Blickensderfer, Capt. J. F.

BLICKENSDERFER, MEYERS, GRAHAM, ROMIG

Posted By: mjv (email)
Date: 8/4/2020 at 08:31:18

Capt. J. F. Blickensderfer, residing on section 24, Dutch Creek Township, is engaged in general farming and stock-raising. He was born July 11, 1835, in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and is a son of Isaac and Elvina (Meyers) Blickensderfer, the former a native of Ohio, and the latter of Pennsylvania.

The boyhood and youth of our subject were spent on a farm with his parents until 1855, in the meantime attending select schools and acquiring a liberal education. He then taught a graded school for two years, and subsequently engaged in farming, which occupation he followed until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he assisted in recruiting and organizing the 51st Ohio Infantry, securing by his own exertions the services of 117 men for that regiment. He was commissioned Captain of Company B, but on account of undue advantage being taken of him, he resigned his commission in that regiment, and turned his attention to merchandising, until July, 1863, when he recruited a company of the Ohio National Guards, and was afterward mustered into service as Captain of Co. A, 161st Ohio Vol. Inf., and was sent to the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, and was with Sheridan at Winchester, the 161st Regiment occupying a position on the right, being in the 2nd Division of the 6th Army Corps. Capt. Blickensderfer, in this engagement, was under fire about thirty-six hours, and had two balls shot through his clothing, one on his right side and the other on the left and three through his hat.

On the 28th of October, 1864, the regiment was discharged from the service, and Capt. Blickensderfer returned home, and subsequently raised 217 men for the 189th Ohio Infantry, and was mustered in as Captain of Company C, of that regiment, March 4, 1865. The regiment was attached to the 4th Army Corps under Gen. Thomas, and was placed on garrison duty at different points in Alabama, until the 28th of October, 1865, when it was mustered out of service at Nashville, Tenn., and was discharged at Camp Chase, Ohio, a few days after. In September, 1866, Capt. Blickensderfer came to Washington County, Iowa, and bought 177 acres of land on section 24, and began farming. In 1869, he sold the south half of the land and bought ninety acres where he now lives, and where he has a fine farm of 190 acres, all of which is under cultivation, and is well improved in every respect. Recently he has turned his attention to the raising of good horses, and is now the owner of a Percheron, a fine black horse four years old and weighing about 1,700 pounds. He has also a fine lot of Poland-China hogs.

In 1857, he was united in marriage with Miss Louisa C. Graham, and to them were born two children, a son and daughter, the former dying in infancy, and the latter in September, 1883. In December, 1862, Mrs. Blickensderfer died, and May 2, 1863, Capt. Blickensderfer again married, choosing Miss Sarah R. Graham as a wife. To this union two children were born, Anna C., born Sept. 9, 1865, and Elva S., Born Oct. 14, 1867. On the 6th of October, 1868, Mrs. Blickensderfer died, and in October, 1869, Capt. Blickensderfer married Melinda Romig. By this union, five children have been born, five children have been born: Susie F., born Oct. 11, 1870; Frederick, Aug. 17, 1875; Bertha, Sept. 10, 1881; Charles F. and Edgar L. died in infancy.

Capt. And Mrs. Blickensderfer are members of the Moravian Church, and he is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Politically, he is a Republican, and cast his first vote in 1856, for John C. Fremont for President. In the community where he resides he is regarded as a live man in every respect, ready to assist in every good work, and willing to lend a helping hand to those in need. The world is made better by such men.

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington County, Iowa (1887). Excerpt from Biographical Sketch of Capt. J. F. Blickensderfer , pages 597-598.