ORDWAY, Franklin DeForest "Frank"

ORDWAY, WHEELER, LUCIA, BOMBARD, EATON, KINGSBURY

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 2/14/2014 at 04:07:59

History of Decatur County Iowa and Its People
Illustrated, Volumne II.

Prof. J. M. Howell and Heman C. Smith
Supervising Editors

The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. Pp. 342-44. Chicago. 1915.

FRANKLIN DeFOREST "FRANK" ORDWAY

Frank D. Ordway, a venerable citizen of Davis City and an honored veteran of the Civil war, has been a resident of Decatur county for forty-six years and was long and successfully identified with general agricultural pursuits but since October, 1908, has lived retired. His birth occurred in Westville, Franklin county, New York, on the 24th of May, 1834, his parents being Hiram and Annie (Wheeler) Ordway, both of whom were natives of Yermont. The father followed farming in the state of New York for a good many years but in an early day removed to Illinois, where he was also engaged in agricultural pursuits for some time. Eventually he came to Decatur county, Iowa, here making his home with our subject until he passed away on the 2d of May, 1886, at the age of eighty-four years. The demise of his wife occurred in Illinois on the 10th of October, 1861, when she had attained the age of sixty-two years.

Frank D. Ordway was reared and educated in the state of his nativity and remained on the home farm with his parents until seventeen years of age, when he made his way westward to Wisconsin, where he worked as a farm hand. In 1860, during the period of the gold craze, he went to Colorado but returned the following year and enlisted for service in the Union army as a member of Company F, First Nebraska Infantry, with which command he remained for four years, five months and twenty-two days. He made an excellent record as a brave and valiant soldier, never faltering in the performance of any task assigned him. When hostilities had ceased he returned to his father's home in Illinois and after following farming for a time was married and came to Iowa, settling in Pottawattamie county, where he purchased a tract of land. This he cultivated for but a brief period, however, after which he disposed of the property and removed to Red Oak, Montgomery county, Iowa. There his first crop was destroyed by the grasshoppers and he returned to Illinois. A year later, or in 1869, he came to Decatur county, Iowa, and purchased a tract of eighty acres on section 33, Burrell township, which he at once began improving and which he operated continuously and successfully until 1908. On the 2d of October of that year he sold the place to his son and bought a nice home and ten acres of ground in Davis City, where he has since lived in honorable retirement. His undertakings as an agriculturist were attended with a gratifying and well merited measure of success and he has long been numbered among the substantial and esteemed citizens of the community.

On the 6th of October, 1866, Mr. Ordway was united in marriage to Miss Amelia Lucia, daughter of Edward and Julia (Bombard) Lucia, who were natives of Canada and were of French descent. The father, a cooper by trade, removed to Illinois in 1849 and worked at his occupation in the Prairie state for a time, but subsequently purchased land in Kansas, carrying on agricultural pursuits there for a number of years. His last days were spent in retirement in the home of Mr. Ordway, his demise occurring on the 25th of December, 1907. For more than a half century he had survived his wife, who passed away in Illinois in the year 1856. To Mr. and Mrs. Ordway have been born six children, as follows: Hiram, who is engaged in farming in Nevada; Annie, who is the wife of A. D. Eaton, of Sandpoint, Idaho; Morton, an agriculturist of this county; Ingersoll; Josephine, who passed away in 1887; and Daniel, whose demise occurred on the 16th of December, 1871.

In politics Mr. Ordway is a stanch republican, ever loyally supporting the men and measures of the party which was the defense of the Union during the dark days of the Civil war. He still maintains pleasant relations with the "boys in blue" as a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has ever been as loyal to his country in days of peace as he was when he followed the stars and stripes on the battlefields of the south. He has now passed the eighty-first milestone on life's journey and his career has always been such that he can look back over the past without regret and forward to the future without fear.

NOTE: Hiram Ordway was born August 15, 1802, and died May 1, 1886. Franklin DeForest "Frank" Ordway was born May 24, 1834, Westville NY, and died March 5, 1921, Davis City IA. He married on October 16, 1866, at Walworth WI Amelia N. (Lucia) Kingsbury, born August 31, 1840 at at Grand Isle VT and died November 21, 1925, Davis City IA. Josephine P. Ordway was born August 19, 1875, and died October 9, 1878. Daniel W. Ordway was born December 8, 1871 and died December 16, 1871. Interments were made at Old Davis City Cemetery, Davis City IA

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, February of 2014