Representative Edgar Luther Hobbs View All Years
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Edgar Luther Hobbs
Calhoun County
born in New York, on September 27, 1837, his parents being Benjamin and Lucy (Beaman) Hobbs, the former a native of Massachusetts's, and the latter of Vermont. In the district .schools, E. L. Hobbs acquired his early education which was supplemented by study in Potsdam Seminary. At the age of twenty-four he left school and joined the Union army, enlisting in the fall of 1861 in Potsdam, as a member of Company A, Ninety-second New York Infantry, with which he went to the south, joining the Army of the Potomac. He participated in all the skirmishes and battles under Generals McClellan, Pope and Burnside. and for one year was in the regular service, after which he was assigned to the engineer corps, thus serving for a year when he was honorably discharged. Returning to St. Lawrence county, New York, Mr. Hobbs first engaged in teaching school but soon afterward sought a home in the west. Before coming to Iowa, however, he was married on the 1st of January, 1863, in New York, to Miss Kate Johnson, who was born in the northern part of the Empire state and was a daughter of D. D. and Caroline (Ingerson) Johnson. After his marriage Mr. Hobbs came to Benton county, lowa, where he engaged in the insurance business. After three years he took up his abode in Calhoun county in 1868 and not only engaged in farming and stock raising here, but was actively and prominently identified with educational interests as a school teacher. In 1871 he was elected superintendent of schools and filled that position most acceptably and creditably for four years. He has taught for a number of years in Calhoun county and his influence and labors in behalf of intellectual development have been most effective and commendable. During the greater part of his residence in Calhoun county, he has also been associated with agricultural pursuits and at one time owned and operated over four hundred acres of land. Mr. Hobbs is well fitted for leadership and has taken an active part in molding public thought and opinion in this portion of the state. His fellow citizens, recognizing his worth and ability honored him with election to the state legislature on the Republican ticket and he served as a member of the twenty-second and twenty-third general assemblies of Iowa. While in the house he acted as chairman of the education committee and was also on a number of other important committees. He gave to each question which came up for consideration his careful thought and attention, and his support of a measure indicated his firm belief in its efficiency for the public good. In his county he has served as a member of the board of supervisors and as a member of the school board, as township clerk, and in fact, in almost all local offices. He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic and is a most earnest, faithful and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church in which he served as class leader.
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