"MAJOR RACINE D. KELLOGG was born in Fayetteville, Onondaga County, New York, March 9, 1828, a son of Pearl and Lucy M. (Northrup) Kellogg.  His paternal grandparents were both Kelloggs, being descendants of different branches of the family that settled in Massachusetts and Connecticut.  His grandfather removed to Oneida County, swimming the Mohawk River with his team, when there was but one dwelling house in Utica, and that one made of logs.  Pearl Kellogg served in the war of 1812.  Hon. W. P. Kellogg, Congressman from Illinois, William M. Kellogg, late Congressman from Massachusetts, and Senator Kellogg from Louisiana, are all distantly related to Major Kellogg.  Major Racine D. Kellogg, the subject of this sketch, received a good education, having attended the academy in his native village, Fayetteville, New York.  When twenty-one years of age he went to Erie County, Ohio, where he spent four years in farming and teaching.  In 1854 he crossed the Mississippi River and located at Garden Grove, Decatur County, Iowa, where he was for a short time engaged in the mercantile business, but has since been engaged in the real-estate business, being one of the most extensive operators in this part of the State.  He has improved many farms, and has had wild lands and coal lands in Decatur, Wayne, Polk and Greene counties, and in the first two counties mentioned he has built fifty-seven miles of fencing.  In connection with others he has laid out the towns of Dallas Centre and Grand Junction.  He was chairman of different building committees under whose supervision the following public buildings in Garden Grove were erected:  The present fine high-school building, the Presbyterian church, which is one of the neatest in the State, and the cheese factory.  As we need not only spiritual nourishment, but also bread for our material well-being, he was instrumental in establishing industrial institutions, and in every movement for the improvement of the town he is one of the most prominent men.  He was also chairman of the railroad committee when the Leon Branchy of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad came through Garden Grove.  The work of his enterprising hand is seen not only in Garden Grove, but in scores of places in different sections of the State.  In 1859 he was elected to the General Assembly.  He was in the regular session of 1860, and the extra session of 1861, and was re-elected in 1862.  In that year he was appointed on the staff of Governor Kirkwood, and accompanied him to the battle-field of Fort Donelson where the battle flag of the gallant Iowa Second was put into his hands to be brought back and placed in the archives of the State.  At the opening of the regular session in 1862 Major Kellogg was elected speaker, pro tem.  Prior to this, in 1861, he offered the following resolution, which was extensively copied and commented upon at the time:  "Whereas, the President of the United States has appealed to all loyal citizens to facilitate the effort to maintain the honor, integrity, and the existence of the National Union, and suppress treason and rebellion against the Federal Government, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, that the faith, credit and resources of the State of Iowa, both in men and money, are hereby irrevocably pledged to any amount and to any extent which the Federal Government may demand to suppress treason, subdue rebellion, enforce the laws, protect the lives and property of loyal citizens, and maintain inviolate the Constitution and sovereignty of the Nation."  In 1862 Hon. Racine D. Kellogg went into the army as Major of the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry, and before he had served a year was compelled to resign and leave the service on account of ill health.  He was at the battle and surrender of Arkansas Post where the rebel General Churchill, together with his staff and other officers to the number of 150 officers and 1,500 privates, was placed in charge of Major Kellogg and delivered by him to General Curtis at St. Louis.  Before leaving home to join his regiment the Major sold 200 head of three-year-old steers of $6,000, and liberally and magnanimously expended this sum, with the exception of a few dollars, for the comfort and care of his soldiers.  Upon his leaving the army the officers of the Thirty-fourth regiment held a meeting at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, April 20, 1863, and passed the following complimentary and well-merited resolutions:  "Whereas, our worthy Major, R. D. Kellogg, has been compelled to resign his position in this regiment on account of ill health, therefore, Resolved, that we deplore the circumstances which render this step necessary, and in parting with Major Kellogg we bear cheerful testimony to his merit as an officer, and his uniform kindness and urbanity as a gentleman; Resolved that in his resignation the service loses a most valuable officer, and the members of his regiment a pleasant and genial companion; Resolved, that in view of a just appreciation of the gallant military career as well as high social endowments of Major Kellogg, we do, without hesitancy, say that he has left the image of himself imprinted in the hearts of every member of the Thirty-fourth Iowa, and although compelled to retire from the service, our esteem friendship and admiration for him is growing expansive and quenchless as time and human memory; Resolved that the foregoing be published in the Iowa State Register, Leon Pioneer, Chariton Patriot, Indianola Register, and South Tier Democrat."  A gentleman who has long been intimately acquainted with Major Kellogg states, that as a representative, as a business man, as a good citizen, as a brave soldier, and as one of the useful and tireless members of our State Assembly for several sessions, he is without a blemish.  He never stoops to shield himself from responsibility and never shrinks from duty.  In social and political circles his name is a synonym of power and honor.  Every position of public trust in which he has been placed he has filled with credit to himself and honor to the people whom he represented.  When the war broke out he was known as a war Democrat, but since the Democratic party, in national convention assembled, declared the war a failure he has been a Republican.  His name has repeatedly been mentioned as a suitable man to represent his district in Congress, also once as auditor of the State, but he has not allowed his name to be used in political conventions.  Major Kellogg is a member of the Presbyterian church, and a man of the highest Christian integrity.  November 2, 1864, he married Miss Elizabeth A. Burns, a daughter of Hon. John D. Burns of Garden Grove.  Five children were born to them, two of whom are living -- Alice and Flossie, who are at home with their parents.  Major Kellogg was nominated as delegate by the State of Iowa, and appointed by President Hayes to be a commissioner and under and by virtue of the act of Congress to ------ for celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and the recognition of American Independence, by holding an exhibition of arts, manufactures, products of the soil and mines, in the city of New York, in 1883.

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    Having given a biographical sketch of Hon. Racine D. Kellogg, it is but proper that a conspicuous place be given to Hon. O. N. Kellogg and C. L. Kellogg, his brothers, two noble scions of the same family who took such a prominent part in the founding of Decatur County, Iowa, and the building up of its prosperity.  These sketches have been contributed by Ignace Hainer, an old citizen of Decatur County, Iowa."

(Submitted to the Decatur County GenWeb site by Christy Jay, email: Jaygenie@aol.com)