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From: "Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert" <>
Subject: [IADECATU] DEATH OF DR. J.S. CASTER.
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 18:31:22 -0500


Decatur County Journal
July l6, l9l4

DR. J.S. CASTER, cousin of J.A. and J.M. CASTER, of Leon, passed away at
his home in Burlington Friday morning of last week, after an illness of
about three weeks. DR. CASTER was born in Decatur County, but left here
many years ago. He had been prominent in the affairs of Burlington and
that portion of the state for years and was one of that city's best
known citizens. The funeral was held Monday of the present week. The
following account of the death of DR. CASTER appeared in the Burlington
Hawkeye last Friday morning:

DR. J.S. CASTER, a widely known and greatly honored citizen of
Burlington, passed away at his home on North Fourth Street at l o'clock
this morning. He had been ill but a few weeks, and few of his friends
even knew that his sickness was anything fatal. He had been of so
rugged a nature that those who knew him best little thought that disease
would lay him low.

Some three weeks ago DR. CASTER began to show signs of breaking health,
and he was persuaded to give up his practice for the summer. He
consented to this with reluctance and his many patients were notified
that for the first time since he began the healing art, he would not
receive them at his customary hours until next August.

Meanwhile, his condition became alarming, and a consultation of
physicians was called who held out little hope to the members of his
family and his friends. There was hope that in spite of this the doctor
would get better, and for a time this seemed likely to be true. But the
disease which was a complication of the kidneys, slowly made its power
felt, and by yesterday little hope of the doctor's recovery was
entertained by anyone.

The death of DR. CASTER will be keenly felt by thousands of people in
Burlington, who have come to honor and respect him for his sterling
qualities of honesty, and his keenness of judgment in all matters of
private and public life. As Mayor of Burlington, during l904 and l905
he introduced many reforms, and was accorded the distinction of being
one of the best chief executives Burlington ever had. As member of the
council previous to this he was a power for good in every class of
legislation. As a citizen, Burlington has never possessed one that had
done more for his place of residence in the matter of high ideas and
broad, constructive policies.

A native of Iowa, DR. CASTER was born in Franklin Mills, Decatur County,
September l5, l860, his parents being DR. PAUL and NANCY (HATFIELD)
CASTER. His paternal grandfather, JOHN CUSTER, for so the name was then
spelled, was of German lineage, of an ancestry that was represented in
Pennsylvania at an early day. He removed from the Keystone state to
Hagerstown, Ind., becoming one of the pioneers of that locality, and
there DR. PAUL CASTER was born and reared. The latter, subsequent to
his marriage, and the birth of their eldest child, came with his family
to Iowa, settling in Decatur County, where he early followed the
wheelwright's trade and also engaged in the milling business, being one
of the pioneer representatives of industrial interests there. In l866
he took up the profession of magnetic healing and gained wide and
lasting reputation by his skill and efficiency. Removing to Ottumwa,
Ia., he erected a building there in l869, at a cost of eighty-six
thousand dollars--now the Ottumwa Hospital. There he treated people
from all parts of the world, patients coming to him from distant
sections of this country, as his fame demonstrated by the practical
results that attended his efforts. He died in April l88l, while his wife
passed away when her son, JACOB, was but two years old. PAUL CASTER
married, second, MRS. SARAH FERL, a widow of a soldier who was killed at
Lookout Mountain, Tenn.

To the first marriage was born DR. J.S. CASTER. Accompanying his
parents to Ottumwa, Ia., when about eight years old, DR. CASTER
continued his education in the public schools of that city, and later
entered the Commercial College, from which he was graduated.
During the last five years of his father's life he was associated with
him in practice as superintendent of his infirmary. It was the father's
earnest desire that the son should take up his profession, but DR. J.S.
CASTER refused because of the close confinement necessitated in the
conscientious performance of the duties involved. Instead he turned his
attention to the machinist's trade and for nearly nine years was in the
service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company in that
capacity.
He came to Burlington while so employed, and while still in the railroad
service he treated a number of charity cases here, his sympathy being
aroused and his broad humanitarian principles promoting his ready aid in
behalf of those who had not the means to secure other professional
treatment. The cures he effected drew to him the attention of many of
the citizens of Burlington, and many pleaded with him to treat members
of their families.

Thus, without effort on his part, he gradually worked into a practice
that made heavier and heavier demands upon his time and attention,
energies into the channels of magnetic healing, and in l889 he opened
his office. Since that time patients have come to him in Burlington
from forty different states and territories, extending from Maine to
California, and from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico. Since
the 3rd of September, l89l, he has kept a record of his business, having
given eighty thousand treatments, of which thirty-four thousand were to
residents of Burlington, showing his high position in the public regard
in his adopted city.

In his political views, DR. CASTER has always been a Republican, and the
questions and issues of the day have claimed his earnest consideration
and careful thought. He has come to be recognized as a leader in the
ranks of his Party in Burlington, and in l879, was chosen alderman,
being the first Republican elected to office in the Third ward in many
years.

In l904, named as his Party's candidate for the highest office within
the gift of the city, he was elected Mayor of Burlington by a plurality
of l992, the largest received by any Mayoralty candidate in Burlington.
Thus with the endorsement of public opinion, he entered the office, the
ballot has been in no degree set and the favorable regard evinced in or
modified as he discharged the onerous duties which devolved upon him.

When he took the office after a Democratic Administration there was an
indebtedness for completed contracts amounting to $l08,992, and yet DR.
CASTER was enabled to do a larger amount of paving, repairing and other
practical and beneficial work. The (?) from the police department
averaged over eight hundred dollars per month, against less than
one-half that amount in previous times. His administration of the
affairs of the city was conducted along strictly business lines,
appealing to the sound judgment and keen discernment of the citizens,
and his course won for him high encomiums.

He was elected President of the Iowa League of Municipalities at the
Convention held at Burlington in October, l905.

On the 23rd day of March, l880, DR. CASTER married MISS MARY BIEDERMAN,
formerly of Ottumwa, Ia. They had four children, but the first born
died at the age of eight months. The others are CHARLES E. of
Burlington, who married ANNA E. STOERZBACH; MABEL B. and MARY E. at
home.

DR. CASTER was a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. He
resided in a beautiful home at the corner of High and Fourth Streets in
one of the most attractive residence portions of the city.

Through the open door of opportunity, which is the pride of our American
life, DR. CASTER made his way to professional, social and political
prominence, and in the light of public criticism, whereby every
individual is judged, his course will bear the closest investigation,
and cannot fail to awaken admiration. A blending of geniality and
dignity in his manner of courtesy and kindness in his deportment, of big
purpose and honorable action in his political career, he stood among the
representative business men of Burlington--an honor to the city which
honored him with high official preferment.
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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
February l, 2002

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