CHANTRY, Alfred L.

CHANTRY, RAINS, BEATTIE, BLAYLOCK, KLINE, ROSS, HANING, RHODE, CRANDAL

Posted By: Volunteer (email)
Date: 10/17/2004 at 10:17:43

Harlan, Edgar Rubey.
A Narrative History of the People of Iowa. Vol IV. Chicago:
American Historical Society, 1931, p. 183

ALFRED L. CHANTRY. Well established in the practice of law at Sidney, Fremont County, is Alfred L. Chantry, a citizen of high standing. A man of sound and practical knowledge of the law and its various perplexities, his legal ability has been so generally recognized from the start that many of the most important cases of litigation in Fremont County during the past few years have been placed in his hands and have been satisfactorily disposed of. He is able to name among his clients many corporations and banks, together with personalities widely known in business circles throughout the state, and his practice is correspondingly large and important.

Alfred L. Chantry was born in Page County, Iowa, February 20, 1870, and is a son of Allen J. and Harriet (Rains) Chantry. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Chantry, was born in England, of Quaker stock, and was a man of splendid intellectual abilities. At the age of twenty-one years he immigrated to the United States and first was a resident of Pennsylvania, where he married, and later pushed on to Iowa, settling on a farm near Salem. Later he lived in Henry County and finally went to Guthrie County, where he reared his family on a farm and died at the age of sixty-two years, highly respected by all who knew him. He was a man of education, who had taught school when he was twenty-one years of age, and therefore was able to assist his own sons greatly in securing their educational training. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Chantry, Henry Rains, was born in North Carolina, and as a young man went to Sedalia, Missouri, where he purchased land. Being a strong abolitionist, he found himself in bad favor with the supporters of slavery in Missouri, and in 1858 moved to Iowa, where he had purchased land two years before. There he rounded out his life in the pursuits of the soil.

Allen J. Chantry was born near Salem, Henry County, Iowa, in 1841, and although the family was of staunch Quaker stock and people of peace, on the day he was twenty-one years of age he enlisted in the Union army for service during the war between the states, and was elected lieutenant of his company. During his three years of service he rose to the rank of captain, through gallant service, although he was always known as "Colonel," due to the fact that at the close of the civil war he was offered a commission as colonel if he would remain in the regular army, a position he declined.

A Republican in politics, he was one of the most active men of his day and community in public affairs. He was sent to the State Legislature from Page County in 1874 and served one term, and in 1886 was sent to the same body from Mills County and served two terms, later serving in the State Senate from 1890 to 1894. Among his political friends were Governor J.W. Grimes, Governor Kirkwood, Albert B. Cummins, and General Dodge, and was a personal friend of Judge George Wright, John Henry Gear and united States Senator William Boyd Allison. Mr. Chantry was always identified with the movements promulgated for the betterment and advancement of his community. During the greater part of his life he was a farmer and a progressive one. His first farm was owned in Page County, where he settled after the war, in 1865, and accumulated 460 acres of land.

In 1882 he moved to Mills County where he purchased the homestead of his wife's parents, and there resided until his retirement, when he went to Ocean Side, California, and there died January 20, 1927. He was a member of the Masons and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Near Malvern, Iowa, Mr. Chantry was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Rains, who was born near Sedalia, and they became the parents of seven children: Marcus H., who is engaged in the real estate business at Omaha, Nebraska; Warren, who is a farmer and stock raiser at Oklahoma; Alfred L., of this review; Lillian C., the wife of Henry C. Beattie, of Malvern, Iowa; F.R., who is engaged in farming near Malvern; Elsie, the wife of Thomas H. Blaylock, a merchant of Pasadena, California; and Allen J., a commander in the United States navy.

Alfred L. Chantry attended the country schools near his father's farm and the high school at Malvern, following which he entered the law department of the University of Iowa, from which he was graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Laws as a member of the class of 1892. Admitted to practice the same year, for two years he was engaged in his profession at Bedford, Iowa, in association with J.P. Flick, and then for a time was located at Malvern. After spending two years at Tabor he was elected county attorney in the fall of 1904, and served in that capacity for two years. Mr. Chantry has been engaged in practice at Sidney since 1904, and has been county attorney of Fremont County on two different occasions. He has a high standing in his profession and is a member of the Iowa Bar Association and the American Bar Association. Mr. Chantry has always been active in Republican politics and wields a strong influence in his party. Aside from his profession he takes the greatest interest in farming and stock raising, being the owner of 225 acres of land, on which he carries on general farming and the raising of Shorthorn cattle. With his family he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his religious benevolences are numerous. Fraternally he belongs to the Masons and the Knights of Pythias.

In 1892 Mr. Chantry was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Kline, who died in 1915, leaving nine children, all of whom are living: Paul, who resides at home and assists his father; W.O., who like his brother, Paul, went through the World war and served in France, Paul being in the army and through the Argonne sector and with the Army of Occupation in Germany, while W.O. served in the navy four four years and is now an electrical engineer at Binghamton, New York; Ione, the wife of J.D. Ross, Jr., engaged in farming near Shenandoah, Iowa; Lillian, the wife of W.F. Haning, an agriculturist ofAnderson, Iowa; Mildred, the wife of J.L. Rhode, a farmer and mechanic of Tabor, Iowa; William K., of Marengo, Iowa, a civil engineer employed as a county highway engineer by the State Highway Commission; Alfred L, Jr., and engineer employed by the Nebraska and Iowa Service Company at Maryville, Missouri; F. Archie, formerly of the United States navy, and now employed as a wholesale merchant at Binghamton, New York; and Allen J., employed by the Iowa and Nebraska Service Company for five years at Malvern, Iowa. In June, 1917, Mr. Alfred L. Chantry married Effie Crandal, daughter of Silas and Melvina Crandal. She was born and educated in Fremont County, Iowa, and from this union has been born one daughter, Harriet Melvina, born December 3, 1918.