Senator Robert C. Stirton View All Years

ROBERT C. STIRTON

MR PRESIDENT—Your committee appointed to prepare resolutions commemorative of the life, character and public service of Senator Robert C. Stirton, late of Jones county, Iowa, beg leave to report the following memorial:

Mr. Stirton was born in Devonshire, England, April 2, 1861. His father and mother were Robert and Anne Stirton, both natives of Scotland. The father died when Robert was only two years of age, and shortly thereafter he was taken by his mother to Scotland, where they lived until 1871. During that year the widow and her son and daughter immigrated to America, and first located in Delaware county, Iowa. In 1873, they removed to Monticello, which had since been Mr. Stirton’s home. He worked upon farms in the vicinity of Monticello during the summer months, while a youth, and attended the Monticello schools during the winter seasons and therein acquired a practical education, which was added to during the entire period of his life by his individual investigations and his ardent desire to secure knowledge. He never, during his entire lifetime, ceased to be a learner. He was a constant reader of good books, which included those of a serious and educational nature, and having a good mind and memory, he assimilated what he read, and as a result, he became an intelligent, well informed man.

After leaving school he taught school for several terms in the country, and in 1887, he was appointed assistant postmaster, but resigned that position three years later to enter the employment of G. W. and G. L. Lovell, early and successful bankers of Monticello. In 1897, when the private banking concern of G. W. and G. L. Lovell was organized as a state bank, he was selected as its cashier, and held that office for 24 years.

In 1903, Mr. Stirton was nominated upon the democratic ticket for state senator, from Jones and Cedar counties, and was elected by a majority of 471 votes. He served during the Thirtieth, Thirty-first and Thirty-second General Assemblies. He introduced the two cent fare bill at the first session in which he participated, and he favored the passage of the anti-pass law, which in that session lost by only one vote. He also favored a primary election law, and voted for the resolution to elect United States senators by the direct vote of the people. He voted for the pure food law, the law to regulate and prohibit child labor, and in one of his later terms, for the anti-pass bill, which then became a law. In 1907, he was nominated for congress by the democratic party from the Fifth district, but failed to be elected, because of the overwhelming republican majority in the district. In 1908, he was candidate for presidential elector from the Fifth congressional district on the·democratic ticket. Mr. Stirton, during his legislative career, had the confidence of the republican members, as well as his political associates in the assembly. At one time he was offered a position upon the state board of control.

Mr. Stirton, because of his wide reading, and a temperament that took note of the humors and foibles of life, was an agreeable companion. He was a careful and frugal business man whose word was regarded with the same degree of sanctity as a written undertaking. He was painstaking in his business transactions, and his reports on all matters of trust were always accurate, and expressed with a clarity that made them plain beyond the possibility of mistake. He loved his family, and his constancy of devotion to his wife, long an invalid, indicated a phase of his character, which the friends who knew him best did not expect to be otherwise.

Mr. Stirton, through the opportunities created by his public life, acquired an acquaintanceship that extended over the state, but here where he was best known, he always remained “Bob.” He liked the intimacy of companionship that justified such a familiarity. He was a splendid citizen, and in his death, Monticello loses not only a good business man, but one whose interests were above and beyond the routine of business, and whose sympathies were as broad as the wants of humanity.

Robert C. Stirton was a good man, an honest, upright citizen, neighbor and friend. He was one of God’s noblemen, the very type of true manhood, he aimed to be just to his fellowmen, to treat all with whom he came in contact with due consideration. He never once entertained a feeling of animosity against a friend or a neighbor. On the contrary, his hand always reached out in recognition of worth, surely there was goodness in the heart beat of every man. His geniality and kindly sympathetic nature made him a beloved companion everywhere. A true man and a noble citizen of our state has gone to his reward.

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved, By the Senate of the Fortieth General Assembly of Iowa, that in the death of Senator Robert C. Stirton, the state and community where he lived has suffered the loss of a true and honorable citizen; and

Be It Further Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the journal of the Senate and that the secretary be directed to send an engrossed copy thereof to the family of the deceased.

J. K. HALE,

BRYON W. NEWBERRY,

CARL W. REED.

The resolutions were adopted unanimously.