JOHN F. MERRY was born in Summit County, Ohio, March 24, 1844. He came to Iowa with his parents in an emigrant wagon in 1856, his father locating on a farm in Delaware County. The son secured an education in the public schools and became a teacher. In 1880 he entered the service of the Illinois Central Railway Company as excursion agent, making himself so useful that he was soon promoted to general western passenger agent, and finally to assistant general passenger agent of the entire system. Captain Merry served in the Civil War, as a private first in the Twenty-first Infantry. He afterwards recruited and was elected a lieutenant in Company F, of the Forty-sixth Regiment. He was on the staff of General Fairchild in the Grand Army of the Republic, and was the originator of the law converting the battle-field of Vicksburg into a National Park. Captain Merry was a member of the Iowa Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition Commission. He has given special attention to the agricultural and commercial development of the country traversed by the Illinois Central Railroad system and has published several works of interest among which are “Where to Locate New Factories,” “The Southern Homeseekers' Guide,” and the “Industrial Outlook for New Orleans.” Captain Merry has held the following important positions: assistant general passenger agent of the Illinois Central Railway Company, secretary and assistant treasurer of the Dunlieth & Dubuque Bridge Company, secretary and treasurer of the Iowa Land & Loan Company, secretary and assistant treasurer of the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad Company, and secretary and assistant treasurer of the Fort Dodge & Omaha Railroad Company. He is a prominent Republican, serving as delegate to the Republican National Convention at St. Louis in 1896.
STILLMAN T. MESERVEY was born at De Witt, Illinois, December 17, 1848, and was educated in the public schools and at Clinton Liberal Institute, New York. His father removed to Homer, then in Webster County, in 1854, and after the removal of the county-seat from that place made his home in Fort Dodge, where Stillman grew up to manhood. He was an active Republican and in 1885 was elected Representative in the House of the Twenty-first General Assembly and in 1902 he was again a member of the Twenty-ninth Assembly. He was one of the three Fort Dodge men who were the pioneers in developing the great gypsum deposits in that vicinity and became one of the directors of the Iowa Plaster Association. He has long been president of the First National Bank of Fort Dodge and of the Fort Dodge Power & Light Company, having also other large financial interests.
GEORGE METZGAR was born in Germany, April 19, 1845. His father, who was engaged in the Revolution of 1848-9 became an exile, coming with his family to the United States in 1850. The son received his education in the common schools and in 1862 enlisted in the One
