The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-03-26


throughout the wide community. A
man Is gone whom everybody respect
ed and loved. He was no ordinary
man. His activity and culture were
touched with the fingers of genius. He
ranked among the eminent men OF
these times. The sorrow for his
death Is not confined to his home city,
his home county, nor his adopted
state. People in the states all over
this land and at the unions capital
either knew him personally or of his
name and fame. Mild and unassuming
he was the genius of the people--a
commoner among cCmmOners, yet,
with the innate bearing of a knight. A
commoner in the truest sense of the
word, yet Of knightly dignity and cour-
age. He possessed childs simple
Iity, yet the unchanging convictions
brave. true, honest man. So beautiful
was his life, tbs WELL" that death
dealt 30 gently with him. In the lines
that he pursued in connection with
his medical profession he stood at
the head of his class in Iowa and
! abreast of those in the nation. 1t is
truly said that "A prophet is not with
out honor except in his own country"
/ While DR.. Shaffer has always had
/ the highest esteem and even rever-
ence in this community and has been
regarded as a man of wisdom and
worth, many who mingled with him
/ almost daily at his home here, did
not appreciate the eminent ability or
/ this man of genius. His simple man
lners, with never trumpet to blow
/ his own praises, he passed along
4 through life hearing in his heart the
i simplest of teachings, the Fatherhood
4 Of GOD and the brotherhood of man.
True to his friends as the needle to
4 the pole and with no enemies, his life
was continuous path Of love and rec
4 titude. His like is rare In any COM
munity. With perfect methods in all
his transactions he could give correct
4 ANSWERS to all questions asked him of
4 occurrences Of certain kinds that hap
i pened in this community. His scrap
4 books, clippings and personal records
were voluminous, complete and very
valuable, forming splendid encyclo.
pedia Of the richest and rarest infor-
. nation. To the newspaper writer's he
was always lind, liberal and generous
in furnishing information from his
storehouse of facts
Fond Of little children, they recipro
Gated his love with the fondest and
simplest Of childish affection. In the
, death of DR.. Shaffer great and good
man has passed over the river; but,
!. Death is the crown Of life:
We're death denied, poor man would
live in vain
Death wounds to cure; we fall, we
rise, we reign:
Spring from our letters, fasten to the
skies,
Where blooming Eden withers from
our sight.
The king of terrors is the Prince o.
Peace"
Brief Life Story.
Joshua Monroe Shaffer, M. D.. wa.
born in Washington county, Pa, Sep
TENDER 10, 1880, and was the younges
of ten children. AT the age of thir
teen years, in 1S43, he entered Wash
ington college and was graduated IL
1S4S In 1S49 he began the study o
medicine at Elizabeth. under the tut
tion of his brother John E. Shaffer
M. D.. and attended lectures at the
University Of Pennsylvania. In 1856.
he came to Iowa and located at Fair
field and entered upon the practice o
his professions. In 1862, the honorar,
degree of medicine was conferred up
on him by the medical department o
the Iowa State University.
From 1862 to 1874 he was secretar.
of the Iowa State Agricultural socie
ty an institution born in his office il
Fairfield in 1853 and of which he wa.
secretary in 1885 In 1863 durins
the civil war he was appointed sur
geon of the board of enrolment fol
the first congressional district o
Iowa, and during the following tw,
years examined over five thousand
men in preparation to their admission
to the army.
In 1867 he was commissioned b!
the governor to represent Iowa at thu
Paris exposition, but the state failins
to provide for expenses, he wa
forced to resign. While a resident o
Fairfield he represented his county II
the state senate In the session o
1862.
Upon the organization of the low;
Life Insurance company in 1874, h
was elected its secretary and remoy
ed his residence to Keokuk He he'll,
that position during the life of tn
company.
During his residence In Iowa Dr.
Shaffer has always been careful
student in natural history, and mad
large collections in It's differen
branches. His several thousand spec
Jn,ons of stuffpd birds afc all hfa Ow'