The Oskaloosa herald., 1913-01-02
C. ". SEEyERS'. RESIGNS
Counsel General Of Hawley Lines
Retires to Farm.

From a barefooted boy on an Iowa
farm to the richly furnished offices OF
the money kings OF Wall street and
then back to the Iowa farm with a
successful business record and splen.
did personal career to his credit is the
story of Hon. George w. Sewers, who
has resigned his Office as general
counsel for the Minneapolis Il ST.
Louis Railway company and the HaW-
ley railway Interests In general, to
reside on the farm on which he spent
his early days near Oskaloosa, where
he viii resume the practice of law
! Mr.. Sewers has one of the finest
dairy farms In Iowa, but the town,
like Mr.. Sewers, has grown some
since the day of stone bruises and
freckles and has absorbed forty acres
of the land of the 200 acre Sewers
homestead which used to be away
out in the country" but now Is a
model suburban home and on which
the owner will now resume permanent
residence.
Il am going to have the rest and re-
creation that | am entitled to-" said
Mr.. Sewers, land after a railroad
career of twenty years am going TO
try to get acquainted with my family
again" His Oskaloosa friends, and
they are legion, will share with the
family the pleasure of the permanent
presence of Mr.. Sewers In the cir
cIes that have known him so long
! The resignation, which has just
been accepted, has been contemplated
by Mr. Sewers for over two years
and close friends have known of his
proposed plans About two months
before Mr.. Hawley's sudden death in
New York, the resignation had been
rendered the railway company. The
death placed Mr.. Sewers in the posi-.
ton of the oldest man connected with
the official family of the HaWley pro-
perties, and he was induced at that
time to withdraw his resignation and
remain in the harness until the var
iOus companies could be recognized
and the new men at the helm be
guided carefully over the routes. This
was done and now that everything
has been readjusted, Mr.. Sewers has
stepped down and out and will be en-
abled to carry out his long cherished
plans.
/ George W. Sewers Is a native of
county, Sept. %, 1874. He was the
eldest son of family of three broth
ers, the other two being ex.Mayor
Byron V. Sewers. of OskalOoSa. and
w. A. Sewers, now of Des MoineS,
the owner of the large coal mines at
the town of Sewers, in Jasper couD-
| y. When George was about 8 years
old, his father, Robert Sewers, de-
cided to cast his lot in the new state
of Iowa and he became one of the
IpiOneer settlers of Mahaska county,
living to the ripe old age of 80. The
Sewers family came from Ohio to
Iowa in a covered wagon and was
over three weeks on the way, arriving
in Oskaloosa on the first day of June,
1853. They located at once on the
claim south of town., title to which
has remained in the family ever since.
The elder Mr.. Sewers gave much at
.tentiOn TO the cultivation of fruit and
had about seventy varieties growing
on his farm at one time. He served
as president of the Iowa State Agrt-
cultural Society for two years and as
a director of same for ten years. He
also took great interest in the Mahas-
| ka county fair and was president of
this organization for several years.
MANY Indian relics collected when
the red men were still numerous here
have been preserved by the family.
! 1t was amid these pioneer, but hap
by, surroundings that George Sewers
grew up. He attended the Oskaloosa
public schools, and was an early stu
dent in the then new institution OF
Oskaloosa College, from which he
graduated as a member of the first
class. Wishing to supplement his
| literary education with a course in
law he went to the University of Mich.
Iigan and graduated from the law
school there in 1865.
After his graduation he served as
clerk for Judge Cooley of the SUI
ipreme bench of Michigan, coming lat
er to Oskaloosa to engage in the prac-
tice of law. He entered into partner
| snip as the junior member of the law
| firm of Sewers & Sewers, the late
w. H. Sewers, chief justice of the
state of Iowa, being the senior mem.
Der OF the firm. Afterwards Mr..
Sewers went to lndianola, where,
upon the death of Mr.. Maxwell, of the
+ firm of Maxwell & Brown, he became
a partner with Colonel Brown. While
here he gained prominence as cor,
poration attorney and helped organize
the Great Western Railway company
and established 1t on a successful ca.
reer.
About 1890 he returned to OskalOo-
sa and again entered into partnership
with Judge Sewers, a partnership
which continued until the latter's
death. Later Mr.. Sewers was asso-