Mr. David Singer Huber

 
David Singer Huber was instrumental in the construction of the Carnegie-Viersen Library in Pella, Iowa. As mayor of the town in 1903, he wrote a letter to Andrew Carnegie requesting “ten to fifteen thousand dollars for the building of a library in this place.”[1]  
Prior to serving as the mayor of Pella, Huber was a merchant and dealer of grain in Pella.[2] He was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on 19 February 1837 to William and Ruth Huber.[3] By 1860 he was residing in Van Buren, Iowa.[4] Huber married his wife Susan in 1863.[5] between the census of 1860 and 1870, Singer and his family moved to Pella.[6] Huber owned a farming implement store with C.E. Snow[7] in 1901, and was mayor from 1903-1905.[8]  
After his term ended in 1905, Huber worked with Sibirje Viersen and Robert Beard to secure the land for the Carnegie-Viersen Library. Beard is listed with Beard as a buyer in the deed of sale for Viersen’s land. The two men purchased the land for $6,000, which was placed in a trust to purchase books upon construction of the library.[9]  
Beard and Huber, with Pierre Bousquet, approached the Pella City Council on 1 May 1905 to propose building the library.[10] Beard stepped away from the business of the library after the city approved it in a special election. He would remain a prominent figure in the town until his death at the age of 90 on 8 June 1926.[11] He is buried in Pella’s Oak Wood Cemetery.[12]  

-Russell Buchanan

 

[1] Huber, David Singer. “Library.” Received by Mr. Andrew Carnegie, 18 Oct. 1904, Pella, Iowa

[2] Year: 1880; Census Place: Pella, Marion, Iowa; Roll: 354; Page: 715A; Enumeration District: 126.

[3] Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

[4] Ancestry.com. U.S., Appointments of U.S. Postmasters, 1832-1971. NARA Microfilm Publication, M841,145 rolls. Records of the Post Office Department, Record Group Number 28. Washington, D..C.: National Archives

[5] Year: 1900; Census Place: Lake Prairie, Marion, Iowa; Page: 3; Enumeration District: 0049; FHL microfilm: 1240447.

[6] Year: 1870; Census Place: South East Pella, Marion, Iowa; Roll: M593_409; Page: 179B; Family History Library Film: 545908.

[7] Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

[8] G.A. Stout, Souvenir History of Pella, Iowa, (Pella, Iowa, The Booster Press, 1922), 245.

[9] Marion County, Iowa, Deed Book F, 519.

[10] Meeting Minutes: Pella, Iowa City Council, 2 May 1905.

[11] Ancestry.com. U.S., Find a Grace Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

[12] Ibid.