Charles Polk

POLK, SCANLING

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 8/13/2004 at 10:59:33

Charles Polk was for over two decades actively engaged in farming in Monroe township but has now disposed of his land and is living in retirement from active life in Winterset. He was born in Knox county, Indiana, on the 28th of August, 1838, a son of James and Harriet Polk, both natives of Kentucky, who removed to the Hoosier state in their youth with their respective parents. The father arrived there in 1804 and the mother in 1812, and both continued to reside there until called to their reward.

Charles Polk was reared upon the home farm and under the guidance of his parents learned many lessons of life that have since been of incalculable benefit to him. On the 5th of June, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, as a private. Subsequently he was transferred to the First Indiana Heavy Artillery and was promoted to various ranks, eventually becoming lieutenant of his company. He was mustered out on the 10th of January, 1866, at Baton Rouge, after having served at the front for four years and a half. He saw much hard fighting and participated in the battles of Fort Jackson, St. Phillip and Baton Rouge. During the siege of New Orleans he was assigned to naval duty and subsequently he took part in the battle of Port Hudson, the Red River expedition and the siege of Mobile. He was never absent from his company and never wounded nor taken prisoner, although he endured many hardships incident to the campaigns in which he was engaged. He could always be depended upon to do his duty and never flinched in the face of danger.

After his return from the war Mr. Polk engaged in farming independently and also raised considerable stock. He was likewise for a time in the mercantile business. In 1873 he came in a covered wagon to Iowa, settling in Monroe township, Madison county, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land. The place remained his home for twenty-three years and in that time its appearance was greatly changed, as he divided the land into fields of convenient size, erected good buildings and beautified the lawn about his residence and brought the land itself to a high state of cultivation. He prospered financially and added an eighty acre tract to his quarter section and at length accumulated a competence that enabled him to retire to Winterset in 1896. He disposed of his land some time ago and now has no business cares to burden him and is enjoying to the full the leisure that his former industry and good management made possible.

Mr. Polk was married March 23, 1871, to Miss Minerva Scanling, who was born in Ohio in 1845 and was educated at Oxford College for Women at Oxford, Ohio, a well known girls school. When but five years of age she was crippled and was practically so during her entire life. Her death was a tragic one, as she was burned on the farm in 1893 from a gasoline explosion. She had two daughters: Mrs. J. H. Cochran, of Winterset; and Mary E., a graduate of the State University of Iowa and now a teacher at Wasco, Oregon. Mr. Folk's second wife was in her maidenhood Miss Savannah Truitt, who was born in Davis county, Missouri, a daughter of Jesse and Mary (Robinson) Truitt, both natives of Indiana. They were married in the Hoosier state and subsequently removed successively to Muscatine, Iowa; Missouri; and Madison county, Iowa, arriving here in 1858.

Mr. and Mrs. Polk are members of the Baptist church and aid in the furtherance of its cause. He is a republican, having supported that party since its birth, and has held a number of local offices, including that of assessor and of county supervisor, being a member of the board for three years. In 1880 he was census enumerator. Since 1896 he has resided in Winterset and his home on East Jefferson street is a popular meeting place for his many personal friends, who hold him in warm regard.

Taken from the book, “The History of Madison County, Iowa, 1915”