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One of the pioneers who deserves more than a passing notice in this history is Wright Williams, the first county judge of the county, whose picture we have been fortunate enough to get. Mr. Williams was born in Crawford county, Indiana. He came to this county in 1836 and took high rank from the very first among those who were entrusted with its important public affairs. He was elected county commissioner soon after the formation of Iowa territory and held the office from 1839 to September 30, 1844. When the first convention for the purpose of a state constitution was elected, Louisa county had three members. This was in 1844 and Wright Williams was chosen as one of the delegates from this county to that body. Again, after the territory of Iowa was admitted as a state in 1846, Wright Williams was chosen to represent the county in the first legislative assembly and again to represent it in the second legislative assembly. Later, when the governing body of county affairs was changed from a board of commissioners to a county judge in 1851, Wright Williams was by common consent regarded as the best and safest man in the county with which to inaugurate that system, although there were several other aspirants for the place. He held this office until his death, November 21, 1854.

The respect in which Mr. Williams was held at that day may be better gathered from the following article taken from the newspaper of that time than in any other way. In the Wapello Intelligencer of November 12, 1854, are found the proceedings of the merchants of Columbus City, held November 22d, at the counting room of Wesley W. Garner, for the purpose of testifying their respect for the memory of Hon. Wright Williams. At this meeting the following resolutions were adopted:

"Resolved, That our places of business be closed this day at two o'clock, and we attend the funeral.

"Resolved, That we condole in the most heartfelt sincerity with his afflicted family, and that Messrs. F. S. Bert, H. R. Moore and Thomas Simpson be appointed a committee to transmit the resolutions to them.

"Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the Wapello Intelligencer at Wapello, Iowa, and the Telegraph at Burlington, Iowa."

The following obituary notice of Mr. Williams appeared in the same paper, December 19, 1854:

"Died at his residence in Wapello, on the 21st inst., of congestion of the bowels, Wright Williams, in the fiftieth year of his age. The death of such a ...

pg 268

... man as Mr. Williams deserves more than passing notice. He had been a resident of this county for some sixteen years. During that period it was the good fortune of the writer of this to share his acquaintance and friendship. Few have lived among us in that time to whom his name and fame have not been familiar. Few men have enjoyed more largely the confidence of the people—always agreeable in his intercourse with his fellowmen, he had the happy gift of a discriminating mind, a sound and intelligent judgment and an honest heart. His excellent business qualifications enabled him to perform the duties of the various offices he held in such a manner as to justify their choice. His first appearance in the county seems to have pointed him out as a fit recipient of public trust. Accordingly we find him as early as 1839 elected a member of the board of county commissioners in company with William Milligan and Israel L. Clark. Serving with credit in that capacity, we find him next, in 1854, after an animated canvass against strong competition, returned with W. L. Toole and the lamented Dr. Brookbank, a member of the first convention, for the formation of a constitution and state government. We next find him, in 1846, elected a member of the house of representatives, to which place, after serving two sessions, he is re-elected in 1848. Lastly, upon the going into operation of the new code, by the provisions of which the old board of county commissioners was abolished, its powers vested in a single person, we find him in 1851, elected to the responsible post of county judge, which office he held up to the time of his decease. The difficult and arduous duties of this office he discharged with ability and to the general satisfaction of his constituents. When this can be said with truth of a man who has had to pass upon for two years and a half the various, difficult and delicate questions which belong to the county court, it will be considered as praise enough."

---------

William Kennedy took an important part in the early public affairs of the county. He was one among the very earliest permanent settlers, having come here probably in April, 1836. He was born in Butler county, Ohio, December 23, 1809. His early education was rather limited, his time being passed mostly among the frontier settlements. In 1837, at a time when Louisa county, under the law, constituted but one township, Mr. Kennedy was elected township clerk, an office which at that time was nearly as important as if it had been called county clerk. Mr. Kennedy settled in Port Louisa township, where he continued to reside up to the time of his death. While he was always a farmer, he started, in 1838, what is said to have been the first mill established in the county, and he continued to conduct this enterprise for several years. Mr. Kennedy was a strong whig and later a strong republican, and was a member of the United Presbyterian church.

---------

William L. Toole was born in Virginia, April 6, 1803, his ancestors having come originally from England, and having been among the earliest settlers of Virginia. The father and Mr. Toole, with all the family, moved from Virginia to Indiana in 1822 and settled near Lafayette in that state. In 1836 William L. Toole came to this county and located near the mouth of the Iowa river. He ...

pg 269

... was one of the most prominent figures in the early history of the county, having served in many important public positions. He was elected a member of the first board of county commissioners in 1838 while this county was still in the territory of Wisconsin. He was also elected to the first territorial house of representatives for the territory of Iowa in 1838 and also to the house of the third territorial assembly in 1840, and to the fourth in 1841. He was likewise one of the Louisa county delegates to the constitutional convention in 1844. It is greatly to be regretted that no adequate biography of Mr. Toole has ever been published and that the material therefor is not now obtainable. One of the most signal and important services which Mr. Toole did for the county was to write a series of articles for the Iowa Historical Record, in which he gave the best account we have been able to find of the early history and early settlement of the county.

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Andrew Gamble was born in Belmont county, Ohio, August 1, 1816. His father died when Andrew was but eight years of age and in consequence he was thrown upon his own resources at a very early age. After getting what education he could, as best he could, he taught school for a few years and then moved to Union county, Indiana, where he was elected sheriff in 1845. Soon after this he came to Louisa county, where he engaged in farming in what is now Union township. Mr. Gamble was a man who quickly impressed himself upon those associated with him as being a man of keen discernment and rugged honesty. He soon became quite well known in the county, and in 1850 was elected a member of the third legislative assembly of the state. In 1854 he moved from Louisa county to Illinois but after a short stay there, returned to Columbus City, where he went into the grocery business and also served occasionally as justice of the peace. During his residence in Columbus City, Mr. Gamble edited the Columbus City Courier for a short time. This was in 1856. In our article on Columbus City we have copied the salutatory editorial written by Mr. Gamble and would commend the perusal of it to all who would understand the frankness and sincerity of this worthy pioneer. Mr. Gamble spent his remaining days in Columbus City, although from 1872 until his death, he was closely identified with the business interests of Columbus Junction. When the Louisa County National Bank was organized at Columbus Junction, Mr. Gamble was made its first president and held that position up to the time of his death. Mr. Gamble had much to do both as a private citizen and as a member of the board of supervisors with the settlement of the Air Line railroad bond troubles and it is quite certain that if the people had given more heed to his advice at the time the controversy first arose, the county would have saved many thousands of dollars, and the payment of what was paid, would have been much easier by being extended over a longer period of time.

---------

George F. Thomas was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1816, and came to this county in 1838, settling in Wapello. His grandfather, Michael Fink, served with General Washington in many of the battles of the Revolutionary...

pg 270

...war. Mr. Thomas began his life work as a merchant tailor at the age of nineteen, and continued that occupation for a number of years after he came to this county. In 1839 he was elected treasurer of the county and held that office under repeated re-elections until 1846. He also held the office of justice of the peace in Wapello township for five or six years. In 1862 President Lincoln appointed him postmaster at Wapello and he served the people in that capacity so faithfully that he continued to hold the office until 1885. In 1837 Mr. Thomas married Elizabeth R. Mintun, who was a native of Ohio, and a daughter of Jacob Mintun, one of the early settlers of this county. Mrs. Thomas died in 1865. Mr. Thomas was a whig for a great many years and became a member of the republican party on its first organization. He became a member of the Methodist church at a very early age and always took a great interest in the work of the church and the Sabbath school.

---------

Edward H. Thomas. The first resident lawyers in this county settled in Wapello in December, 1838. They were Edward H. Thomas and Francis Springer, who came here together from Portland, Maine, where Mr. Thomas was born in 1813. He studied law in the office of Stephen Longfellow, father of the poet Longfellow, and was admitted to the bar in 1835. He resided in Louisa county, in Wapello, for something like twenty years and afterward lived in Des Moines county for seven or eight years. Later he returned to Portland, where he spent the remainder of his days. Mr. Thomas was a man of wide reading and fine education, and was an accomplished lawyer. In 1854 he was appointed by Governor Chambers district attorney for the judicial district in which Louisa county belonged, and held that position for two years. He was married in 1855 to Miss Charlotte A. Dubois. They had two sons, Edward and Charles. Mrs. Thomas died in Burlington, December 28, 1861, and soon afterward Mr. Thomas removed to Portland, Maine. Mr. Thomas was honored and respected by all the early settlers. They called him "Lawyer Tom." For many years before his death Mr. Thomas was doubly afflicted by the entire loss of his eyesight and the partial loss of his hearing, but he bore his misfortune like a philosopher and nearly always appeared to be in good spirits. He never forgot his early days and early friends in this county and frequently sent a letter or a poem to be read at the old settlers' meetings.

---------

John Deihl came to Louisa county from Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1836. At the same time, another pioneer, Philip B. Harrison, came to the county from Pennsylvania and these two men became partners in a number of enterprises. They bought or entered considerable land in and about the old town of Florence. Mr. Deihl was a storekeeper at Florence for six or seven years. He was the first and only postmaster at Florence, having been appointed to that office, July 5, 1839, and served until February 11, 1846 when the postoffice there was discontinued. Mr. Deihl was also a member of the board of county commissioners in 1841, 1842 and 1843. He was also a member of the board of supervisors in 1867 and 1868. This was the board that was taken to Des Moines by...

pg 271

... the United States marshal for failing to levy an Air Line bond tax. Mr. Deihl made no pretenses to learning but was a man of more than ordinary ability, and of most excellent judgment in regard to business affairs. He was thoroughly honest, frank and outspoken and had no patience with pretenses or shams of any kind. In his early manhood he was a strong supporter of the whig party and naturally became one of the leading members of the republican party from the time of its organization.

---------

One of the pioneers who had much to do with the early history of the county and the territory was John Ronalds, who was born in Caledonia county, Vermont, July 12, 1799, and died in this county, March 23, 1873. Before coming to Iowa, Mr. Ronalds lived in Indiana and Illinois, settling in the latter state in 1830. at a place then called White's Landing, but afterward called Commerce, and later named Nauvoo. While living in Illinois, Mr. Ronalds was appointed a lieutenant and saw some service at the time of the Black Hawk war, but his command was engaged in guarding some of the settlements and did not participate in any of the battles. Mr. Ronalds with his family came to Louisa county in 1836, crossing from New Boston. Mr. Ronalds was a member of the first county board, called the board of supervisors, which was elected in 1837. He was also a member of the constitutional convention, which framed the constitution of 1846. He was also appointed by Governor Lucas as a colonel in the territorial militia. We give in connection with this sketch facsimile copies of both Mr. Ronalds' military commissions. It will be noticed that the Illinois commission has made a mistake in giving the name "Reynolds" instead of "Ronalds."

Mr. Ronalds was also for many years justice of the peace, having been first appointed in 1838. Mr. Ronalds was a public-spirited man of exemplary character and took an active interest in public affairs and the public welfare up to the time of his death. He was elected by the Iowa territorial legislature in 1839, as one of the commissioners to locate the capital of the territory, and for that reason a brief history of the location of the capital will be of especial interest to Louisa county people. The first act on this subject was entitled "An act to locate the seat of government of the territory of Iowa, and for other purposes," approved January 21, 1839, and provided that the legislative assembly should meet at Burlington until by proclamation of the governor the public buildings at the permanent seat of government should be declared ready for its reception; and that three commissioners, consisting of one person from each judicial district of the territory should be appointed by joint ballot of the council and house of representatives to locate and establish a permanent seat of government. The act also provided that such commissioners, or a majority of them, should, on the first day of May meet at Napoleon and proceed to locate the seat of government at the most eligible point in Johnson county; that they should agree upon a plan and issue proposals for the erection of the necessary public buildings; and that they should agree upon one of their board to be acting commissioner, whose duty should be to superintend in person the rearing and finishing of the buildings.

Provision was also made for the employment of competent surveyors and other necessary labor, and the laying out of six hundred and forty acres in lots, streets, etc. ...

pg 272

... A supplementary act provided that so soon as the place should be selected and the consent of the United States obtained, the commissioners should proceed to lay out a town to be called Iowa City. This act also provided for the sale of lots and named the three commissioners, Chauncey Swan, John Ronalds and Robert Ralston, who were to locate the seat of government and superintend the erection of the buildings.

On March 3, 1839, an act of congress was approved, making a donation of one section of land to the territory of Iowa for the purpose of erecting public buildings thereon. As we have already seen, the act of the territorial legislature provided that the commissioners to locate the seat of government should meet May 1st, 1839. When that day arrived, Chauncey Swan, of Dubuque county, was the only commissioner present. About noon he mounted a dry-goods box and made a short speech to the crowd present. He said that the act of the legislature directed the commissioners to meet at Napoleon on the 1st day of May, and that should a majority of them fail to meet there on that day, their actions would be null and void. Mr. Swan then called for a volunteer to undertake to bring another commissioner to Napoleon before midnight. A man named Philip Clark volunteered this service and started for John Ronalds, of Louisa county, the nearest commissioner, who resided thirty-five miles from Napoleon. We quote the conclusions of this matter from Dr. Shambaugh's "Iowa City," from which we have abbreviated what proceeds in reference to the same subject:

"Henry Felkner, who was among the anxious crowd at Napoleon on that memorable May day, continues the narrative as follows: 'Of course there was much anxiety lest the effort should prove a failure. Fears were entertained that ( John) Ronalds might not be at home, or not disposed to come, or that he could not reach the place in time. But these were all idle fears, for as soon as (Philip) Clark told him the situation he got ready at once and they started with the determination to reach their destination in time. While they were going at their best speed the watchers at Napoleon had their doubts and their fears, and as it began to draw on towards midnight, and no tidings, their fears began to give way to despair. (Chauncey) Swan often consulted his watch and then would send some one out to listen. But no sound could be heard. This was repeated frequently, until at last the sound of horses' hoofs were heard in the distance, approaching rapidly. They did not slack up until they had arrived at the place of meeting. And when the riders dismounted and went in (Chauncey) Swan again consulted his watch and found that it was just five minutes to twelve o'clock.' Robert Walker, a justice of the peace, was on hand to administer the oath, which was signed by the commissioners and the date 'May 1st, 1839,' thereunto affixed. It has, however, been shrewdly intimated by one present that perhaps the hands of Mr. Swan's watch were turned back that night; 'for it was noticed that from midnight to sunrise were the shortest six hours on record.' It is not improbable that Mr. Swan did either stop his watch or turn back its hands; for it is difficult to understand how a man on horseback could travel seventy miles in twelve hours over such roads as existed in the territory at that time.

"On the morning of May 2d the two commissioners, Chauncey Swan and John Ronalds, 'proceeded to examine the county of Johnson with a view to select the most eligible point for said location.' They did some preliminary surveying. The location was finally made on Section Ten, Township Seventy-nine North, ...

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... Range Six West of the Fifth Principal Meridian, on the 4th day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine. The site was indicated by a post or slab, driven in the ground about where the old capital building now stands, bearing the following inscription:

	SEAT OF GOVERNMENT,
	City Of Iowa
	May 4th, 1839.
	C. Swan,
	John Ronalds,
	Robt. Ralston,
	Commissioners.
Witness,
	Geo. W. Kelly.
	J. H. McKenny, Des Moines.
	J. W. Isett, Louisa.
	J. Dillon, Dubuque.
	SEC. IO, T. 79. R. 6, W. 5TH MER.

"Robert Ralston, of Des Moines county, the commissioner, who did not appear at the meeting on the 1st of May, arrived at Napoleon on the 6th of May and agreed to the proceedings of the majority of the commissioners. On the 7th day of May, Chauncey Swan was appointed by the board 'Acting Commissioner' to superintend in person the affairs in connection with the seat of government."

On June 27, 1839, the board of locating commissioners ordered that Thomas Cox and John Frierson should be employed to survey Iowa City, and L. Judson to draw the necessary plans, and these men, under the supervision of Acting Commissioner Swan, commenced their work on the 1st of July. The second survey, however, was suspended for a Fourth of July celebration. A tall young oak tree, standing on the spot now occupied by the capital building, was stripped of its branches and made a flagpole and the American flag was placed at the top of it. There was an old-fashioned picnic dinner, after which toasts were offered and responded to and the Declaration of Independence was read. The oration of the day was by John Frierson. and he is said to have delivered his oration standing in a wagon, with one foot elevated upon a barrel of Cincinnati whiskey, and while history makes no mention of the quality of the whiskey, it does say that the oration was a good one. After the celebration, the work of surveying the town was pushed forward rapidly. At the southeast corner of the section a monument of rough gray limestone was erected as a permanent lankmark. This monument is still to be seen on Summit street in Iowa City. There are two inscriptions upon it. The inscription on the side facing the east reads:

"M. Vanburen

PRESIDENT OF THE U. S.

AND

R. Lucas

GOV. OF THE TERRITORY"

pg 274

The inscription on the side facing the west reads:

"Iowa City

The Capital of

Iowa Territory

as situated on

Section No. 10.

Township 79 N. R.

6 W of the 5th Pr M

located

May 4th 1839

By Messrs

Chauncey Swan

John Ronalds

and

Robert Ralston

Commrs & Surveyed

B Messrs

Cox Frierson & Judson

under the direction of

C. Swan, Actg Com."

John Hale was born in Greene county, Ohio, August 8, 1825, and died on Thanksgiving day, November 25, 1909. His parents were John and Asenath (Searl) Hale. His father was a native of Bedford county, Virginia, and a carpenter by trade. In 1835 the family moved to Putnam county, Illinois, and afterward lived in the counties now known as Bureau and Marshall. John Hale came to this county September 29, 1839, when he was but fourteen years of age, and his father's family followed in about three months. The only school in the township was at Toolesboro. and it was some years, before any other existed there. During his first four years of life in Jefferson township, Mr. Hale managed to attend school at Toolesboro about two weeks. The rest of the time he worked at whatever he could get to do in the way of carpenter work. His teacher while at Toolesboro was Rev. Fisk, a Presbyterian preacher, who taught, worked in the garden, helped the farmers on week days and preached on Sundays. John Hale soon became an expert with the carpenter's tools and as his father was rather a sickly man, John had the greater share in the support of the family, even when he was but fourteen or fifteen years of age. A little later he attended a six weeks' term of school at Harrison. He boarded with Albert O. Stickney. the father of Mrs. Calista E. Carpenter, and he paid his board in work, but the work was done for Dr. Austin at Toolesboro in the following summer. At that...

pg 275

... time Austin was operating a distillery at Toolesboro and John Hale was doing some work there, when Mr. Stickney came from Harrison with an empty barrel in his wagon. Mr. Stickney had a big field of wheat to cut and in those days people thought they could not harvest without plenty of whiskey. The barrel was filled and John Hale paid for his board by paying for the whiskey. This seems strange now, but was nothing unusual at the time. Mr. Hale's father died in 1845, leaving him the head of the family. On July 2, 1848, he was married to Miss Esther Palmer, a daughter of Nathaniel D. Palmer. This Mrs. Hale died in 1863, leaving four children: Lydia, now Mrs. C. P. Lacey, of Wapello; Izola, who died December 25, 1905; Rush, who died at Villisca, Iowa, about 1902; and Lauren, whose home is in Kansas. On March 1st, 1866, Mr. Hale was again married to Miss Clara Rhodes, of Kossuth, who was a daughter of Grafton Rhodes, an early pioneer of Des Moines county. Six children were born to this union, two of whom died in infancy. Jay, a son, who was a soldier in the Philippine war, died about nine years ago in Kansas. Hal, another son, who married Miss Franc MacFarland, died in Fredonia, Kansas, about seven years ago. Oscar, a son, and Nellie, a daughter, still live in Wapello.

John Hale enjoyed to a remarkable extent the respect and confidence of neighbors and acquaintances. He was a school teacher, township clerk, justice of the peace, assessor, school director and secretary of the school board. In 1856 he was elected clerk of the district court and held that office for fourteen consecutive years. He was admitted to the bar while he was still clerk and soon after became a member of the firm of Hurley & Hale, long known as one of the leading firms of the county. Later he became a member of the firm of Hale & Hale, having taken his worthy son Oscar into partnership with him, and he was a member of that firm at the time of his death.

In early life Mr. Hale was a whig in politics and was an active member of the republican party from the time of its organization. It is safe to say that no man who ever lived in the county was ever better informed than Mr. Hale in regard to its early history, and that no one has ever done more to preserve that history and to keep alive the old settlers' organizations than Mr. Hale. He was also a man possessing a keen sense of humor, a good story teller and a good writer of machine poetry on any occasion or any subject. He was also a sincere lover of nature and knew all the wild and tame flowers and shrubs that grow in this vicinity, and always had plenty of flowers about his own premises.

It was the melancholy pleasure of the writer to deliver the address at the funeral of this worthy pioneer, and to pay him the following tribute of respect:

"Friends: We are here to mourn. We are here also to rejoice. We mourn the loss of John Hale, the husband, the father, the brother, the friend, the companion, the lawyer, the citizen, the man. But we rejoice that his long and useful life was spent among us, and that we were permitted to know him, and to love him, and to be known and loved by him. We rejoice that in commemorating him, his virtues and character permit us to give full rein to the promptings of our hearts, knowing that we can say nothing true of him that is not good, and nothing good that is not also true. When asked to take part in this service I turned instinctively to the precious paper, now in my possession, written by Mr. Hale concerning my own father. Its first sentences ...

pg 276

... are so expressive and appropriate, and tell so plainly why he would not have us unduly mourn for him, that I cannot help applying them to him: 'In the fullness of years he has laid down the burdens of life, and while we cannot but have a natural feeling of regret that we will no more meet him in his accustomed place, yet our better reason tells us that we should feel glad that we have been favored so long by his presence. A life spent as his has been, and spared so long, and ended only when his labors seemed complete, leaves no cause for rational sorrow at its close.'

"And so, in the presence of death, let us think of his life. Let us remember, as he would have us, that life and death are equally certain, and equally common to us all. It is not my purpose at this time to attempt to review the life of our beloved friend. His history is familiar to practically all who are here. And why should it not be? He was the oldest Mason in the county. He was the oldest Odd Fellow in the county. He was the oldest lawyer in the county. He was the oldest man in the county who ever held an important county office, and he held that office as long, I think, as any other man. The universal testimony of those who knew him, is that, in every walk of life, his walk was upright. In every relation of life he was honest, sincere, kind and true. In a time when most people have gone money mad, he neither worshiped the 'almighty dollar,' nor the things for which it stands. But he has left to his family, and to us, a heritage far above wealth or riches. He has left the memory of a man faithful to every trust, and true to every friend, and has exemplified, in a life of over eighty years, the definition of pure religion which we find in the good book: 'Pure religion and undefiled, before God and the Father, is this, to visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.'

"As a lawyer, Mr. Hale worked for his clients rather than for himself. He believed in the peaceful settlement, rather than in the strife and war of litigation. He applied to the work of his noble profession the sentiment of the great orator who said: 'As the cedars of Lebanon are higher than the grass of the valley; as the heavens are higher than the earth; as man is higher than the beasts; as he that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city; so are the virtues and victories of peace greater than the virtues and victories of war.'

"His activities in the profession have long since been taken over by his worthy son and partner, but to the old settlers of the county, and to all who take an interest in their history, his death is a loss which cannot be repaired. His was the life, more than any other one, which linked the present of the county with its past. Thus another pioneer has gone. Another of our state builders has ceased his work. But what a work they have left behind them!

"'They built the state more glorious than they thought.

Those simple carvers of an earlier time.

Though rude the tools, and few, with which they wrought.

The passing years have made their work sublime.'

"But what of those pioneers who have gone before? Are they building another state? Are they plowing in other fields, or practicing in other courts? The …

pg 277

... unanswered question of the centuries comes back to us, as it came to the patriarch of old, 'If a man die, shall he live again?'

"Today we can at least make answer in the beautiful words of the poet:

"'To live in hearts we leave behind,

Is not to die.'"

The story of Louisa county would not be complete without a sketch of Francis Springer, and it might not be considered appropriate for the editor of this history to write it. We take the following from Mr. George Frazee's pamphlet, entitled "Our Judges," which was published at Burlington in 1895:

"Judge Springer was born in Maine, April 15, 1811. His father, Nathaniel Springer, was a shipbuilder at Bath, of Swedish descent, ruined financially by the embargo. His mother, Mary Clark, was a daughter of Captain John Clark, said to have been a member of the 'Boston Tea Party' of December 18, 1773, subsequently engaged in navigation, and a sufferer from French spoliation prior to 1800, claims for part or all of which were at last allowed and paid to his heirs in 1891.

"At the age of eleven years Francis became a member of a farmer's family in Strafford county, New Hampshire, where he made his home for the next ten years, working on the farm and getting such education as was attainable in district schools, where 'reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic' were taught during the winter, in the intervals some instruction from friends, and in his eighteenth year a full term at the Rochester Academy, at the close of which his preceptor certified that he was qualified to teach school. That winter he taught a country school for the enormous compensation of ten dollars a month and board among his family patrons, and the next year attended another term at the academy and taught another country school, and the two succeeding years he taught village schools—one at Rochester and the other at Farmington—pursuing his studies himself. In 1833 he returned to Maine and the following year commenced the study of law in the office of William Goodenow, at Portland, at odd times acted as assistant editor of the Portland Courier—then owned and edited by Seba Smith, author of the celebrated 'Jack Downing Letters,'—and was admitted to the bar in 1838; and, being attacked by the western fever, in October of that year, in company with his friend, Edward H. Thomas, who had studied law in the office of Stephen Longfellow, father of Henry W., the poet, and was two years his senior at the bar, started for the unknown but attractive 'far west.' The two came by steamer to Boston, thence by rail and steamer to New York, by rail to Harrisburg, by canal boat to Pittsburg, crossing the mountains by the aid of a stationary engine, by steamer from Pittsburg to St. Louis, by stage to Jacksonville and thence in open wagon to Burlington. The two pilgrims were seven weeks on the way, including their stoppages for a day or two at the several points mentioned, where they met and conversed with some of the most prominent public men of those days, to whom they had letters of introduction. They had intended to locate in Illinois, but at Cincinnati, upon the advice of Judge Storer, ...

pg 278

... they changed their destination to Iowa, reaching Burlington on Sunday, the 21st day of December, and on that night had a jolly time with the members of the bar, who speedily discovered the musical and social talents of Mr. Thomas, the meeting being followed by an illumination, caused by the burning of a new building in which it was held—ignited, as was supposed, by the accidental dropping of a cigar among the shavings.

"The legislature was then sitting, and they remained in Burlington about a week, making acquaintances with many prominent men of the territory. As a result of their inquiries, they decided to locate in Louisa county. On December 27th they started for Wapello on foot; passed the night in a two-roomed log cabin, ventilated by such openings between the logs as enabled them to watch the stars from their beds, and in the afternoon of Sunday reached Wapello and met there an 'old settlers' welcome.'

"Louisa county then contained about 1,200 inhabitants. The courts were held in a log cabin, and the grand jury deliberated in an adjacent ravine. Messrs. Springer and Thomas were the first lawyers located there, and at the first term of the court (April, 1839) were retained in forty cases, contested by such attorneys as Alfred Rich, Hugh T. Reid and Philip Veile, of Lee; David Rorer, M. D. Browning, W. W. Chapman, James W. Woods, James W. Grimes, and Henry W. Starr, of Des Moines; Stephen Whicher, Ralph P. Lowe, William G. Woodward and Jacob Butler, of Muscatine—all of whom are now deceased.

"In 1840 Judge Springer was elected a member of the legislative council from the district composed of Louisa and Washington counties and the country west of them, for the third and fourth general assemblies—the third meeting at Burlington, November 2, 1840, and the fourth at Iowa City, convening December 2, 1841, and adjourning February 18, 1842. At the general election, in 1842, he was elected from the same district a member of the fifth and sixth general assemblies, the last of which adjourned February 16, 1844. The first state election was held October 26, 1846, at which Judge Springer was chosen state senator, and served as such in the first and second general assemblies, the last of which adjourned January 15, 1849. In the summer of 1849, and again in 1850, he was appointed special agent of the postoffice department to visit the postoffices in Wisconsin and collect government moneys and transfer them to St. Louis. In May, 1851, he was appointed by President Fillmore, register of the land office at Fairfield, which office he held until May, 1853. Returning to Wapello, he remained there a few weeks and then removed to Columbus City for the purpose of improving his health and improve some farm lands he owned near that place. In 1854 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Louisa county, became ex-officio county judge upon the death of the former occupant, and was elected to that position in 1855. In 1856 he was a delegate to the first national convention of the republican party, which convened at Philadelphia, June 17th of that year, and nominated Fremont for the presidency, and where he met Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts (afterwards senator and vice-president of the United States), who professed that he had been his pupil at Farmington. In the same year he was nominated and elected a member of the constitutional convention which was held at Iowa City in January, 1857, was unanimously nominated by the republican members as their candidate for the presidency of that body, and was duly elected over Judge Hall, the democratic choice. In 1858 he was elected judge of the dis-...

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... trict court for this judicial district, was re-elected in 1862, and again in 1866, and served until November, 1869, when he resigned to take the office of collector of internal revenue for the first Iowa collection district, made vacant by the resignation of General Belknap, who became secretary of war under President Grant, and in this office he remained until 1876.

"Judge Springer was married in December, 1842, to Miss Nancy R. Colman, daughter of Hon. John M. Colman, of Iowa City, a native of Kentucky. She was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, January 8, 1825, and died of pneumonia, at Cimarron, New Mexico, November 12, 1874, while visiting her son Frank. Six sons and two daughters were the fruits of their union. Two of the sons died in infancy and one of the daughters in her second year. Of the sons, Frank, the third, has acquired a high reputation in New Mexico, as a lawyer of great ability; Warren C. was drowned while bathing in the Iowa river, in 1872; Arthur, the fifth son, is an able lawyer residing at Wapello; and Charles, the youngest son, has resided in New Mexico since 1881, engaged in the stock and ranch business. The only surviving daughter, Nellie, is the wife of Hilton M. Letts, and resides at Columbus Junction.

"In person, Judge Springer is somewhat above medium height, rather slender than stout. In his manner invariably courteous and affable, and in temper and disposition agreeable and kind. As a judge he honored the bench by its occupancy; able, conscientious, impartial, prompt, considerate; his three successive elections sufficiently assure us that he was as popular with the public as he proved himself satisfactory to the bar. At this writing (May, 1895) he still lives, at the age of eighty-four years, to enjoy the blessing of a well spent life, the love and reverence of his numerous descendants and sincere affection and esteem of the community in which he has lived so long and served so faithfully."

On Monday afternoon, April 11, 1911, a committee of the Des Moines County Bar Association presented to the district court then in session, a portrait of Judge Springer, which had been donated by his son, Frank Springer, of Las Vegas, New Mexico, in response to a previous request of the bar association. A number of speeches were made on that occasion, and we take the following quotation from the remarks made by Judge J. C. Power:

"Judge Springer's claim to honor does not depend upon anything that we may say here. Peculiar circumstances may for a moment bring those who are very unworthy of recognition into places of power and influence, but without worth they disappear as speedily as they came into view; but Judge Springer's reputation is built upon a more enduring foundation. On that December day when he and his future associate in practice, Mr. Thomas, started to walk from Burlington to Wapello, with the view of finding a permanent location, he was practically unknown in Iowa; and yet in a year from that time he had been called by the people of the community in which he had cast his lot, to represent them in an important capacity, and for nearly forty years thereafter, possibly without single interruption, and without at any time ever having met a suggestion that he was an office seeker or a mere politician, Judge Springer was called upon to fill positions of continually increasing importance, and discharged all of the duties incident to such responsibilities in such a way as to reflect great...

pg 280

... honor to himself, and to the satisfaction of the people at large. This fact is a more eloquent tribute to his worth and ability than can be expressed in words."

We take the following extract from the remarks made by Judge W. S. Withrow:

"Francis Springer, whose portrait, with others, we here today accept, was one of the men who gave freely of ability and strength in the constructive days of our statehood. ... As has been said by Mr. Blake, he was the president of the constitutional convention of 1857. which prepared and submitted to the people of the young state for their adoption, the constitution which is yet our fundamental law. So well was that work done by Judge Springer and his less than two score associates, that after more than half a century of growth and achievement under it, with but few amendments, that instrument meets in full measure the needs of this commonwealth. The men who did that work built for the future of a virile, hopeful and peaceloving people, safeguarding the rights of the living and of generations then unborn, as does the master engineer in a material way build for the needs and comforts of tomorrow. Judge Springer thus stands in history as the head of that pioneer body of lawmakers who constructed enduringly and well for his chosen state. It was fitting that upon the conclusion of that work he should assume the duties of the bench, and in the old first judicial district, of which Des Moines county was a part, enforce the laws which were based upon that constitution, and uphold the rights guaranteed under it. And this for ten years, as we are told, he did with dignity, ability and impartiality, at all times seeking to do exact justice under the law."

Francis Springer died at Columbus Junction, October 2, 1898.

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One of the pioneers of whom personal mention should be made was William P. Brown, who was born in Kentucky, October 25, 1793, and was married in Jefferson county, Indiana, to Miss Alice Crawford, who was a native of Virginia. Mr. Brown came to Louisa county in a very early day in 1837, or 1838, and entered a claim in Morning Sun township. It is said that his first trip out here was on horse back, and that he came again in 1838 and built his log cabin, the first one built in that part of the county. To raise this log cabin, it took the united efforts of all the settlers living within a radius of ten miles, and also two gallons of whiskey. Mr. Brown came here with his family in 1839. He died January 28, 1865. He was one of the most active and influential men in his part of the county and was always ready to do his part toward the promotion of any public enterprise. He tried to have the Burlington and Louisa county plank road, which extended as far north as Dodgeville, continued as far as Morning Sun, and he built a bridge across Honey creek for this purpose. He was many times elected a justice of the peace. He was also the first postmaster in Morning Sun, having been appointed at the time that office was established, on June 19, 1851.

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Damon Noble Sprague was born at Exeter, near Cooperstown, New York. ...

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... March 21, 1832. Mr. Sprague's ancestors settled in Rhode Island early in the eighteenth century and many of them took part in the Colonial or Revolutionary war. Mr. Sprague's father, Jenks S. Sprague, was quite a noted physician in his day and was at one time president of the New York State Medical Society. Mr. Sprague received his education at the common schools and at the age of seventeen began teaching and boarding around among the scholars, and in this way he earned money to pay his way through college. He attended the Hartwick Seminary and the Delaware Collegiate Institute and a little later began studying law in the office of Spencer & Kernan, at Utica, New York. Roscoe Conkling was at the same time connected with this law office. Mr. Sprague was admitted to the bar in 1854, and in April of the following year located at Wapello. ' In 1856 he formed a law partnership with Colonel John Bird, which continued until 1860. Mr. Sprague was elected representative from the "notorial" district of Des Moines and Louisa counties in 1857, defeating General Fitz Henry Warren in the two counties by sixteen majority. Mr. Sprague was elected district attorney of the old first judicial district composed of the counties of Louisa, Lee, Des Moines and Henry, and was re-elected in 1874, defeated by T. A. Bereman in 1878, and again elected in 1882. After his first election as district attorney, Mr. Sprague moved to Keokuk, where he made his home until 1886, returning then to Wapello. Mr. Sprague was always a democrat in politics, but was a strong supporter of the Union during the Civil war and made the first Union speech in Louisa county. He was an active member of the society known as the Sons of the American Revolution, and was president of the Iowa State Society in 1900. During his service as district attorney, Mr. Sprague tried a great many important criminal cases and was accounted one of the most successful prosecutors in the state. Mr. Sprague also took a great interest in the history of the county and was for a number of years president of the Old Settlers' Society.

Mr. Sprague was married, June 25, 1863, to Miss Mary O. Isett, a daughter of E. B. Isett, and a most charming and lovable woman. Mrs. Sprague died in 1899. Her death left Mr. Sprague practically alone in the world and his health and strength declined quite rapidly. He died August 12, 1902, at Richfield Springs, New York, while on a visit there, and was buried in the Wapello cemetery beside his wife and little daughter, Helen.

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Mark Davison was born near Hull, England, May 7, 1815, and came to this country when but three years old, the family settling in Washington county, Pennsylvania, on a farm. He was married there, in June, 1838, to Miss Eliza Linton, and the marriage ceremony was performed by Ephraim Blaine, justice of the peace, and the father of the late James G. Blaine.

Mr. Davison removed to Iowa in 1840, accompanied by his brother-in-law, Nathan Linton, and both resided in the southern part of the county. Mr. Davison began business as a merchant in Wapello in 1847, and for the remaining fifty years of his life he was closely identified with the business interests of the community and with the public affairs of the county, and deservedly ranks ...

pg 282

... as one of the most prominent and successful of our early settlers. He dealt in nearly all kinds of merchandise, bought and fed cattle and hogs, bought grain and had a large warehouse, or packing house, where he stored the grain and packed pork. His first warehouse or packing house was between Van Buren and Mechanic streets, fronting on the alley not far from the back part of D. C. Thomas' store. In the early days the most of the hog meat brought in was already dressed, as there was very little slaughtering then done in Wapello. Later, about 1859 or 1860, Mr. Davison did some business in the old Isett packing house down near where Lou Bourn now lives. Probably few people know that in the early days before corn shellers came into use, the shelling of corn was done by the corn being spread out on the floor of the warehouse and boys riding around over the corn on ponies. Our friend E. H. Thomas, of Ottumwa, says that he operated one of these pony corn shellers in Mr. Davison's warehouse years ago.

About 1869 there seemed to be a good opening in Wapello for a banking institution, and Mark Davison and George Jamison decided to start one. In a week or two, however, Mr. Jamison decided that he did not care to go into it but Mr. Davison did, and he sold out his mercantile establishment to his son H. B., and opened a private bank. The bank thus started by Mr. Davison continues to this day and is now known as the Commercial Bank and is one of the strong financial institutions of the county. It is owned and conducted by Mr. Davison's son Joiner, and his grandson, R. D. McCullough. Besides his mercantile business and banking business, Mr. Davison at one time operated a sawmill over about Port Louisa.

He also owned and operated several good farms. Mr. Davison died in 1897, leaving surviving him three sons: H. B. Davison, who is now president of the Citizens Bank of Wapello; John Austin Davison, who is a prominent banker in Wichita, Kansas; and Joiner Davison, who is president of the Commercial Bank of Wapello. He left also one daughter, Mary, who was at the time the wife of J. B. McCullough, but who died in 1901. Mr. Davison's two older sons, Frank and H. B., were in the army, where Frank died.

Mrs. Jane Mincher

The following article is taken from Mr. Jamison's historical articles in the Columbus Junction Gazette; it was written while Mrs. Mincher was alive, but it describes so well pioneer experiences, that we have made no change in it:

"One of the interesting characters in the history of Louisa countv is Mrs. Jane Mincher, who still lives in Wapello, at the age of a little over eighty years. Since a girl of twelve or thirteen she has been identified with the county; during the most of that time in Wapello township, though the first several years in Marshall township. Her father, George Key, was an Indian trader some years before he moved his family to Iowa; was in Burlington about two years. His home was in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He shipped his supplies by flatboat down the Wabash to the Ohio, down the Ohio to Cairo, thence up the Mississippi by steamer to Burlington. These goods were consigned to John S. David, long ...

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... a prominent man in Burlington, who then had a little clapboarded warehouse down on the levee.

"Mr. Key had been a visitor a time or two over Louisa county and was impressed with its rich soil and fine timber lands and streams, so, soon after the Black Hawk purchase, he laid his claim in what was afterwards called Virginia Grove. Think this must have been as early as 1834 or 1835, as the family came here across the country in 1837.

"George Key's claim and first entry was a well known stopping place for years for people on their way to Burlington.

"From Crawfordsville, Indiana, to Louisa county, is about 300 miles. They were nearly forty-five days making the trip, averaging about seven miles a day. That seems like slow moving to us, and it was slow progress even for those times, but it was in the spring of the year; there were few roads and no bridges. They were subject to floods and to oceans of mud. Hardly a day passed that they did not have at least one wagon mired down.

"Theirs was quite a caravan, consisting of three wagons and a two-horse carriage. One of these wagons was an enormous old 'Pennsylvania' wagon as big as an ordinary room. There was an enormous box eighteen feet long, or more, stoutly framed together, the ends being nearly two feet higher than the center, the bottom of the center that much lower than the bottom of either end. To this wagon were attached four yoke of oxen. The other wagon had the old fashioned 'spike' team of three horses; the carriage, two horses. Besides the wagons and their teams were a drove of young horses, cattle and nearly a hundred head of sheep. These necessitated several riding horses to carry the drivers. This live stock partly accounted for the slow progress made, as the live stock, especially the sheep, gave them great trouble in crossing the unbridged streams.

"Then, as we have already stated, mireing down of teams was of no unusual occurrence. Mrs. Mincher, who rode a horse all the way and assisted in driving the live stock, tells us that it was no uncommon sight to see the help waist deep in the mud and water unloading the wagons of their contents and carrying them out on high and dry ground so they could, by doubling up the teams, pull the vehicles out of the mud.

"The party consisted of twenty-one persons. At the head was Mrs. Key, who, by the way, was a sister of Jacob Mintun who came a few years later, and her family, consisting of four sons and six daughters and ten others, a part of whom Mrs. Mincher has forgotten, but among them was Edward Mincher, whom she afterwards married and Jack Reed, who remained with them many years, but who finally made his home with Zaddock Jarvis, where he died. The others were mostly young men who took this opportunity to come west.

"When they came to Iowa they found Mr. Key waiting for them with a genuine summer home. It consisted of a rail pen, three sides built up solid, the other entirely open, the corners held up by rails butting in from the outside. This was covered with elm bark, put on good and thick and weighted down to hold it in place. It, with the covered wagon, made them a comfortable home until fall by which time Mr. Key had raised a fine crop and built a very fair house, made of framed timbers that had been hewn. This was weatherboarded with clapboards, ceiled with clapboards and roofed with clapboards. This house ...

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... looked pretty well, but it was terribly cold, and the huge fireplaces were worked to their limit to keep the noses and toes from getting frosted.

"That winter mess pork, which in those days meant all the hog, nose, jowls, feet and tail, pickeled, was $21.00 a barrel, flour $12.00 a barrel. But by the next year or two, when they began to have pork to sell, they were forced to take a $1.25 a cwt. for dressed hogs and glad to get the cash at that.

"They ate little flour that winter, even the most aristocratic of the settlers, and corn meal was often a luxury. There were no power mills nearer than Lowell, on the Skunk river, and it was a journey of several days to patronize it. as teams were frequently kept waiting, day after day, for their turn.

"Now, the present generation would probably resort to parched corn, but we are told, that becomes very monotonous. So the settlers resorted to the home made grater. This was made by punching nail holes through heavy plate tin which was fastened to a clapboard, the tin slightly curved to let the grit drop through. The Key family kept four of these machines in operation weeks at a time. They worked well when the corn was not too ripe, so it would shell off. When it got this ripe, it was necessary to soak the corn before grating it.

"Along towards winter a whole wagon load of corn was shelled, and put in sacks and taken in the old Pennsylvania wagon behind two yoke of oxen to Lowell and ground into meal. This was a real improvement on the grated meal, especially for bread making purposes. The other did pretty well for mush.

"Butter often sold for 5 cents a pound; eggs, 5 cents a dozen or less, and no regular market for either at these prices. This condition extended over a great many years. An abundance of goods produced at home, a dearth of those shipped in. The Keys and doubtless their neighbors, made most of their clothing out of wool and flax. Mrs. Key was an adept at this; she had learned it in Virginia, where it had been the custom to do such things from the first. Besides clothing she made the table linen and all sorts of underwear for the household. The men and boys wore jeans; the women and girls 'linsey-woolsey.' The new made garments were worn on Sundays; the last year's was used for every day wear."

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Cyril Carpenter was born in Chenango county, New York, March 25, 1824. and is a son of Cyril and Amanda (Mason) Carpenter. At the age of thirteen he went to Indiana where he remained for about three years, when he engaged to drive an ox team to Iowa, and arrived in Louisa county on the 17th of October, 1840, locating in Oakland township. He got his start by breaking prairie in various parts of the county, and subsequently entered considerable government land in Oakland township. His first wife was Mary A. Blake, daughter of Joseph Blake, one of the pioneers of Oakland township, for whom Mr. Carpenter drove an ox team from Indiana to Iowa. Sometime after the death of his first wife, 'Mr. Carpenter married Calista E. Stickney, who was a daughter of Albert and Cornelia (Trask) Stickney, born at Harrison, January 14, 1840. In his early life Mr. Carpenter was a democrat, but about the time the war broke out, he, like Andrew Gamble and many other men of that class, joined the republican party.

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In 1874 he was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors and served in that capacity for six years. Mr. Carpenter was a firm believer in public improvements, and it was almost entirely due to his efforts that the two bridges across the Iowa river near Columbus Junction were built. The first of these bridges built was the one at Fredonia, and it cost something like $20,000, which was 85,000 more than the supervisors were authorized to appropriate without a vote of the people. At that particular time a vote of the people for a bridge in either end of the county was equivalent to a county seat fight. Through the efforts of Mr. Carpenter and leading citizens of Columbus Junction, that town contributed $5,000 toward the erection of the bridge. The bridge at Todd Town cost less than the amount to which the Board was limited, and was completed and opened for traffic on the 4th of July, 1879, but it was not built without considerable opposition on the part of the people from the south end of the county. Mr. Carpenter was a firm friend of Columbus Junction and spent his time and money freely to make it the county seat, and to build and strengthen its educational and commercial concerns. This is especially true of its first bank: but he lived long enough to experience the injustice and ingratitude which sometimes control the actions of soulless men and soulless corporations. He died in March, 1900.

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Andrew M. Taylor was born at Woodstock, Shenandoah county, Virginia, December 14, 1822, and came to Wapello from Springfield, Ohio, in the fall of 1851. While at Springfield he had invented a wool carding machine, and soon after he came to Wapello he and a man named Jerome Gibbs put up a building near the old grist mill and did wool carding for a while. Mr. Taylor sold the building to Gibbs and afterwards it was used for a saw mill.

Taylor was elected Sheriff in 1853, 1855, 1857 and 1859. He organized Company "G" of the 19th Iowa Infantry and was commissioned captain on August 21, 1862. He was wounded severely September 29, 1863, at Atchafalaya, Alabama, sometimes called Sterling Farm. He was taken from there to New Orleans to the old St. Louis Hotel, then being used for a hospital, and died there of his wounds November 4th, 1863. Captain Taylor was one of our most popular and competent sheriffs. At the time he raised his company he was presented with a magnificent sword and belt. Some years after the war, his son Ed. tried to locate and secure this sword. Through the efforts of Major Merrick, an ex-confederate soldier, of San Antonio, Texas, it was learned from the man who shot Captain Taylor at Atchafalaya, that the sword was given by him at the time into the possession of Captain Oaks of Columbus, Texas. This sword was in the possession of Captain Oak's widow for a time, and is now believed to be in possession of the Masonic Lodge at Columbus, Texas. Efforts are still being made to secure the return of the sword to Captain Taylor's family.

It is in honor of Captain Taylor that the Wapello G. A. R. Post is named.

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One of the early settlers of this county who deserves special mention is George Gillaspy. though in the early county records the name is misspelled in various ways. Of him, Hon. Edward Johnstone, writing in the Iowa State Register soon after his death, said: "Evidently reared amid surroundings of a somewhat rude life, without early or late privileges for education, a rail-splitter, woodchopper and bull-whacker, he grew up to be one of the most noted men of the state. By constant contact and struggle with the world, and a keen observer of men * * * he made himself a fair scholar, a public speaker of unusual force, and one of the most attractive talkers I ever heard." From the foregoing it may be imagined what his life was in the early days in this county. He was frequently engaged in quarrels and fights, but usually came out of them with the respect of those who knew the circumstances. He occasionally served as bailiff of the Court. On one occasion he was indicted for an assault with intent to commit murder. He was found guilty by a jury, and his punishment fixed at a fine of $15.00 and imprisonment for one hour. He took a sudden notion to abandon his wild life and began work for a farmer. He persevered, and after accumulating a little means, went to Ottumwa, and was for many years the leading citizen of that city, and died there in the winter of 1881-82. He was a member of the Constitutional convention in 1857, and was at one time the Democratic candidate for Governor, and made an active campaign over the entire state.

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Samuel K. Helmick, one of the honored pioneers of the county, whose portrait we present in this connection, came to Louisa county in 1840. At that time he was twenty years of age. He was a man of more than ordinary education, and this, combined with his high character and intelligence, soon won him a position of prominence and influence in the county. He was one of the clerks of the first constitutional convention held at Iowa City in 1844. He was sheriff of the county during the years 1850. 1851, 1852 and 1853. During part of his term as sheriff, the sheriff was ex-oflkio county assessor. In private life he was a genial, whole souled man and was always ready to give his time and use his influence for the good of the community. He was a prominent Mason and was one of the leading members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Columbus City.

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DANIEL H. REYNOLDS.

It is not generally known that a Louisa county citizen became a Confederate general, but such is the fact. Daniel H. Reynolds, was born near Centerburg, Ohio, Dec. 14, 1832, of Virginia and Maryland parentage. Came to Louisa county in 1854, and while here read law. He went to Tennessee in 1857 and was admitted to practice law at Somerville, in that state, in 1858. Soon after he removed to Lake Village, Ark. In 1861 he entered the service of the Confederate states in Company "A" of the First Ark. Cavalry. He became Captain on June 14, 1861, and was rapidly promoted, becoming major and lieutenant colonel in 1862 and colonel in 1863; in 1864 he was made brigadier general and assigned to command Reynolds' brigade.

He was in many notable battles of the war, in several of which Louisa county soldiers were engaged. One battle he was in was called by the Confederates the ...

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... battle of Oak Hills, Mo., but we know it as "Wilson's Creek"; another was called Elkhorn, Ark., but we speak of it as "Pea Ridge." He was also at Chickamauga, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, and through the Atlanta campaign in the summer of 1864. He was in the battle of Bentonville, N. C. on March 19, 1865, and like our own Capt. W. G. Allen, lost a leg at that place.

For the foregoing particulars in regard to Gen. Reynolds we are indebted to the Confederate Veteran of Nashville, Tenn., of date May 11, 1911; that paper also stated that he was then living at Lake Village, Ark., but in response to a letter addressed to him, we learned from his widow that he died March 14, 1902. She also stated that he came to Louisa county in the fall of 1854, taught school for some months and read law, and removed to Tennessee in 1855.

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