EASTERLY, William H.

EASTERLY, NEWMAN, ZIEGENFUS, BOHR

Posted By: Volunteer Transcribers
Date: 1/20/2003 at 12:15:32

WILLIAM H. EASTERLY
One of the 'boys in blue' of the Civil war this alone would entitle Mr. Easterly to representation in the history of his adopted county, but for almost a third of a century he has been an esteemed and valued resident of Clinton and has in the city many friends who will receive with interest and pleasure the record of his career. He was born in Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, March 22, 1846, a son of Solomon and Nancy (Newman) Easterly, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, the former born in 1813. The Easterly family is of German lineage and was founded in America at an early day by ancestors who settled in the Keystone state. Solomon Easterly learned the blacksmith's trade, which he followed throughout his business career. From Pennsylvania he removed to Ohio and in 1852 came with his family to Iowa, making the journey overland and settling in Anamosa. He worked at his trade and erected a house and smithy there, but afterward sold his property at Anamosa and removed to Lisbon, Iowa, where he died in 1858. He was also the owner of a comfortable residence in that place. This worthy couple were the parents of three sons, who are yet living: Jacob N., who makes in home in Burt, Iowa, and is an insurance agent and justice of the peace. He was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, and wounds which he sustained rendered him a cripple for life. William H. is the next of the family. Samuel A. Easterly, the youngest son, joined Company F. Thirteenth Iowa Infantry, during the Civil War, and is now in the marble business in Carroll, Iowa. After the death of her first husband Mrs. Easterly married D. G. Ziegenfus, who has also passed away. Her death occurred in 1871.
William H. Easterly pursued his education in the common schools of Iowa, coming to this state with his parents when twelve years of age. When not occupied with the duties of the schoolroom he engaged in farm work, thus being employed until after the inauguration of the Civil war. In October, 1861, he enlisted, at which time he was making his home with his uncle, Emanuel Newman, an old settler, who still survives and is now living retired. Mr. Easterly was mustered into service on the 15th of November, at Davenport, Iowa, and remained at the front for three years and ten months. He was a member of Company F, Thirteenth Iowa Infantry, and participated in twenty-two engagements, the principal ones being the battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862; the siege of Corinth, in May, 1862; Iuka, September 19, 1862; the battle of Corinth, October 3-4, 1862; the siege of Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi, in July, 1863; Meridian, Mississippi, in 1864; Big Shanty, June 11, 1864; Kennesaw Mountain, in 1864; Nickajack Creek, July 5, 1864; the siege of Atlanta, and the battle of that city on July 21-22, where ninety-nine out of five hundred of his regiment were killed or wounded in twenty-seven minutes; Ezra Church, July 28, 1864; Savannah; Orangeburg, February 15, 1865; the fighting in the cypress swamps; the battle of Columbia, South Carolina, February 16, 1865, and at that point the Thirteenth Iowa Regiment placed the flag on the old state house and a banner on the new state house; the battle of Fayetteville, North Carolina; and the battle of Bentonville, March 21-22, 1865. Mr. Easterly received an honorable discharge July 21, 1865, and was mustered out at Davenport. He was very fortunate, although he was in many hotly contested engagements and was often in the thickest of the fight.
Returning to Lisbon, Mr. Easterly there engaged in teaming for a time, and in 1868 he came to Clinton, entering the service of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company in the capacity of fireman. He was thus employed for four years, after which he was given an engine in 1872 and ran upon the rounds for two years. He then resigned his position and removed to Lisbon, where he worked at the carpenter's trade for a time and after a year operated the pump and worked at the stations for a year. He then returned to Clinton and again began firing for the Chicago & Northwestern road, such duties occupying his attention for four years. On the 19th of November, 1883, he was again given an engine in the freight service and is now in the time freight service, running between Clinton and Tama on train Nos. 27 and 24. He has been in two collisions and was once injured, which necessitated his absence from duty for eleven months. His long connection with the road indicates unmistakably his fidelity to duty, his trustworthiness and the confidence reposed in him.
On the 31st of May, 1866, in Lisbon, Mr. Easterly was united in marriage to Miss Kate Bohr, who was born in Pennsylvania, December 23, 1846, a daughter of Godfried Bohr, now at the home of Mr. Easterly, at the age of eighty-four years. He is a retired farmer and is the owner of two hundred acres of valuable land. His wife died in 1861, but Mrs. Easterly has two brothers living: Frederick, who makes in his home in Arcadia, Iowa, and Jacob R., who resides on the home farm near Lisbon. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Easterly has been blessed with five children, of whom two died in infancy: Lewis, who is a graduate of the Clinton grammar school, and is chief train dispatcher at Lake City, Iowa, is married and has one daughter, Gracia; Claude, who is also a graduate of the public schools of Clinton, is married and makes his home in Clinton, where he is employed as a machinist, having charge of the work in the old roundhouse; and Harry, a graduate of the Clinton schools and a machinist employed in the railroad shops in this place.
Mr. Easterly is a self-educated and self-made man. In his youth he had to work and assist in the support of his mother, but he possessed determination and energy, and by close attention to business he has attained his present position and enjoys the confidence and trust of the road in an unusual degree. He belongs to General N. B. Baker Post, G. A. R., of Clinton, and to Clinton Division, No. 125, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. In politics he is a strong Republican, though not an active worker nor an aspirant for office. He is, however, as true and loyal to his duties of citizenship as when he followed the starry banner of the nation upon the battlefields of the south and thus aided in the preservation of the Union.  
Source: The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.