Hezekiah Cole Clock 1838-1919

CLOCK, ROSS, MAYNE

Posted By: cheryl Locher moonen (email)
Date: 9/13/2019 at 11:49:02

Evening Times-Republican, Friday, Aug 01, 1919, Marshalltown, IA, Page: 2

GENEVA MERCHANT IN BISNESS
FOR SIXTY YEAR
~
Hampton, Aug. 1. – H. C. Clock of Geneva, celebrated his eightieth birthday
Last Thursday. Captain Clock is Franklin County’s oldest merchant, and his 80th birthday was spent in active work in the H. C. Clock and Son’s big general store in Geneva.

He has been engaged in business at Geneva for practically forty-five years, hat surely is a record that very few men in Iowa have for continuous merchandizing at for one place, and vert few with a record for that length of time in business whether in one or more places. Mr. Clock first came from Franklin County, Illinois, in the year 1858, and after a short time here he returned to Illinois for a time and again came here in 1859. With his brother, E. L. Clock, an older brother, he worked at a store in Old Chapin, and later engaged in a business at Mayesville, six miles south of Hampton.

When the Civil War brought a coat to arms, Captain Clock was among the first ten men to go from Franklin County, and he is the only one of the ten pioneer veterans who is living at this place, Dr. M. H. Ross, of Hampton, being the ninth man to answer the final summons a few years ago. At the close off the war, Captain Clock retuned to Franklin County and continued his business at Mayesville.

When the old Iowa Central Railroad, now the M. & St. L. railroad, was built through Franklin County it was unable to get to Mayesville on account of the hills, and had to follow the line of least resistance, like all railroads did in those days, and follow along the low grounds. The town of Geneva, east of Mayesville about four miles, was laid out when the railroad reached that town in 1873, and Captain Clock was one of the first to set stakes and become a resident of the town with a railroad. He purchased the lots on which the Clock & Sons’ store now stands in august of that year, and started the erection of a store building, and in the latter part of September the building was completed and ready for occupancy, and the idea of freight coming right to your door by a railroad route was a great luxury not only to Mr. Clock, but his patrons and all other residents of the community, which, by the way, were not very numerous at that time. The territory of Geneva, as everyone knows, is now well developed, is populated by a fine class of people, and is one of the rich and productive agricultural districts of the country.

When Mr. Clock was engaged in business in Mayesville his first freight was hauled by horse and ox teams from Dubuque, and later from Independence and Waterloo, as the building of the Illinois Central railway progressed westward, and finally from Ackley, which at that time, seemed to be about as close a place to haul freight from as an ordinary business block would seem at this time. Some Buffalo roamed in Franklin County at that time, beaver was a trapping pastime amongst many early settlors along the Mayne’s Creek, and the “Indians” were among the early customers of the store at Mayesville.

Mr. Clock’s year of activity in business has extended over a period of sixty years, and it is doubtful if it can be equaled in Iowa. In his younger days he took an active interest in politics, and was one of the most influential Republicans in this part of the state. He served as postmaster of Geneva for fifteen years, and in fact was the first postmaster at that time. During the governorship of Governor Gear he was a member of the Governor’s staff, and accompanied Governor Gear on any official trip through the southern battlefields