30 ^fio'ux City Academy of Science and Letters. 



of liis death he was President Emeritus. For more than 

 a mere pastime he brought together from many places a 

 numerous and valuable collection of geological speci- 

 mens and Indian relics. 



Mr. Charles was much interested in the Sioux City 

 Public Library. To it he gave many books and much of 

 his time serving as a trustee from the establishment of 

 the library to his death. Personally he was a great 

 reader. His private library was one of the largest and 

 best appointed in the city. It also contained many rare 

 volumes of great age and value, another example of his 

 collecting spirit. 



As a pioneer, who for fifty years had witnessed the 

 remarkable changes brought by advancing civilization, 

 Mr. Charles was anxious that the story of the early his- 

 tory of Sioux City and of low^a be preserved. A close 

 friend of Mr. Charles Aldrich, Curator of the State His- 

 torical Department, he possessed a deep sympathy for 

 the work of that institution and backed up his interest 

 in a substantial manner. He was also for several j^ears 

 before his death a member of the State Historical 

 Society of Iowa. 



The chief service of Mr. Charles to the cause of local 

 history was in connection with the erection of the Floyd 

 monument. He was one of the organizers, in 1895, of 

 the Flo3^d Memorial Association, an organization formed 

 for the purpose of commemorating, in some suitable way, 

 the name of Sergeant Charles Floyd, a member of the 

 Lewis and Clark expedition, who died on the upward 

 journey, in 1804, and was interred upon a bluff within 

 the present limits of Sioux City. From 1896 on until 

 his death Mr. Charles was president of this association, 

 which in 1900-1 crowned its years of labor with brilliant 

 success by erecting over the grave of Floyd a stately 

 shaft one hundred feet in height. This successful con- 

 summation of the association's work, thougli many 

 devoted men and women contributed to it, was more the 

 work of Mr. John H. Charles than of any other individ- 

 ual. This fact is recognized by the Floyd Memorial 

 Association itself, since at a recent meeting it voted to 



