WILLIAM MCINTOSH

William McIntosh, a retired farmer living in Davis City, was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, December 18, 1843, a son of John and Elizabeth (Wamyer) McIntosh, both natives of Tennessee and descended respectively from Scotch-Irish and German ancestry. Their marriage occurred in Indiana, where the father followed agricultural pursuits for a number of years, but in 1855 he removed with his family to Mercer county, Missouri, and there purchased land. In 1869 he sold that farm and came to Decatur county, Iowa, locating in Hamilton township. He passed away upon his farm in that township, March 8, 1877, and was survived for several years by his widow. He served during the Civil war in Company B., Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, and held the rank of first lieutenant.

William McIntosh attended the public schools in Indiana and after removing to Missouri worked as a farm hand. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was employed by a man in Davis county, Missouri, and when a local company of Confederate volunteers was organized by Captain David Inyard, Mr. McIntosh’s employer offered him his best horse, saddle and bridle if he would enlist in the southern army. He told him many falsehoods about the “Yankees,” as he called the northern men, but our subject said he would wait until he heard from home before enlisting. He wrote to his father, who upon receiving the letter went in person to talk the matter over with him and told him that he had enlisted in the northern army. Mr. McIntosh says: “He and his friends at home convinced me that the only right thing to do was to fight for the preservation of the Union and I did and fought hard.” He enlisted at Princeton, Missouri, August 13, 1862, in the Union army and took part in fifteen battles, including those at Decatur, Georgia, and New Hope church, both of which were hotly contested, and he also participated in the sieges of Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi, and Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, going with Sherman on his march to the sea. Although he was a great deal of hard fighting and was often where the fire was the hottest he was never wounded. He participated in the Grand Review at Washington and was honorably discharged in that city on the 13^th of June, 1865.

After returning from the war Mr. McIntosh purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in Mercer county, Missouri, which he farmed until January, 1882, when he sold out and removed to New Buda township, Decatur county, where repurchased one hundred and eighty-two acres. For eleven years he devoted his energies to the cultivation of that tract and won a gratifying measure of success as a farmer and stock-raiser. On the 3d of September, 1893, he sold his farm and removed to Davis City, where he has since resided. During his active life he gained a competence which now enables him to live retired in the enjoyment of the comforts of life.

On the 29^th of October, 1865, occurred the marriage of Mr. McIntosh and Miss Polly Griffin, a daughter of James and Rebecca (Dykes) Griffin, the former born in North Carolina, of Irish ancestry. The mother’s birth occurred in Tennessee and her parents were natives of Ireland. Both Mr. and Mrs. Griffin passed away in Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh have been born eight children. Elizabeth Rebecca married John W. Poush, an auto dealer of Davis City, and they have two children, Floyd and Emerson. John Andrew, who is a clothing merchant of Leon, married Della Cherrington and they have two children, Francis Marion and Helen Elizabeth. Martha died when twenty-seven years of age. James Franklin, who is now living in Waltham, Massachusetts, served in the Spanish-American war under Colonel Loper, in the Fifty-first Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He married Miss Dorothy Bernard. Lorinda married Fred Ross, a piano tuner of Duluth, Minnesota, and they have a son, William. Stella is the wife of William Bullington, a ranchman of Gooding, Idaho, by whom she has a daughter, Louise. Margaret married John Asbach, a piano tuner of Duluth, Minnesota. Clara, the youngest member of the family, is forelady in a music house in Denver, Colorado.

Mr. McIntosh is a republican and for a quarter of a century has served as township constable, the length of his retention in office proving the ability with which he has discharged his duties. For many years he has belonged to the Grand Army post of Davis City and he derives much pleasure from his association with others who went to the defense of the Union in the time of its peril.