GEORGE M LENTNER

LENTNER MCGONAGLE, IMES, HINSEY, SCOTT, JACKSON, KIRKPATRICK

Posted By: Linda Henderson (email)
Date: 10/24/2002 at 21:35:37

Ottumwa Courier 1906

IN GOOD HEALTH AND LOOKS FORWARD TO THE CENTURY MARK A YEAR HENCE

Blessed With Good Memory and Fair Sight and Hearing-Tells of the War of 1812-Remembers Details of the Engagements-Visits Lewistown.

Highland Center, Aug 22. - (Special) - Take your dusty volumes of history from their shelves, turn to the narrative of the thrilling incidents of the war of 1812, follow your country through its various vicissitudes to the present time, and you will be in position to realize something of teh things that GEORGE M. LENTNER knows. MR. LENTNER, at his humble little home in Highland Center,IA, is today quietly celebrating the ninety-ninth anniversary of his birth and several of his descendants are here to do appropriate honor to the event. Ninety-nine years have rolled their cycles by since the birth of GEORGE M LENTNER. Nations have been created and wrecked. men whose names are emblazoned on the pages of history have sprung into prominence, shone a while, and disappeared in the obscurity of forgetfulness or death. Much can transpire in ninety-nine years and a man who lives t see it all, be a part of it all, to know it all and remember it all, is more than fortunate. When one talks to Mr. LENTNER, hears him tell of the scenes he witnessed when a boy, time loses its majesty, and the listener lives, for the moment, in the dim past, for he is in the presence of the past.
George M. LENTNER was born in Lewistown, Del., August 22, 1807. In the family Bible, now in the possession of members of the family living at Bolen's Mills, Ohio, the date is given as 1806, but in the LENTNER home in Highland there is a Bible in which the date is recorded as 1807 and Mr. LENTNER declares this is correct. The discrepancy is explained by the fact that the family, always devout Presbyterians, used the old style of recording the years, "the year of acceptance." Time has been kind to George M. LENTNER and there is a good reason to believe that one year from today he will still be alive and happy, and able to celebrate with his children's children the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. Happy? There is no happier man in Iowa than he. His kind old eyes have lost their keenness, his ears are dulled to the softer sounds, his limbs are not as sturdy as they were in years bon by, but his brain is as active, his memory as true, his interest in men and affairs as great as when, in the prime of life he came west, "to grow up with the country," and to make a home for himself and for his family in the wilds of the new Iowa.

A RACE OF WARRIORS
George M. LENTNER is sprung from a race of warriors, His grandfather Conrad LENTNER, many years ago, came to American with LaFayette. He lived near the Franco-German boundary with his young wife and when the marquis made his appeal, in the name of liberty and right, Conrad LENTNER was among those who followed him to America to fight the British. He acquitted himself honorably in the struggle and died at a ripe old age in the country he had helped to save. His son, Jacob, married and made his home about a mile from Lewistown, Del., and it was there that George M. LENTNER was born. Jacob LENTNER was a warrior like his father. When the call to arms came for the war of 1812 he responded, and he served through the conflict as an officer in the American forces. His son, a mere slip of a boy was the pet of the regiment, and he had no prouder monents than when his father allowed him to visit the camp at Lewistown and march from one camp fire to another, beating his little drum and listening to the cheers and praise of the soldiers.

THE WAR IF 1812
It is those early days that Mr. Lentner likes most to talk, and a few days ago he told a representative of the Courier about the British attach upon Lewiston in 1814, just before the close of the war. "I was at our home just outside of town," he said, "and we could hear the bombardment from the ships in the bay all day. The British were not good shots, though, and the engagement could hardly be called a battle. Our men killed fourteen of the enemy and sustained no loss. The people made fun of the British, and almost before they had left the harbor men, women and children were singing a little doggere that someone had composed. "The commodor and all his men, crippled a cow and killed a hen; The commodore and all his crew, cut an old dead dog in two."
When he was 9 years old Mr. LENTNER'S parents removed to Ohio. They settled in Athens county, near a settlement that surrounded a grist mill owned by a man named Bolen. This little cross roads community has since grown into a town and is called Bolch's Mills. here Mr. LENTNER grew to young manhood. In 1829 he married Miss Sarah Ann MCGONAGLE, who lived only about one year thereafter, leaving a daughter. In 1831 Mr. LENTNER was again married, his second wife being Miss Mary IMES. Six children blessed this union. The first, a daughter, died at the age of 4 years. Two sons and three daughters reached the age of maturity, but only the youngest Mrs. Matilda KIRKPATRICK, of Highland Center, is still living. Henry and Jacob became the heads of families and both lived up to the traditions of the family by serving in the civil war, enlisting from Wapello county. Henry had two sons and two daughters. Jacob was the father of four sons and four daughters.
Mr. LENTNER'S oldest daughter, Louisa, became the wife of Dr. J.E. HINSEY, for many years a highly respected citizen of Ottumwa. Mr. LENTNER lived with the HINSEY family for several years, returning to the Highland township after the death of his daughter. Mrs. HINSEY was the mother of nine daughters and two sons, and is survived by twn children. Rhoda, the second daughter, became the wife of Tyler SCOTT who was killed at Helena, Ark., while serving in the union forces in the Civil war. Mr. & Mrs SCOTT are survived by only one daughter, Mrs. Jonn P. JACKSON of Ridgeway, MO. Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, who lives in Highland with her father is the mother of four children, two sons and two daughters.

CAME TO IOWA IN 1851
In 1851 the Lentner family removed to Iowa and Mr. Lentner purchased 120 acres in Dahlonega township, Wapello County, where the home of Captain W. H. Kitterman is now situated. In 1864 the family removed to Highland township, taking a farm just outside of Highland Center. Here the mother died in 1892. at the age of 84 years, and soon afterwards Mr. LENTNER went to Ottumwa to live with his daughter, the late Mrs. HINSEY. Three years ago, after her death, he returned to Highland Center and has since made his home with Mrs. Kirkpatrick.
The trip from Ohio to Iowa was attended with many hardships. It was made overland, the family traveling in a two-horse wagon and a surrey. Three weeks were required to complete the journey.
Mr. LENTNER does not look like a man within a year of the century mark. His forehead is as smooth and seamless as that of a young man. His laugh is hearty, and if there is any truth in the theory that a sunny temperament minimizes time, Mr. LENTNER's case should help to prove it. He spends his days sitting by the window,apparently never lonely, though his friends know he must feel keenly his inability to read. Until a few years ago he read the papers daily and took great interes in every event they chronicled, especially those of politics. Since before the creation of the republican party he has adhered to its principles and voted for the men who represented them. His first vote for president was cast for John Quincy Adams, who was defeated in 1828 by Andrew Jackson. In 1904 he declared his intention of voting for Roosevelt, saying that although he had lost his first vote he intended to make his last one count. He was conveyed to the polling place in a carriage and cast a straight republican ticket.