John Calvin HECKART

HECKART, RUDY, WALKER, CLARKE, PHELPS, SCHAFFTER, HECKHART, HENDERSON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:59

John Calvin Heckart
2 December 1836 ---- 19 May 1914

The sad news reached Eagle Grove by wire that J. C. Heckart had passed away Tuesday morning at his home at Zephyr Hills, Florida. The remains were at once prepared for shipment to this place. Mr. Heckart and his sister made their home in Florida for some two years, where Mr. Heckart had bought a few acres which he was putting out to fruit. Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Rudy, upon getting word last Sunday that he was critically ill left for that place Sunday night. Obituary next week

TIMES GAZETTE --- Eagle Grove, Iowa
May 20, 1914

*****

The funeral services of the late Col. J. C. Heckart were held on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. from the J. M. Rudy home, and another highly respected citizen and comrade has been laid at rest. The Masons of Bower Lodge, also the G. A. R. and W. R. C. attended in a body, and Rev. L. M. Pierce, in harmony with the brotherly spirit that prevailed, spoke very tenderly from the text, "Behold, How He Loved Him."

The impressive and beautiful Masonic ritualistic service was read at the cemetery. The pall bearers were made up of Masons and old soldiers, H. B. Quint, Wm. Walters, W. R. Blake and R. M. Smallpage, of the former, and Mr. Flower and Mr. Hicks, of the latter. Four members of Company K marched on either side of the hearse on the march to the cemetery. The casket was decorated with the stars and stripes besides being banked with flowers.

Relatives from out of town were Grant Heckart, the only son, of Independence, Mo., and Mrs. Will Walker and Fred Clarke, of Algona. The services were largely attended, neighbors and friends thus paying their last respects to one of our number, who was held in the highest esteem and one who was a friend to all who knew him. In the death of Mr. Heckart we lose a good citizen, a genial and jovial character, and a man of the highest type of character.

John Calvin Heckart was born in Worcester, Ohio, on December 2, 1838, and died on May 13, 1914, at Zephyr Hills, Florida, his age being 75 years, 5 months and 7 days.

A very ancient looking certificate now in the possession of the family shows that he was baptized by the Rev. Mr. Weigand in Wayne county, Ohio. His parents moved to Algona, Ia., in 1856, and there Mr. Heckart grew to manhood, and from that place he went to the war in 1862, enlisting in the 32nd Iowa Infantry Volunteers, under Col. Scott and Captain Cutler to serve three years. He was in the battle of Cape Girardeau on April 26, 1863, at Gercy, Mo., in August, at Bayou Metse in the same month; after that he was detailed to Little Rock, Ark., to take charge of a regiment of sick soldiers, and remained in that duty until January, 1864, when he was assigned to the Department of the Gulf and took part in the great Red River expedition, including battles at Saling Cross Roads, Pleasant Hill, Marksville, Bayou De Glaize and Tupelo. This series of fights lasting from April to July, 1864. He then took part in the campaign against Price in Tennessee, which lasted the rest of the year, including the battle at Nashville, Tennessee, and in the following spring he was in the campaign against Mobile. He was honorably discharged from the service on August 28th, 1865; by reason of the close of the war. He was always proud of the fact that in all of its numerous fights his regiment was uniformly victorious.

In the year following the close of the war he was married to Amelia M. Phelps, at Algona on November 13, 1866 and they lived happily together until her death, which occurred in Eagle Grove in 1908. Their children were three in number, Hattie Schaffter, Jessie Rudy and Grant Heckart. The family removed from Algona to Eagle Grove in the year 1889, and Mr. Heckart engaged for some years in mercantile business. As he become older the love of outdoor life, which was ever one of his strongest characteristics drew him to Florida, there he could be in the open all through the winter, and could cultivate the flowers, fruits and vegetables he loved so much. He there joined in the establishing of a soldiers' colony at Zephyrhills and made his home with his sister, Emma Heckart. At that place he passed away after only three days illness, on the date already mentioned.

Mr. Heckart was made a Mason in Prudence Lodge No. 205 at Algona and joined Bower Lodge at Eagle Grove in February, 1891 and was a member of that lodge at the time of his death.

Mr. Heckart's parents died at Algona a few years ago at a very old age, and he leaves surviving him his three children, already named, his brother, Alfred, who lives in North Dakota, and his sisters, Emma Heckart, now at Zephyr Hills, Fla., and Margaret Henderson, living in Algona.

TIMES GAZETTE --- Eagle Grove, Iowa
May 27, 1914

source -- Paul Wilde