Marion was especially favored in its early history, as it is today, by competent and popular physicians. Of these there were three, probably best known, who are worthy of mention, viz: Drs. Thos. S. Bardwell, Henry M. Ristine, and N. W. Owen. Dr. Thomas S. Bardwell came to Marion with his father, Dr. Leonard Bardwell, in 1841. He studied medicine with his father, and after attending lectures in St. Louis began practice in Marion in 1850. He was a natural doctor, bringing into his practice not only a knowledge of medicine but that intuition and instinctive comprehension of the law of cause and effect as applied to the human system which mark the genius in materia medica and surgery. He was a great hearted man, kind, generous, charitable, a devoted son and brother, a loyal friend and citizen. He died in Marion in 1895.
Henry M. Ristine came to Marion in 1842. He, too, was a master in the ministry of relief to human suffering. His genial presence and cheerful and encouraging words added much to the magic of his medicine. His friends were legion. He was welcomed to the homes where he was called as a physician as a beloved brother, and was always a comfort and a blessing in the sick room. In the early days and to the second generation his name was a household word throughout Linn county. He moved to Cedar Rapids in 1875, where, crowned with success and honors in his chosen calling, he died in 1897.
Norman W. Owen came to Marion in 1856. He continued the study of medicine, which he had begun in the east, under Dr. Henry M. Ristine, and graduated from Rush Medical College in 1862. He at once entered into a partnership with Dr. Ristine, and during his absence in the Civil war, he drove almost night and day, attending the large practice which he was left alone to care for. He was a most skilful and successful physician. He united with a wide knowledge of diseases and their remedies, the tenderness and skill of the trained nurse. An earnest student, of analytical yet comprehensive mind, he became a pioneer in the discovery of new remedies for human ailments, and while he formulated and compounded many preparations now of common use, his greatest achievement was the discovery and composition of Owen and Chamberlain's—now Chamberlain's—Colic, Cholera, and Diarrhoea Remedy, a world-wide panacea, of which Dr. Owen was the sole and undisputed originator. This alone places him among the "immortals" in the realm of medicine. He died in Marion in 1880.
Among the early great financiers of Marion—and we might say of Iowa and the west—was Redmond D. Stephens. He came to Marion in 1855. He was a lawyer, teacher, and scholar, as well as a banker. He obtained the third charter ever issued for a national bank in Iowa, and instituted the First National Bank of Marion in 1863. He was one of the county supervisors in 1867, and was elected to the state legislature in 1879. He organized the Merchants National Bank of Cedar Rapids in 1881, of which, as well as of the First National Bank of Marion, he was president when he died in Cedar Rapids in 1883, where he then resided. His rare acumen, keen perception, unerring judgment, and almost prophetic endowment, mastered every business enterprise he undertook and won for him the merited distinction with which success ever crowns the union of genius and studiousness, of being enthroned, honored, and acknowledged as king in the chosen realm of his life work.
No early history of Marion would be complete without mention of that brilliant coterie which illumined Linn county's seat of justice and as pillars and ornaments of the law established and adorned the now famous bar of Linn county. Nothing in later years has compared with the gladiatorial contests of the early years when true forensic oratory, keenest wit, and brilliant satire made forever famous the legal arena within the old court house at Marion. What memories and achievements cluster about the names of Corbett, Hubbard, Preston, Isbell, Thompson, Young and Smyth.
Nathaniel M. Hubbard, the greatest legal general of his time, who served one year as judge of the eighth district in 1865, was keen, alert, tactful, resourceful, and tireless. He won marked distinction in his profession, and died in Cedar Rapids a few years ago, as chief counsel for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway.
Norman W. Isbell, student, scholar, interpreter of the law, judge of the eighth district in 1862, died in the prime of life, a great mind in a frail body.
J. B. Young, brilliant, scholarly, eloquent, came to Marion in 1853; was elected prosecuting attorney for Linn county in 1854. He served in the state legislature in 1861, in the state senate in 1863, and was re-elected in 1866. He was army paymaster, with the rank of major, during the Civil war, elector-at-large in 1868, and United States pension agent in 1869. Impetuous, fiery, generous, of marked aptness and ability, he honored and adorned his chosen profession.
William Smyth came to Iowa in 1843 and to Marion in 1846—the year he was admitted to the bar. He was elected prosecuting attorney for the county in 1847, appointed judge of the fourth district in 1853, elected in 1854, and re-elected in 1856, but resigned in 1857, and with his brother, Robert Smyth, and A. J. Twogood established the first bank in Linn county, later known as the Twogood and Elliott bank of Marion. In 1858 he was chairman of the committee of three to revise and codify the laws of the state of Iowa, and the criminal code of 1860 is largely his work. In 1862 he was commissioned colonel of the Thirty-first Iowa Volunteer Infantry, serving until 1864. He then formed a law partnership with J. B. Young, and was actively engaged in the practice until 1868, when he was elected to congress. He was renominated in 1870, but on September 30, 1870, before the election, died at his beautiful suburban home adjoining the city of Marion, now owned by the Sisters of Mercy, and known as St. Joseph's Academy. A man of sound judgment, a lawyer of merit, a judge of ability, a statesman of fidelity and purity, he yet stood pre-eminently before all as a man of integrity, honor, and character, the true and highest type of the Christian gentleman.