E. C. Ogg
Pioneer Newton attorney E. C. Ogg was a member of the Newton Public Library board from the time of its organization in 1896 to 1915.[1] Eli C. Ogg was born on January 13, 1851, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, one of ten children born to George and Lydia (Rush) Ogg, both natives of Somerset County, Pennsylvania.[2] In 1856, the family moved westward, settling in Allamakee County, Iowa.[3] By 1870, Eli Ogg had moved to Newton, and soon afterwards removed to a farm near Fairmount, south of Newton, where he grew to manhood.[4] He attended Hazel Dell Academy in Newton and the University of Iowa, graduating in 1878.[5] Admitted to the bar in 1879, he returned to Newton to take up his law practice.[6] A devout churchman, he was an elder in the Newton Christian Church for many years, aiding prominently in the construction of the 1893 church, and serving as Sunday School superintendent for some time as well as teaching classes on occasion.[7] He was a longtime member of the Newton school board.[8] As a member of the law firm of Cook, Ogg, & Clements, Ogg had a prominent part in the bringing of the Iowa Central Railroad to Newton, making a tour of towns between Newton and the Mississippi River in an effort to persuade the people to support the proposed tax.[9] He was also a member of the firm of Meredith & Ogg, attorneys and abstractors, land and loan agents, with Oliver C. Meredith, from 1884 to 1900.[10] On December 23, 1879, Ogg was married to Miss Frances J. “Jennie” Lamb (1856-1939), one of his Hazel Dell Academy classmates.[11] They were the parents of two sons, Harry L. and George R.[12] As was their custom, the Oggs left in January, 1932 to spend the winter in Florida, accompanied by Ogg’s brother, W. M. Ogg, of Monroe.[13] E. C. Ogg died at the Tampa Municipal Hospital in Tampa, Florida, at 2:40 p. m., April 6, 1932, after a “serious illness” of one week.[14] Burial was in Newton Union Cemetery.[15]
-Larry Ray Hurto
[1] 1896-1957 Library Trustees, Newton Public Library History. https://cdm16179.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16179coll1/search/searchterm/library%20trustees/field/subjec/mode/exact/conn/and/order/title/ad/asc.
[2] The Newton Daily News, April 7, 1932.
[3] Ancestry.com. Iowa, U.S., State Census Collection, 1836-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.
[4] Year: 1870; Census Place: Fairview, Jasper, Iowa; Roll: M593_398; Page: 266A; Family History Library Film: 545897. The 1878 Fairview Township Directory lists Eli Ogg as a farmer, P. O. Fairmount. The History of Jasper County, Iowa (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878), p. 563.
[5] The Newton Daily News, April 7, 1932. He received his master’s degree in 1880.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid. At the time of the Bible School Building dedication in 1914, E. C. Ogg was listed as both an elder and a trustee. First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Newton, Iowa, 1864-1964: 100 Years of Continuing Witness (Marceline, MO: Walsworth, 1964), p. 12.
[8] The Newton Daily News, April 7, 1932.
[9] Ibid.
[10] The Newton Journal, April 30, 1884. Meredith was elected county attorney in 1896, and would be elected mayor of Newton in 1909 and 1911. Mrs. Meredith was a longtime Newton Public Library trustee serving all the time Ogg was a member of the board and then some. 1896-1957 Library Trustees, Newton Public Library History.
[11] The Newton Journal, December 25, 1879.
[12] The Newton Daily News, April 7, 1932. The Oggs were also parents of an unnamed infant daughter who died in 1892. Jasper County Genealogical Society, comp., Jasper County, Iowa, Cemeteries: Newton Union Cemetery, Blocks 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 (Des Moines: Iowa Genealogical Society, 1994), p. 473.
[13] The Newton Daily News, April 7, 1932.
[14] Ibid. Physician J. M. Grantham, of Tampa, Florida, certified the cause of death as uremia. Deceased was age 81 years, 2 months, and 23 days. Funeral Register, Morgan Funeral Home, Newton, Iowa, Book 5, p. 160. Jasper County Genealogical Society, Newton, Iowa.
[15] Jasper County Genealogical Society, Jasper County, Iowa, Cemeteries: Newton Union Cemetery, Blocks 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, p. 473.