DR. BENJAMIN DREW DEKALB

DEKALB, SMITH, VAN WERDEN, SHARP, LANDIS

Posted By: Nancee Seifert (email)
Date: 12/28/2009 at 18:40:45

Decatur County Journal
Leon, Iowa
Thursday, March 28, 1912

BENJAMIN DREW DEKALB, son of SAMUEL and SUSANNA DEKALB, was born in London
County, Virginia, on the 17th day of July, 1841. Died March 29, 1912, being
70 years, 8 months and 3 days old.

He studied medicine and graduated from Jefferson Medical College,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the year 1865, going from there to Sharpsburg
Maryland, where he practiced with Dr. A.A. Biggs until 1868. Here he was
married to MARGARET A. SMITH on the 18th day of January, 1866, who with four
children, HARVEY DUNGLESON, at home; Mrs. L.P. VAN WERDEN, Leon, Iowa; Mrs.
E.H. SHARP, Leon, Iowa; Mrs. L.J. LANDIS, Grand River, Iowa, survive him.
In the fall of 1868, they came to Leon, Iowa, and lived in the house with Dr
And Mrs. Gardner until the following spring when they moved to the farm
which has been their home for 43 years. He followed his profession after
coming here, riding miles and miles over the prairies and unbroken country,
over rough roads and trails frequently being called into adjoining counties
and into Missouri, enduring the trials and hardships that came to the
pioneer doctor. In 1880, on account of poor health, he gave up active
practice. From then on he engaged in managing his farm, in mercantile and
banking, until 13 years ago when he retired from all business. Nine years
ago the disease that caused his illness developed, and while he has been a
continuous sufferer, yet he bore it all patiently and was ready to go when
the summons came.

He united with the M.E. Church, at Sharpsburg, Maryland, when 25 years of
age. After coming west being so far distant, he was denied church
privileges but never lost faith in his God.

Funeral services were conducted at the home Friday at 1 o'clock by Rev. J.L.
Boyd, Glidden, Iowa, formerly Pastor of the M.E. Church, Leon. The remains
were then borne by train to Leon and tenderly laid to rest just as the sun
was going down behind the western hills. The floral tributes were many and
beautiful. Dr. DEKALB was a man of strong and admirable character. Quiet
and retiring by nature, he was nevertheless firm in his convictions,
persistent in his purposes, steadfast in his friendships and faithful to
every trust. How sad it all is! One instinctively shudders in imagining the
disorder and havoc and chaos which might characterize this sphere of mortal
habitation, if it were not for the innate conviction that death cannot
possibly end all and that the curtain which veils our eyes and refuses us
permission to see the morrow or beyond the grave is simply the dividing line
between two realms of existence.
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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
December 28, 2009
iggy29@grm.net