Warnock, Austin

WARNOCK

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 7/2/2021 at 21:13:51

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.846

AUSTIN WARNOCK
Austin Warnock, who is one of the most highly esteemed citizens of Carlisle and one of the valiant defenders of the Union during the Civil War, was born on the 20th of December 1831, in Ross County, Ohio, of which state his father, John Warnock, was also a native, but his paternal grandparents came from Ireland and were early settlers of Ross County. In the spring of 1852 the father brought his family to Iowa and settled on a farm in Polk County, where he purchased two hundred and sixty-one acres of land, but he was not long permitted to enjoy his new home, however, for he passed away in 1855. His wife survived him for a number of years, being eighty-seven at the time of her death.
Austin Warnock spent the days of his minority in his native county, being twenty-one years of age when the family came to Iowa and located in Polk County. After the death of the father, he and his brothers carried on the farm until after the outbreak of the rebellion. Prompted by a spirit of patriotism, he enlisted in September 1862, as a member of Company C, Twenty-third Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and went south with his command to Missouri. He participated in the engagements at Port Gibson, Magnolia Hill, Champion Hill and Black River Bridge, where the colonel of the regiment was killed. He was under fire almost every day for three months and was in the siege of Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi, after which he returned to Vicksburg. He was granted a thirty-day furlough which he spent at home and then rejoined his command at Carrollton, Louisiana, near New Orleans. After many fights and skirmishes they were sent to Texas and were later ordered to join the Banks expedition up the Red River but remained at Fort Durussa and met General Banks on his retreat. Later they assisted in the capture of Spanish Fort and from there went to Mobile and then back to Texas. From Galveston they proceeded north to Columbus, Texas, and were next located near Houston. The war having ended, Mr. Warnock then returned to Davenport, where he was honorably discharged in September 1865, never having been wounded nor taken prisoner during his entire service in the war.
Returning home he and a brother purchased the interests of the other heirs in his father’s farm and he continued to engage in its operation until 1902, when he purchased the house in Carlisle, where he has since resided. However, he still owns two hundred and twenty acres of the old homestead and has another one hundred acre farm in Allen Township. While engaged in farming he also raised and fed considerable stock and in business affairs he met with most excellent success.
On the 14th of September 1869, Mr. Warnock was married in Des Moines to Miss Martha Plummer, who was born in Knox County, Illinois, and continued to reside there until fourteen years of age. Her father, Jesse Plummer, was a native of Virginia and an early settler of Knox County, Illinois, where he made his home from 1838 to 1863, and then removed to Polk County, Iowa. Mrs. And Mrs. Warnock have four children, namely: Rose, now the wife of W.W. Preston, a farmer of Polk County, by whom she has four children, Charles, Lawrence, Clarence and Helen Preston; and Amanda, Nellie and Gertrude, who are at home with their parents.
Mr. Warnock has been a staunch supporter of the Republican Party since casting his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont in 1856. He has served as treasurer of the township schools, and has also filled the office of township trustee and assessor for two terms. Both he and his wife take an active interest in church and Sunday school work, being members of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, and he is now serving as one of the trustees of the church at Carlisle. He is also a member of I.B. Sexton Post, No.425, G.A.R. [Grand Army of the Republic], of which he is past commander, and he stands high not only in the esteem of his army comrades but in the regard of all who know him.