The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1864-02-25
GOVERNOR STONE.
How a Poor American Boy be
came Governor Of Iowa. II


From the Davenport (Iowa) Gazette, ,11th
Colonel William NJ. Stone, to be inaugu-
rated Governor Of Iowa by the Legislature
which to-day assemblies at the State Capt.
tal, may well claim to be .'the architect of
his own fortunes" Thanks to the genius
of free institutions. under which labor is ev-
er honored, similar instances ofvictory over
the opposing difficulties of obscure birth
and pinching poverty, through persist mt
toll end unfaltering energy, are by no means
rare in these free States. But among. oil
these it will be difficult to find an example
more encouraging to American youth, as H.
Illustrating what can be accomplished by
earnest purpose and preserving industry,
than is GWEN in the. history of the subject
of this sketch. .ts
He was born in Jefferson county, New
York, in the year 1929, of poor but respect
able parents, and lived in the county of his
nativity and Lewis county until 1884, when
his parents emigrated to Coshocton county,
Ohio. The humble circumstances of his
parents, and the very limited facilities then
afforded for obtaining instruction at school,
nearly deprived him of all opportunity to
acquire even the commonest rudiments OF
education. Four winters at school. preyi.
Gus to his arrival at the age Of ten years,
comprised the whole of his educational priv
ileges, until the mornings and evenings Of
lsbor-spent days, in latter years, enable d
him to partake at the fountain of knowl-
edge. From the age Of ten to fourteen.
William was hired out to farmer at a
small compensation, nearly all his earnings
being given to his father. At the age of / 4
be was hired out to a contrac tor on the
Walhonding branch of the Ohio and Erie
Canal. driving dirt cart with Celtic and
Teutonic laborers After one year at this
employment, he hired to canal boat cap
tain and drove team on the tow-patk for
two seasons, between Roscoe and Cleveland
at $8 per month. The intervening winters
were spent in the healshful employment of
chopping wood at fifteen cents per cord. In
his seventeenth year he took his first seat
on the 6ench-a tailor's-as an apprentice
to learn the mysteries of .'gusset and seam.
Six months of waxing and stitching suficed,
young Stone craved more active life, and
exchanging the sleeve board and needle for
the plane and bit, he engaged himselfto Mr..
Dewey, of Coshocton, now Of Cedar Rapids,
in this State, to learn the cabinet-making
business; which employment he steadiiyfol
lowed day by day, and poured over his
books by night. until his admission to the
bar ID 1851 His commencement Of the
study of law vas made during the first year
Of his chair-making apprenticeship, with
Hon. James Mathews, formerly nem-
ber of Congress from the Coshocton
district, whose daughter he afterwards mar
ried. At the end Of a year work became
scarce in Coshocton, made so, perhaps by
the diligence of young Stone, who had he.
come remarkable as very expert workman.
and a "tramp" became necessary. Akron.
Ohio, was reached. and there were spent six
months Of chair-makine by day and reading
law books by night, kindly lent BY General
Lucius V. Bierce, q prominent lawyer of
that place. who took much interest in the
young student. Then came another scar
city of work and . second "tramp." Ra-
vena was now the haven ofrest TO. the la
bor-seeking traveller. Here chairs were
made and law books, pondered8 over as at
Coshocton and Akron. and here, too, the
student found a generous friend, in the per.
son Of Ezra B. Taylor, Esq, now leading
attorney of Warren. Trumbull county, Ohio,
who furnished him with books. At the
term oithe Supreme court held in Ravenna
in August, 1851, the patient industry of the
chair-making student was rewarded by his
successful adInittance to the bar. Now the
goal ofhis ambition had been reached. He
had commenced his legal studies more than
two years before without dime in his pock.
ct his wages up to that time being uni
formly given to his father Now he was
rich. After paying all bills be had just $50
in cash and his law library under that.
Whether invited thither by Cupid, or sin.
ply from attachment to his old benefactor
and legal preceptor more than to the daugh-
ter Of that gentlemen, we have been uupable
to learn certain it is that he at once re.
turrisd to Ooshocton, entered into partner
ship with Mr.. Mathews, soon had an extern
sive practice at a bar which embraced some