Iowa
Old Press
Dysart Reporter
Dysart, Tama County, Iowa
Thursday, March 21, 1940
E.F. DOUGLASS, 92, DYSART CIVIL WAR VET, DIED
Funeral Held Tuesday At Community Hall
Funeral services for E.F. DOUGLASS, Dysart’s last Civil War
veteran, who died at his home Saturday at the age of 92, were
held Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock in the community
building. Services were in charge of Mr. DOUGLASS’ nephew,
Ray DOUGLASS, of Postville, the Dysart Masonic lodge and the
American Legion. Burial was in the Dysart cemetery beside his
wife. His death leaves only one Civil War veteran in Tama county,
J.W. WILLETT of Tama, who is 94.
Iowa Resident All His Life
An Iowa resident all his life, Mr. DOUGLASS enlisted in the
Thirty-ninth Illinois infantry before he was 17. He was present
when General Robert E. LEE surrendered. He saw Abraham LINCOLN
review 80,000 soldiers on parade. Mr. DOUGLASS returned to Iowa
after the war and married, and in 1885 the couple came to Dysart.
He had lived in Dysart continuously for 53 years. For 25 years he
owned and operated a drug store there, which was later sold to B.
E. BARKDOLL. Mr. DOUGLASS was Dysart postmaster 13 years. His
parents came to Iowa in 1845 and settled in Clayton county, where
Mr. DOUGLASS was born March 12, 1848. He spent his boyhood there
and at McGregor.
Attended Veterans Reunion
During the summer of 1938 Mr. DOUGLASS and his niece. Mrs. Chris
BECK, attended the reunion of the Blue and the Gray on the 75th
anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. He was a life member of
the Cedar Rapids Elks lodge and a thirty-second degree Mason. His
hobbies were hunting and fishing, and he spent many summers at
his cottage in the north woods. Mrs. DOUGLASS, the former Nina
MORRISON, died in 1925. Survivors include one brother Levert
DOUGLASS, of Grass Valley, California; a sister, Mrs. Cora GATES,
of Leona, New Jersey; four nephews, Art DOUGLASS of Dysart, Ray
and Harvey DOUGLASS of McGregor; and a niece, Mrs. BECK, of
Dysart. Carl A. SKEDIN, R.P. FREET and E.J. LEKSELL attended the
funeral service. They were accompanied by Judge WILLETT.
Legionnaires from several posts in Tama and Black Hawk counties
were at the service.
[transcribed by J.H. April 2008]
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Dysart Reporter
Dysart, Tama Co., Iowa
July 18, 1940
Roy DAVIS of Decatur City Dies Instantly
Death claimed its second victim on the highways of Tama county
Monday night about 11 o’clock, when Roy W. DAVIS, 44, of
Decatur City was instantly killed when his truck overturned on
the graveled road two miles east of LeGrand near the Coffin
quarry. DAVIS is believed to have fallen asleep at the wheel of
his truck. According to Tama and Marshall county officers who
investigated the accident, the truck swerved off the graveled
road, plunged into a ditch and overturned.
Stump Causes Death
DAVIS was thrown clear of the truck but a tree stump in the ditch
is believed to be the direct cause of his death. When he was
tossed from the cab of the truck he fell with his head lying on
the stump. The rolling truck caught his head against the stump
and he was instantly killed. Had it not been for the stump it is
likely that DAVIS would have escaped with only slight injuries.
It was necessary to jack the truck up only a few inches to remove
the body, which was not crushed. The overturned truck with the
body of DAVIS underneath, was found by Alpheus SHELLENBARGER of
Montour at 11:10. SHELLENBARGER was on his way home from LeGrand
and noticed the truck in the ditch. DAVIS was employed by the
B.L. Anderson Construction Company of Marshalltown and had been
working hauling gravel and crushed rock from the Coffin quarry to
a highway project in Poweshiek county for the past three weeks.
He had been living in a tourist camp on the north side of
LeGrand.
Call County Officials
Tama county officials, including Sheriff Harry P. SHARP, Deputy
Sheriff L. W. BURNS, County Attorney George Hl STRUBLE and
Coroner Dr. A. J. WENTZIEN, were called to the scene of a fatal
accident for the second time Monday night about 12 o’clock
after Marshall county authorities had been telephoned. The
accident was inside the Tama county line by more than two miles,
but those who first reached the accident were uncertain as to
what county the accident had occurred in and called Marshalltown.
DAVIS had spent Sunday at his home and reported for work at
LeGrand at 2 o’clock Monday morning and began hauling gravel
an hour later. He worked throughout the day and spent the evening
in Tama.
He was returning to LeGrand at the time of the accident. He had
been awake for more than 24 hours and the hard days work and the
long hours he had been without sleep are believed to have caused
him to doze at the wheel and to lose control of the car. DAVIS is
survived by his widow in Decatur City. They have no children. The
body was taken to Mystic where burial will take place. Corner
WENTZIEN said that there would be no inquest.
[transcribed by J.H. April 2008]