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 Last updated:  28 Jun 2009  ms

 

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Surnames Beginning with the letter D

 

 

 

CHARLES WARREN DAKE

Charles Warren DAKE was born in July of 1839, Ohio, the son of John and Amelia (DuBOIS) DAKE. Charles moved to Iowa in 1855. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Charles enlisted at Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa, as a 2nd Sergeant on August 9, 1862, at the age of 33 years, and was assigned to Company G of the 29th Iowa Infantry. Charles was promoted to full 1st Sergeant on July 1, 1864, and again promoted to full 2nd Lieutenant on May 31, 1865. He was mustered out of service at New Orleans, Louisana, on August 10th of 1865.

Charles married circa 1861 to Nancy E. (?) about 1861. He was Ringgold County's Treasurer from 1868 to 1871.

The DAKE family moved to Kearney, Buffalo County, NE sometime prior to 1877 where he was the president of a bank. Charles was the co-founder of the Kearney-Black Hills stage line, established late winter and early spring of 1877. Charles's partner in this venture was R. S. DOWNING who had moved to Kerney from Lowell, Kearney County, Nebraska. They applied for and were granted a contract to carry mail from Kearney to Deadwood, South Dakota. The route had been laid out the previous summer and road ranches had been established along the way to provide supplies to the travelers. The Kearney and Black Hills Route went northwest out of Kearney. Tracks made by wagons on this trail can still be seen in a pasture north of the Buffalo Hills subdivision on Cottonmill Road. Once the route reached the Wood River it followed the river to Armada, a mile north of present-day Miller. From Armada the route went into Custer County, continuing in a northwesterly direction to the Middle Loup River. At this junction a road ranch had been established called Dakesberg. The Kearney and Black Hills Route followed the Middle Loup River almost to its source in the sandhills, then turned in a more north, northwest direction toward the Black Hills and Deadwood. The advantages of the Kearney to Deadwood route were loudly proclaimed in local newspapers. The Central Nebraska Press noted, "[Charles] was President of the Kearney Bank in May 1879 when it defaulted."

BANK FAILURE.

 

Among the many events in the history of Kearney that caused great excitement was the failure of the Kearney Bank May of 1879. Prior to its failure, the bank was regarded as one of the solid institutions of Kearney. Charles Warren DAKE, the President of the bank, was one of the most public-spirited men of the county, and was universally loved and respected. Depositors, and the citizens in general, had unlimited confidence in his business integrity. For some weeks there had been a rumor that the affairs of the bank were in an unsafe condition; yet the confidence of the depositors was so great that but few gave these rumors credence. A very few, however, withdrew their deposits. About this time the investigation of County Treasurer Van SICKLE was attracting public attention, and but few suspected the real condition of the bank, and when, one morning, the bank was declared closed, the depositors were taken completely by surprise. Some few, however, took the precaution to at once have their deposits secured. A great number of the depositors were working men, whose deposits represented their savings of many years. When it became public knowledge that the bank had closed, the citizens of Kearney were at first dumbfounded with surprise. Then arose a general panic with the citizens nearly crazy with excitement. Besides immediate losses, all branches of business suffered as the result of this failure. A feeling of distrust, and a general lack of confidence, pervaded the entire business community, and as a result of this the businesses of the town was seriously effected for some time. Many poor people who had deposited here lost their all. At first there was a general feeling of indignation manifested toward Mr. DAKE with many believing that he had enriched himself from their deposits, though this was hardly true, as he too lost all his property. Though many of his actions were inexcusable, and though there had been general mismanagement of the affairs of the bank, the failure was misfortune rather than intentional dishonesty. Mr. DAKE had always been foremost in every public enterprise for the purpose of benefiting the city or county. This very public spiritedness caused him to embark in venturesome enterprises and speculations, that caused not only his own ruin, but that of many of the depositors. Among the enterprises in which he was engaged were the Black Hills Stage Route, of which he was the proprietor, and the school section additions to the city of Kearney. Besides this, he was careless in his business affairs. He loaned money recklessly to parties without taking proper security, trusting to their honesty alone, and, as a natural result, lost heavily. Some of the men to whom he had loaned money failed, and were unable to pay to the bank any of their indebtedness; while many others could not or would not meet their obligations when due, thus making its suspension absolutely necessary.

The day previous to the closing of the bank Mr. DAKE made an assignment of all his property, both real and personal, to E. C. CALKINS and Nathan CAMPBELL, for the benefit of his creditors. The liabilities of the bank were great and the assets small, with a great deal of the property in such a condition that the money could not be realized at once; therefore, a proposition was made to the creditors that they allow a new bank to be started from the assets of the Kearney Bank, the creditors to take one-half of the money due them in capital stock in the new bank, and the remainder in certificates of deposit, which were to be paid in twelve monthly installments. This proposition, however, was not accepted, and only a small percentage of the money due the depositors has ever yet been paid.

C. W. DAKE, having put all of his property in the hands of the assignees, and finding that no arrangements could be made by which he could again go into business and pay his debts from his earnings, left the city, penniless, and the last known of him by his Kearney friends he was keeping a boarding-house in Colorado.

By 1890, Charles and his family moved to Pine in Jefferson County, Colorado, where he ran a boarding house. He was a member of the Colorado Legislature from Jefferson County. Nancy appears in the 1910 Federal Census as being widowed and residing in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.

Jefferson County, Colorado, sponsors a Charles Warren DAKE Historical award.

Children of Charles Warren and Nancy E. DAKE
1) Albert Harlan DAKE, born Jun 1862, IA; married Pearl (?)
2) Lucy M. DAKE, born 1866, IA; married Mr. BRYDEN
3) Ernest Clifton DAKE, born May 1869, married Sadie E. (?)
4) Maude Amelia DAKE married Mr. MIDDAGH

Charles Warren DAKE's sister Francis Abigal "Fannie" DAKE, was born in Briscol, Ontario County, New York on February 22, 1817. She married on October 15, 1840 to Cyrus B. DAMON, Medina Co., OH. Cyrus was born on February 22, 1817, Briscol, Ontario County, New York, and died January 16, 1914, Shannon City, Ringgold County, Iowa, with interment at Harmony Cemetery, Union County, Iowa. Fannie died at Shannon City on July 30, 1906.

Fannie and Cyrus were the parents of:
1) Eunice A. (DAMON) STRADLEY
2) Charles B. DAMON
3) John H. DAMON
4) Shara E. (DAMON) ROATE
5) Rosanna Almira DAMAN, born 11 Mar 1854 near Swan, IA

married Joel Wheeler BRADFIELD 12 Sep 1870, Mount Ayr, Ringgold Co. IA
6) Welthy A. (DAMON) EDWARDS
7) Francina Maria (DAMON) PHILLIPS
8) Aurelious DAMON

~SOURCES:
American Civil War Soldiers, ancestry.com
Iowa Genealogy Society, pioneer certificates
WPA Graves Survey

~Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, February of 2009

 

BENJAMIN F. DAY

Benjamin F. DAY, one of the early settlers of Ringgold County, and an active and enterprising farmer and stock-raiser of Liberty Township, is a native of Ross County, Ohio, born near Chillicothe, July 1, 1831.

His parents were both natives of the State of Virginia, the father, Hedgman DAY, born in Pendleton County, March 18, 1801, and going to Ohio in 1804, and the mother born in Rockingham County, December 2, 1800. Their wedded life was spent in Ross County, Ohio, where they reared a family to honorable and respectable status in life, and gained the respect of the entire community. Both parents died in Ross County. Of the eight children born to them seven grew to maturity, six of whom are yet living.

Benjamin F. DAY, the subject of this sketch, remained on the farm in Ohio till attaining the age of twenty-one years. His youth was passed in attending the district schools during the winter terms, his summers being employed in assisting with the work of the farm. In October, 1852, he came to Iowa, and the two years following worked on a farm in Louisa County, and in the fall of 1854 he went to Madison County, remaining there till the year 1855.

He was united in marriage March 6, 1855 [Muscatine County, Iowa], to Miss Margaret (sic, should be Martha E.) WILLIAMSON, a native of Ohio, being brought by her parents to Cedar County, Iowa, in 1836. At the time of her marriage she was living in Muscatine. In the fall of 1855 Mr. DAY brought his wife to Ringgold County, Iowa, and for two summers followed farming on what is now section 3, Poe Township, when he paid a visit to his native State.

Returning to Ringgold County, he settled on section 1, Liberty Township, his present home. In [November 18] 1862 he enlisted [as a Private from Mount Ayr, Iowa] in defense of the Union in Company G, Twenty-ninth Iowa Infantry, and took part with his regiment in the engagements at Helena, Little Rock, Little Missouri, Prairie de Ann, and others. He was mustered out in June, 1865, at Little Rock, Arkansas, after being in the service of his country nearly three years. [He was promoted to Full 6th Corporal May 1, 1865; then to Full 4th Corporal July 1, 1864, then mustered out of service at Little Rock, Arkansas, on June 10, 1865.] He then returned to his farm in Liberty Township, where he followed agricultural pursuits until 1875, his first wife dying on the farm in February [5th], 1870. She left at her death three children - John H., Martha J. and Margaret E.

Mr. DAY was again married December 13, 1870, to Mrs. Mary A. BEAR, of Mt. Ayr, widow of Adam BEAR, who was wounded in the late war April 19, 1864, and died from the effects of his wound, June 19 following.

In the fall of 1874 Mr. DAY removed his family to Mt. Ayr, he having been elected by the Republican party to fill the office of county recorder, assuming the duties of that office January 1, 1875. He served in that capacity two years, when he again engaged in farming an stock-raising on his farm in Liberty Township, where he has since resided. Mr. DAY has filled all the township offices except that of justice of the peace, and in all his official positions he has always given entire satisfaction to his constituents. He takes much interest in the cause of education, having at one time been a successful teacher himself. He has taught in Ringgold County thirty-seven terms, and one term in Taylor County, Iowa.

Mr. DAY is a member of Mt. Ayr Lodge, No. 169, A. F. & A. M., and also belongs to the Odd Fellows order.

NOTE: Benjamin F. DAY died on March 25, 1893, with interment at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Ringgold County. Martha E. (WILLIAMSON) DAY) was born circa 1830 in Ohio. Mary A. (CHANCE) BEAR DAY was born on April 6, 1839, Ashland County, Ohio, and died at the age of 59 years, 3 months and 12 days on July 18, 1898, with interment at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Iowa.

Martha J. (DAY) BAXTER, daughter of Benjamin F. and Martha E. (WILLIAMSON) DAY, was born in Ringgold County, Iowa, on March 18, 1856, and died in Colville, Stevens County, West Virginia, in 1928. She married November 28, 1876, Muscatine County, Iowa, to Henry Charles BAXTER (1857-1909).

John H. DAY, born circa 1859, died at the age of 42, circa 1891, Ringgold County, Iowa.

Margaret "Emma" DAY, daughter of Benjamin F. and Martha E. (WILLIAMSON) DAY, was born in Mount Ayr on June 13, 1861, and died at Colville, Stevens County, West Virginia, in 1918. She married in October of 1881 to Abraham Lincoln BAXTER (1861-1939).

~Sources:
Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa, Pp. 334-35, 1887.
American Civil War Soldiers Database, ancestry.com
WPA Graves Survey
http://iagenweb.org/ringgold/biographical/ring_bio-daybenjaminf.html (photo of Benjamin F. Day on website)
from Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa Lewis Publishing Company of Chicago, 1887, Pp. 334-35

~Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2009

Benjamin's obituary: http://iagenweb.org/ringgold/obitht001/obit-daybenjaminf.html

The Ringgold Record, 1893

DEATH'S QUICK CALL.

Mr. BENJAMIN F. DAY STRICKEN WITH APOPLEXY SATURDAY EVENING.

Our usually quiet little city was greatly shocked last Sabbath morning with the sad intelligence that Mr. Benj. F[ranklin] DAY one of our prominent business men, a highly respected citizen and old settler of this county had died suddenly the evening before from a stroke of paralysis. He had returned to the store for the evening having eaten his supper and being apparently in the best of health for a man of his age. It was while waiting on a customer, Mr. David BEARD, that he was noticed to start suddenly, fall back against the shelves and then forward on the counter. There were present in the store at the time, Mr. Geo. RIGGS, partner of Mr. DAY and Mr. SPURRIER traveling salesman for Jno. Blaul & Sons. The last act performed by Mr. DAY previous to the stroke, as shown by the books was an entry therein.

The gentlemen present quickly assisted Mr. DAY to a seat then one went immediately for medical help while the others administered what restoratives were at hand. He appeared to be able to hear and understand all that was said and attempted to say "I can't speak" but otherwise he showed no other consciousness. He appeared to be extraordinarly lively and talkative up to the time the stroke came. Dr. BEMENT was the first to respond and he administered a restorative which had very little effect. A shutter was procured and he was taken to his home in north Mt. Ayr. Dr. HORNE and other medical assistance was summoned and all that the science and skill of medicine could do was done, but he never rallied from the shock and passed over the river out into the unknown future at about 11 o'clock [March 25, 1893], it being some three hours after he was stricken.

All death is sudden even when we are watching beside the bed of loved ones with no hope, and just waiting till the spark of life has gone out, but the death of Mr. DAY comes with more than ordinary suddenness and the admonition "be ye also read" (sic) has double significance.

The remains were taken in charge by Funeral Director F. M. WILKERSON who showed his excellent adaptability to the work all through the time from the death until the clods rattled upon the casket and the new made mound denoted another sleeper awaiting the judgment morn.

His brethren of the mystic tie Mt. Ayr Lodge, No. 169 I. O. O. F. assisted by Ringgold Lodge of Benton, members of Redding Lodge, and other visiting Odd Fellows, and members of Ellis C. MILLER Post No. 96 G.A.R. attended the remains from the home to the church, thence to the south [Rose Hill] cemetery [Mount Ayr] where they performed the last sad acts of love to the one whom they had so intimately known and loved in life. As they gazed for the last time on his well remembered face at the church and cast the sprig of evergreen upon the casket in token of keeping his virtues ever fresh in memory while the frailties were covered neath the clods that rested upon the coffin there were many tear dimmed eyes among their number.

Rev. C. L. NYE in some well timed and appropriate remarks from Isaiah 17:14 sought to impress upon the large congregation of friends and neighbors who were present the thought: "Prepare to meet thy God". Also that life is short, death sure and the open grave before each one (of) us, how far distant or near we know not. At the conclusion of the services at the church all were permitted to take a last look and then the line of march was taken to the South cemetery, where according to the ritualistic service of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows the mortal remains of their loved brother were laid away in the tomb, "earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes," there to await the glad resurrection morn. Rev. NYE pronounced the benediction, thanked the friends and neighbors in behalf of the family and relatives for their attendance and help, the grave was filled up, and Benjamin F. DAY was left alone to his dreamless sleep.

The following facts have been learned regarding Mr. Day's life. He was born in Ross county, Ohio, July 1, 1831 [the son of Hedgeman Triplett & Martha (CLINE) DAY, moved to Ringgold county in 1855, thus being one of the oldest settlers of the county. He was married the first time to Miss Margaret WILLIAMSON who died [at age 40] Feb. 5th 1870 [Ringgold County, Iowa]. On December 13, 1870 he was married to Miss Mary A. BEAR who survives him. No children came to bless this second marriage, but three children one boy and two girls came to gladden his home by his first wife. The daughters are living now to mourn his loss but the son, John was killed some two years ago near Wirt, in this county. Mr. DAY was elected Recorder of this county in 1874 and served one term of two years, 1875- 76; but the office work proved too confining and he refused to be a candidate for re-election. For many years he was a member of the Baptist church but lately an attendant of the M. E. church of which his wife is a member.

Mr. DAY enlisted in the 29th Iowa Infantry in 1862 and served with honor to the end of the war. About a year and a half ago he engaged in the grocery business in Mt. Ayr under the firm name of Fuller Bros. and Day. There were several changes in the firm, it being Day & Riggs at the time of his death. A committee from his home Lodge of which he was the treasurer, were appointed on resolutions, which will be published next week. Mt. Ayr and Ringgold county have lost a good citizen and the family a loving husband yet we bow in submission to the Divine will and say "so be it." May he rest in peace and his works do follow him.

NOTE: Benjamin Franklin DAY was a schoolteacher and came to Iowa. He married 1st on March 6, 1855, Muscatine County, Iowa to Martha E. WILLIAMSON, pictured at right. Martha was born in circa 1830 in Ohio. Benjamin and Martha were the parents of three children:

Martha J. (DAY) BAXTER, born March 18, 1856, Ringgold County, Iowa; died 1928, Colville, Stevens County, WA; married Henry Charles BAXTER (1857- 1909) November 28, 1876, Muscatine County, Iowa.

John H. DAY, born circa 1859, Iowa; died at age 42 circa 1891, Ringgold County, Iowa

Margaret "Emma" DAY, born June 13, 1861, Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa; died in 1918, Colville, Stevens County, WA; married October 1881 to Abraham Lincoln BAXTER (1861-1939)

After serving during the Civil War, Benjamin returned to Mount Ayr, working as a grocer and serving several years as Mount Ayr's city clerk. He was interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa

Mary (CHANCE) BEAR DAY, Benjamin's second wife, was born April 6, 1839, and died July 18, 1898 at age 59. She was interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount
Ayr., Ringgold County, Iowa. Benjamin F. DAY's biographical sketch is included in the Ringgold County biographical sketches.

~Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, 2008

 

JAMES G. DAY, jurist, was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, June 28, 1832.  In youth he attended Richmond Academy and afterwards graduated from the Cincinnati Law School in the class of 1857.  He soon after located at Afton, in Union County, Iowa, where he entered upon the practice of his profession.  In the fall of 1861, when it became evident that the Civil War was to be a long and desperate conflict,  Mr. Day closed his law office and joined a military company which was incorporated into the Fifteenth Regiment of Infantry.  He was chosen one of the lieutenants of Company F, and was soon at the seat of war, where for gallant service he was promoted to captain of the company.  He was severely wounded at the Battle of Shiloh, so that he was compelled to relinquish his command and retired from the service in September, 1862.  Before his return home he had been nominated by the Republicans for judge of the Third District, was elected and was serving his second term when appointed judge of the Supreme Court on the 1st of September, 1870, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Wright who had been elected to the United States Senate.  He was continued on the Supreme bench by election until January 1, 1884, serving as Chief Justice the last year of his term.  He was defeated in convention for nomination in consequence of a decision rendered by the Court, declaring the prohibitory amendment proposed to the Constitution void, in consequence of failure of the Legislature to submit it to the voters in a legal manner.   Judge Day wrote the opinion of the Court and thus incurred the opposition of enough prohibition delegates in the State Convention to accomplish his defeat.  That Judge Day was actuated by the purest motives, in pronouncing this decision, has never been doubted and its soundness has been conceded by many of the ablest lawyers of the State.  He removed to Des Moines and resumed the practice of law, where he died suddenly on the 1st of May, 1898.

 

~SOURCE: History of Iowa, Vol IV. 1903

 

DE BRUYN, KRYN

Kryn De Bruyn was born Krijn de Bruijn in Herwynen, Holland, on November 7, 1838, in a house named VOSHOL (fox hole). His father, Kryn, died when he was five months old; his mother, Maaike, died when he was twelve. Children in the family were:
    Jan b. October 9, 1829 To America
    Willem b. December 3, 1831 Sea Captain
    Johanna b. May 21, 1836 To America
    Kryn b. November 7, 1838 To America
    Hermina ? (half-sister?) To America/Returned to Holland

After his mother’s death Kryn lived with his (half) sister, Hermiena (Hermina De Bruyn) van Steenbergen and her husband. When he was fifteen he emigrated to America with them. They settled near Pella, Iowa, Lake Prairie Township, Marion County, where he worked out to earn a living. 

In August, 1862, Kryn responded to the Presidential Call in June 1862. It had come to Iowa to recruit troops to help put down the Great Rebellion. He enlisted in the Pella Union Guards organized by Regiment Captain Lauriston W. Whipple and 1st Lieutenant George R. Ledyard. The recruits were paid twenty-five dollars cash. Later they would receive the balance of the one-hundred-dollar bounty the federal government offered volunteers. 

On September 1, Kryn joined his company in Pella. Twelve wagons carried the Pella Union Guards eighteen miles to the Oskaloosa fairgrounds which had been named Camp Tuttle after one of Iowa’s first war heroes.

He was mustered into Company G, 33rd Iowa Volunteer Infantry on September 4, 1862, as a private. On February 1, 1863, he was promoted to 1st Corporal. A detailed account of the company’s campaigns and daily life can be found in the History of the 33rd Iowa Infantry Volunteer Regiment 1863-6 by A. F. Sperry and Diary of Lucien Reynolds. Both are located in the Iowa Historical Library in Des Moines, Iowa. 

There is evidence that Kryn wrote home. A letter written in Dutch by his sister Hermiena to older siblings in Holland was translated by Maarten Drost. Dated August 23 (year unknown) . She wrote,
I had a letter from brother Krijn (Kryn) on August 20th, {DM: he is fighting in the Civil War} He is still in good health. He had to travel to another location. It took them 60 days. Five thousand men and five hundred twenty wagons each with six mules so that it was quite a journey. There the troops came together. Here things are unfortunate, so many people are left behind in the battle. There are no numbers available and the dead are tossed on a pile in a trench. It is going to take a while here with the land {MD: crops}
According to Grand Army of the Republic Records located in the Iowa Historical Society Library Kryn was wounded and taken prisoner on April 30, 1864, at the Saline River, Arkansas. No other source, including Pension Records, mentions that he was wounded, however. 

This happened during the Battle of Jenkins’ Ferry when the Union Army was retreating to Little Rock after a failed Red River Campaign. Kryn and the other prisoners were taken to Camp Ford, a Confederate prison, in Tyler, Texas. He was returned to his company and mustered out of the army on May 22, 1865, at Davenport, Iowa.

Kryn returned to Iowa and married Mattie Van Vark on March 3, 1866. Mattie was born on April 29, 1848, in Amsterdam, Holland. Her father left Holland when she was a few days old to escape military service in the regular army. Her family traveled to Pella, Iowa, by railroad and covered wagon.

Kryn and Mattie settled in Marion County, Iowa. Kryn worked in a brickyard at Howell (then called Amsterdam) for a time before renting land near Pella. In 1887 they moved to Jasper County. They had thirteen children: Frank (Kryn Jr.), 1866; William, 1868; Maggie, 1870; Irie (Arie or Ira), 1872; Cornelius (Neil or Neal), 1875; Mary (Marie), 1876; Menie (Minnie), 1879; Johnny (died in childhood), 1880; Anna (Ann), 1883; Emma, 1885; Jennie, 1888; Berdie (Bird), 1889; and Mayme, 1891. 

Kryn died on January 9, 1904 and was buried in the Hewitt Cemetery, rural Reasnor, Iowa.

Mattie married M. G. Holl of Adel on November 10, 1922. She died on March 30, 1931, and was buried with Kryn in the Hewitt Cemetery.
Family oral history tells that Kryn saved a man’s life. He and other soldiers were on guard at night. (April 30, 1864 at Jenkin's Ferry, Arkansas) The Confederates rode in, wounding and capturing them. Kryn carried one of the wounded soldiers, Lucien Reynolds, about 200 miles to Texas. This story was confirmed by comrades in affidavits that they provided when he applied for a government pension.

Years later, at a public meeting of some kind in Pella, Lucien Reynolds told the assembly that "someone saved my life in the Civil War and he is sitting in the audience. He is Kryn DeBruyn." Kryn was reluctant to talk about this subject. 

Pension records also confirm that he suffered from sunstroke and scurvy during the war. Another oral tradition that has not been confirmed maintains that he was hunched over from carrying the man on his back for so many miles.

My cousin visited the Capitol building in Des Moines when she was a child and saw the 33rd Regiment’s flag on display. There was a sign beside it saying, "Carried by Kryn DeBruyn." Both an original National and Regimental flag from the the 33rd Regiment have been restored in the Iowa Battleflag Project and are stored at the Iowa Historical Society in Des Moines.

I am descended from William, his daughter Mary DeBruyn Schnug, and Marjorie Schnug Hendricks. I have not researched the rest of the family. My main interest at this time relates to Kryn's time in the Civil War.
~Submitted by Jan Arends


 

CASPER K. DENHART

Casper K[ing]. DENHART, an early settler and prominent citizen of Washington Township, lives on section 30, where he has a good farm of 145 acres, all well improved, with a comfortable residence and farm buildings. he was born in [Hanover, Niedersachen] Germany, March 15, 1839, a son of George and Christina W. (KING) DENHART. When he was two years of age his parents came to America [on the ship "John"], being four weeks in making the journey from Harve de Gras to New York. They went direct to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they lived two years and then went to Pickaway county, the same State, where the father was employed on the canal, and there died [age the age of 49 years in 1844]. The mother subsequently married again. He remained with his mother until manhood, in his youth being employed in a brick yard.

On leaving home we went to Harrison County, Indiana, and thence, in 1852, to Marion County, Iowa, and three years later to Ringgold County, Iowa, locating first at Mt. Ayr, where he was living at the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, and in [July 4] 1861 he enlisted in the defense of his country, and was assigned [as a Private] to Company G, Fourth Iowa Infantry. He served four years, participating in many severe engagements, among others being the battles of Pea Ridge, Vicksburg, and Atlanta, and accompanied SHERMAN to the sea. He was mustered out [July 24, 1865, Louisville, Kentucky, then] at Davenport, Iowa, in August, 1865, and returned to Mt. Ayr, where he lived until 1866, when he located on his present farm.

He was married in May, 1866, to Rachel M[argaret]. MILLER, daughter of J. D. MILLER, of Ringgold County. They have a family of nine children - Mary, James, George W., Clarence, Maud, Howard, Jennie, Lora and Julia. One son, Thomas, died aged six years.

NOTE: Casper King DENHARD died at age 77 on April 15, 1916, Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa. Rachel Margaret A. (MILLER) DENHART, was born May 9, 1849. She stepped on her skirt, fell, and bumpbed her head on a tree. After lingering in a coma for three weeks, Rached died at the age of 60 on June 11, 1909. Casper and Rachel were interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Iowa.

The DENHART Family genealogy is included with Ringgold County's Family pages. Casper and Rachel's twelve children are listed on the DENHART family page.

~Sources:
Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa, Pp. 378-79, 1887.
American Civil War Soldiers Database, ancestry.com
WPA Graves Survey
http://iagenweb.org/ringgold/biographical/ring_bio-denhartcasperk.html
from Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa Lewis Publishing Company of Chicago, 1887, Pp. 378-79

~Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2009

 

WILLIAM DEWEY was born on the 26th of March, 1811, in the town of Sheffield, Massachusetts, was educated at West Point Military Academy and later studied law with his father and was admitted to the bar of Indiana in 1836.  After practicing law a few years he studied medicine at the St. Louis Medical College, then came to Iowa, becoming a resident of Wapello County in 1842.  In 1850 he was one of the commissioners appointed to settle the disputed boundary line between Iowa and Missouri.  After completing that work  he removed to Sidney, Fremont County, where he was engaged in the practice of medicine when the Rebellion began.  Early in 1861 he assisted Colonel Hugh T. Reid to raise the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, was commissioned lieutenant-colonel and was with it in the Battle of Shiloh and the siege of Corinth.  In August, 1862, he was promoted to colonel of the Twenty-third Iowa Infantry.  While in command of that regiment at Patterson, Missouri, he died of erysipelas on the 30th of November, 1862

 

~SOURCE: History of Iowa, Vol IV. 1903

 

DISTIN, WILLIAM L. was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, February 9, 1S43; he died at Chicago, November 20, 1914. He removed to Keokuk, Iowa, in 1857 and was connected with the Des Moines Valley Railroad until 1863. On February 3, 1864, he enlisted in Company C, Seventeenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He was taken prisoner in October, 1864, and confined in Andersonville prison for six months. After the war he returned to Keokuk and was employed in the railroad and express business for a year or more. He located in Quiney, Illinois, and founded a produce house, which afterwards became known as the W. L. Distin Produce Company. In 1897 he received from President McKinley the appointment of surveyor general of Alaska. His work was so efficiently done that he continued in that capacity through succeeding administrations until his resignation in 1913. Colonel Distin was one of the early members of the Illinois National Guard and at one time department commander of the Illinois Division, G. A. R.


~ "Notable Deaths" Annals of Iowa. Vol. XII. Series 80. Pp. 79-80. Iowa Historical Society. Des Moines. April, 1915.

 

GRENVILLE M. DODGE was born in Putnamville, Danvers County, Massachusetts, on the 12th of April, 1831.  He received a liberal education, having graduated as a civil engineer from Norwich University in 1850.  He then entered a military school from which he graduated the following year.  Mr. Dodge went to Illinois, locating at Peru, where he engaged in land surveying.  In 1851 he secured a position with the Illinois Central Railroad Company and was employed in surveying the line from Dixon to Bloomington.  Soon after he was employed in surveying the line of the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad from Davenport to Council Bluffs.  In 1854 he removed to Council Bluffs and engaged in overland freighting across the plains to Colorado.  He also became a member of the banking firm of Baldwin & Dodge.  During the years from 1854 to 1860 he was engaged in surveying a line for the Union Pacific Railroad.  At the beginning of the Rebellion he was appointed on the staff of Governor Kirkwood and, going to Washington, secured for Iowa 6,000 muskets to arm the regiments being organized.  When the Fourth Iowa Infantry was organized Dodge was appointed colonel.  His regiment was sent to Missouri and was actively engaged in the battles of Sugar Creek and Pea Ridge.  He was severely wounded in the latter where he held the extreme right and lost one-third of his command.  He was promoted to Brigadier-General and assigned by General Grant to the command of the Second Division of the Army of the Tennessee.  In the campaigns which followed General Grant recognized General Dodge as one of his ablest officers.  He said of the Iowa commander:  "Besides being a most capable soldier General Dodge was an experienced railroad builder.  At one time he constructed more than one hundred miles of railroad and built one hundred eighty-two bridges, many of them over wide chasms."  He was with Sherman's army in the march to the sea and was promoted to Major-General for gallant services.  In November, 1864, General Dodge was placed in command of the Department of Missouri by order of General Grant.  In January, 1865, the Department of Kansas, Nebraska and Utah were added to his command, where he served to the end of the war.  A history of his military services would fill a volume, and frequent mention of them will be found in the volume on the Civil War.  In July, 1866, he was nominated for Representative in Congress for the Fifth District and elected.  While a member of that body he was the recognized authority on all subjects relating to the army, and was prominent in promoting the act for putting the army on a peace footing.  He was an active supporter of the legislation promoting internal improvements in the West, and was regarded as the sagacious leader who had accomplished difficult tasks in railway construction in that then wild country.  He declined a reelection, preferring to give his entire time and energies to the construction of the Union Pacific Railway, including the building of the great bridge across the Missouri River between Council Bluffs and Omaha.  As an able military commander General Dodge had received the warmest endorsements of the three great chiefs of the War Department-Secretary Stanton, Generals Grant and Sherman; so also after his services in the construction of the Union Pacific Railway he received testimonials of his remarkable efficiency and ability from the highest officials of the company.  During his busy life since the war and the construction of the first great line of railway across the continent, General Dodge has served as president, chief engineer or director in the construction companies of the following railway enterprises:  American Railway Improvement Company of Colorado, 1880; International Railway Improvement Company of Colorado, 1880; Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company, 1880; Oriental Construction Company, 1882; Fort Worth and Denver Railway Company, 1889; St. Louis, Des Moines and Northern Railway Company, 1884; Des Moines Union Railway Company, 1884; Colorado and Texas Construction Company, 1887; Iron Steamboat Company, 1888; Denver, Texas and Fort Worth Railway Company, 1889; Des Moines and Northern Railway Company, 1890; Western Industrial Company, 1891; Wichita Valley Railway Company, 1891; Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway Company, 1891.  Although for many years residing in New York to superintend his multitude of great business enterprises, General Dodge has retained his loyalty to his Iowa home and never ceased to keep intimate relations with his Iowa friends of pioneer years.  He has been president of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, and vice-president of the Grant Monument Association of New York.  He recently had the remains of General Kinsman exhumed form the battle-field of Black River Bridge and buried at his old home at Council Bluffs where he caused to be erected a fine monument to the memory of his gallant comrade of war times.

 

~SOURCE: History of Iowa, Vol IV. 1903

 

WILLIAM G. DONNAN was born at West Charleston, New York, on the 30th of June, 1834.  He lived on a farm in boyhood and was educated at Cambridge Academy.  He entered Union College later and graduated in 1856.  In September of the same year he came to Iowa and located at Independence where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1857.  In September he was elected recorder and treasurer of the county and served until 1862, when he enlisted in the Union army and was elected lieutenant.  He won rapid promotion in the service until he reached the rank of major before the close of the war.  In 1867 he was elected to the State Senate on the Republican ticket, serving four years.  He was largely instrumental in securing the establishment of the Hospital for the Insane at Independence.  In 1870 he received the Republican nomination for Representative in Congress for the Third District and was elected by a majority of 4,964.  He was reelected in 1872, serving two terms, declining a third.  In 1884 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention and voted for the nomination of President Arthur.

 

~SOURCE: History of Iowa, Vol IV. 1903

 

FRANCIS M. DRAKE, fifteenth Governor of Iowa, was born at Rushville, Illinois, on the 30th of December, 1830, and removed to Iowa in 1837, locating at Fort Madison.  Here he secured an education in the schools of that city and at the age of sixteen became a clerk in his father's store.  Soon after the discovery of gold in California, he fitted out two ox teams to make the overland journey to the gold fields.  At the Missouri River a caravan of several teams and twelve additional men was organized for mutual protection from hostile Indians.  At a crossing of the Platte River the party was attacked by a band of Pawnees and a lively fight ensued, in which the emigrants were under the command of Mr. Drake.  The Indians were finally defeated and the party, after several months on the plains, reached California in safety.  He remained in California until the fall of 1852, when he returned to the States by water, crossing at Panama, where he was seized with a fever.  In 1854 he again made the trip overland to Sacramento and, while returning by water, was shipwrecked.  In 1861 he volunteered to help defend the Missouri border from invasion.  Upon the organization of the Thirty-sixth Regiment of Iowa Infantry he was appointed lieutenant-colonel and served three years in the Union army.  He commanded at the Battle of Mark's Mills where he was severly wounded and taken prisoner.  After his return to service he was brevetted a Brigadier-General of Volunteers.  After the close of the war General Drake became extensively engaged in railroad building, acquiring large wealth.  He became one of the founders of a college at Des Moines, to which he made large donations at various times,  and which named Drake University.  The school is under the direction of the Christians, of which denomination General Drake is a prominent member.  In 1895, Gerneral Drake was elected Governor of Iowa, on the Republican ticket, served one term.

 

~SOURCE: History of Iowa, Vol IV. 1903

 

THOMAS DRUMMOND was born in the State of Virginia in 1833 and came to Iowa in 1855, making his home in Vinton, Benton County.  He became the editor of the Vinton Eagle, a Republican journal, and in 1856 was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nominated John C. Fremont for President.  In 1857, when but twenty-five years of age, he was elected to represent Benton County in the House of the Seventh General Assembly.  In 1860 he was promoted to a seat in the Senate and secured the location of the Asylum for the Blind at Vinton and an appropriation for the erection of a building for its home.  At the beginning of the Rebellion he raised a company of volunteers and was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry.  After several months service he received a commission in the regular army and was attached to Fifth United States Cavalry.  He was a gallant officer during the war and was mortally wounded while bravely leading his men in a charge in General Sheridan's army, in the last battle on Virginia soil, which resulted in the surrender of General Lee's army in April, 1865.

 

~SOURCE: History of Iowa, Vol IV. 1903

 

JAMES CLARK DUNCAN had a place among the citizens of Davenport with a rich portion of esteem due not only to his work, but to his personal character and his interesting social qualities. He was for many years proprietor of the Duncan Davenport Business College, and the splendid reputation of the capability of James Clark Duncan as an educator.

 

He was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, December 14, 1840, and was about fifteen years of age when his parents, James and Jane (Wilson) Duncan, moved out to Iowa and settled on a farm in Scott County. His grandfather James Duncan, came from Scotland.

 

James Clark Duncan was the oldest son of a large family of eleven children, and from early youth he realized a sense of responsibility and shared in the heavy work of developing an Iowa homestead. He attended country schools, at the age of nineteen went out to Kansas, and spent two years in that territory just before the outbreak of the Civil war. Not long after his return to Iowa he enlisted for the stern duties of a soldier, becoming a private in Company G of the Twentieth Iowa Infantry on August 15, 1862. He saw service in the border states of Missouri, Arkansas and Indian Territory, was at the siege of Vicksburg and finally at Fort Morgan, Alabama, toward the end of the war.

 

After the war he engaged in farming, left the farm to attend Bryant and Stratton Business College at Davenport, and after graduating was kept in the institution as a teacher. In 1883 he became a part owner and in 1883 he became apart owner and in 1886 bought the school, changing the name to the Duncan

Davenport Business College. He was the actual head of that institution forty years, until his death on May 13, 1923. Many of the prominent business men and bankers of Davenport and throughout Iowa gave a high degree of credit to this institution and the personal instruction of James C. Duncan. He was unexcelled as a lightning calculator. He trained his students thoroughly in an art which was valuable to every accountant in the days before adding machines. He had practically retired from the active management of the school in 1911. He was a resident of Davenport from 1876.

 

James Clark Duncan was associated with the late John B. Fidlar in the organization of the Register Life Insurance Company in 1888, and he became the first secretary of the company. He was a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Grand Army of the Republic.

 

James Clark Duncan married, May 28, 1862, Miss Nancy J. McConnell, who was also born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. She died February 24, 1913. Of their eight children a daughter, Mabel died in childhood. The living children are: E. H. Duncan, of Eldorado, Kansas; J. D. Duncan, of Davenport; Charles; Mrs. Edward H. Hartz, of Port Byron, Illinois; Mrs. Philip Freytag, of Reynolds, Illinois; Miss Ella and Miss Violet, both of Davenport. Charles Duncan has had a notable business career and for many years has been closely associated with the widespread activities of Herman J. Zeuch.

 

Mr. Duncan grew up in Davenport, attended high school and business college there, and as a young man entered the employ of the Van Patten & Marks Wholesale Grocery Company, one of the pioneer firms of that city. When this partnership was dissolved, in 1903, he became the first secretary of the Morton L Marks Company, and treasurer of this outstanding wholesale grocery house. The president of the company is Mr. Herman J. Zeuch. Mr. Duncan is an official in several of the companies representing the far flung enterprises of Mr. Zeuch, extending from Florida to Northwestern Canada.

 

He and Mr. Zeuch in 1912 acquired a large acreage in Florida, and after an enormous expenditure of labor and capital in draining and development laid out the town of Vero Beach. They were pioneers in putting down driven wells and bringing in a supply of pure water, which insured the community against the repeated visitations of typhoid fever. Mr. Duncan is a director of the Indian River Farms Company, and is also a director of the Register Life Insurance Company, the Davenport Morris Plan Bank, the Crossett Western Company and Gales Creek Logging Company, the last two being located in the State of Oregon, is a director of the Northern Warehouse Corporation of Davenport, of the Northwestern Loan & Insurance Company, and is secretary of the Indian River Farms in Florida. mr. Duncan is unmarried. He is a popular member of several social and business organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce, Outing Club, Davenport Country Club, Rock Island Arsenal Golf Club, and is a Methodist.

 

~SOURCE: A Narrative History of The People of Iowa with SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY, BUSINESS, ETC. by EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M. Curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa Volume IV THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc. Chicago and New York 1931

 

WARREN S. DUNGAN was born at Frankfort Springs, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of September, 1822.  He was reared on a farm, attending school in the winter months and assisting in the work of the farm during the summers.  When eighteen years of age he entered Frankfort Academy.  He taught school winters, after leaving the academy, until he was twenty-eight, earning money to enable him to study law.  He was admitted to the bar in 1856 and came to Iowa, locating at Chariton, where he opened a law office.  In 1861 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the State Senate for four years.  When the war began he was active in raising troops for the Union arrmies and in the organization of the Thirty-fourth Infantry, was appointed lieutenant-colonel, sharing all of the perils and glories of that regiment throughout its term of service.  During the last year he was on the staff of Major-General C. C. Andrews, as Inspector-General.  At the close of the war Colonel Dungan returned to Chariton and resumed the practice of law.  In 1872 he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention which nominated General Grant for a second term and was one of the presidential electors chosen in November.  In 1880 he was a member of the Eighteenth General Assembly and was reelected to the House of the Nineteenth General Assembly.  In 1887 he was again elected to the Senate and served a full term of four years.  In 1893 Colonel Dungan was nominated by the Republican State Convention for Lieutenant-Governor and elected by a plurality over Bestow, Democrat, of 36,904.  His long legislative experience made him an accomplished President of the Senate.

 

~SOURCE: A Narrative History of The People of Iowa with SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY, BUSINESS, ETC. by EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M. Curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa Volume IV THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc. Chicago and New York 1931

 

DUNLAVY, JAMES

WILLIAM McE. DYE was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1831.  He entered the Military Academy at West Point in July, 1849, graduating in 1853.  He served as second lieutenant for several years in California and Texas and in May, 1861, was promoted to captain in the Eighth Infantry.  He was living at Marion, Iowa, in 1862 and Governor Kirkwood, anxious to find experienced military men qualified to take command of the numerous Iowa regiments being organized, tendered the command of the Twentieth Volunteer Infantry to Captain Dye.  He accepted the position and was commissioned colonel.  The regiment participated in the Vicksburg campaign and was for a long time in the Gulf  Department.  Colonel Dye proved to be an able officer and became a colonel in the regular army.  In March, 1856, he was promoted to Brigadier-General of volunteers.  After the close of the war he returned to the regular army where he served until September, 1870, when he resigned and returned to Marion and engaged in farming.  He went to Egypt after several years, where he became a high officer in the army of the Khedive and was severely wounded in one of the battles.  He returned to America in 1879 and was made Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia.  In 1888 Colonel Dye went to Corea where he became military adviser and Instructor-General of the king of that country.  He introduced many reforms in the army equipment and arms.  He wrote a valuable book on Egypt and Abyssinia and their military systems and, returning to America in 1899, died at Muskegon, Michigan, in the same year.

 

~SOURCE: A Narrative History of The People of Iowa with SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY, BUSINESS, ETC. by EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M. Curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa Volume IV THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc. Chicago and New York 1931