Welliver, John C. 1844-1913

WELLIVER

Posted By: Janet Brown, volunteer (email)
Date: 10/16/2013 at 17:29:54

Tuesday, June 17, 1913 Hawarden Independent:

Formerly Lived Here

John C. Welliver one of the pioneers of Plymouth county, and for a number of years a resident of Hawarden, died at the Soldiers Home in Marshalltown last Thursday. He was probably the last surviving member of the death guard that was on duty at the hanging of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt and three other conspirators who attempted the life of Secretary of State Seward at the time President Lincoln was shot. Welliver remembered the quadruple execution well and often talked interestingly of many of the minor details of the affair. He settled in LeMars shortly after the war and engaged in the real estate business and for many years claimed the distinction of having sold more land in that county than any other one man. He broke down in health and came to Hawarden and lived here several years, afterwards returning to Plymouth county, finally taking up his home at the state institution for old and disabled soldiers at Marshalltown. One daughter, Mrs. W. B. Everett, resides in this city. Four others and one son survive him.
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LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel
Tuesday, June 17, 1913

John C. Welliver, one of the pioneers of Plymouth county, died at the Soldiers Home in Marshalltown on Friday. He was a well known land man in the early days of settlement here and lived in LeMars for many years, making his home at Struble. A Marshalltown dispatch says of him:

Death claimed Thursday the last surviving member of the death guard of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt and three Lincoln conspirators, when Lieut. John C. Welliver died at the Iowa Soldiers home in this city at 75. Welliver's home was at Struble, Plymouth County.

It was on July 7, 1865 that John C. Welliver was captain of the guard that was posted in the death chamber of Mrs. Surratt, Lewis Payne Powell, who attempted to stab Secretary of State Seward at the time John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln; David E. Herold, and George A. Atzerold. Welliver remembered the quadruple execution very well and even to some of the minor details and talked interestingly of the historic affair.

Welliver lived at Aledo, Ill., when the war broke out and on May 15, 1861, at Monmouth enlisted in company I, Seventeenth Illinois infantry. He served until May 16, 1864 and on February 4, 1865 enlisted in company H, Second Veterans' volunteer infantry. He was discharged as a second lieutenant March 9, 1866.

Welliver settled at LeMars, Iowa, shortly after the war and went into the land business. He claimed the distinction of having sold more land in Plymouth county than any other one man. For several years he acted as an agent of the Iowa Railroad Land Company, which handled the land grants of the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad, later absorbed and made a part of the Illinois Central.

Welliver has a son, John Welliver, [rest of this sentence illegible].
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Poster's Note: In the LeMars City/LeMars Memorial Cemetery Block 1 cemetery records, there is buried a Sarah Welliver (no tombstone marker.) Courthouse records state: female Welliver, housewife, married; b. PA; died 10 Jan 1889 LeMars, IA; buried LeMars, IA.

Poster's note: According to the 1900 Federal Census for Washington Township, Sioux County, Iowa, John C. Welliver was born in Nov. 1844 in Illinois. His marital status was given as Divorced.

In the 1870 Federal census, he and wife Sarah are living in Aledo, Illinois with the following children: Ida Belle, born about 1864 in Illinois; Scott, born about 1867 in Illinois; and John, born in Illinois and age 5/12 at the time of the census.

In the 1885 Iowa census, he and wife Sarah were living in LeMars and had the following children: Scott, born about 1867 in Illinois; K___ (a daughter), born about 1871 in Illinois; Sadie, born about 1871 in Plymouth county, Iowa; Hellie (probably Nellie), born about 1874 in Plymouth county, Iowa; Eva, born about 1880 in Plymouth county, Iowa and a baby, born about 1884 in Plymouth county, Iowa.

According to William E. Everett's obituary in the January 4, 1940 Hawarden Independent, he was married to Nellie Welliver in 1892.

In addition, in the March 20, 1908 Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, there is an article about the marriage of Hazel Welliver Goudie, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Goudie, to Gerald Pearce. It notes that one of the out-of-town guests was her sister, Mrs. Everett of Ireton. According to the 1900 Federal census, Hazel was born in May 1883. (But her parents are Elnora & Thomas Goudie who were married in 1874 so perhaps she was adopted by them??)

According to "The Daily Liberal" of September 19,1881, Ida B. Welliver married Mr. Charles E. Wyatt of St. Gilman. (Mr. Wyatt was son of the Sioux County Auditor).