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Subject: Bio of Henry P. Colt
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 06:56:42 EDT

A Narrative History
of
The People of Iowa
with
SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN
EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY,
BUSINESS, ETC.
by
EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M.
Curator of the
Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa
Volume IV
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc.
Chicago and New York
1931

HENRY P. COLT, who is treasurer and credit man of the Haw Hardware Company,
one of the leading wholesale concerns at Ottumwa, metropolis and judicial
center of Wapello County, is one of the veteran business men and honored and
influential citizens of this city, where he has maintained his residence more
than half a century and where his works and his influence have counted
definitely in connection with the civic and material development and progress of the
community.

On a farm in Monroe County, in the beautiful Genesee Valley of the State of
New York, the birth of Henry P. Colt occurred July 1, 1851, and he is a son
of Juda and Emeline S. (Brown) Colt, members of families early established in
the old Empire State. Mr. Colt was reared and educated in his native
commonwealth, and at Cameron, Missouri, he learned the trade of telepraphist, he
having thereafter continued several years as a skilled telegraph operator in the
service of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad and various other lines. In
the spring of 1875 Mr. Colt came to Ottumwa, Iowa in the capacity of
telegraph operator for the North Missouri, now part of the Wabash Railroad. In 1889
he became associated with the First National Bank of Ottumwa, with which he
continued his connection twelve years. He then became associated with the
organizing and incorporation of the Citizens State Bank, of which he served of a
time as cashier. In 1893 he was tendered and accepted the position of
bookkeeper for the wholesale hardware business of the Haw Hardware Company, with
which he has continued his alliance during the long intervening years and of
which he is now the treasurer and credit man. His association with the Haw
family in this connection and in the banking business has covered a period of
fully fifty years, and this record stands in evidence alike of his ability, his
loyalty and his progressiveness as a business man.

Mr. Colt gives his political allegiance to the Republican party, and he and
his wife have long been earnest members of the First Methodist Episcopal
Church of Ottumwa. In the various bodies of York Rite Masonry Mr. Colt has
passed official chairs, including that of eminent commander of Malta Commandery of
Knights Templars at Ottumwa, and his affiliations are extended also to the
Temple of the Mystic Shrine in the City of Davenport, Iowa. He has been a
member of the time-honored fraternity more than fifty-four years, and in
recognition of his loyal service in the Masonic fraternity he was presented, in
1920, with a fine watch, chain and Masonic emblem by fellow members of the
fraternity in Ottumwa. Mr. Colt has been likewise an appreciative member of the
Izaak Walton League, and each successive year finds him indulging in a fishing
trip of some kind, his piscatorial skill being still in evidence.
On the 28th of December, 1882, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Colt to
Miss Carrie J. Nicholson, who was born at Rome, New York, and who was a teacher
in the public schools of Ottumwa, Iowa, at the time of her marriage, she
being a daughter of John B. and Mary E. (Loomis) Nicholson, both likewise
natives of the State of New York. John B. Nicholson, who gave the greater part of
his active life to farm enterprise, was of English ancestry and his wife was
of Scotch-Irish lineage. Mrs. Colt has been a gracious figure in the social,
church and cultural life of Ottumwa, has membership in the Daughters of the
American Revolution and has been active in the affairs of various clubs in
her home city. Mary S., elder of the two children of Mr. and Mrs. Colt, is the
wife of Earnway Edwards, who is an executive in the great Chicago Mailorder
house of Montgomery Ward & Company, their home being in the suburban city of
Evanston and their two children being Eleanore Virginia and Marjorie Ruth.
Arthur Nicholson Colt, younger of the two children, is a talented portrait
artist and was the founder of the Colt School of ARt in Madison, capital city of
Wisconsin, of which he continues the executive head. His work as a portrait
artist has gained to him wide reputation, and his is the further honor of
having served as a soldier in the United States Army in the World war period.
The maiden name of his wife was Mary I. Niles, and their home at Madison,
Wisconsin, is brightened by the presence of their two children, John Nicholson
and Richard Niles.


Debbie Clough Gerischer
gerischer.rootsweb.com/

Iowa History Site
iagenweb.org/history/index.htm

Scott County
celticcousins.net/scott/index.htm

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