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         CAPT. AUGUST GILBERT, proprietor of the Gilbert House, of Columbus Junction, Iowa, and its first settler, came to this place Dec. 29, 1869, prospecting for a site for business. He decided on the plot of ground near where his present hotel is situated, and returning to Muscatine prepared material for a building already framed, which he brought by rail, and had unloaded from the cars at what is now known as Old Clifton, then a station situated on the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad, now the Chicago & Rock Island, it being about two miles west of the junction with the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad. His lumber was hauled from Clifton to the junction, or what was then known as the Sand Bank, by team, and Capt. Gilbert erected the first building at that point, which he designed for a restaurant and boarding-house. The structure was 18x24 feet, and a story and a half in height, but an addition was subsequently added to it, and the Captain did an extensive business feeding the hungry crowd that the railroad brought to his door.

Our subject is a German by birth, having been born in Saxony, Oct. 22, 1820, and his parents, Goothief and Sophia (Leffler) Gilbert, were also natives of that country. He was educated in his native land in a military engineering school, and in 1845 bade good-by to Germany, crossed the broad Atlantic, and landed in the United States. On the breaking out of the war with Mexico he enlisted, July 1, 1846, in the 2d United States Light Artillery, Battery M, under Capt. Bragg, with Gen Zachary . . .

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. . . Taylor in command. He participated in all the battles and skirmishes fought by his company, was wounded Feb. 8, 1847, at the battle of Buena Vista, by a gunshot in the left leg, and had two horses shot from under him on that occasion. It was in this battle that 20,000 Mexicans were routed by Taylor’s army of 5,000 Americans, and here also Gen. Taylor’s memorial command, “Give them a little more grape, Capt. Bragg,” was given.

After the close of the war Capt. Gilbert spent eleven months in California, after which he embarked on a sailing-vessel for Chili, South America, locating at Caltera, where he was employed in his profession as an engineer. From South America he returned to the United States in April, 1851, and landing at New York, went to Wisconsin, where he was engaged as contractor in the construction of the Milwaukee & LaCrosse Railroad. He was employed on the main line, and the Portage & LaCrosse Division, also on the Hastings & Dakota Division, continuing his connection with the company until the breaking out of the late war, when he raised a company, and was commissioned Captain by Gov. Salomon, which he refused, as he had promised his men when they went into the field he would stay with them. On being mustered out of the service in April, 1865, he returned to Wisconsin, and in October of that year returned to his native country.

While visiting the scenes of his boyhood Capt. Gilbert was united in marriage, on the 2d of June, 1866, with Miss Anna Eckhardt, daughter of John Eckhardt, who was born and reared in Saxony. Returning to America with his young bride, he took up his residence in Houston County, Minn., where he was engaged in merchandising until September, 1867, and then came to Iowa, locating at Muscatine, where he carried on a boarding-house until his removal to what is now Columbus Junction, in February, 1870, as mentioned at the beginning of this sketch. In April, 1876, he erected the present Gilbert House, situated opposite the railroad depot, which is a frame structure 40x60 feet, two and a half stories in height with a basement, and containing twenty-six rooms. Until 1880 he carried on the business at that place, and then leased his house for four years, going to Sioux City, Iowa, where he was engaged in brewing for a year and a half, after which he became a resident of Chamberlain, Dak., where he remained until 1884. The lease on his hotel at Columbus Junction having expired, he returned to that town without disposing of his Dakota property, and has carried on his present business continuously since.

Capt. Gilbert and his wife are the parents of four children, three sons and one daughter: August, who was born in Houston County, Minn., July 24, 1867; Charles, born at Muscatine, Iowa, Nov. 23, 1868; Carrie, born at Columbus Junction, Louisa County, May 15, 1870, was the first white child born in that city; Willie, born at Columbus Junction, Aug. 15, 1873. The parents are both members of the Lutheran Church. The Captain is independent in politics, and has held several local offices, having been a member of the Board of Supervisors and Justice of the Peace while a resident of Columbia County, Wis. From the fact of his having been the very first settler of Columbus Junction, he is known as the father of the town. He is a man of wide and varied experience of life, whose history if written out fully would make an interesting story of itself. Self-reliant under all circumstances, positive in opinion where he has reason to feel assured of the correctness of his position, perhaps his marked peculiarity is earnestness of purpose, and as a citizen Capt. Gilbert possesses the respect of the community where he has so long resided.