Buena Vista County, IA
USGenWeb Project

Transcribed by Paul Nagy

In the history of those men whose activity and diligence in former years constituted the basis of their present success, enabling them now to live retired, is numbered Edward Nute, a resident of Alta.  There are many reasons why he should be mentioned in this volume:  first, because he is an honored veteran of the Civil war; secondly, because he has been a progressive farmer and energetic business man of Maple Valley township; and thirdly, because his life in all of its varied phases has been in accord with the principles which govern upright, honorable manhood.  He has lived in Buena Vista county since 1875, and for twenty years was associated with the farming interests of Maple Valley township.  His birth occurred in Steuben county, New York, November 1, 1827.  His father, Rensselaer Nute, was a native of Vermont, born in 1801.  He married in Steuben county, New York, Miss Eve Bruner, a native of Herkimer county, that state.  By trade the father was a carpenter and joiner and was connected with building operations in the Empire state until his removal to Illinois.  He became one of the pioneers there, settling in Kane county in the fall of 1838, only six years after the Black Hawk war.  Later he removed to Cook county where he opened up a farm, living there at a time when Chicago was a little village of scarcely any industrial or commercial importance.  He afterward returned to Kane county, settling at Dundee, where he died in 1876 at the age of seventy-five years.  His wife survived him for some time and passed away in Dundee October 5, 1800.

Edward Nute and one daughter are the only survivors of a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters.  He was only ten years of age at the time of the removal of the family to Illinois, and was reared in Kane and Cook counties.  He is largely a self-educated as well as a self-made man, and in the lessons of life he has gained much valuable knowledge and experience.

At the time of the Civil war he put aside all business and personal considerations and joined the army, for he had watched with interest the progress of events in the south and his patriotic spirit was aroused by the continued attempt of the south to overthrow the Union.  Therefore, in 1861 he offered his services to the government, and was mustered into the United States Army in September as a member of Company A, Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry.  He then went into Missouri and Arkansas, participating in the battle of Pea Ridge.  He was later in the engagements of Perryville, Kentucky, Stone river, and Chickamauga.  At the last named he was wounded by a gunshot, being struck in the body, and from September, 1863, until the following April he was in the field hospital.  He veteranized on the 1st of January, 1864, and was then granted a thirty days' furlough, which he spent at his father's home.  On the expiration of that period he returned to his regiment at Cleveland, Tennessee, and later joined General Sherman in the Atlanta campaign, participating in the engagements up to and including that of Resaca, where he had a finger shot off, disabling him for a time.  He had previously suffered with malarial fever at Cleveland, Tennessee, and was sent back to Jefferson barracks, near St. Louis, where he remained in the hospital until October when, having partially recovered, he left that place.  Later, however, he became hospital steward, thus serving for over a year, or until the close of the war, when he was ordered to Springfield, Illinois, and was honorably discharged, arriving home in October, 1865.  He made a creditable record, for he never faltered in the performance of any duty, whether stationed on the picket line, or in the midst of the firing line.

When the country no longer needed his aid Mr. Nute began farming on his father's land in Cook county, and there carried on general agricultural pursuits for ten years.  He was married soon after his return from the war, the marriage being celebrated near Amboy, in Lee county, Illinois, on the 19^th of November, 1865, Miss Kate Conderman becoming his wife.  She was born in the town of Howard, Steuben county, New York, and she has two brothers living: S. S. Conderman, a resident of Idaho; and Daniel Conderman, living in Lee county, Illinois.  There are also two surviving sisters, Mrs. Betsy Hinz, of Dixon, Iowa; and Mrs. Lucy Pickle, of Steuben county, New York.  The father was Solomon Conderman, who removed from New York when Mrs. Nute was but fifteen years of age and settled in Lee county, Illinois.

For about ten years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Nute remained in Illinois and in 1875 removed to Iowa, where he purchased partially improved land.  The tract comprised eighty acres, of which seventy-five acres had been broken and a small house had been built thereon.  With characteristic energy he began the further development and improvement of the place, building a good house and barn, a coal house, granary and corncribs.  He also set out an orchard and made the place one of the valuable farm properties of the locality.  For twenty years he continued to successfully cultivate this farm in Maple Valley township, and the years brought him a gratifying measure of prosperity as a reward for his earnest and discriminating labors.  At length, when he had acquired a handsome competence, he rented the farm and removed to Alta, where he and his wife are now living.  He has since enjoyed a well earned rest, deriving a good income from his property and other invested interests.

In his political views he has been a republican since the organization of the party and prior to that time was a whig, supporting General Taylor in 1848, General Scott in 1852, and then voting for John C. Fremont in 1856, since which time he has supported every nominee of the republican party.  He has cast his ballot at sixteen different presidential elections, and on twelve occasions voted for the victorious candidates.  While on the farm, he filled the office of town clerk and overseer of roads, and was also officially identified with the schools, serving on the school board for two years.  Both he and his wife are earnest Christian people, holding membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a prominent member of the S. A. Hurlbut Post, No. 82, G. A. R., of which he has served as commander, while for nine years he has filled the office of chaplain.  He is now over eighty-one years of age and is a well preserved man, very active for one of his years.  Few of the old soldiers who saw duty for four years on the battle-fields of the south are so well preserved.  He relates many interesting reminiscences of his army life and of the early days in Buena Vista county as well.  In times of peace he has been as loyal to his country as when he followed the old flag on southern battle-fields.  Never has he been remiss in his duties of citizenship nor neglectful of his obligations to his fellowmen, but he has been faithful to every trust reposed in him, guiding his life by honorable principles and the teachings of his church.

Civil War Record for Edward Nute

Gravestone Photo for Edward Nute