The Waite Family of Des Moines County, Iowa

JOHN WAITE, a farmer and stock-raiser residing on section 14, Flint River Township, Des Moines Co.. Iowa, was born in Ontario County, N. Y., May 24, 1810, and is a son of John and Abigail (Cranston) AVaite, also natives of that State. Seven children were born to them, but only three are now living: Our subject, Samuel, and Mary, widow of Thorne Smith, and now a resident of Portland, Mich. The father of these children died at the home of our subject, in Portage County, Ohio.

John Waite received his education in his native county, and there followed various occupations until eighteen j'ears of age, when he learned the cooper's trade, which vocation he followed for about thirty-ears. About the year 1830 he removed to Ravenna, Portage Co., Ohio, there carrying on the cooper's business, and remaining until 1867. In the meantime, in that city, he was united in marriage with Miss Martha A. Clark, who was born in Tallmadge, Portage Ctiunty, Feb. 1, 1819, and is a daughter of Ephraim and Alia Amelia (Sperry) Clark, the former a native of Massachusetts, and the latter of Connecticut. Her parents emigrated to Ohio about the year 1796, at a time when the Stale was very thinly settled, following a trail which was marked by the blazing of trees.

Mr. and Mrs. Waite have been the parents of three children, born in Portage County, Ohio: Amelia, who died when three years old; John L., now manager and chief editor of the Burlington Hawkeye; Mary Ella became the wife of John M. Eads, and after his death wedded Randall M. Hartzell, a farmer of Chautauqua County, Kan. On their arrival in Des Moines County, Mr. and Mrs. Waite took up their residence in Burlington, where he embarked in the grocery business, which he carried on for a year, then formed a partnership with John P. Leebrick, and later, in connection with a Mr. Lockwood, engaged as a commission merchant. In 1870 he removed to the farm on section 14, Flint River Township, consisting of eighty acres of tine land, with many good improvements, and here he has since made his home. Mr. and Mrs. Waite have, for almost a half-century, been active and devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Waite has held various minor offices of his township, in which he is one of the leading citizens. He takes his stand strongly in favor of the temperance movement, and the enforcement of prohibition laws, and is an ardent Republican in politics.

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOHN L. WAITE.

The name of John L. Waite has figured conspicuously and honorably in connection with the history of journalism in Iowa. He is today one of the veteran editors of the state, and who can measure the influence that he has exerted through his editorial writings and his championship of many measures and projects which he has believed to be for the benefit of the commonwealth? He was born in Ravenna, Ohio, August 29, 1840.

The ancestry of the family is traced back to England, and the name seems to be of English lineage. A contemporary biographer has written the family history as follows: "The word 'Wait,' anciently spelled Wayghte, Waiet, Wayte, and with other variations, is derived from the Old High German Wachten (to keep watch), and, in the sense of guard or watchman, is common to all the Teutonic languages. The original Waytes were found in England, immediately after the Norman Conquest, only among the retailers of the king, prices and great barons; and among their other functions was that of music and minstrelsy. The name frequently occurs in the British records. In A. D.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CLAY MILTON WAITE.

Clav Milton Waite is the business manager and part owner of the Burlington Hawk-Eye, w ith which paper he has been identified for more than a quarter of a century. He was born in Burlington, October 9, 1866, a son of John Leman and Letitia C. (Williams) Waite. The public schools afforded him his early educational opportunities and later he attended IUiott's Business College. He afterward taught bookkeeping and had charge of the business e.change in the business college for one year. He made his initial step in the business world as bill clerk for the Drake Hardware Company and afterward accepted a clerkship in the Burlington postoftice. where he remained for four years. He then came to the Burlington Hawk- Eve as bookkeeper in 1888 and advancement in recognition of his ability made him assistant business manager. In IQ04 he became business manager and has since controlled the commercial interests of the paper, of which he became a part owner in 1908.

On the 9th of March, 1892, at Burlington, Iowa, Mr. Waite was united in marriage to Miss Ida May Southwell, a daughter of Calvin Bradley and Lydia Southwell. Mrs. Waite is very active in both church and club work, ofttimes taking a position of leadership in those connections. Both Mr. and Mrs. Waite are Methodists in religious faith and he is a member of the official board of the church. For fifteen years he was a member of the Burlington Boating Association until it disbanded and at the present writing he has membership with the Golf Club, which indicates something of the nature of his recreation. In politics he has been a lifelong republican, never serving from the standards of the party. His position upon any vital question is never an equivocal one and his indorsement of a measure is a strong influence in its support.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CHARLES WESLEY WAITE.

TiiiiKK is probably no one among the traveling men of the Mississippi valley who is more favorably known and respected than the subject of this review. He has been on the road practically all his life, and by his energy, ability, and courtesy has achieved success and made a host of friends all along the line.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

From childhood Mr. Waite had been raised in the Methodist faith, and was one of the most devoted members of this church, always taking much interest in the Sunday-school work, where he was superintendent for many years. He was also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His death occurred in Dayton, Ohio, in 1890, in the seventy-third year of his age. He had assisted in many ways to make the city a prosperous and thriving one, and his death was mourned by all who knew him, as his influence had ever been for good, and will be long felt after his very name shall have passed out of the minds of men.

Mrs. Waite, mother of our subject, was born in Perth Amboy, a city on the coast of Xew Jersey, and when very young went to Dayton with her parents, where she grew to womanhood, and where she was married. She, too, was an earnest member of the Methodist church, and was a woman of much refinement and culture, who took rare delight in doing good for others. In 1871 she passed away in the city of Dayton, which had been her beloved home for so many years; and there in the beautiful cemetery, in the shade of the trees, she and her husband are buried.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.