Lockridge, Joseph

LOCKRIDGE

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 13:25:20

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.958

JOSEPH LOCKRIDGE
Joseph Lockridge is now living in Spring Hill, but for many years was one of the prosperous and energetic farmers of Warren County, who owned and cultivated land in Jefferson Township, having about one hundred acres in the home place, while in Greenfield Township he also owned forty acres. He is numbered among the old settlers of the county, dating his residence here from August 1858. He was born in Miami County, Indiana, November 9, 1841. His father, James A. Lockridge, was born in Virginia, and went to Indiana at an early date and settled in Miami County, where he there married Mary Hall, who was a native of that city and there died in 1845. Her husband survived until 1856.
Joseph Lockridge was reared to the age of seventeen years in Miami County, Indiana, when he came west to Warren County, Iowa, joining an uncle, Samuel Lockridge. For about two years he worked in a sawmill cutting lumber. He was also employed at farm labor for several years, receiving eight dollars per month for his services in Indiana, and eleven dollars per month in Iowa. While he started out in life empty-handed, he possessed a good foundation for success in his unfaltering energy and firm purpose, and gradually he has worked his way upward until as the owner of a valuable farm property, he derives there from a gratifying annual income.
Mr. Lockridge was married in Jefferson Township, June 23, 1861, to Miss Mary E. Perkins, who was born in Illinois and came to Iowa when a little maiden of eleven years. After their marriage the young couple settled on a farm, but the following year Mr. Lockridge bade adieu to his young wife and went to the front in defense of the Union, having enlisted on the 19th of August, 1862, as a member of Company H, Thirty-fourth Iowa Volunteer Infan­try. He served as a private, went south to Mississippi and Arkansas, and was first under fire at the battle of Vicksburg, while later he participated in the en­gagement at Arkansas Post and subsequently in the siege of Vicksburg. He was also in the battles of Chickasaw Bluff, Fort Morgan and Fort Blakeley and served until the close of the war, being mustered out in August, 1865, at Hous­ton, Texas, and honorably discharged at Davenport. He had been a brave and faithful soldier, never faltering in the performance of his duty.
He ar­rived home September 7, 1865, and the following year he purchased a farm comprising ninety acres. This he began to cultivate and improve. Later he erected a good residence, barns and outbuildings, also set out an orchard and fenced his fields. He likewise bought more land from time to time, secured the latest improved machinery to carry on the work of the fields and continued to engage in farming there until the fall of 1907, when he rented his property to his son. He then purchased a lot and built a residence at Spring Hill where he now resides.
In 1906 Mr. Lockridge was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife who died on the 12th of February. They were the parents of five children: W. O., who is married and resides at Spring Hill; D. R., who is living on the home farm; Delana, the wife of Elmer Crowe, a farmer of Jefferson Township; Ursula E., the wife of William Kepley, a farmer of Greenfield Township, and Nannie, the wife of L. Alexander, a resident farmer of Jefferson Township. Mr. Lock-ridge was again married at Winterset, Iowa, January 9, 1908, his second union being with Mrs. M. E. Wallace, who was born in Dewitt, Illinois, and came to Iowa in 1853, being reared in Lucas County in the home of her father, A. B. Danner. She was first married in that county to George Ham, and after his death became the wife of T. D. Wallace. She resided in Lucas County for three years and in 1893 removed to Carlisle, Iowa, where Mr. Wallace died. She had four children: Otis Ham, who is married and resides at Independence, Iowa, is a pharmacist conducting a drug store at the insane hospital; Ora, is the wife of Edward Holton, a liveryman of Humeston, Iowa; Raymond, who is living at Coon Rapids, Iowa, and Allen, a business man of Kansas City. By her second marriage Mrs. Lockridge had no children.
Politically Mr. Lockridge is a staunch Democrat. While living on the farm he was elected to serve as township trustee for six years. He was also identified with the schools and was secretary for eleven years. In Spring Hill he has served as a member of the village council and also as a member of the school board. The cause of education finds in him a warm friend. He belongs to the Christian Church, while his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and they are both active and earnest in church work, Mrs. Lockridge belonging to the Missionary society and the Ladies' Aid society. She is also a member of the Auxiliary Circle of the Grand Army of the Re­public. Mr. Lockridge belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, becoming a charter member of the Spring Hill lodge in which he has filled all of the offices and is a past grand. He is one of the few remaining veterans of the Civil War and also one of the pioneer settlers of Warren County. In days of peace he has been as loyal to his country as when he followed the stars and stripes on southern battlefields. He has worked diligently and persist­ently year after year in the conduct of his business affairs and has never been known to take advantage of the necessities of another in a business transac­tion. He has not gained success by leaps and bounds, but by the faithful per­formance of each day's duties and by the use of the opportunities which have come to him. Now in possession of a comfortable competence, he is living retired, being pleasantly situated in Spring Hill.