Bios S

SAMPSON, EZEKIEL S. was born in Huron County, Ohio, on the 6th of December, 1831. When a small boy his father removed to Illinois and in 1843 located on a farm in Keokuk County, Iowa. The son worked on his father's farm until he was nineteen years of age, attending the district school winters. He then learned to set type and earned money as a printer to pay his way in the higher schools until he secured a good education. In 1854 he went to Oskaloosa and began the study of law with Enoch W. Eastman and Samuel A. Rice and in the following year was admitted to the bar. He began to practice at Sigourney and in 1856 was elected Prosecuting Attorney. Early in 1861 he helped to raise a company for the Union army and was appointed captain of Company F, which was assigned to the Fifth Infantry. In May, 1862, he was promoted to major of the regiment, serving in that position until 1864, when it was mustered out. In 1865 he was elected to the State Senate and after serving one session was chosen District Judge and remained on the bench by reelection until 1874 when he was elected to Congress. Mr. Sampson served four years in the House of Representatives from the Sixth District, retiring in 1879 and resuming the practice of law. He died at his home in Sigourney on the 7th of October, 1892. (NOTE: This is as it was in the 1903 history book but it has been challenged by a relative that says he was a Lieutenant Colonel, not a Major. The official records do show him as "promoted". We do not change bios that have been published but refer you to the official records)

SANDERS, ADDISON H. was born on the 13th of September, 1823, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His education was begun in a printing office of his native city and completed at Cincinnati College. In 1845 and again in 1846 he came to Davenport, where his brother Alfred, was struggling to put his Gazette on a paying basis. During each of these visits he stayed several months, taking editorial charge of the paper and thus relieving his overworked brother, so that he might bring the business department into better condition. When the city had grown large enough to demand a daily paper, Addison H. removed to Davenport, in October, 1856, took editorial charge of the Daily Davenport Gazette and continued in that position until he entered the Union army. At the beginning of the Civil War no newspaper in Iowa had wider influence that the Daily Gazette of Davenport. Early in 1861, Add. H. Sanders was commissioned aid to Governor Kirkwood, serving with Judge Baldwin of Council Bluffs and later in the year he was placed in command of Camp McClellan, at Davenport, where the Union volunteers were mustering for the organization of regiments and for drill. The Sixteenth Regiment was organized early in the winter of 1862 and Governor Kirkwood was so impressed with the excellent work and superior qualifications of Add. H. Sanders, that he offered him the position of colonel of the new regiment. But having observed the disadvantage of placing inexperienced officers at the head of new regiments he declined the command, urging the selection of a regular army officer for the place. The Governor and General Baker realized the wisdom of such a selection and Captain Alexander Chambers of the Eighteenth United Stares Infantry was appointed colonel and Mr. Sanders was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. The regiment received its "baptism of fire" at the desperate and bloody battle of Shiloh and at Corinth, Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders was wounded very severely. He did gallant service during the war, often in command of the regiment. At the Battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864, Colonel Sanders was taken prisoner, suffering everything but death in the Confederate prison and when exchanged was so low with starvation and fever that for a long time his recovery was doubtful. On the 2d of April, 1865, he was discharged from the service for disability, having been brevetted Brigadier-General for gallant conduct on many battle-fields Upon his return home, he was appointed postmaster of Davenport. In 1870 he was appointed by President Grant Secretary of Montana Territory and became acting Governor. In 1872 he was appointed Register of the United States Land Office for Montana. He returned to his old home at Davenport where for many years he has done editorial work on several of the daily papers. As a writer, General Sanders has for a third of a century ranked among the ablest in the State.

SANFORD, JAMES P. was born in Seneca County, New York, November 11, 1832. When thirteen years of age he went to South America and spent four years in that country, Mexico and the West India Islands. In 1851 he located in New Orleans where he remained until 1855 when he removed to Iowa, taking up his residence at Bentonsport. The following year he became a Universalist minister, preaching his first sermon at Big Rock in Scott County on the 22d of March, 1856. He was a public speaker of unusual ability and eloquence and rose rapidly in the profession until in a few years he became one of the most famous ministers in Iowa. Early in the Civil War Mr. Sanford enlisted in the Second Iowa Cavalry and was commissioned first lieutenant and was afterwards promoted to captain. Upon the organization of the Forty-seventh Infantry he was commissioned colonel of that regiment. In 1864 he retired from the service and went to Europe, making an extensive tour of the countries of the old world. Upon his return he lectured on foreign lands and people he had visited. Mr. Sanford crossed the ocean fifteen times and extended his travels into almost every country of the eastern world. Possessed of rare descriptive powers and pleasing address, Colonel Sanford soon won national fame as a lecturer on foreign countries. He eventually became one of the most extensive travelers in America as well as one of the most notable lecturers.

SARGENT, IRA H was long an important factor in the agricultural life of this state, was more than ordinarily successful in his operations, and is now retired from active business pursuits, spending the evening of life in his comfortable home in Spencer. He was born in Sydney, Canada, on the 5th of November, 1845, and is a son of E. H. and Louise Sargent, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of New York. They were married in Canada and lived in that country until 1855, when they came to Iowa, locating in Clayton county where the father engaged in farming, and there their deaths occurred. They became the parents of nine children, six of whom are now living. Ira H. Sargent secured his education in an old log schoolhouse in Clayton county, Iowa, where he lived until 1864, when, at the age of nineteen years, he enlisted for service in the Civil war, becoming a member of Company D, Fourth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served faithfully until the close of the war, being mustered out at Davenport, Iowa. He then returned to Clayton county and went to work on a farm. He spent practically his entire active life in agricultural pursuits up to the time of his retirement, and is now enjoying the fruits of his years of earnest effort.

Mr. Sargent was married in 1867 to Miss Martha Stroud, who was born and reared at Decorah, Iowa, and whose death occurred in 1868. In 1873 he married Miss E. Persons, who also was a native of Iowa, and to this union were born eleven children, of whom seven are living namely: Cora B., the wife of William Bartlett; Ernest V., William A. and Lawrence E.; Rosa, the wife of William Puritan; Irna H.; and Clarence W. The mother passed away in 1918, and in 1921 Mr. Sargent was married to Mrs. Mary Woodward, who is a native of Indiana, and who has two sons by a former marriage, Frank and George. Mr. Sargent is a member of Annett Post, No. 124, Grand Army of the Republic, at Spencer, and of the Modern Woodmen of America. In all the relations of life he has been true to every trust and his career has been characterized by the attributes that constitute good citizenship in days of peace, as well as in that momentous period when he was numbered among the "boys in blue."

SCOTT, JOHN was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, April 14, 1824. He attended the common schools until sixteen years of age when he began to teach. He came to Iowa in 1843 but returned to Ohio and Kentucky, teaching school until May, 1846, when he enlisted in a regiment of Kentucky volunteers fitting out for the Mexican War. In 1847 he, with Cassius M. Clay and seventy others, was taken prisoner and marched to the City of Mexico where they were held in captivity for eight months. From 1852 to 1854 he was editor of the Kentucky Whig. He removed to Iowa in 1856, locating in Nevada, where he was engaged in farming and real estate. In 1859 he was elected to represent the counties of Story, Boone, Hardin and Hamilton in the State Senate. He served in the regular session of 1860 and the war session of 1861 and then resigned to enter the Union army. Mr. Scott was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Third Regiment and was in command at the Battle of Blue Mills, engaging a superior army of the enemy. In 1862 he was promoted to colonel of the Thirty-second Infantry where he served with distinction until May, 1864, being engaged in many severe conflicts. In 1867 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor of Iowa on the Republican ticket, serving two years. In 1870 Colonel Scott was appointed Assessor of Internal Revenue, holding the office until it was discontinued. He has been intimately associated with the industrial progress of the State for more than a quarter of a century and has been president of the State Agricultural Society, of the State Road Improvement Association, the Improved Stock Breeders' Association and delegate to the National Agricultural Congress. He was for many years an able contributor to agricultural journals. In 1885 he was again elected to the State Senate where he was the author of the bill to establish a State Board of Control for the various public institutions. He has several times come within a few votes of the nomination for Congress in Republican conventions. Colonel Scott is the author of several books. In 1849 he published a narrative of the imprisonment of himself and companions during the Mexican War. In 1895 he published a "Genealogy of Hugh Scott" and his descendants, and the "Story of the Thirty-second Iowa Volunteers." In 1896 Colonel Scott was elected president of the "Pioneer Lawmakers' Association."

SCHERFE, WILLIAM A. . Many interests claim the attention of William A. Scherfe, of Fort Madison, and he has the satisfaction of knowing that he has been successful in all that he has undertaken. Although now in the very prime of useful manhood, he is a banker, manufacturer and insurance broker, and his offices, Fort Madison Savings Bank Building, 602 Seventh Street, are the center of his numerous transactions.

William A. Scherfe was born at Fort Madison, July 24, 1867, a son of Augustus Scherfe, the later of whom was born at Wurttemberg, Germany. When he was but three years old he was brought to the United States by his parents, who located at Fort Madison. The arrival of the Scherfes was during 1848, the year that brought so many substantial German people to this country owing to internal disturbances in their own land and a scarcity of foodstuffs. They came here with the willingness to labor hard to make their way in the new world, and there were but few of them who failed to prosper. In fact there have been no better immigrants than those from Germany, and their industry and frugality, combined with their intense love of liberty, are reflected in many of their descendants. Growing up in Fort Madison, Augustus Scherfe attended its common schools, and made the best of the opportunities offered him. When war was declared between the states this youth of German birth was one of the first in his neighborhood to enlist, and he served in Company F, Fifth Iowa Infantry, from August 1, 1861, until his honorable discharge four years and four months later with the rank of corporal. After the close of the war he was appointed a guard at the Iowa State Penitentiary, and held the position until 1868, when he moved to Burlington, Iowa, and was in the employ of Hunt & Kendall until 1872. In that year he went to Lincoln, Nebraska, an agent for the Union Pacific Railroad, and he remained there for four years. In 1876 he returned to Burlington, and in 1877 he came back to Fort Madison, and once more became a guard at the penitentiary. In 1890 he resigned from that position and established himself in an insurance business, in which he continued until 1900, when he retired, although he did not die until 1916. He married Miss Amelia Springer, and they had three children born to them: William Arthur, who is the eldest; Mrs. Amelia W. Soechtg, of Fort Madison; and Mrs. Matilda Griffith, of Chicago, Illinois. Mrs. Augustus Scherfe died in 1906, ten years before her husband.

William Arthur Scherfe was reared at Fort Madison, and attended its common schools, completing the work of the eighth grade in 1878, when only eleven years old, and could not longer attend school, much as he longed to do so, for he was a bright soldier, because he had to go to work to earn his own living. He entered the employ of J. Ehart & Son, of Fort Madison, at a monthly wage of five dollars. More humane laws today shield the child from any kind of exploitation, but when Mr. Scherfe was a boy nothing was thought of his having to work in a manner no one, no matter what his age may be, would today. For that pitifully small wage William Arthur Scherfe, a lad of brilliant parts, had to open up the store at six o'clock in the morning, and continue at work until nine o'clock at night, fifteen hours a day. After two years the lad left these employers to go with the J. W. Frow Grocery store as delivery boy, and continued as such until 1884. In the latter year he went into the machine shop of J. W. Miller, and there he served his apprenticeship, so that when it was completed he worked as a journeyman machinist with the Atchinson, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad for about a year in its water department. He then became a fireman of the Chicago, Fort Madison & Des Moines Railroad, but, in October, 1892, was injured, and so was forced to refrain from active labor for two years. However, in 1893, he went into his father's insurance office, where he learned the business; succeeded his father, in it in 1900, and still conducts what is one of the oldest concerns of its kind at Fort Madison. For fourteen years Mr. Scherfe served as secretary of the school board. He is a member of the executive committee of the Boy Scouts; was president of the local Chamber of Commerce for four years, and it president of the library board. In addition to his other interests he is president of the Cushman Foundry & Machinery Company, and secretary and a director of the W. A. Sheaffer Pen Company, as well as a stockholder in several banking institutions. For some years he has been a Rotarian. He is a thirty-second degree and Knight Templar Mason, and also belongs to Kaaba Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and other organizations. In politics he is a Republican. Not only is he a conscientious and valued member of the Presbyterian Church, but he has been one of the trustees of the church for twelve years.

On June 16, 1892, Mr. Scherfe was married to Miss Mary A. Young, of Troy, Iowa. No children have been born to them.

~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 Yor, 1931

SEEVERS, WILLIAM H. was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, April 8, 1822. His boyhood was passed on his father's farm and his education was acquired in the common schools. He began to read law in 1843 and removed to Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1844, where he began practice. Mr. Seevers was elected Prosecuting Attorney in 1848, serving one term. In 1852 he was elected judge of the Third Judicial District, serving until 1856. In 1857 he was elected to the House of the Seventh General Assembly and was chairman of the judiciary committee. In 1872 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nominated General Grant for President the second time. He was a member of the commission to revise the laws of the State and was editor of the Code of 1873. In 1875 he was again elected to the General Assembly. In 1876 he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court to fill a vacancy where he served until 1888. Judge Seevers died at his home in Oskaloosa, March 24, 1895.

SELLS, ELIJAH was born in Franklin County, Ohio, February 14, 1814. His father served under General Harrison in the War of 1812. The son came to Iowa in 1841, locating at Muscatine, where he engaged in business. He took a deep interest in the free soil movement and at one of the early Whig conventions secured the adoption of resolutions declaring it to be the duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in the Territories. This was the first convention in the State to make the declaration which afterwards became the cardinal doctrine of the Republican party. In 1844 he was a member of the First Constitutional Convention. He was elected a member of the First General Assembly of the State and again in 1852 served in the House. Mr. Sells was a delegate to the convention which organized the Republican party, was nominated for Secretary of Stare and elected. He was twice reelected, serving six years. In 1863 he was appointed paymaster in the army and afterwards held a position in the navy. He also served as Third Auditor of the Treasury. In 1865 he was appointed superintendent of Indian Affairs in one of the southern districts and removed to Kansas. He served three terms in the Kansas Legislature and in 1878 removed to Utah. In 1889 he was appointed Secretary of Utah Territory, serving four years. Mr. Sells died at Salt Lake City, March 13, 1897.

SHANE, JOHN was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, on the 26th of May, 1822, and was educated at Jefferson College. He studied law with Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln's great Secretary of War and was admitted to the bar in 1848, beginning practice at Steubenville. In 1855, he removed to Iowa, locating at Vinton where he engaged in the practice of law. He was a delegate to the State Convention which organized the Republican party at Iowa City in 1856. He entered the military service as captain of Company G, Thirteenth Infantry in 1861, in October was promoted to major and was in the Battle of Shiloh. Soon after he became lieutenant-colonel and in March, 1863, was promoted to colonel of the regiment. He served in this position with distinction until November, 1864, when the term of enlistment expired. In 1871 Colonel Shane was elected on the Republican ticket to the State Senate, serving four years. In 1876 he was appointed judge of the Eighth Judicial District and was elected in 1878 for a full term but was stricken with paralysis before the expiration and resigned. He died on the 18th of September, 1899.

SHAW, WILLIAM T. was born in Steuben, Washington County, Maine, on the 22d of September, 1822. He was educated in the Maine Wesleyan Seminary and went to Kentucky where he taught school for some time. When the Mexican War began he at once enlisted and served through the war taking part in many of the principal battles. In 1849 and in 1852 he led parties across the great western plains which were then unsettled and infested with hostile Indians. In 1853 he came to Iowa, locating at Anamosa. Upon the organization of the Fourteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry Mr. Shaw was appointed by Governor Kirkwood, colonel. He led the regiment in the thickest of the fight at the Battle of Fort Donelson and again at Shiloh where his regiment was assailed by overwhelming numbers and forced to surrender. At the disastrous Battle of Pleasant Hill, Colonel Shaw commanded a brigade and made a most gallant fight, aiding greatly in saving General Banks' army from disaster. In a letter written soon after the battle he exposed the incompetency and drunkenness of certain of his superior officers and they took their revenge by procuring his dismissal from the service. It was the general opinion of his associates in the Red River campaign that he richly deserved promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General. In 1875 he was elected on the Republican ticket a member of the House of the Sixteenth General Assembly.

SHERMAN, BUREN ROBINSON, Co. G, 13th Iowa Infantry and former Iowa Governor, he was 24 when he enlisted at Vinton on Sept. 27, 1861, as Second Sergeant. On Dec. 23, 1861, he was promoted to Sergeant Major; and on Feb. 19, 1862, to Second Lieutenant. During the battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862, he was wounded in the thigh, the bone being fractured and the flesh badly lacerated. On April 17, 1862, he was promoted to Captain. He returned home later in the month to recuperate, then rejoined his company, but a year later, on April 17, 1863, he resigned and returned home due to continuing recovery problems. Active in local Vinton and Benton Co. affairs, especially those involving veterans, Sherman served as Secretary on the Board of Directors of the Benton County Monument Association in 1865, a county organization whose aim was to erect a monument suitable to honoring the fallen soldiers of the Civil War. Brevet Brig. Gen. James Geddes served as President, and Col. John Shane (whose bios have appeared on this list) served as Vice President. Sherman was selected to preside over or participate in a number of veterans ceremonies and events in Benton Co. in the post-war years, both before and after his election to the Iowa governorship. In Sept. 1883, while Governor, he traveled to Cedar Rapids to attend the Reunion of the Crocker Brigade, which was composed of the 11th, 13th, 15th and 16th Iowa Infantry regiments. Capt. Sherman died Nov. 4, 1904, and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Vinton, Iowa, as are both Col. John Shane (died Sept. 18, 1899) and General James Geddes (died Feb. 21, 1887).

SHERMAN, HOYT, son of Charles R. Sherman, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, was born in Lancaster County, November 1, 1827, and is the younger brother of John Sherman, the distinguished Ohio statesman, and of General William T. Sherman of Civil War fame. Until eighteen years of age, Hoyt's time was divided between school and the printing office. In the spring of 1848 he came to Fort Des Moines, Iowa, then far out on the western frontier. In 1849 he was admitted to the bar and began to practice law, and also engaged in real estate business. In March of that year he was appointed by President Taylor postmaster of Des Moines, holding that position until the inauguration of President Pierce, when he resigned and was elected clerk of the District Court. In 1854 he was the senior member of the baking house of Hoyt Sherman & Co., and upon the establishment of the State Bank of Iowa he became cashier of the Des Moines branch and was one of the directors on part of the State to supervise the system and guard the public interests. When the Civil War began Mr. Sherman was appointed by President Lincoln paymaster in the Union army with the rank of major, holding the position for three years. He was one of the organizers of the Equitable Life Insurance Company of Iowa and for many years its general manager. That institution owes much of its stabililty and high standing to the fine executive ability and unquestioned integrity of Major Sherman. In 1866, Major Sherman was a member of the House of the Eleventh General Assembly where he was chairman of the committee on railroads and a member of the committee of ways and means. In 1886 he was one of the founders of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association and has always been one of its most influential members, serving as president and long a member of the executive committee. He has contributed valuable historical articles to the Annals of Iowa on "Early Banking in Iowa," and on the "State Bank of Iowa." For many years he was the executive officer of the Associated Charities of Des Moines.

SHIRAS, OLIVER P., jurist, a native of Pennsylvania, was born in Pittsburg, October 22, 1833. He graduated from the Ohio University in 1853 and took a three years' course at Yale, graduating in the Law Department and in 1856 was admitted to the bar. He came to Iowa the same year, locating at Dubuque, where he became a member of the law firm of Bissell, Wells and Shiras. In 1862 Mr. Shiras joined the Union army as quartermaster of the Twenty-seventh Iowa Infantry, serving until November, 1864. He resumed the practice of law in Dubuque and in 1882 was appointed by the President Judge of the United States District Court for Northern Iowa. Judge Shiras has long been deeply interested in education and literary affairs, having served many years as president of the Literary Association of Dubuque. As a lawyer and judge he ranks among the ablest in the State.

George Shoop has spent much of his life in the west and for many years has been a resident of Arthur, enjoying a high place in the esteem of his fellow townsmen. He was born April 2, 1844, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and his parents, Samuel and Mary Ann Shoop, were also natives of the Keystone state, in which the mother passed away. The father came to Ida Grove, Iowa, in 1885 and spent his last years at Arthur. There were seven children in the family,namely: Sarah, who is deceased; George; Samuel and Catherine, who have passed away; and three who died in infancy. When a youth of sixteen Mr. Shoop began earning his own livelihood and for nine years was employed as a farm hand.

At the outbreak of the Civil war he joined the emergency corps. of which he was a member for ninety days, and then enlisted in the Union army, serving for a period of one hundred days. Mr. Shoop married Miss Elizabeth Chubb, who was a daughter of Edward and Sarah (Pike) Chubb and was born November 15, 1839, at Bay Roberts, Newfoundland. Of the children born to their union four are now living.

Mr. Shoop belongs to the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and is a republican in his political views. He had no advantages at the outset of his career and all that he now possesses has been gained by hard work, self-denial and good management. He has reached the venerable age of eighty-two years and enjoys the contentment and tranquility of mind which follow a well spent life.

SMITH, AARON M. (from the book, University Recruits, by D W Reed)
2d Lieutenant Company C, was a native of Indiana and a member of Company B, 1st Iowa Infantry. He was severely wounded at Wilson's Creek and before wound healed came home and enlisted, September 19, 1861, in Company C. At the organization of said Company he was elected 2d Lieutenant. He was in command of the company at Fort Donelson after Lt. Henderson was wounded.

At time of Battle of Shiloh he was sick in camp, and escaped the prison life. His health being poor he resigned his commission June 7, 1862, and went home. About the time of the re-organization of the regiment at St. Louis he re-enlisted as private in Company C, and served as such until March, 186 when he was appointed Captain in the 71st U.S. Colored Infantry with which he served until the end of the war when he married and settled at South Bend, Indiana, where he died January 1, 1883.

SMITH, MADISON J., better known as Joe Smith, who in the eighty-second year of his life is now living retired, is numbered among the oldest settlers of this district, having arrived in Scott county in 1835, only three years after the Black Hawk war, when the country was still inhabited by large bands of Indians and the work of progress and improvement had but just begun. Born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, on the 24th June, 1827, he is a son of Eli H. and Mary Ann (Grandon) Smith, natives of New Jersey and Greene county, Pennsylvania, respectively. As early as 1835 the father left his native state and, making his way down the Ohio river and up the Mississippi, landed at Le Claire on the 5th of April, being among the earliest settlers to take up their abode in this district. There were three hundred red men in camp at the time of his arrival and it was necessary for the family to live in an Indian tent until a cabin could be erected. He took up a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, a portion of which is now in the possession of our subject, and remained thereon until after the death of his wife, when he went to live with his son in North English. He was a farmer by occupation and also operated a stone quarry there for a number of years, her remains being laid to rest in Le Claire. In their family were thirteen children, namely: Matilda, Mahaly, Elizabeth, Susan, Cynthia, Jane, Madison J., Ira, John, Nathan, Eli, Martin and Mary. Of this number only five still survive, as follows: Madison J., of this review; Ira, residing in Scott county; Eli, a resident of Iowa county; Martin, of Missouri; and Mary. Madison J. Smith was a little lad of seven years when he came with his parents to Iowa and here shared with the other members of the family the privations and hardships incident to frontier life. As there were no schools in the district at that time, what education he received was obtained by reading and studying at night, while during the daytime he assisted in the arduous and difficult work of developing and improving a new farm. He continued to give his father the benefit of his aid until fifteen years of age, when he began working of river boats and was thus engaged until the outbreak of the Mexican war. In the fall of 1846 Mr. Smith enlisted from Rock Island as a member of Company F, Fourteenth Illinois Infantry, and was first stationed at Jefferson Barracks for about three months. He then went to New Orleans and thence to Mexico, where he participated in all of the battles from Buena Vista to Vera Cruz. He was wounded several times and at the battle of Contreras, when General LeBega was captured, he received a bullet shot through his head. He was believed to be dead but later recovered and rejoined his regiment. He was detailed as second lieutenant in charge of a number of men engaged in clearing roads, etc. After a most creditable military record he was honorably discharged in New Orleans in the fall of 1848. He returned home and was employed on the river for a while. He then went to DeKalb county, Illinois, where he invested in a small farm of thirty-two and a half acres. He was there married to Miss Sarah Jane Brown, on the 28th of December, 1849, who was a daughter of Eben Brown. After residing in that county for about four years, Mr. Smith sold his property and removed to Grundy county, Iowa, where he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of raw land from the government, upon which he erected a dwelling and to the development and cultivation of which he directed his energies, at the same time engaged to some extent in the practice of medicine. He had previously pursued a medical course at Richardson College, St. Charles, Illinois, under the direction of Dr. Richards, from which institution he was graduated after three years. He then entered the Eclectic Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was also graduated after taking a course in medicine and surgery. He has his diploma from both institutions, which is rather remarkable from the fact that he had enjoyed no educational advantages whatever in his early life, all knowledge being gained through his own efforts entirely. After residing in Grundy county, Illinois, for about eight years Mr. Smith sold his farm and went to Butler county, Iowa, where he invested in one hundred and twenty-eight acres of partially improved land, upon which he made his home for four years, dividing his time between the occupation of farming and the practice of his profession. Later he again sold out and removed to Iowa county, Iowa, where he purchased one hundred and forty acres of land drawn from the active practice of medicine after leaving Iowa county, and after his arrival in Scott county was engaged in operating steamboats and rafts on the river for a number of years, continuing to make his home in Le Claire to the present time. In the fall of 1862, again actuated by a spirit of patriotism, Mr. Smith enlisted at Dubuque, Iowa, as a soldier in the Civil war, becoming a private in Company E, thirty-second Iowa Infantry. At Vicksburg he joined General Grant, whose acquaintance he had made during the Mexican war and at whose request he was selected for scout duty. Later he joined General Sherman and rode ahead of his army in the capacity of a scout throughout the entire march to the sea. His term of service covered about a year, after which he returned to Scott county and has since lived retired upon his small farm in Le Claire township. He is also the owner of valuable town property and as the result of former years of toil is now in possession of a competency which makes it possible for him to enjoy all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life without further recourse to labor. As the years passed Mr. and Mrs. Smith became the parents of five children, namely: Eben, residing in Iowa county; Anna, of Cherokee; William, of Waterloo, Iowa; George, making his home in Redwood county, Minnesota; and Elias, living in Muscatine. The wife and mother was called to her final rest in Cherokee, Iowa, and on the 11th of August, 1903, he was again married, his second union being with Miss Amy L. Johnson, a daughter of Sylvanus A. Johnson, one of the early settlers of this county. Mrs. Smith was born on the farm which is yet her home on the 25th of May, 1860. Her father was a native of Vermont, where his birth occurred in 1826, and he came to Scott county in 1858, here passing the remainder of his life. He was a farmer and teamster by occupation. His wife was a native of Vincennes, Indiana, and went to Illinois with her parents, Henry M. and Lucinda Smith, there, in 1848, giving her hand in marriage to Nelson Ritch, who at that time was the owner of the farm upon which our subject now resides. Mr. Ritch passed away in 1853, and in 1859 his widow became the wife of Sylvanus Johnson, whose death occurred on the 5th of February, 1875. She survived until January 6, 1898, and was the mother of four children, namely: Amy L.: Caroline C.; Minnie, who passed away in infancy; and Winnifred. Mrs. Smith has a half-brother, Henry M. Ritch, and also a half-sister, Fannie Ritch. She has passed her entire life on the farm which is now her home, Eli H. Smith, the father of our subject, having entered it at an early date and later sold it to John Williams, who in turn sold it to Nelson Ritch, her mother's first husband. In politics Mr. Smith gives stalwart support to the prohibition party and has belonged to many temperance organizations, doing all in his power to further the cause of temperance in the community, for he realizes that the liquor traffic is one of the greatest evils against which the country has to contend. His has been a life of continuous activity, in which has been accorded due recognition of earnest labor, and now, in the evening of life, he can look back upon a past that has been fraught with honest effort, unswerving industry and untiring energy and has at all times been actuated by principles that are in keeping with honorable and upright manhood. His business methods have ever been such as to inspire confidence and trust in his fellowmen and his personal characteristics have gained for him the respect, esteem and good will of all with whom he has come in contact.

~Source: "History of Davenport and Scott County" Vol. II by Harry E. Downer-S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1910 Chicago

SMITH, MILO was born in the State of Vermont about the year 1819. He came to Iowa taking up his residence at Clinton. The Twenty-sixth Regiment of Iowa Volunteers was raised in Clinton County in the summer of 1862. Milo Smith was appointed colonel and remained in command until near the close of the war, making an excellent officer. He resigned the command in January, 1865, and returned to private life and was soon after appointed General Superintendent of the Des Moines Valley Railroad which position he held many years.

SMITH, PARDON A., Member of the Board of Parole, was born in Ogle county, Illinois, September 1, 1840. His father, Pardon Smith, was born in the State of New York and his mother, Jane Smith, in the same state. In 1856 he came to Iowa with his parents where they settled on a farm in Clinton county. He attended the common schools during the winter months and worked by the month on a farm during the summer. July 12, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company "A", Eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was with that command for more than three years. At the battle of Old River, Louisiana, May 16, 1864, he was severely wounded in the head and still carries an ounce of minnie ball in his neck, received in that engagement. In 1865 he married Roxie L. Alger, who died November 6, 1892, and September 4, 1894 he married Mrs. Alice M. Dreher. He has always been a Republican in politics. He has filled all of the township offices and served nineteen years as Justice of the Peace. In 1896 and again in 1898 he was elected to represent Greene county in the House of Representatives in the Twenty-sixth, Twenty-sixth extra and Twenty-seventh General Assemblies. He followed farming until February, 1884, since which time he has been editor and proprietor of the Scranton Journal. His term as a member of the Board of Parole will expire July 1, 1913.

SMITH, WILLIAM R. was born in Ocean County, New Jersey, December 30, 1828. His boyhood days were spent on a farm and in the winter he attended the public school. In 1845 the family removed to Michigan where the son taught several winters. He had decided to study medicine and when about twenty-one went to New York City and attended lectures. In 1856 he removed to Iowa, locating in the frontier town of Sioux City. Northwestern Iowa, Dakota and northern Nebraska were at that time almost entirely unsettled. Sioux City was but a little village remote from railroad and reached only by a semi-weekly stage line from Dubuque. In the spring of 1861, when the Sioux Indians were threatening the frontier settlements of Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota and Nebraska military companies were organized for protection and Dr. Smith was chosen a lieutenant in one consisting of mounted riflemen, in which he served until relieved by the arrival of United States troops. He was appointed Government surgeon and was sent on a sanitary tour of inspection among the Iowa regiments serving in the Vicksburg campaign. In 1863 he was appointed surgeon of the Board of Enrollment for the Sixth Congressional District and served through the draft of 1864, being stationed at Fort Dodge. He served as mayor of Sioux City, was one of the incorporators of the First National Bank, also of the Sioux City & St. Paul and other railroad companies. In 1878 he was appointed by Governor Gear one of the Commissioners to the Paris Exposition. He was a member of the Cobden Club of England and deeply interested in tariff reform. Dr. Smith was one of the founders of the First Unitarian Church of Sioux City and an active member of the Iowa and Western Conferences of that denomination. In politics he was an independent Republican of the George William Curtis stamp and always acted up to his convictions of right, regardless of party platforms. he served for thirteen years as Receiver of the United States Land Office at Sioux City and as such had the custody of millions of dollars of the public money during the sales of public lands.

SMYTH, WILLIAM was born in Tyrone County, Ireland, January 3, 1824. He came with his parents to America when about fifteen years of age and in 1840 located in Linn County, Iowa. Mr. Smyth studied law at Iowa City and in 1848 opened a law office in Marion. In 1853 he was appointed judge of the Fourth Judicial District, serving until 1857. In 1858 he was chosen by the Seventh General Assembly one of three commissioners to revise and edify the laws of the State. Their work was accepted by the Legislature and became the Code in 1860. Judge Smyth was then appointed on the Commission to Legal Inquiry. In 1861 he was one of the commissioners appointed to negotiate the bonds issued by the State to provide a war defense fund. In August, 1862, he was commissioned colonel of the Thirty-first Iowa Infantry and served in the field until December, 1864, when he resigned on account of failing health. In 1868 he was elected to Congress and served until his death in 1870.

SNYDER, CARLTON (from Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company of Chicago, 1887, Pp. 393-94)

(photograph of gravestone on website)

Carlton SNYDER, farmer and stock-raiser, section 5, Jefferson Township, was born February 10, 1841, in Platte County, Missouri, a son of Andrew SNYDER, a native of Richland County, Ohio. He came with his parents to Iowa in 1847 and located in Warren County, eight miles south of Des Moines. Our subject was reared to agricultural pursuits, and was educated in the common school of Warren County and at the graded school at Winterset, Iowa.

He enlisted [at age 21 from Norwalk, Warren County, Iowa, on August 15, 1862] during the late [Civil] war in Company H, Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry and was with the regiment at the battles of Vicksburg or Chickasaw Bayou and Arkansas Post. He was discharged for disability in [March 17] 1863 [at St. Louis,
Missouri]. [Carlton was a patient at the House of Refuge Hospital, Saint Louis, Missouri, February 12, 1863.]

He went to Central City, Nebraska, in 1871, remaining there till 1875.

He was married March 31, 1874 [Clarke County, Iowa], to Miss Amanda J[ane]. SHAWVER, a daughter of George SHAWVER, who lives near Maxburg, Madison County, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. SNYDER have had three children, two still living - George A. and Elbert. They have taken a boy to bring up, named Clyde A. HOPE.

Mr. SNYDER located in Madison County, Iowa, in 1875, and in 1876 came to Ringgold County, when he settled on his present farm, which contains 120 acres of choice land. Since coming to Jefferson Township Mr. SNYDER has served as trustee and school director. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist
Episcopal church.

from History of Union County, Iowa, Clarke Publishing Company of Chicago, 1908

CARLTON SNYDER

When the toesin of war sounded men from all walks of life flocked to the standard of the country, coming from the work shops, the fields, the counting houses, the stores and the offices, all actuated by the common purpose of defending the Union even at the sacrifice of their own lives if necessary. Forty-seven years have come and gone since the outbreak of hostilities and those who met the enemy on southern battlefields are fast passing away. Among the veterans now living in the Union county is Carlton SNYDER, of Shannon City, who for years was a farmer of Iowa and still owns a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Ringgold county. He came to this state at a very early period in its settlement and development, being brought to Iowa by his father
in the fall of 1846, when a little lad of five years. He was born in Platte County, Missouri, February 10, 1841.

His father, Andrew SNYDER, was a native of Ohio and was there reared after which he removed westward to Platte county, Missouri, becoming one of the early settlers of that locality. As stated, he came to Iowa in the fall on 1846, casting in his lot with the pioneer residents of Warren county which was then largely an unclaimed and unsettled district, much of the land being still in the possession of the government, while only here and there had a little home been build to indicate that the seeds of civilization were being planted in the west. Mr. SNYDER entered land from the government and opened up a farm, which he cultivated until 1872, when he sold that property and removed to Madison county, settling near Winterset. There he sent his remaining days, his death occuring in January, 1878, when he was seventy-four years of age. His wife died January 12, 1891, at the advanced age of eight-four years.

Carlton SNYDER was one of a family of four daughters and seven sons, who reached adult age, while one son and one daughter died in early life. He was reared to manhood upon the Warren county farm and was early trained in the work of the fields until he had become thoroughly familiar with the best methods of planting and caring for the crops. He was twenty-one years of age when he responded to the country's call for aid, enlisting in August, 1862, with the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry. With that command he went to the south,
joining the Army of the Tennessee and participating in the first siege of Vicksburg at Chickasaw Bayou. He was also in the battle of the Arkansas Post with his regiment and during the winter of 1862-3 was ill in the hospital. He was then discharged for disability and returned home.

Three years passed before he thoroughly regained his health, after which he resumed farming, going to Nebraska, where he secured a homestead claim in 1871. He located upon this and improved it until he had obtained a deed to the property, remaining there until 1875. He then sold his place and returned to Madison county, where he carried on farming for a year, after which he took up his abode in Ringgold county, upon a tract of land which he had purchased some years before. It was wild and unimproved when it came into his possession, so he broke the sod, fenced the fields and did all the work necessary toward the production of crops. In due course of time the farm was brought under a high state of cultivation. He also worked a marked transformation in its appearance throught the erection of a set of substantial farm building and through the
planting of a grove and large orchard. This farm adjoins the southern boundary line of Union county and is about three miles from Shannon City. Year by year Mr. SNYDER successfuly conducted his farming interests until 1899, when he removed to the village and purchased a residence. He then established a butchering business, conducting a meat marked for two years and at the same time gave supervision to the management and operation of his farm.

On the 31st of March, 1874, in Clarke county, Iowa, Mr. SNYDER was married to Amanda J. SHAWVER, who was born in Warren county but was reared in Clarke county. In the latter she was educated, also attending school at Indianola, Iowa. Her father, George SHAWVER, was a native of Indianola, born about 1824. (sic, Indianola had not been established in 1824) In that state he grew to manhood and was married there to Miss Sarah COX, also a native of Indiana. Removing westward to Iowa, they cast in their lot with its pioneer settlers. For a number of years they were residents of Clarke county, where the death of Mrs. SHAWVER occurred. The father afterward married again and later removed to Madison county, where he spent his last years, his death there occurring about 1894. Mrs. SNYDER was one of eight children, four sons and four daughters, of whom two sons and two daughters are yet living. By his secomd marriage Mr. SHAWVER had a son and a daughter. Mrs. SNYDER was a teacher for several years in Clarke and Warren counties and gave excellent satisfaction in her work in the schoolroom.

Following their marriage the young couple began their domestic life on the homestead claim in Nebraska, where Mr. SNYDER had kept bachelor's hall for a few years. Three children have come to bless their union but they lost their first born, Frank in infancy. Their second son, George A., is now married and is a business man of Shannon City, where he is engaged in dealing in grain and coal. Ira E[lbert]. is upon the home farm. They also reared an adopted son, Clyde A. HOPE, who was the child of Mr. SNYDER's sister and who lived with them from the age of six months. He is now a farmer of this county.

Politically Mr. SNYDER is a Republican and has voted for every presidential nominee of the party since casting his first ballot for Abraham LINCOLN in 1864 with the single exception of the year 1872. For several years, while living on the farm, he served as township trustee and had previously been township clerk in Warren county, while in Nebraska he was officially identified with the schools. He has also filled the office of road supervisor in this county and his official duties have been discharged with a promptness and fidelity that indicates his deep interest in the welfare of the community.

Mr. and Mrs. SNYDER are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, taking an active interest in its work and doing all in their power to extend its influences. Mr. SNYDER has been superintendent of the Sunday school at Shannon City for twelve years and Mrs. SNYDER is a teacher in the Sunday school, while in the various departments of church work they are active. He has also been one of the trustees of the church and steward for twenty-four years and, moreover, their lives are in harmony with their professions and are a force in the moral development of the community.

Mr. SNYDER belongs to Shannon City Lodge, I. O. O. F., is a valued member of the Grand Army post and has served as commander, while for a number of years he has filled the position of quartermaster. In all matters of citizenship he has been as faithful to the interests of his country as when he followed the old flag on the southern battlefields and gave substantial proof of his loyalty to the Union cause.

NOTE: Andrew SNYDER, the son of Christian SYNDER (1765-1863) and Mary Magdaline (FATE) SNYDER (1764-1872), was born in Steuberville, Jackson County, Ohio, on May 3, 1803. Andrew died January 18, 1878, Winterset, Madison County, Iowa, at the age of 75 years. Andrew was interred at Norwalk Cemetery, Norwalk, Warren County, Iowa. Andrew's dying request, according to his obituary, was that all his children would meet him in Heaven. Andrew married in 1825 to Elizabeth MOSIER. Elizabeth (MOSIER) SNYDER was born in Pennsylvania on October 22, 1806, the daughter of Elizabeth (CRAFT) and Jonathan MOSIER, and died at Winterset, Madison County, Iowa, January 12, 1891, aged 85 years. Elizabeth was interred beside her husband Andrew at the Norwalk Cemetery. Andrew and Elisabeth were the parents of eleven children.

George SHAWVER was born April 10, 1816, Greenbrier County, Virginia, and died at the age of 79 years on November 14, 1895, Madison County, , with interment at Kivett Cemetery, Macksburg, Madison County, Iowa. George married first on February 29, 1844, Hendricks County, Indiana to Sarah Martha COX, and he married second to Elizabeth MAIZE (1863-?) in Iowa on August 28, 1861. Sarah Martha (COX) SHAWVER was born November 23, 1825, Pennsylvania, and died March 1, 1861, Osceola, Clarke County, Iowa. Amanda Jane (SHAWVER) SNYDER was the third-born of George and Sarah's eight children.

Carlton SNYDER, the eighth of Andrew and Elizabeth (MOSIER) SNYDER's eleven children, died at the age of 74 years on June 15, 1915, near Shannon City in Ringgold County, Iowa. Amanda Jane (SHAWVER) SNYDER was born May 9, 1850, Warren County, Iowa, and at the age of 76 years in 1926. Carlton and Amanda were interred at Oakland Cemetery, Ringgold County, Iowa. Carlton and Amanda were the parents of three sons and raised Amanda's nephew Clyde A. HOPE from infancy. Clyde's mother died when he was born.

1) Frank P. SNYDER, born 1878, Ringgold Co. IA; died 05 Jul 1878, Ringgold Co. IA interment Harmony Cemetery near Shannon City, Untion Co. IA

2) Clyde A. HOPE, born 25 Jun 1875, Shenandoah IA; died 20 Oct 1945, Valley City, SD
interment Hillside Cemetery, Valley City SD 29 Sep 1897, Ladaga, IA married Clara MURRAY (1878-1962); 8 children

3) George Arthur "Art" SNYDER, born 17 Mar 1880, Ringgold Co. IA married Edith (?), born 1882

4) Ia "Elbert" SNYDER, born Apr 1882, Ringgold Co. IA

~Sources:

Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Pp. 393-94, 1887.
History of Union County, Iowa Clarke Publishing Company. Chicago. 1908.
American Civil War Soldiers Database, ancestry.com
"Obituary - Andrew SNYDER" Winterset Madisonian, January 10, 1878
WPA Graves Survey

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

The military career of Andrew Soll was unique among his compatriots in the Fifth Iowa Infantry. He enrolled in Company K of the Fifth, and later was wounded at Iuka, Mississippi, in a way that inhibited his continuing service in the infantry. As a result, he was allowed to transfer to the Mississippi Marine Brigade. In 1844, along with his brother John, left Germany. They originally settled in New York City. They moved to Lansing Iowa in 1853. Andrew was listed in the 1860 census in Lansing as a fireman. Andrew's brothers John and Joseph would eventually change the Soll name to Zoll. Andrew, however, enlisted into the army from Lansing in July 1861 under his anglicized name of "Soll." In September of 1862, Soll was wounded in the battle at Iuka. He recuperated in the hospital at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. Actually, Soll suffered from two injuries, having received a rifle ball in left leg between the knee and ankle and another shot in his left thigh. Soll was not the only casualty. Of the 482 men of the Fifth Iowa who entered into this battle, seven commissioned officers were killed, and eight were wounded. Enlisted men suffered thirty-four deaths and 168 wounded. In the Fall, Soll was transferred to the hospital at Keokuk, Iowa. In the winter, he the musters report him as in the hospital in Quincy, Illinois. In April of 1863, he is curiously listed as being once again in the hospital in Keokuk.

His wounds apparently did not heal to the point where he could return to the Fifth. In 1863 the muster remarks that Soll was "discharged to enlist in Marine Brigade." For his enlistment in Company D of the First Infantry Mississippi Marine Brigade in February of 1863, Soll listed his occupation as farmer. He declared he was born in Germany and 26 years old. He had gray eyes, dark hair, and a dark complexion and was 5'4" tall. Commodore Davis Dixon Porter formed a Mississippi River Brigade in October of 1862. Members were recruited from invalids and convalescents in hospitals around St Louis, Missouri. They possessed the following boats: Autocrat, BJ Adams, Baltic, Diana, Fairchild, John Raine and Woodford. Organized and trained by Lieutenant Colonel George Currie.They had six companies of infantry and four squads of cavalry, and served in the Vicksburg Campaign. Following the war, Soll's pension application stated he resided mainly at Lansing, Iowa and Galesburg, Illinois. It cited his primary occupation as farming. He was now forty-three and his height was listed as 5'6" (did he grow two inches). While he had signed his wartime forms with an "x," Soll was now able to sign his legal name. He subsequently moved to Park River, ND. The next and last item in his pension folder was a "Declaration for the Increase of an Invalid Pension" filed from Walsh county of the Territory of Dakota on 17 April 1886. He was listed as a resident of Park River, aged 49 years. He believed himself to be entitled to an increase of pension on account of "Increased disability and Lung Disease". He Died on 30 March 1905 and is buried Oak Hill Cem. allamakee Iowa. This account of a Fifth Iowa Infantry veteran is provided by his great-grandnephew, Daniel Zoll.

SPARKS, EDWIN
Edwin Sparks, the son of Levi and Zulima (Moore) Sparks, was born in Adams County in southern Ohio, on October 26, 1829. Three years later, Priscilla Spurgeon was born farther north in Sandusky on December 7, 1832. Both moved to Iowa where, on March 31, 1851, they were married in Dubuque by Elder Mobley, pastor of the Christian Church. Five children - Ella, Walter, Edwin Jr., Marion and Marshal - were born before the Civil War.
Marshall was born during the 1860 presidential election year when several Southern states were threatening to secede if Abraham Lincoln was elected, but the Clayton County Journal wasn’t concerned. “Bah! No one anticipates such a result - This cry was invented only to frighten the people into voting for the Democratic candidate. Divide the Union! The people of the United States are not prepared to do any such thing.” On November 6th, Lincoln was elected and a month later South Carolina passed an Ordinance of Secession, but still the Journal wasn’t concerned. “We hope however our readers will not become too excited over this, because it is not worth while. There are men enough in Pennsylvania alone to subdue South Carolina without the aid of Iowa volunteers.” On April 12, 1861, Confederate cannon fired on Fort Sumter. War followed and quickly escalated into a second year.
With Northern ranks greatly reduced, President Lincoln called for another 300,000 volunteers and, on July 9, 1862, Governor Sam Kirkwood received a telegram asking him to raise five regiments of three-year men. If the state’s quota wasn’t raised by August 15th, it "would be made up by draft." The Governor was confident the quota would be met but enlistments started slowly as "farmers were busy with the harvest, the war was much more serious than had been anticipated, and the first ebullition of military enthusiasm had subsided. Furthermore, disloyal sentiment was rampant in some parts of the State." All men between eighteen and forty-five were listed in preparation for a possible draft, a draft that wasn’t needed.
On August 19, 1862, thirty-two-year-old Edwin Sparks was enlisted at Peosta by Jesse Harrison in what would be Company C of the 21st Iowa Infantry. Described as having a fair complexion, blue eyes and light hair, Edwin was six feet tall (four inches over the regiment’s average height). Two days after her husband’s enlistment, Priscilla gave birth to their sixth child, a daughter named Sarah. With Sam Merrill as Colonel of the regiment and Jesse Harrison as Captain of the company, they were mustered into service on September 9th at Camp Franklin in Dubuque with Edwin as a 4th Sergeant. A week later they boarded the four-year-old sidewheel steamer Henry Clay and two barges tied alongside and left for war. They spent their first night on Rock Island and the next morning learned that Thompson Spottswood, who had earlier served ninety-days in the 1st Iowa Infantry, had become the regiment’s first to die. Suffering from measles he had been left behind and died at his uncle’s house in Epworth.
Continuing their journey, the regiment encountered low water at Montrose, debarked, and traveled by train to Keokuk where they boarded the Hawkeye State. They reached St. Louis on the 20th and spent the night at Benton Barracks. On the 21st, Brigadier General John Wynn Davidson conducted a general inspection. Men were ordered to fall in at 10:30 a.m. with full equipment. In broiling heat, they stood forhours before parading around the square and by evening were exhausted but enjoying supper when ordered to move out. At dusk they started and in darkness arrived at the St. Louis depot where, about midnight, they boarded railroad cars usually used for freight and livestock.
The next morning, they reached Rolla and camped near the depot, but the water had the “breath of sewers” so Colonel Merrill moved them to a new location about five miles southwest of town wherethere was good spring water. For several weeks they practiced drill and were organized in a brigade with three other regiments. By 1:00 a.m. on October 18th, the sick were "evicted” as tents were taken down, knapsacks packed and wagons loaded. At 1:30 a.m., drums called assembly. At 2:00 a.m. they started a twenty-five- mile march in the morning darkness, singing, happy to be on the move, back through Rolla and then southeast on the road to Salem. There, on October 31st, Edwin was marked “present” on the first of the bimonthly company muster rolls.
From Salem, they moved to Houston and then Hartville where they were dependent on supplies brought by wagon trains from the railhead in Rolla. In November, a train of wagons driven by teamsters and guarded by men detached from their regiments left Rolla. On the night of the 24th, they camped along Beaver Creek and were just finishing dinner when they were attacked and greatly outnumbered by a band of mounted guerillas. George Chapman was just leveling his musket, preparing to fire, when “three balls pierced his breast” and killed him instantly. His death and inability to send money home would force his parents to sell the family farm. Cyrus Henderson was shot in the right knee and John Robinson was wounded on the left side of his head while Phillip Wood, a painter from Clinton, was shot through the lungs. They and other survivors were captured and released.
The attack convinced Colonel Merrill to move the regiment back to Houston where Edwin was present when the December 31st roll was taken. A contingent from the regiment fought a battle in Hartville on January 11, 1863, before returning to Houston. Still there on January 21st and, “while acting under orders to be ready to march the following morning and while preparing his gun for the same,” Edwin accidentally discharged his musket wounding four fingers on his right hand. The regiment’s new surgeon, William Orr, who had arrived only three days earlier, amputated the fingers the same day “at the middle of 1st Phalanges.” Edwin was one of at least nine members of the regiment who were wounded by the accidental discharge of their muskets during the war.
After initial treatment in the regimental hospital, Edwin was transferred to a general hospital in Rolla where, on April 9th, he was discharged from the military. He returned to Iowa and, the following April, Priscilla gave birth to another daughter, Mary, who was followed by Leo in 1866, Catherine in 1869, Mabel, John in 1871, Mathias in 1873 and Lennie in 1877.
On April 17, 1871, Edwin applied for an invalid pension. Since leaving the military he had lived in Peosta for one year before moving to Manchester and then to Irvington, Iowa, where he worked as a farmer. A pension surgeon in Algona thought Edwin was “totally incapacitated for obtaining his subsistence by manual labor.” “The thumb,” he said, “is perfect but there is no part of a finger to oppose it, or grasp a shovel, plough handle with, leaving the hand as useless as if there was but a mere hook attached.”
The application was approved on September 9, 1872, at $15.00 monthly payable through the pension agency in Des Moines. His mother died in 1867 and his father 1872, both in Peosta where they are buried. The next year, at the suggestion their son Walter, Edwin and Priscilla moved to Clark County in the Washington Territory and Edwin asked that administration of his pension be transferred to the agency in Portland, Oregon, that was only fifteen miles from his new home. Edwin worked as a teacher in the Fruit Valley area of Vancouver and as a brick mason, and served on a Grand Jury and as a member of the Fern Prairie Lodge of the International Organisation of Good Templars. A news article in 1878, said he was the “newly elected assessor of Clarke county, and will soon move into town.” When a post of the Grand Army of the Republic was formed in 1880, Edwin served as its initial Sergeant. In 1883 his pension was increased to $24.00 monthly, an amount he was receiving when he died on February 19, 1891, from “the grippe” at his residence, 20th and Main Street in Vancouver. He was buried in the Old Vancouver City Cemetery.
On March 21, 1891, Priscilla signed (by mark) applications for Edwin’s accrued pension and for her own widow’s pension, but had to prove she and Edwin had married. There was no written record of the marriage, she said, and all witnesses had died. She was receiving $120.00 annually from the rental of two small houses but was otherwise “dependent on her friends for assistance.” Supportive affidavits were submitted, she applied again and was receiving a monthly pension of $8.00 when she died at her residence, 602 West 10th Street, Vancouver, on January 15, 1919. Priscilla, like Edwin, is buried in the Old Vancouver City Cemetery.
~Submitted by Carl F Ingwalson

STANTON, THADDEUS H. was born in the State of Indiana in 1835. He came to Iowa in 1851 taking up his residence at Mount Pleasant where he became editor of an antislavery paper. Later he removed to Washington in this Stat and was for several years editor of the Washington Press, a Republican paper. He was correspondent of the New York Herald at the beginning of the Rebellion but enlisted and served three months. In October, 1861, he was elected to the House of the Ninth General Assembly and served through the regular and extra sessions. After the close of his term he reentered the military service and at the close of the war was appointed paymaster with the rank of major in the regular army. He held this position for twenty years and was successively promoted, reaching the rank of Brigadier-General. at the close of the Spanish war he retired from active service.

STONE, GEORGE A. was born in Schoharie, New York, on the 13th of October, 1833, and came to Iowa with his father in 1839, locating in Washington County. After completing his studies at Mount Pleasant the son procured a position in a bank in that place, serving as cashier until the beginning of the Rebellion. Early in the spring of 1861 he assisted in raising Company F, First Iowa Volunteers, and was chosen first lieutenant. He took part in the Battle of Wilson's Creek and served in Missouri until the three months' regiment was mustered out. In October he was commissioned major of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry and in August, 1862, was appointed colonel of the Twenty-fifth Iowa Infantry. He served through the war with that regiment participating in the Battle of Arkansas Post, in the Vickburg campaign, the battles about Chattanooga and in Sherman's march to the sea. At the close of the war he was brevetted Brigadier-General. Upon his return to Mount Pleasant he again engaged in banking. In 1884 General Stone was appointed National Bank Examiner which position he held at the time of his death, which occurred on the 28th of May, 1901.

STONE, JOHN Y. was born near Springfield, Illinois, on the 23d of April, 1843, and came with his parents to Iowa in 1856. He received a liberal education and at the beginning of the War of the Rebellion enlisted in the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry and served until peace was restored. He then returned to Glenwood and studied law with William Hale, afterwards entering into partnership with him. Mr. Stone was elected Representative in the House of the Twelfth and Thirteenth General Assemblies and to the Senate of the Fourteenth, serving four years in each branch. In 1875 he was again elected to the House, serving four years more, the last term as Speaker. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention of 1876 and a member of the National Republican Committee from 1876 to 1880. He was again a delegate to the National Republican Convention in 1884. In 1888 he was nominated by the Republican State Convention for Attorney-General and elected, serving three terms. During his busy life in law in law and politics, General Stone has found time to engage largely in fruit growing. He began many years ago to plant apple trees in Mills County and continued until over eight hundred acres were in orchard, upon which were growing more than 100,000 bearing apple trees. He also planted a vineyard of more than 75,000 grape vines; these with his apple orchard made the largest fruit plantation in the State.

STONE, JOSEPH C. was born in Westport, New York, July 30, 1829. He came with his father to the Territory of Iowa in 1844, attended the public schools and later studied medicine, graduating at the Medical Department of the St. Louis University in 1854. He enlisted as a private in the First Iowa Cavalry in June, 1861, and was successively promoted to adjutant of the regiment, captain and assistant adjutant-general of volunteers. He served in the close of the war and returned to the practice of medicine. In 1876 he was elected to Congress from the First District on the Republican ticket, serving but one term.

STONE, WILLIAM M., sixth Governor of Iowa, was born in Jefferson County, New York, October 14, 1827. In 1834 his parents removed to Coshocton, Ohio, and for two seasons he drove horses on the canal and when seventeen was apprenticed to a chairmaker. At twenty-one he began to read law and in 1851 was admitted to the bar. In 1854 he emigrated in Knoxville, Iowa, and began practice. He purchased the Knoxville Journal and took editorial charge of it. Mr. Stone was delegate to the convention which organized the Republican party and was nominated for presidential elector in the Fremont campaign of that year. He was an eloquent public speaker and won wide reputation. In April, 1857, he was elected judge of the Eleventh District. When the Civil War began he raised a company for the Third Infantry and was commissioned major of the regiment. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Shiloh and after his release was appointed colonel of the Twenty-second Infantry. He resigned in August, 1863, having been nominated for Governor by the Republican State Convention. He at once entered upon the campaign and was elected over Colonel James M. Tuttle the Democratic candidate, by more than 38,000 majority. He was reelected by a reduced majority and during his term his private secretary in the absence of the Governor appropriated to his own use funds belonging to various counties of the State. An investigation by the General Assembly exonerated the Governor from any knowledge of or participation in the transactions. In 1877 Governor Stone was elected to the House of the Seventeenth General Assembly. In 1888 he was chosen one of the presidential electors and upon the accession of President Harrison he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Land Office at Washington and later was promoted to Commissioner. Governor Stone died in Oklahoma Territory, July 18, 1893.

STREINZ, JOSEPH
Joseph Streinz and Theresa Heisler were married in Bohemia on June 16, 1841, by Father Augustus Walter. A Czech revival movement had started in Bohemia at the end of the 18th century and continued into the 19th. Some wanted German as the official language; others wanted Czech. There were differences between those who were members of the ruling classes and those who were not. Conflicts between and within religions caused further turmoil and in 1848 there was a revolution. It was during these tumultuous times that Theresa gave birth their first child, John Streinz, on March 1, 1842. Another son, Andrew, was born on December 1, 1851.

It’s not known what caused the family to emigrate but, six years after Andrew’s birth, Elizabeth M. was born in Dyersville on June 21, 1857. She was followed by Anna Mary on September 1, 1860, while a presidential election campaign was well underway. South Carolina threatened to secede if Abraham Lincoln were elected but the Clayton County Journal discounted the threat. “We do not believe that because a Northern man is elected that they will secede from the Union. They don't say so now; this is only uttered by a few hot-heads and they are not the South.”

In November, Lincoln was elected. South Carolina and other states seceded. Forts were fired upon and in January the Journal wrote, “If war they want, war they shall have. We hope however our readers will not become too excited over this, because it is not worthwhile. There are men enough in Pennsylvania alone to subdue South Carolina without the aid of Iowa volunteers.” General Beauregard’s cannon fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, the war that followed quickly escalated and on July 9, 1862, Iowa’s Governor, Sam Kirkwood, received a telegram calling on the state for five more regiments in addition to those already in the field. If not raised by August 15th, a draft was likely.

On August 22nd, Joseph answered the call when he was enrolled at Dubuque by Alfred Jones for three years “or the war.” Described on the Company “A” Muster-in Roll as a 42-year-old farmer, he was listed as being 5' 6" tall (about 2" shorter than average). With ten companies were of adequate strength, they were mustered in at Dubuque’s Camp Franklin on September 9th as the 21st regiment of Iowa’s volunteer infantry with a total enrolment, officers and enlisted, of 985 men. On the 16th, from the levee at the foot of Jones Street, they crowded on board the sidewheel steamer Henry Clay and two barges tied alongside and started south.

Company muster rolls were taken every two months as of the last day of the bimonthly period and Joseph was marked “present” on every roll during the regiment’s entire term of service. Their first six months were in Missouri (Salem, Houston, Hartville, West Plains, Iron Mountain, Ironton) and on March 11, 1863, they marched into the old French town of Ste. Genevieve and camped on high ground above the Mississippi River. From there they were transported downstream to Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana, where General Grant was assembling a 30,000-man, three corps, army to capture the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg.

Serving under General John McClernand, they left “the Bend” on April 12th and started a slow movement south on the west side of the river. Richmond, Cholula and the Somerset and Ione plantations were all passed as they walked along muddy roads, waded through swamps with guns held high and crossed numerous bayous. Grant hoped to cross the river to Grand Gulf, Mississippi, but it proved to be too well defended and he took the advice of a former slave and continued on to Disharoon’s Plantation. On April 30th they crossed to the landing at Bruinsburg and started slowly inland with the 21s Iowa Infantry as the point regiment for the entire Union army.

About midnight they were fired on by Confederate pickets near Abram Shaifer’s house. In total darkness shots were briefly exchanged before both sides rested. The next day Joseph participated with his regiment in the Battle of Port Gibson in which three of his comrades were fatally wounded and another fourteen sustained less serious wounds. On the 16th, they were present but held out of action by General McClernand during the Battle of Champion’s Hill but Joseph participated in their next engagement, a May 17th assault at the Big Black River during which seven of his comrades were killed in action and eighteen had wounds that would soon prove fatal. Another forty had less severe wounds but many were serious enough to cause the wounded soldiers to be discharged from the military.

Joseph next participated in the siege of Vicksburg that ended on July 4, 1863, and in the ensuing siege and capture of the state capital at Jackson. He remained present when the regiment saw subsequent service in southwestern Louisiana, along the Texas gulf coast and in Arkansas and Tennessee. In the Spring of 1865 he participated with the regiment in its final campaign of the war, a successful campaign that ended with the occupation of Mobile, Alabama, after it was surrendered by Dabney Maury on the 12th of April. They left Alabama on May 26th, returned to New Orleans and saw two weeks service at Louisiana’s Camp Salubrity. On June 21st they were ordered to Baton Rouge to prepare to be mustered out. On the 24th, while officers were preparing Muster-Out Rolls and Descriptive Books for all who had served in the regiment, Joseph, who had been present on all muster rolls, engaged the enemy in battle and maintained his health while many of his comrades had died, was admitted to the city’s post hospital.

The regiment was mustered out on July 15th and the next morning boarded the Lady Gay and started for home. They reached Cairo on the 19th and from there traveled by train to Clinton where they arrived on July 21st, the same day Joseph Strentz died from chronic diarrhea while on board the hospital steamer D. A. January. The site of his burial is unknown. He was survived by Theresa and their children: 23-year-old John, 13-year-old Andrew, 8-year-old Elizabeth and 4-year-old Anna Mary.

In August, Theresa applied for a widow’s pension with Darius Forbes of Washington, D.C., as her attorney. Her application was still pending on January 6, 1866, when she signed another application, this time with Dubuque’s Samuel Burns as her attorney. With a supportive affidavit from Dubuque residents Mary Haberstumpf and Rosalie Zimmermann who had been present at Theresa’s wedding in Bohemia, a pension was granted at $8.00 per month retroactive to July 25, 1865. Later that year Theresa applied for an increase and also requested a pension for her three children who were under sixteen when their father died. Her attorney was Fred Gottschalk of Dubuque and again Mary Haberstumpf and Rosalie Zimmerman supplied a supportive affidavit, this time indicating they had been present at the birth of all three children. Five months later, Theresa signed a similar application with R. E. Bishop of Dubuque as her attorney and on September 27, 1867, a certificate was issued confirming her pension and granting $2.00 per month for each of the children, an amount that would continue until their 16th birthdays.

In 1874 Elizabeth married Charles Saunders, a prominent Dubuque businessman, and it was Charles who notified the pension office when Theresa Strentz died on April 4, 1884.
Anna Mary (who used her middle name) died on April 4, 1927, and was buried as Mary Anna Tribolet in Phoenix, Arizona. Andrew died on July 22, 1934 and Elizabeth on November 24, 1936. Both are buried in Dubuque’s Linwood Cemetery.

STRUBLE, ISAAC S. was born near Fredericksburg, Virginia, on the 3d of November, 1843. He received a common school education and attended the State University after removing to Iowa. He enlisted in Company F, of the Twenty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry when eighteen years of age and was wounded at the Battle of Cedar Creek in October, 1864. Mr. Struble studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1870. In 1872 he took up his residence at Le Mars in Plymouth County and entered upon the practice of his profession. In 1882 he received the Republican nomination for Representative in Congress in the Eleventh District and was elected. He was three times reelected, serving eight years.

SUMMERS, SAMUEL W. was born in Virginia, in 1820, and in 1842 removed to Iowa, locating in Van Buren County. He had studied law and was admitted to the bar but had a hard struggle to make a living at his profession at that early day when there was little business and less money. He finally removed to Ottumwa where he was more successful. In January, 1963, he was appointed colonel of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry which was sent west to operate against the Indians. His headquarters were most of the time at Omaha and his regiment did not have an opportunity to see much hard fighting and was mustered out in 1865.

SWALM, ALBERT W. was born at Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania, on the 30th of November, 1845. In 1855 he came to Iowa and learned the printing business at Oskaloosa. When the Civil War began he enlisted but was rejected on account of his youth. Later he joined Company D, Thirty-third Iowa Infantry and served through the war as a private. Just before the Rebellion ended he was recommended for promotion. Upon his return home he was employed on the State Register and was soon promoted to city editor. In January, 1870, he became the editor of the Grand Junction Headlight. A few years later he removed to Jefferson and took editorial charge of the Jefferson Bee. In 1873 he, with his wife, purchased the Fort Dodge Messenger, removed to that city and published that paper. Selling that establishment after a few years he returned to Oskaloosa and bought the Herald establishment. Here he held many official positions, among which were postmaster, four years; Indian Land Commissioner, member of the State Prison Commission, of the Republican State Committee, Regent of the State University from 1885 to 1897, and for thirteen years an officer in the Iowa National Guards, attaining the rank of colonel. He was for some years on the Governor's staff. In 1897 he was appointed Consul to Montevideo, in Uruguay, South America, by President McKinley. In March, 1903, Colonel Swain was by order of the President transferred to Southampton, England.

SWENEY, JOSEPH H. was born in Warren County, Pennsylvania, on the 2d of October, 1845. He came to Iowa when a young man and graduated from the regular as well as the law course of the State University. Mr. Sweney has been engaged in farming and banking but gives most of his attention to law. In the War of the Rebellion he served three years in Company K, Twenty-seventh Volunteer Infantry. After the war he was for four years colonel of the Sixth Regiment of the National Guards and was promoted to Brigadier, and Inspector-General of the State. In 1883 he was elected on the Republican ticket State Senator for the Forty-first District, composed of the counties of Howard, Mitchell and Worth. He was in 1886 elected president pro tem. of the Senate. Mr. Sweney was reelected to the Senate at the close of his first term, serving eight years, most of the time being on the judiciary, railroad and military committees. In 1888 he was elected to Congress in the Fourth District, serving one term. He was nominated by the Republicans in 1890 but was defeated at the election by the Democratic candidate.