Hi All: I thought I would re-send this article, as it is interesting to see his humble beginnings as written in 'The First Settlers' -- and his prosperous final years. Nancee -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Chariton Leader, Chariton, Iowa Thursday, June 15, 1905 THOMAS BRANDON, of Russell, is an example of what a man may accomplish in the field of finance with the American opportunities to manipulate. He is at present the wealthiest man in Lucas County, or in Southern Iowa, for that matter. He is now 83 years of age, if the writer remembers correctly, and is a pioneer of this part of the State, settling originally near Iconium, in Appanoose County. In the early days he drove an ox team and broke prairie, thus converting the virgin soil into fields for cultivated crops. Within him was the elements of success and farming and banking has been his occupations until today his personal checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars will be honored in any of the financial institutions of the country. Had his environs been New York City he would have become a competitor of Russell Sage, Jay Gould and the modern Napoleons of Finance. As it is his operations have been marvels of judgment and energy. He maintains an office at Russell, and a! lthough almost bereft of eyesight, conducts operations of gigantic magnitude without visible effect on his nerves, let the balances be on which side they may. His equilibrium is remarkable and in a faculty maintained by but few Financiering is a delightful game with him. A short time ago investments were made in Chicago, so rumor has it, that did not finish according to to his notion, conducted as they were at a distance. He didn't get nervous about it as so many others would have done under like circumstances and throw up, but simply "made a trip." He came home from the big city with a bland smile which was as much as to say "My presence was needed. It's all O.K. now." MR. BRANDON has been very successful in real estate speculation in Texas of late years as he has ever been elsewhere, but is modest in all his ventures and was never known to "brag." He is a fine looking, portly man, and in spite of his weight of years may be seen almost any day on the streets of Russell as erect as an arrow, and his appearance is a striking one. His career will be written down by the future historians of Iowa as one original and unique in the extreme. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert August 26, 2004 [email protected]