TIENAN, AUGUST F.

TIENAN, BROWN, VAN SLYKE, WOODS, CARNAHAN, MITCHELL, BRYANT, KELLY, DALLEY, GRIFFITH, MCKOWEN, DOBLE

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 7/13/2003 at 14:42:54

Biography reproduced from page 11 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Deeds of valor as displayed by the soldier on the field of battle have been the theme of song and story from the earliest ages and as long as civilization endures such a theme will have its place on the pages of history and will serve as a source of inspiration as well as admiration to others. August F. Tienan is numbered among those whose patriotism and bravery were called forth by the exigencies of war and, although an adopted son of the United States, none born on this side of the water displayed greater fidelity to the old flag and the cause it represented during the long Civil war.

August F. Tienan was born on the kingdom of Prussia, Germany, his birth occurring August 4, 1842, in Cologne, “the city of churches.” His parents were Arnold and Christina Tienan, the former a native of Prussia and the latter a Castalian by birth. Arnold Tienan learned the machinist’s trade in early life and afterward operated a factory in the manufacture of edge tools in Cologne. In 1845 he came to America, settling near Bellevue, Jackson county, Iowa, where he entered a tract of land from the government and for three years devoted his attention to the development and improvement of a farm there. Both he and his wife passed away upon that place within a month in 1849. They had a family of seven children: Agnes, deceased; Mrs. Maria Brown, whose husband is a farmer living near Bellevue; Garrett, who after serving in the Civil war and receiving an honorable discharge went to the west, where he is supposed to have been killed; Joseph, who died in Arkansas in 1909; Frank, a farmer living hear Sabula, Iowa; August F.; and Mary, the wife of Horace Van Slyke, a druggist of Westphalia, Kansas.

August F. Tienan was only seven years of age at the time of his parents’ death. Thus left an orphan, he lived for a year with a farmer, who took charge of the Tienan homestead. For eight years thereafter he resided with a farmer who lived on mile north of Lamotte, Jackson county, and during that period attended the district schools. At the age of fifteen years he began earning his own living independently, securing employment as a farm hand, in which work he was engaged at the time of the outbreak of hostilities between the north and the south. He attempted to enlist as a member of the First Iowa Cavalry but was rejected. He afterward offered his services to the Fifth Iowa Cavalry and by telling that he was nineteen years of age he was accepted in that command at Lemotte. The regiment was first called Curtis Horse but was afterward organized into the Fifth Iowa Cavalry in connection with other troops. The command went to St. Louis and afterward to Fort Henry, where they joined Grant’s army. Mr. Tienan participated in many important engagements, including the battles of Garrettsburg, Kentucky, Shiloh, Pittsburg Landing, Nashville, Stone River and Lookout Mountain. At the last named he acted as orderly to General Grant although his regiment did not take active part in the engagement. During the last year of the war he was under General Wilson in his southern expedition and participated in the battles of Selma, Alabama, Cohaba, Montgomery, Columbus and Macon, Georgia. He was next ordered to Nashville, where for a time the regiment remained in camp, and afterward to Davenport, Iowa, where in September, 1865, Mr. Tienan was honorably discharged and mustered out of service. He had been severely wounded at Wartrace, Alabama, a bullet passing through his horse and killing it and entering Mr. Tienan’s left knee. The horse fell upon him but he was released by comrades and fought the battle through. Six hours afterward he was taken to the hospital and found that he had been shot, for when his comrades lifted the horse off his leg he thought the numbness was caused by the weight of the animal stopping the circulation. He was lifted on another horse and finished the fight; then some hours later a surgeon came to attend him in the hospital. Cutting off Mr. Tienan’s clothing, the surgeon and his assistant were making ready to amputate the leg, but Mr. Tienan still had on his holster and pulling his revolver told the surgeon to go on about his business. The latter stormed and said that he was running that part of the business but Mr. Tienan retorted that he was running the leg part any way. That his judgment was sound regarding the matter is shown by the fact that three weeks later he was up and walking on a crutch, yet he carries a two ounce ball in his knee. The surgeon, to get even with what he regarded the insubordination of a private, reported that when Mr. Tienan left the hospital he deserted. On the contrary, he cut a limb from a tree and using it as a crutch started to join his company ninety miles away, which distance he covered in ten days. The report of his desertion, however, reached his command before he did, but when Captain Gallagher of his company saw Mr. Tienan approaching he yelled: “Be Jasus, there comes Tienan on one leg and the limb of a tree and they call him a deserter. Be gobs, any man that will walk ninety miles on one leg to join his command is a hell of a deserter.” When in battle near Chickasaw Landing Mr. Tienan became separated from his company. He went to Lytle’s Creek and although his command was only thirty miles away the rebels were between him and the camp and they watched him so closely that it took him two months to get back to Chickasaw Landing and rejoin the boys in blue. On no occasion did he ever show the white feather; he was ever brave, fearless and buoyant and he returned with a most creditable military record, of which he has every reason to be proud. To such men the country owes a debt of gratitude that it can never pay and this was acknowledged in the banner which was flung across Pennsylvania avenue at the time the grand review was held in Washington, the banner bearing the words: “The only debt that the country cannot pay is the debt that she owes her soldiers.” That bravery and fidelity are characteristics of the Tienan family is manifest in the fact that four of the brothers were soldiers of the Civil war, Frank and Joseph serving in the First Iowa Cavalry, while Garrett was a member of the Second Colorado Cavalry.

On his return to Jackson county Mr. Tienan took up carpentering, cabinet-making and wagon-making. He was employed in various counties in Iowa along those lines until 1902, when he came to Kossuth county, settling a mile and a half northwest of Swea City, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of fine land on section 13, Swea township. There he engaged in farming for two years but in 1904 retired from business life and came to Swea City, where he purchased property and now makes his home. He has added one hundred and twenty-two acres to his land, which adjoins the town on the south, being situated in section 19, Harrison township. From his farm property he derives a gratifying annual income, supplying him with all of the comforts and some of the luxuries of life.

In 1867 Mr. Tienan was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Woods, a daughter of William and Fannie (Carnahan) Woods. The father was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and was of Pennsylvania Dutch descent. For some time he conducted a meat market and bakery there. His wife, who was born in Westmoreland county Pennsylvania, was of Irish lineage. In 1855 they removed westward to Iowa and settled upon a farm near Davenport, but after two years removed to Jackson county, locating near Bellevue. Mr. Woods died on a farm in Story county, Iowa, in March, 1883, while his wife passed away in Missouri in 1891, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Amanda Mitchell, of Bolivar, Missouri. In their family were two sons who were members of the Thirty-first Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war, John serving in Company I and James in Company K. The former is now a farmer living near Vinton, Iowa, but the latter is deceased. The other members of the Woods family are: Frank, who follows farming near Des Moines; William, deceased; Amanda, the wife of D. Mitchell, a farmer living near Clemons, Iowa; and Elizabeth, the wife of our subject.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Tienan was celebrated in Andrew Jackson county, Iowa, and unto them five children have been born who are yet living. Fannie Elizabeth, the eldest, is the wife of Charles Bryant, a farmer residing near Colo, Iowa, and they have six children, Orpha, Fred, Eva, Ray, Florence and Mildred. Agnes is the wife of J. E. Kelly, a resident farmer of Harrison township. Rose became the wife of James Dalley, who died leaving three children, Cecil, Lee and Love, and after his death she married William Griffith, who has also passed away but his widow now makes her home with her children in St. Paul, Minnesota. Frank A. is mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Ella became the wife of Perry McKowen and had one child, Iva. Her present husband is Henry Doble, a real-estate dealer of Spokane, Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Tienan, also lost two children: William Albert, who died when ten years of age; and Henry, who was but three months old at the time of his death. The parents are members of the Baptist church of Swea City and Mr. Tienan gives his support to the democratic party. Both are held in high esteem throughout the community in which they live and have an extensive circle of warm friends, while the hospitality of the best homes of the district is freely accorded them.