F. M. Witter

PROF. F. M. WITTER

At the death of Professor Witter, Professor W. F. ChevaHer penned the following account of his life, which was read before the Iowa State Teachers Association: "Superintendent Witter was born August 15, 1839, at St. Joseph, near South Bend, Indiana, and with his parents in 1850 removed to Delaware county, Iowa, making the trip overland in covered wagons, assisting his father in opening a farm on Elk creek. There was almost no opportunity to attend school there for four years. Again calling into service the covered wagons, the family removed to Leon, Decatur county, where they settled on government land. A log schoolhouse was built in the neighborhood the same year and winter school of about four months was maintained, which he attended. In 1858, when yet a mere boy, he went as a herdsman with a division of the United States army from Fort Worth to Fort Lorraine, in the Rocky Mountains. From there he drove a team of six yoke of oxen in a train of twenty-six wagons back to Nebraska City, Nebraska. He had a rich experience among animals, buffalo and Indians, and became familiar with the overland stage and pony express. He returned to Leon in the late fall of 1858 and was soon appointed to represent Decatur county at the normal department of the State University at Iowa City. He attended an academy at Leon in the winter of 1858-59, to prepare for this work. In the summer of 1859 he taught a country school. Later he entered the State University.at--Iwva:.City, receiving therefrom the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Mast,e;M Arts: -After leaving the university, he taught school in Johnson county for five months, then he went to Davenport, where he served as principal of one iai.ih6r.ward schools for two years. He then came to Muscatine, having been'ele'cted "tothe principalship of the school then called No. 2. This was in the fall of 1864. He then began the organization of the schools of Muscatine, putting them upon a plane of equality with the best schools of the state. His heart was in the work. With him it was a labor of love. The Muscatine Journal fitly expresses what the citizens of Muscatine generally feel toward his work in the city schools in the following words: 'The organization and the present high standard of the Muscatine schools are the result in a large measure of his ability and energetic work and are a fitting tribute to the man who through nearly half a century never lost sight of the needs of the school children and never failed to devote his best efforts to increase their opportunities for learning.' Later he established the high school and was its first principal. The fame of the Muscatine high school under his management and tuition was known far and wide, for he was preeminently a teacher. Consequently in this work he was most happy. For many years he was both principal of the high school and superintendent of the city schools. In 1873 he made an extended tour of the middle land and New England states and attended the summer school of natural science on Penikese Island in Buzzard's Bay, under the management of Louis Agassiz. Here he sat at the feet of this great teacher and became one of his devoted disciples. The scientific spirit and inspiration that he there imbibed, he has since transmitted to a large number of equally devoted disciples of his own. Mr. Witter's reputation in biology and geology was more than local. At the close of the winter of 1881, Mr. Witter resigned his school in this city to accept the superintendency of a coal company organized in Muscatine, to operate in What Cheer. He spent two years in opening and operating coal mines. In the spring of 1883 he bought a small farm three miles from this city on the Moscow road, intending to engage in small fruit growing and bee culture. The board of education in Muscatine, in August, 1885, without solicitation on his part, unanimously invited him to the superintendency of the schools, which invitation he accepted. He served the city in this capacity until June, 1901. Following his retirement from the management of the city schools, he was elected to the position of county superintendent. He served three terms, a total of seven years."

The Muscatine News-Tribune spoke of his work as county superintendent in the following words: "He was exceptionally well equipped for the office, both mentally and morally, and never considered that politics had anything to do with his incumbency or administration. His work in the position was more than that of an officeholder. He cared more to please than to perpetuate his tenure. He loved children and children loved him, as the throngs in his office on Saturdays attested. His whole life had been spent in educational work, devoted to organizing and directing the teachers under him to give their best efforts to their pupils, and to increase the efficiency of the educational system. He spent most of his time visiting the rural schools (not once a year nor once in two years) but once or twice a term, and spent nights with the parents and patrons discussing plans for the further improvement of the schools. That his work and interest were appreciated was shown by the absence of opposition in the party convention and splendid majorities given him at three successive elections."

Mr. Witter was an active member of the Iowa State Teachers' Association from 1863 until his removal to Mississippi in the winter of 1908. He filled various offices in the gift of the association. He was its honored president at the forty-ninth session in 1903. He was very proud of the fact that it came to him unsolicited on his part. He was at the home of his brother, David Witter, in Des Moines, the morning after his election, wholly unaware that anything personal to himself had transpired at the association, when his brother picked up the Des Moines Register and read to him the notice of his election, much to his astonishment. But this was thoroughly characteristic of the man. He was wholly unselfish and as far removed from self-seeking as it is possible for a man to be. Whatever honor came to Mr. Witter came to him because of his sterling worth. He was, also, an active member of the National Association and attended regularly its meetings in various parts of the United States. He was especially interested in the meetings of the department of superintendents of the National Association. In all phases of his educational work, he was: "One who never turned his back but marched breastforward

Never doubted clouds would break.

Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph

Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better.

Sleep to wake." On the loth of July, 1867, Professor Witter was united in marriage to Miss Harriet H. Cook, a daughter of George and Sarah (Brewster) Cook, of whom mention is made in connection with the biography of S. B. Cook on another page of this work. Professor and Mrs. Witter became the parents of two daughters and a son: Anna, who is the wife of Herbert Howe, of Jackson,

Mississippi, and has two sons, Donald Witter and Joshua Brewster Howe; Nellie, who is the widow of Clyde Lewis Dove and resides at Biloxi, Mississippi, with one son, Wilbur Reece Dove; and Louis A. Witter, a grocer of Biloxi, Mississippi, who married Florence Morrison and has two children, Louis Finley and Mary Brewster Witter.

At his own fireside Professor Witter was a devoted husband and father and in his home love was a ruling element. There it was that his loss was most deeply felt and yet there was perhaps no one among the many students who came under his instruction that did not feel deep regret at his passing, he had done so much for Iowa in an educational way. He was one of the founders of the Iowa Academy of Science, was for a time its president and until recently a member of the Association for the Advancement of Science and the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He became a recognized authority on conchology and was equally versed on geology and botany, in which connections he gathered many rare and interesting relics and specimens. He was also a taxidermist and his bird mountings constituted a valuable collection. The spirit of science became a paramount one in the schools and the splendid botanical, physical and chemical laboratories of the school indicated the planning and supervision of a trained scientist.

In this connection one who knew him well said: "But he was more than a skilled scientist, he was a great teacher. His teaching was of that type commended by our friend Mr. Sabin which is saturated with life-giving energy and so reproduces its own spirit in the learned and multiplies itself in many hearts. I have met many men whose hair, whitened with the frosts of many winters, still delight to make known their obligations to Mr. Witter and to call themselves his boys. I see daily a great corps of teachers, most of whom received their educational nurture under him and whose spirit still lives in them. What a tribute to the worth of the man, that after fifty years of labor in one community, his spirit is still potent and multiplying itself in a host of active, capable teachers of a new generation. As these strong men were proud to call themselves Mr. Witter's boys, so just as truly are these young teachers Mr. Witter's girls. It is said that the great Swiss-American biologist, Louis Agassiz, who touched Mr. Witter's hps and life with the teaching spirit, asked that his epitaph should be the single word 'Teacher.' So were I to write the epitaph of him whose life we commemorate today I would have carved upon the memorial that marks his resting place, 'Finley M. Witter, Teacher, Friend and Guide to Teachers.' "

As printed in History of Muscatine County, Iowa, from the earliest settlements to the present time; (1911). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.