SANKEY, Ezekiel J.

SANKEY, BROWN

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/20/2015 at 09:24:12

Obituary ~ Ezekiel J. Sankey
August 02, 1843 ~ September 29, 1935

The Annals of Iowa
Iowa State Historical Society
Volume 20, No. 4, 1936, Page 317.

Notable Deaths.

Ezekiel J. Sankey was born at Potters Mills, Center County, Pennsylvania, August 2, 1843, and died in Leon, Iowa, September 29, 1935. Burial was in the Leon Cemetery. His parents were Ezekiel and Elizabeth (Brown) Sankey. He was with his parents in their removal to near Burlington, Iowa, in 1849, and with his widowed mother late in 1849 to Louisa County, and in 1850 to Decatur County where they lived on a farm. He received his education in country public schools. He enlisted in Company L, Third Iowa Cavalry, August 15, 1861; re-enlisted February 2, 1864; was wounded severely June 11, 1864, when near Guntown, Mississippi; was returned home on furlough, but soon rejoined his regiment although the wound in his leg was not entirely healed; and was honorably discharged February 20, 1865. Twenty years later his leg was amputated between the knee and hip because of the wound.

Returning from the war he bought a farm in Franklin Township, Decatur County, but the fall of 1869 was elected sheriff and was re-elected two years later, serving from January 1, 1870, to January 1, 1874. He then returned to farming and stock raising until the fall of 1877 when he was elected county treasurer and removed to Leon. He served as treasurer from January 1, 1878, to January 1, 1880. He later served as clerk of the District Court of Decatur County from January 1, 1885, to January 1, 1889. He was elected representative in 1903 and served in the Thirtieth and Thirty-first general assemblies. In 1908 he was again elected representative and served in the Thirty-third General Assembly. Politically he was a Democrat. During the latter part of his life he engaged in the real estate and loan business.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2015