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Pictures: Members of the J. Q. Wilde Post GAR. As they appeared in the pageant in 1922. From left to right: J. B. Wilson, John Doudney, J. G. Walker and Jerome Hart.

J. Q. WILDS G.A.R. POST 109

       J. Q. Wilds was a member of the 24th Iowa, from Linn County. Jerome Hart and S. W. Sutton of Stanwood were two of his comrades in the battle of the Shenandoah during which Wilds was mortally wounded. The exact date of the organization of the J. Q. Wilds Grand Army of the Republic is not known. We do know, however that in minutes of the schoolboard of July 1883 there is the following: “S. W. Sutton, chairman of a committee of the J. Q. Wilds G. A. R. Post 109, offered to rent the upstairs of the schoolhouse for one year, one night each month, using their own lamps and furniture.”

       The Post used the second floor of the school building until a third room was added to the building on the ground floor in 1892. It was here that their regular meetings were held, as well as camp fires and other entertainment in which the families of the Post members joined. Naturally, the men spent many hours telling and retelling their experiences of army days.

       An oil painting of J. Q. Wilds was done by Mrs. Carrie Hunt, wife of the physician by that name. This picture always had a place in the G. A. R. hall until the Women’s Relief Corps (auxiliary of the G. A. R.) was organized; the picture was given to the women. When they disbanded, this picture, together with a large flag, was given to the Hegarty-Busching Post 348 of the American Legion.

       The last Civil War veteran of this community was Martin Johnson, grandfather of Mrs. William Hansen. He was not a member of the J. Q. Wilds Post, but it is worthy of note that he lived to be 95 years of age, passing away in 1938.