IOWA IN THE CIVIL WAR
BIOGRAPHIES AND OBITUARIESLast updated: 30 January 2009 ms
Surnames beginning with the letter N
The United States Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-Made Men.
Iowa Volume.
Chicago and New York:
American Biographical Publishing, 1878.Hon. Joshua G. Newbold Mount Pleasant
Joshua G. Newbold, at the time of writing (October, 1877) in the executive chair of the state, is a native of Pennsylvania, and his ancestors in this country were among the very early settlers in New Jersey. They were Quakers, and consequently none of them figured in the struggle for the independence of the colonies. Governor Newbold is the son of ?avilla and Catherine Houseman Newbold; was born in Fayette county, on the 12th of May, 1832, and reared as a farmer. When he was eight years of age the family moved to Westmoreland county, where he was educated in the common school, and also in a select school or academy, the latter taught by Dr. John Lewis, now of Grinnell, Iowa. At sixteen he returned with the family to Fayette county, where he remained eight years, assisting his father in running a flouring mill, when not teaching. When about nineteen he commenced the study of medicine, reading a year or more while teaching, and then abandoning the notion of being a physician. In the month of March, 1854, Mr. Newbold removed to Iowa, locating on a farm, now partly in the corporation of Mount Pleasant, Henry county. At the end of one year he removed to Cedar township, Van Buren county, there merchandising and farming until about 1860, when he removed to Hillsboro, Henry county, and pursued the same callings. In 1862, when the call was made for six hundred thousand men to finish the work of crushing the rebellion, Mr. Newbold left his farm in the hands of his family, and his store in the charge of his partner, and went into the army as captain of company C, 25th regiment, Iowa infantry. He served nearly three years, resigning just before the war closed, on account of disability. During the last two or three months at the south he served as judge advocate, with headquarters at Woodville, Alabama. On returning to Iowa he continued in the mercantile trade at Hillsboro for three or four years, and then sold out, giving thereafter his whole attention to agriculture, stock raising and stock dealing, making the stock department an important factor in his business for several years. Mr. Newbold was a member of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth general assemblies, from Henry county, as was chairman of the school committee in the fourteenth, and of the committee on appropriations in the fifteenth general assembly. In the fifteenth he was temporary speaker (1874) during the dead-lock in organizing the house. In 1875 he was elected lieutenant-governor, serving as president of the senate in the session of 1876. Governor Kirkwood being elected United States senator during that session, Mr. Newbold became governor, taking the chair on the 1st of February, 1877. He will vacate it in January, 1878, Hon. John H. Gear having been elected. The home of Governor Newbold is at Mt. Pleasant. He has always affiliated with the republican party, and holds to its great cardinal doctrines having once embraced them with the same sincerity and honesty that he cherishes in his religious sentiments. He has been a member of the Christian church for something like twenty-five years, his connection being with the Free Baptists. Governor Newbold found his wife, Miss Rachel Farquhar, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, their union taking place on the 2d of May, 1850. They had five children, and lost two. Mary Allene, the eldest daughter, is the wife of Benjamin F. Isaman, of Aurora, Hamilton county, Nebraska. Emma Irene and George G. are single.
WILLIAM NICHOLSON
Ringgold Record, 1880
A SAD BUT HAPPY DEATH.
William NICHOLSON of Rice township, who was struck by lightning and instantly killed during a terrific thunder storm on Saturday, the 25th inst., was born in Crawford county, Ind., Dec. 2nd, 1835; came to Iowa with his parents in 1850, joined the Union Army in November 1862, served two years and nine months in defence (sic) of his country. At the close of the war he returned to his home in Henry county, where he was married to Miss Nancy McKINLEY, Jan.
22nd, 1867. They lived with his parents until the death of his father, when they and his mother moved to Rice township where they lived when he was removed by death. Nearly five years ago he was converted to Christianity and joined the M. E. Church at Enterprise. Mr. NICHOLSON was a man of innate integrity, a devoted Christian and an active worker in the Sunday School. His death is deeply lamented by his wife and children, his aged mother, a brother with whom
he lived in peace and happiness for twenty years, his sister in Decatur county and the entire community. He fell while singing
"Rock of ages cleft for me,
Let me bide myself in thee;"The funeral services were held at the family residence on Sunday and his remains were followed to the grave by a large number of relatives and friends.--E. B. HIMEBAUGH.
NOTE: William NICHOLSON died at the age of 43 years, 7 months and 23 days on September 25, 1880 with interment at Marshalltown Cemetery near Benton, Ringgold County, Iowa. William's wife, Nancy (McKINLEY) NICHOLSON died at the age of 72 years on October 23, 1909 with interment at Marshalltown Cemetery.
Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, 2008
JOHN W. NOBLE was born at Lancaster, Ohio, October 26, 1831. He attended the common schools of Cincinnati, afterwards taking a course at Miami University and Yale College. He studied law with Henry Stansbery, afterwards Attorney-General of the United States, was admitted to the bar in 1855 and removed to St. Louis, where he entered upon the practice of law. In 1856 he removed to Iowa, locating at Keokuk, where he entered into partnership with Ralph P. Lowe, afterwards Governor of the State. Here he meet at the bar in legal conflicts Samuel F. Miller, George W. McCrary and John F. Dillon, who attained the highest rank in the profession. When the Civil War began, Mr. Noble was one of the first to take up arms for the Union, taking part in the Battle of Athens on the Iowa border. He enlisted in the Third Iowa Cavalry and was soon appointed adjutant of the regiment. Mr. Noble rose steadily in rank from lieutenant to colonel, and was brevetted Brigadier-General for distinguished services in the field. He participated in the Battle of Pea Ridge, the siege of Vicksburg and the second Battle of Jackson. Colonel Noble served as Judge Advocate of the Army of the Southwest, and as Judge Advocate of the Department of Missouri. Returning to Keokuk at the close of the war he found his practice taken by others and removed to St. Louis where he was appointed United States District Attorney. He was offered the office of Solicitor-General by President Grant but preferred to continue in practice at St. Louis where he attained high rank in his profession, winning some of the most important cases in that section of the country. In 1889 he was appointed Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President Harrison. In this important department of the Government, General Noble won new honors by the ability he brought to the public service. He is entitled to the credit of having reserved great bodies of forest lands in the far west embracing the source of many streams which furnish water for irrigation of arid lands.
ADA E. NORTH was the daughter of Rev. Milo N. Miles, a Congregational minister, long and favorably known at Iowa City and Des Moines. In the fall of 1865 she was married to Major George J. North, Governor Stone's military secretary, during the latter part of the Civil War. In 1870 Major North died and his widow was left with two children to support. She procured temporary clerical work towards the close of the session of the Legislature and was one of the first women employed as a clerk in the State House. After serving a year as a clerk in various offices at the Capital, a vacancy occurred in the office of State Librarian, by the death of John C. Merrill and Governor Merrill appointed Mrs. North to that position. She was one of the first women to hold a State office in the United Stares and many eyes anxiously watched her administration, to see whether a women would prove competent for the position. Up to that time but little attention had been given to building up a creditable State Library. The appropriations had been small and the library was in its infancy. Mrs. North persued the work of her new position with zeal and enthusiasm, realizing that a woman was on trial for competency in the administration of the duties of a State office. She soon secured the attention and earnest cooperation of the Governor, Judge Cole and General Ed. Wright who was then Secretary of State. A bill was carefully prepared, at her suggestion, revising the laws relating to the State Library, which was passed by the Fourteenth General Assembly. This act provided for a board of trustees, consisting of the Governor, Secretary of State, Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Judges of the Supreme Court. Librarian was made a State officer, with a salary of $1,200 a year. Mrs. North planned the up building of a library worthy of the State. She was retained in office by reappointments for nearly eight years, systematizing, enlarging and laying the foundation for a great library. In all of her valuable work she had the earnest cooperation of the trustees and with their help did a work that will live as a substantial monument to the ability and efficiency of the first woman who held a State office in Iowa, if not in the United States. After retiring from her position, in 1879, she was appointed librarian of the State University at Iowa City where she served with marked ability for thirteen years. She died at her home in Des Moines, on the 9th of January, 1899.
