The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-06-25
A MODEST
VILLAGE
In Iowa Boyhood Home
of Great Men
HAS A WeRLp.BElTING RECORD
keosauqua Claims Three United
States Senators, Four Federal
Judges and Other NotabIes.


Judges and Other NotabIes.
Sioux City, Iowa, June 25.-The re-
from the bench of the eighth United
States circuit marks the departure
from public life of one of the last of
| the "Keosauqua colony" famous, at
least, in the west.
The little, provincial, way back
town Of KeOsauqua, Iowa, numbering
at its last census scarcely 1900 people
has, however, furnished to the Unit
ed States two United States district
judges, one United States circuit
Judge, one United State supreme
Judge, three United States senators
two members Of congress, one nOmi-
nee for governor. three millionaires.
two Of them having colossal fortunes.
one attorney general of Iowa. one
secretary Of state for Iowa, and one
member of the presidential cabinet
Among these men are Senator w.
A. Clark of Montana. the late A. G.
Davis, OF Montana, Judge Caldwell.
United States Senator George G..
| Wright, United States Senator J. B.
| Howell. Judge George w. MCCrary.
secretary Of war under President
Hayes, and John F. Dillon, the re
nOwned attorney Of New York city,
counsel for the Gould interests
There is no town Of any size in Iowa
that has produced half the prominent
men as the village of Keosauqua, and
it is certain that no town so small
anywhere else in the United States
can approach the Van Buren, county
metropolis.
How did it happen?" repeated c..
L. Wright of this city, son of Senator
Wright Il don't know and | have
never found any one who could ex-
plain it. One Of the remarkable
phases of it is that these men came
from all parts CT the east They just
CHANGED to land at Keosauqua"
Had to Seek 1t Out.
| 1t is certain tnat KeosauQua pos
sessed no attract oNs sufficient to &C
count for the settlement of disting-
uished personages. The town was
even smaller in those days and today
| has but one railroad. The men who
| became famous trudged overland or
rode horseback that they might find
| the place. Later the line of travel
passed up and down the Des Mones
river and as keosauqua was but
short distance above Keokuk, it was
natural that settlers should make
their way there.
| At that day and ever since the
village hOusehOlders sat on boxes in
| in the local stores and told yarns over
their whitfield sticks. Today, the peo-
| pie of keOsauqua point with pride
| to the products Of the village but
| they are still on the store boxes. The
town itself is a forgotten shell, like
a nest that has freed its larvae.
Advent of George WRIGHT.
George Wright in an early day left
his Indiana brother, Joseph, who la
ter became governor of Indiana and
! minister to Berlin under Lincoln. and
went TO st. Louis. At St. Louis he
bought a horse and rode up the Mis-
| sissippi river till he came TO the Des
MOines. when he turned 10 the north
west and followed its shores. He
came to a settlement of a hundred
struggling houses cIinging TO a high
bank and skirted by a graceful bend
Of the river. 1t was a likely spot ana
he stayed there
Here he found Joseph c. Knapp.
Just beginning as a lawyer. and they
decided TO become partners. Henry
Clay Caldwell came to Iowa when
about Is years old. He. too, went tC
KeosauQua. with his parents. He had
ambitions to be q lawyer, and Wright
& Knapp gave him the chance. After
studying with this firm a few years
he was admitted to the bar, and in
1856 the firm became Wright. Knapp
& CALDWELL Caldwell was soon sent
to the legislature, but went to the war
| when it broke out While he was
gone. George F. Wright. a cousin Of
| Knapp. was a member of the firm He
| is now at Council Bluffs, one of the
first attorneys at the state bar.
Caldwell became major of the
| Fourth Iowa cavalry and when he
came back from the war he settled at
Little Rock, Ark. There he was ap-
pointed United States district judge
prior to 1870. and later to the circuit
! bench.
| In the meantime, Wright had been
| elected to the state supreme bench,
in 1855, where he served till 1878,
when he was sent to the United
| States senate two terms, declining
reelection Knapp had no limitations
except that he was a democrat, which
was a shortening in Iowa. He was
twice nominated for governor and
once for supreme Judge, but majori-
ties were against him and he prac-
ticed in KeosauQua till his death
| years ago.
| Clark and Davis.
| In the meantime red headed boy
was playing with a few not very Sc
| lect companions in the streets, or.
rather street of BentonspOrt, a tiny
embryo of a town a few miles below
! Keosauqua Occasionally his father