Oliver Milton Archer

ALCOCK, ARCHER, DRAKE, HINKLE, HOUSTON, LARRINGTON, MCDONALD, MILLER, SCHOLAS, SCOTT

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 9/2/2004 at 14:59:04

Oliver M. Archer, a veteran of the Civil war and a retired farmer now living in Truro, was born April 30, 1841, in Putnam county, Indiana, a son of Asa and Margaret (Miller) Archer, natives respectively of New York and of Kentucky. The father was of English descent and the mother of German ancestry. They removed westward to Indiana, where the father farmed, although in his early manhood he had devoted the greater part of his time to carpenter work. In April, 1846, they removed to Monroe county, Iowa, where he preempted land, and the family home was maintained in that county until September, 1892, when they came to Madison county. The father purchased a farm in South township and resided there until he passed away at the age of ninety-one years, having long survived his wife, her demise occurring in Monroe county.

Oliver M. Archer accompanied his parents on their removal to Monroe county and remained under the parental roof during the period of his minority. He attended the district schools and thus gained a common-school education. On the 25th of March, 1862, he enlisted in Company H, Seventeenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry at Albia, Monroe county, under Colonel Hallock. The command rendezvoused at Keokuk, Iowa, and thence were sent to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, where they drew their arms and embarked for Shiloh. They landed at Hamburg and in the fall of that year Mr. Archer participated in the following engagements: Corinth, luka and Wilson's Creek. During the charge at Corinth he was so badly jarred by a cannon that he was left on the battlefield as dead. One of the members of his company, detailed to bury the dead, noticed him move and took him to the hospital. He was unconscious for three days and was in the hospital three months before he was well enough to be discharged. He was reported dead and in after years when endeavoring to get a pension it required six years to prove that he was alive. He was discharged at Corinth, Mississippi, and returned home but for two years was unable to do any work. As soon as his health permitted he learned the blacksmith's trade and for eight years followed it. At the end of that time he purchased a farm on Jones creek in South township, Madison county, and resided there for eleven years, after which he removed to the vicinity of Greenfield, Adair county, Iowa, living there for five years. He then returned to Madison county and purchased a farm one and a half miles south of Truro and continued active in its operation until 1906, when he rented his farm to his two sons and removed to Truro, there living retired until the death of his wife, which occurred July 10, 1910. He afterward made his home with his children until 1913, when he returned to Truro, where he has since lived. He rents the eighty acres which he still owns, deriving therefrom a good financial return. As a farmer he was foresighted, industrious and capable, and the competence that he has accumulated is the reward of his wisely directed industry.

Mr. Archer was married in 1865 to Miss Sarah Jane Hinkle. To this union were born four sons: Dalbert Henry, a stockman of Hanley, Iowa, married Miss Venice Alcock, and has one child, Raymond Edward. Gabriel Lewes, who is engaged in the real-estate and insurance business in St. Charles, Iowa, married Miss Hattie Houston, and has four children, Hazel, Frank, Gwendolyn and Margaret. Noah Oliver, a lumber dealer of Truro, being a member of the firm of Atkinson & Archer, affiliated with the Truro Lumber Company, married Miss Maude Scott. John William, a well known farmer of Ohio township, married Miss Henrietta Larrington, by whom he has a daughter, Dorothy Ruth.

Mr. Archer was married in 1914 to Mrs. Jennie (McDonald) Scholes, the widow of G. W. Scholes, a harnessmaker of Victor, Iowa. Her parents were William and Jane (Drake) McDonald, both natives of Ohio the former of Irish descent and the latter of German and Welsh stock. They were married in 1868 and two years later located in Dixon county, Nebraska, where the father engaged in farming near Ponca. They continued to reside there until death, the demise of the father occurring in 1877, and that of the mother in 1878.

Mr. Archer is a republican and steadfast in his devotion to the party principles. Both he and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church and he also holds membership in the Masonic blue lodge at Truro. He helped to organize the Grand Army of the Republic Post at that place and for seven years served as commander. After the post there was discontinued he joined the one at St. Charles, of which he is now a member, and his wife is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps of that place. Mr. Archer has always taken the keenest interest in everything relating to the Grand Army of the Republic and feels that it would be a great loss to the nation if the story of the heroic deeds of the Civil war should ever be suffered to be forgotten. He was a personal friend of General U. S. Grant and often visited him at his headquarters and has always been his sincere admirer. He says of him that he was "an ideal commander—good to his men." Mr. Archer has at all times realized that a man's duty to his country does not consist alone in fighting her battles, but that patriotism may be expressed in the conscientious use of the ballot and in the faithful performance of everyday duty and he has discharged his obligations as a citizen in time of peace as fully as he did in time of war.

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