Ross R. Mowry

Newton attorney Ross Rutledge Mowry was a member of the Newton Public Library board from 1912 to 1924[1], perhaps not surprising given that later in life he listed his hobby as reading.[2] Born in Clear Creek Township, Jasper County, Iowa, March 5, 1882, he was the youngest of ten children born to John E. and Louisa (Wilkins) Mowry, natives of Pennsylvania.[3] Young Ross spent his youth on the home place assisting with the farm work until he was 15.[4] He attended Oak Ridge School[5], and graduated from Baxter High School with the class of 1900.[6] He then entered the State University at Iowa City, from which he was graduated in the law department in 1903.[7] He began his law practice at Baxter, where he remained one year.[8] In 1904, he removed to Newton where he formed a partnership with another Baxter High School graduate, John E. Cross, which lasted until 1910.[9] According to one contemporary source, “Mr. Mowry has figured more or less prominently in local legal affairs all the while, being regarded as a very strong young lawyer and he has been very successful in all his legal work in the local courts.”[10] In 1910, Mowry was the Republican nominee for Jasper County Attorney[11]; he was elected[12], re-elected in 1912[13], and served from 1911 to 1915.[14] Mowry was married to Mary Edith Mathews (1878-1949), daughter of John L. Mathews, a former Newton Public Library trustee, on September 15, 1908.[15] They were the parents of two daughters, Esther Virginia Mowry and Gertrude Ellen (Mrs. William) Spaulding.[16] Mowry subsequently practiced his profession in Newton in 1914-16, 1917-24, and 1932-38.[17] In 1916-17, he was Assistant Attorney General of Iowa in the office of Attorney General George Cosson.[18] From 1924 to 1932 Mowry was U. S. Attorney under Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.[19] In 1938, he was elected State Senator.[20] He was re-elected in 1942.[21] Mowry was a past member of the Baxter City Council[22], and a past member of the Newton Park Board.[23] He was a member of the Jasper County, 6th District, and Iowa State Bar Associations.[24] He was a member of the Methodist Church.[25] Fraternally, Mowry was a member of Newton Lodge No. 59, Ancient, Free & Accepted Masons; the Knights of Pythias; and the Modern Woodmen of America, for which he was past state counsel.[26] He was also a member of the Wittemberg Grange.[27] At the time of his death, his colleagues in the Iowa Senate considered Mowry “probably the greatest historian living in Jasper County.”[28] He passed away on September 28, 1957[29], and is buried in Newton Union Cemetery.[30]

-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 Iowa Press Association’s Who’s Who in Iowa (Des Moines: Published by Iowa Press Association, 1940), p. 619.

[3] Gen. James B. Weaver, ed., Past and Present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. I (Indianapolis, IN: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1912), p. 432.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Jean Gleaves Poage, “Clyde,” in The Jasper County Writers Inc., ed., Jasper County’s Yestertowns (The Jasper County Writers Inc., 1963), p. 5.

[6] Past and Present of Jasper County, Iowa, p. 433; Beverly Decker Cross et al., Recollections and Sketches of Northwest Jasper [1970], p. 66.

[7] Past and Present of Jasper County, Iowa, p. 433.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] The Newton Daily News, June 8, 1910; The Newton Journal, June 8, 1910; The Newton Herald, June 10, 1910.

[12] The Newton Daily News, November 9, 1910; The Newton Herald, November 10, 1910; The Newton Journal, November 16, 1910.

[13] The Newton Daily News, November 6, 1912; The Newton Herald, November 7, 1912; The Newton Journal, November 13, 1912.

[14] The Newton Daily News, September 28, 1957.

[15] Past and Present of Jasper County, Iowa, p. 433.

[16] The Iowa Press Association’s Who’s Who in Iowa, p. 618.

[17] Ibid., p. 619.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid.

[20] The Newton Daily News, November 9, 1938.

[21] Ibid., November 4, 1942.

[22] The Iowa Press Association’s Who’s Who in Iowa, p. 619.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Ibid.

[28] https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?ga=48&personID=2062.

[29] The Newton Daily News, September 28, 1957.

[30] Jasper County Genealogical Society, comp., Jasper County, Iowa, Cemeteries: Newton Union Cemetery, Blocks 16, 17, 18, 19, and 19N (Des Moines: Iowa Genealogical Society, 1994), p. 638.