TOMPKINS, W. C. (ca. 1883)

WESTBROUK, TOMPKINS, DUNCAN

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 2/25/2011 at 01:22:27

1883 History of Franklin and Cerro Gordo Counties, Iowa

W. C. TOMPKINS

W. W. C. Tompkins, treasurer of Cerro Gordo county, was born in Lockport, N. Y., Jan. 31, 1837. His parents, Enoch and Deborah (Westbrouk) Tompkins, went to Canada West in the year 1838. His father died there in 1846. When Mr. Tompkins was nine years old he went to Freeport, Ill., with a cousin, expecting that his father's family would soon follow, but death took away the head of the household, and Mr. Tompkins, after managing the best he could for about a year, went to Ogle Co., Ill., where he lived seven years with Edwin Francis. He came to Iowa in 1854 and located in Etna township, Hardin county. Two years after he engaged in farming at Iowa Falls, and in the fall of the same year sent for his mother, three brothers and one sister. He set out for Pike's Peak in 1859, and went as far as Leavenworth, Kan., going on to his destination the following season. He returned to Iowa in 1861 and settled at Clear Lake.

In the spring of 1862 he enlisted in company C, 12th United States Infantry. He was soon sent to Fort Hamilton and passed fourteen months there and at Fort LaFayette, New York Harbor. He was engaged in the second riot in New York and joined his regiment in the fall of 1863, and was sent to Culpepper. He experienced some of the heaviest service in the war, including the battles Rappahannock, Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, Pittsburg and Weldon. At the last named place he was taken prisoner and was sent to Libby prison, and six weeks later to Salisbury, N. C. He was exchanged in February following and discharged at Fort Hamilten, N. Y., April 19, 1865. He came back to Cerro Gordo county and engaged in farming.

He was married April 27, 1868, to Jean, daughter of Thomas Duncan, of Clear Lake. Only one of their two children is now living-Earl. Mr. Tompkins is a member of the Masonic fraternity.

SOURCE: History of Franklin and Cerro Gordo Counties, Iowa. p. 722. Union Publishing Co. Springfield IL. 1883.

Transcription by Susan Steveson