Isaac S. Struble

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Four term Congressman (1883-1891) of Plymouth County, Iowa. Noted congressional opponent of plural marriages in Utah. Had six brothers including: John T. Struble of Iowa, and George R. Struble, former speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives. Granduncle of Robert Struble and great-granduncle of Robert Struble, Jr.

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The honorable Isaac Struble (R) of Le Mars, Iowa, was born near Fredericksburg VA, November 3, 1843. His great-grandfather, Dietrich Struble of Albig bei Alzey, Germany, had sailed to Philadelphia in 1748, settling outside German Valley, New Jersey. As a boy Isaac migrated to Ohio and finally to Iowa, where the family settled on a farm near Iowa City. Young Mr. Struble’s education was received in the public schools of Ohio and Iowa.

At the age of 18 Isaac enlisted (August 1862) in Company F of the 22nd Iowa infantry, marching in the ranks of the Yankee army as a private. After he was wounded in the battle of Cedar Creek VA (October 1864) private Struble was promoted to the rank of sergeant. With his regiment he saw considerable action. He was mustered out, July 25, 1865. In addition to Cedar Creek, his combat experience included the battles of Port Gibson, siege of Vicksburg, and the battle and siege of Jackson, Mississippi. When he first donned the uniform of the Union, Isaac stood 5’8” with brown eyes and reddish hair.

In 1866, more than a year after the Civil War, Struble went to St. Louis, Missouri where he remained about a year as bookkeeper in the wholesale house of J.H. Teasdale & Co., his uncle being the senior partner. He then moved to Iowa where he attended law school. After admission to the bar he became a practicing attorney in Polo, Illinois (1870). In 1872, Struble moved to Le Mars in western Iowa (Plymouth County), then a three year old town with a total of some 50 houses. There he and an older brother, James Hammie Struble, set up their law office on Main St. For the next ten years he applied himself to private legal practice in Le Mars, holding no public office until elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1882. Another older brother, George R. Struble, had preceded him in Iowa politics. At the time of Isaac’s election to Congress, George was midway through his term as speaker of the House of Representatives in the state legislature.

During the three subsequent elections, Isaac Struble won renomination by acclamation to his U.S. House seat. This was prior to the advent of primary elections, when political party nominating conventions for the various congressional districts decided who the party’s standard-bearer would be in the general elections. Struble won reelection by popular vote in the general elections of 1884, 1886 and 1888. But in 1890, after 43 ballots, the GOP nominating convention preferred George D. Perkins of Woodbury County.

Struble’s support in Congress for the McKinley tariff bill (1890) had been unpopular with farmers in Iowa, who foresaw that a trade war would hurt agricultural exports. The tariff was also a factor in the subsequent economic depression of 1893-97. The tariff’s widespread unpopularity at the time of its passage resulted in a Democratic landslide so sweeping nationally that the election of 1890 dropped the Republicans from their majority of 51% in the House down to a minority of but 27% of the House membership.

During his four terms (1883-1891), Congressman Struble enjoyed considerable popularity in his district, and a small town founded at the time was given the name “Struble” in his honor. Situated in beautiful rolling farmland, Struble, Iowa would later be the boyhood home of Jim Nicholson (1938- ), another GOP politician of national stature.

Of his career in Congress the Congressional Record is the best evidence, containing roll call votes and the text of his eloquent floor speeches. The History of Woodbury and Plymouth Counties published in the early 1890’s indicates that, from the standpoint of his peers in Congress, Struble “was always considered a strong member.” As a former soldier, Congressman Struble devoted much time to the interests of his constituents in the armed services, including veterans. He knew how to secure lucrative projects for his district, such as the Sioux City public building bill (1890). It was in the House Committee on the Territories, however, that Struble figured most prominently. Struble chaired this powerful committee during his fourth term. His influence in the Committee on the Territories played a significant role in the admission into the union of six western states – Idaho, Montana, Washington, Wyoming and the two Dakotas, and the organization of Oklahoma Territory. Meanwhile he shepherded through Congress the “Struble bill,” which denied admission to Utah until plural marriages had been disavowed by the LDS (Morman) Church.

During their political careers, he and his brother, George R. Struble, were cultural conservatives of the 19th century sort. Both supported prohibition, and Isaac was prominent in the opposition to bigamy.

Isaac was an active Mason, and a charter member of the First Congregational Church in Le Mars. He died Feb. 17, 1913 in his seventieth year. He is buried in the Le Mars City Cemetery.

His widow – Adelaide E. (Stone) Struble, [they married on 6/3/1874] – and four of their five children were still living in 1913 when Isaac died suddenly of a diabetic seizure.

[edit] References

History of Woodbury and Plymouth Counties, (Chicago: A. Warner & Company, c. 1891), pp. 1009-1011; Le Mars Sentinel, March 27, 1902, Feb. 18, 1913. Photo courtesy of Eleanor Struble Martin.