857, in Scriba, N. Y., to Miss Jennie M. Wright, who had been a classmate in Fulton. She was a cultured lady of domestic tastes, and Mr. Van Allen always regarded the event of their marriage as the beginning of a very happy part of his life.

In October, 1857, the great financial crash came, destroying or badly crippling all the business of the country. Land sales stopped, payments failed, enterprising people who had started out to make new homes fell back to their old domiciles to begin life anew or die of disappointment. Mr. Van Allen lost about $6,000 in this panic and had to begin over again, falling back on his knowledge of surveying to support his family. In his spare moments he read law, and in the fall of 1859 went to Watertown, N. Y., and spent two years in the office of Judge F. W. Hubbard, then lately from the bench of the New York court of appeals. During the following two years he studied part of the time in the Albany Law school, and at the April, 1861, term of the supreme court he was admitted to the degree of counsellor at law in the state of New York. He soon after returned to Chicago and then to Kenosha, but the war was on and there was no business for him, so he spent a few months in the office of Judge Pettitt. He was elected to the superintendency of the high school in Plover, Wis., that fall, remaining till July, 1862, when he went to Burlington, and engaged in the survey of the Burlington & Missouri River railroad from Ottumwa to Chariton. At the close of the season he located in Mt. Pleasant, where he engaged in compiling records for the examination of titles. Here he has ever since remained, closely confined to one of the most laborious, and by no means least important, branches of the law. He suffered another setback in 1883, when his office was destroyed by fire, at a loss of $2,000. But he soon recovered from the shock and began to re-write his books.

His wife died January 27, 1891, and he was again married, October 26, 1893, to Miss Anna L. Watters. One son, Alfred M. Van Allen, was born October 3, 1869. He was educated in the Iowa Wesleyan university, graduated from the state university law school in June, 1894, and is now engaged in the successful practice of his profession in Mt. Pleasant.

Mr. Van Allen had always been a republican, and a quiet but efficient worker for others when offices were to be filled, but never seeking any office for himself. He was brought up a Methodist, but on removing to Mt. Pleasant united with the Presbyterian church, to which his wife belonged. He is a man who thinks for himself, decides for himself, and acts for himself, and is one of the most public spirited and highly respected men in his community.

SOURCE: Biographies and Portraits of the Progressive Men of Iowa published by Conway and Shaw, Des Moines: 1899.

History of Mount Pleasant, (Henry County) Iowa

Biographies: