Waddle, William Warren 1843-1912

WADDLE, GARNER

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 7/13/2010 at 14:59:59

A large number of Merrill people attended the funeral of Mr. Waddle Monday. Several of those attending were former residents of this locality.

The visiting members of the Waddle family are spending a few days this week, renewing old acquaintances in their former home neighborhood.

The many old friends of the Waddle family were grieved to hear of the death of the father, W. W. Waddle at his home in Webster, S. D. Friday evening, November 15, 1912.

While Mr. Waddle was not an old man,, being but sixty-nine years of age his death was not altogether unexpected, as he had been ill some time. An old affliction, becoming more persistently distressing, necessitated an operation few weeks ago. This was performed in a Minneapolis hospital and was at first thought to be quite successful, but the wound failed to heal properly and though everything was done, his life was eventual forfeited.

The funeral, which was largely attended by the many old friends arid neighbors of this estimable family, was held in Adaville Church Monday afternoon; Rev. Boyd conducting the service. Internment was made in the Pleasant Valley Cemetery nearby, where the first born of the family was laid away many years ago.

William Warren Waddle was born in Grant County, Wisconsin, April 19th, 1843. He was raised in the above mentioned county, attending the high school at Lancaster, Wisconsin, one year; enlisted in the union army in Company I, 20th Wisconsin Volunteers, August l4th, 1862; was wounded in the battle of Prairie Grove, December 1, 1862. He was out of the service from December 7, 1862, until March 5, 1864, when he re-enlisted in Company A, 41st Infantry, and served until the close of the war.

He was married to Elizabeth Garner, December 17, 1866. He moved to Iowa and secured a homestead in 1874. To Mr. and Mrs. Waddle were given ten children, eight of whom survive, They are as follows: William G., an attorney at Webster, S. D.; Thomas, Warren, living on the home farm near Sioux City, Ia.; Arthur, living near Webster; Mrs. Nellie Kanago, living four miles north of Webster; Reuben, Frederick and Edward, living on farms pear Webster; Mrs. Laura Grebner, living some miles north of Webster. Mr. and Mrs. Waddle moved to Webster in the autumn of 1909.

Besides the eight surviving children, there are sixteen grandchildren, seven of whom were present at the funeral. With the exception of two, the children accompanied the body to its final ruling place Six gentlemen from Merrill acted as pallbearers.

Akron Register Tribune
Thursday, November 21, 1912
Akron, Iowa
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LeMars Sentinel
November 22, 1912

WAS A WAR VETERAN
WILLIAM WADDLE LIVED HERE THIRTY-FIVE YEARS
A PIONEER OF LIBERTY TOWNSHIP
Deceased was a volunteer in the Civil War and Suffered Wounds and Hardship in Common With Many Other Unheralded Heroes

William Warren Waddle was born in Grant county, Wisconsin, April 19, 1843. In that county he spent the years of his boyhood, getting from nature and from the old fashioned schoolmaster many broad and fundamental truths of life, and also learning there to love and serve his country and his fellowmen. At the age of eighteen he had gained sufficient learning to admit him to the high school at Lancaster, at which place his work was but fairly begun when the war of the rebellion broke out. His loyalty to home and country, his belief in equal rights for all men impelled him to lay aside his books and take up arms in the cause of liberty.

On the 14th day of August, 1862, at Beetown, Wisconsin, he was enlisted in Company I of the 20th Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers. He went forth and in common with his comrades and brothers because because of long marches, lack of shelter and scarcity of food he suffered and endured much hardship and privation.

On the 7th day of December, 1862, on the border of Indian Territory he went into the Battle of Prairie Grove. All day long the battle raged, but ere the sun was set he with hundreds more was carried to the rear a wounded but undaunted man. For many months in crude hospitals and under adverse circumstances he recuperated and revived.

The cause for which he fought was not yet won, hence on regaining strength he again offered his services and at Lancaster, on the 5th day of May, 1864, was re-enlisted in Company A of the 41st Wisconsin Infantry, wherein he served till the end of the war.

He took no little pride in the fact that as an humble citizen of a great nation, in the performance of an American’s duty, he cast his first ballot for that great and beloved statesman, Abraham Lincoln.

When the war was over and peace had come, he turned his life and his energy to building of that which makes for nations and for mankind, a home, which was ever the “dearest spot on earth” to him.

On the 17th day of December, 1866, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Garner, who was his loving and faithful wife and companion unto the end. Having learned the carpenter trade, he worked at it till 1874, at which time he moved with his little family to a homestead in Liberty township, Plymouth county, Iowa. This was then the frontier of the west, but his energy, his utter indifference to danger and hardship finally brought to him and his loved ones the reward for which he struggled.

His home was acquired, improved and made comfortable. So being well situated and his children having married off, he retired from active work on the farm but would never dispose of it. At the time of his decease, he was residing in the city of Webster, South Dakota, in the vicinity of which city all his children save one now live.

For many years he had been afflicted with a complication of ills caused by hard service as a soldier and pioneer. About two months ago his condition had become so critical that it was necessary to resort to a dangerous surgical operation. He survived the same and for a time appeared to be regaining strength, but his vital forces were unequal to the occasion, and at 10 minutes past nine o’clock on the evening of November 15, 1912, in the seventieth year of his age, surrounded by all the members of his family, he quietly passed from his earthly home to the home in Heaven from whence no man returns.

In the beautiful Pleasant Valley Cemetery at Adaville, Iowa, beside the grave of his first born, Hattie, who died thirty-four years ago, at the tender age of eleven years, his remains are now at rest.

His widow and eight children survive to mourn his departure.

These children are: William G., an attorney at Webster, South Dakota; Thomas W., who resides on and farms the old homestead; Arthur, Reuben, Frederick and Edward, farmers near Webster, South Dakota; Nellie M. Kanago and Laura Grebner, whose husbands are also farmers near said place.

In the passing of this man, we are called upon to mourn the loss of a life that was unique, strong and peculiarly characteristic. Whether “on the field of battle or in the bivouac of life” he knew no fear. He knew not how to slick or op----, or fall. (several more words here are blurred and not readable.)

He was not only father and protector, but he was companion and friend. Damon and Pythias knew no friendship truer than his.

He was a wide and exhaustive reader. What he read he remembered. He possessed a high degree of intellectuality. His views and conclusions on the great questions of life were broad and sympathetic. He loved the great outdoors, the beauties of nature, the handiwork of God. In his travels and outings which were many, he asked no greater pleasure than the companionship of a son or a friend.

With his pioneer life in Iowa must ever be connected the name of Bingenheimer, McConnell, Dixon, Pabst, Shedd, Vetter, Chase, Crow, Crouch, Pearson, Hunter, Gorman, Mansfield, Clarey, Bauerly, Beauleau, Fletcher, Stinton, Montagne, Veidt, Dennler, Hauser, Simeon, Hauswaldt and many more whom space will not permit us to name.

Among his many attachments one of the closest was that with his uncle, Joe Comes, who recently died at his home in Madison, Wis.

Admired for ability, his sincerity of purpose and his strict integrity and honesty in business, loved and respected as a man by all who knew him he is gone but never to be forgotten.