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

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Biographies:

George Thomas Carpenter, educator, was born in Nelson county, Ky., March 4, 1834. In 1842 he was taken to Bureau county, Il1., where his early education was acquired. He was prepared for college in the Princeton academy, where he supported himself by manual labor. He taught school until 1855, when he entered Abingdon college, and was graduated with valedictory honors in 1859. He removed to Iowa, where he was largely instrumental in establishing Oskaloosa college, with which he was connected during twenty years. In 1873 he was appointed a United States honorary commissioner to the World's fair at Vienna, Austria. For several years he was editor-in-chief of the Christian Evangelist, and in 1879 declined the nomination for governor of Iowa on the Prohibition ticket. In 1881 he aided in founding Drake university in Des Moines, Iowa, and was elected its chancellor. Under his management the university greatly prospered. He died at Des Moines, Iowa, July 29, 1893.

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

Col. Larkin M. Martin, is working out a phenomenal career, such as is only possible in a country where individual merit is the avenue of advancement to greatness. He was born near Point Pleasant, Va., December 6, 1853.

During the revolutionary war his great grandfather, John Martin, lived on the banks of the Yadkin river in North Carolina. The family suffered much from the bands of marauding British, who overran the Carolinas in 1780 and 1781, and towards the close of that century moved to West Virginia. Five years before the son, Simpson Martin, had married Mary Keer, a revolutionary girl who developed into a woman of great strength of character. Both parents were persons of more than ordinary intelligence, each possessing a limited education. The father, Simpson Martin, dying soon after the birth of the youngest child, and the elder sons having gone forth into the world to follow their own pursuits, the chief care of the mother and sisters devolved upon the youngest son, George W. Martin, who was born in 1815. At the time of his father's death he was a lad of 10 or 12 years of age. To the duty of protecting his mother and sisters he gave himself with such earnestness that there was but little time left for study, but so strong was his desire for knowledge that after he had passed his thirtieth year and had himself become the head of a family, midnight often found him poring over his text-books. In 1843 he was married to Louisa Ann Kaufman, the eldest daughter of a family of eleven children. She was of German-Irish descent. Her father, Reuben Kaufman, was reared on a large tobacco plantation near Fredericksburg, Va., the latter being their market place. He was a man upright in all his dealings, and possessed of true German thrift. Her mother, whose maiden name was Julia D'Robine Reynolds, possessed a vivaciousness of temperament which brightened her home, and made it a welcome spot to all comers.

In the fall of 1854, when Larkin M. Martin was but 1 year old, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Martin, left their native state, came to Iowa, and settled in Marion county. The rigors of the climate pressed heavily upon these new comers, sickness soon came, and before the process of acclimating had been completed, most of the savings with which it had been the purpose to build a new home, were exhausted. The days were dark, but their faith in the future was not shaken. Mr. Martin and his wife were Christians, members of the Baptist church at the time of their marriage, and both died trusting in God. For several years Mr. Martin taught school during the winters and farmed in the summers. Being interested in politics, he was several times nominated for county offices, and polled more votes than any other man on his ticket, but failed of election, because his county was strongly republican. The eldest son, Monroe C. Martin, enlisted in the union army at the age of 18 years; possessing a weak constitution, he soon fell victim to disease and his young life was sacrificed. The death of their eldest son was a severe blow to his parents, from the effects of which the father never fully recovered. In 1876 Mr. Martin and his family left the farm and went to Pella, so that the children might enjoy the educational advantages of the famous Central university of Pella. Two years later death removed the father. His wife survived until July 20, 1896, when she, too, passed to the life beyond.

From the time he was old enough to work until 1870, Larkin M. Martin helped on his father's farm. He then went to Pella, where he was engaged in the Blade office for one year, when he went to Prairie City and learned telegraphy. In May, 1872, he was appointed agent for the old Des Moines Valley railroad at Comstock, and remained there until October, when he was transferred to Beacon as assistant agent and telegraph operator. He remained in Beacon until November, 1874, and was then transferred to Pella as telegraph operator and clerk, where he remained until July, 1877; he was then transferred to Des Moines as chief clerk in the office of the same company. In October, 1877, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railway company having leased the Keokuk road, he was appointed agent of the Keokuk & Des Moines division of that line, and remained with the Rock Island until October, 1882, when he resigned to accept the position of general agent of the St. Louis, Des Moines & Northern railway company at Boone. This position was given him by Gen. Supt. C. F. Meek, who, having left the service of the Rock Island a short time previous, prevailed upon him to accept service with this line. He remained at Boone until February 1, 1883, when Mr. Meek, having been appointed superintendent of the Wabash railroad, brought him to Des Moines and made him freight and ticket agent for both lines. Here he remained until October, 1887, when, through Mr. Meek's resignation to accept the position of general manager of the Denver, Texas & Fort Worth railroad, he was appointed superintendent and general freight agent of the St. Louis, Des Moines & Northern railway, and also commercial agent for the Wabash, having charge of the freight and passenger business of the latter line in Iowa. In October, 1889, the St. Louis, Des Moines & Northern railway was sold to a company known as the Des Moines & Northern railway, which company retained Colonel Martin, and under his management changed the gauge of the track from a narrow to a standard gauge. In December, 1889, Colonel Martin was appointed general manager of this new company, after having made a very valuable traffic agreement whereby the Des Moines business of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul system was transacted over his line, thus bringing that great system of roads into Des Moines. He also, by a brave and determined stand, inaugurated the through billing system of joint rates in connection with that line, thus enabling Des Moines jobbers to gain access to all the territory covered by the Milwaukee lines. On May 1, 1894, he was made general manager of the Iowa Central railway company, which position he now fills. Under his management the Iowa Central has gained steadily in earnings, and at the same time the condition of the property has improved in other ways.

Colonel Martin was a delegate to the democratic national convention in Chicago, in 1892, when Governor Boies was a candidate for the nomination for the presidency, and was one of the chief promoters of the governor's candidacy.

In 1896, when the democratic county convention was held in the city of Des Moines, notwithstanding his disagreement with a majority of the delegates present on the financial issue, he was offered a position on the delegation to the state convention at Dubuque. This was refused on account of the delegation having been instructed to work and vote for the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. After this convention Governor Boies was again a candidate for the presidency, and Colonel Martin was importuned to support him on the grounds of personal friendship, and because he had served four years on his staff, but he demurred. The governor was again defeated for the nomination, and immediately following the adjournment of the Coliseum convention, which nominated William Jennings Bryan, Colonel Martin advocated a third ticket and the calling of a state convention. The movement there started by Colonel Martin was put forward by the shrewdness and persistency and power for which he is noted, and it resulted in the creation of the new political party which placed the Palmer and Buckner ticket in the field. In all matters leading up to the national convention of the national democratic party, and in the convention itself, Colonel Martin had a prominent part. Having been chosen as a delegate at large to attend the Indianapolis convention, he was by that body selected as the national committeeman for the state of Iowa, to represent the national democratic party for four years. He was also made chairman of the speakers' bureau, having in charge all national speakers who were engaged in making speeches throughout the country in favor of the sound money national democratic ticket.

Colonel Martin is a Blue Lodge Mason, Royal Arch Mason, Scottish Rite Mason, thirty-second degree Mason, Knight Templar, and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was married October 22, 1872, to Sarah Ellen Cox, of Pella. They have three children: George Monroe, Frank Hain, and Louisa Charity Martin. George is at present in the chief engineer's office of the Iowa Central railway, Frank attending college at Amherst, Mass., and Louisa at St. Katherine's Hall, Davenport.

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