Representative Alonzo J. Barkley View All Years

HON. ALONZO J. BARKLEY

MR. SPEAKER—Your committee appointed to prepare a memorial resolution commemorating the life, character and public service of Alonzo J. Barkley, of Boone county, Iowa, beg leave to submit the following:

Alonzo J. Barkley was born on a farm in Linn county, Iowa, March 27, 1842 and died suddenly at his home in Boone, Iowa, on Tuesday, December 18, at 4:40 p. m. He was the son of James Newton Barkley and Lydia Hobson Barkley. In the summer of 1856 he came with his parents to Boone county, and settled in Dodge township, about eight miles from Boonsboro. This boy grew up under the ·crude but exacting conditions of pioneer times. He there developed that powerful body which, in spite of serious wounds in the war, was to last for more than eighty years. During the hard toil of his boyhood days, Mr. Barkley laid the lines of a practical education that was to mark him as a leader. Mr. Barkley’s mother organized the first Sunday school of Dodge township.

His first step to a long life of public duties was taken on the court house grounds in Boonsboro, August 11, 1862, when he took the oath of a soldier in Company D, Thirty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry. This company was soon in service in Missouri and Arkansas and finally in 1864 it was made a part of Banks’ Red River expedition. In April, after hard and bitter fighting, the company was captured and Private Barkley received dangerous wounds. It was a question of months and nearly years as to his ultimate recovery but his clean life, due to the training of his Quaker mother, plus his own will to win, won the victory for health and strength.

In March, 1865, he took the second step that was to mean so much in his development and advancement,—he entered Cornell College at Mt. Vernon. He was allowed one year there, for his father died in the next spring, but it was this year that deepened his desire for learning and strengthened his habits of study that resulted in a life-long association with the strongest and best books. He returned to the farm to help his mother make a living. In November, 1866, he was elected county recorder and he served for two terms.

In 1884 he was one of the organizers of the Boone County Bank. Five years later he became the president. He filled this position and actively managed the bank until 1911 when he sold his interest and retired. In 1899 he was elected to the House of Representatives of the Iowa General Assembly and served two terms. In both terms his name, his vote and influence were connected with some of the most constructive measures before the assembly, especially with the development of the library commission and the spreading of its influence throughout the state. For ten years he was trustee of Cornell College.

For more than fifty years he had been a member of Mt. Olive Lodge, No. 79, A. F. & A. M., and four times master of the lodge. He has long been a member, also, of the Chapter Commandery and Mystic Shrine. Two other organizations have had a life-long place in the interests of Mr. Barkley—the J. G. Miller Post of the G. A. R., and Methodist church. Probably his last public function was at a reception for the members of the G. A. R., where he delighted the company with some of his war memories as few veterans could do. For sixty-seven years he has been a member of the Methodist church and held about every office open to a layman. For years he has been a trustee and leader in this church—being in his place at the services only a few days ago. For many years and at the time of his death he was the president of the East Linwood Cemetery association.

Mr. Barkley married Miss Henrietta Trickey, November 6, 1866, who died in 1889. On July 28th, 1891, he was united in marriage to Miss Flora Spencer. For more than thirty years their hospitable home has been one of the social and cultural centers of Boone.

He was a man who, during his lifetime, in a quiet and unassuming way, gave many a helping hand for which he is held in tender remembrance by those to whom the assistance was extended and these memories will unite to render him a great and unusual monument.

Therefore, Be It Resolved, That the House of Representatives take this occasion to present this tribute to the memory of a faithful public servant, and to express appreciation of his character and public service and at the same time to extend to his bereaved family its sincere sympathy in their sorrow, and,

Be It Further Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the Journal of the House and the chief clerk be instructed to forward an engrossed copy of same to the family of the deceased.

W. S. CRISWELL,

A. O. HAUGE,

C. E. ANDERSON,

Committee

Adopted April 12, 1923.