Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1889

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 321
IRA HENDRIX, residing on section 33, Seventy-Six Township, has passed almost his entire life in this county, his parents having removed here when he was but six weeks old. He was born in Wayne County, Ind., Aug. 17, 1843, and is a son of H.D. and Theodocia ( Willits ) Hendrix, who had a family of seven children: Angeline, the eldest, is now deceased; Charles M. resides in Greene County, Iowa; Martha wedded W. Murry, of Perry, Iowa; William; Ellen, wife of Jacob Wagner, Ashland, Jackson Co., Ore.; Ira of this sketch; Malissa, widow of N.G. Long, resides in Adel, Dallas Co., Iowa.

Our subject was reared to manhood upon a farm, and remained under the parental roof until the breaking out of the Civil War. He was then only eighteen years of age, but nevertheless he responded to President Lincoln's first call for 600,000 men to serve three years, and enrolled his name as a member of the 8th Iowa Infantry, at Wapello, Iowa, on the 10th day of September, 1861. He participated in all the engagements of his regiment, among which was the battle of Shiloh, where, with his comrades, he was taken prisoner and sent to Tuscaloosa, Ala., where he was held in captivity fifty-nine days, and paroled June 1, 1862. He then engaged in the battle of Jackson, Miss., which occurred May 14, 1863, the siege of Vicksburg, which lasted from May 18 to July 4, 1863; siege of Jackson, Miss., from July 10 to July 17, 1863; battle of Brandon, Miss., July 19, 1863, which was the last important engagement participated in by his regiment during that year. Mr. Hendrix's time expired in September, and on the 1st day of January, 1864, he re-enlisted for the remainder of the war. He took part in the charge on Spanish Fort, and also the siege of the same, which lasted from March 26, 1865, until April 8, 1865. He was discharged at Selma, Ala., April 20, !866, after four years and a half of hard service on the Southern battle-fields.

Returning to his home, Mr Hendrix remained with his father until the spring of 1867, and on the 11th of September following he was united in marriage with Miss Hannah J. Wells. He then rented land of his father for a term of three years, after which he purchased a farm of 139 acres in Seventy-Six Township, which still continues to be his home. He has added to it until now he has 150 acres under a high state of cultivation, and the improvements which he has made, to the value of $3,000, have transformed it into one of the finest farms in the county. He makes a specialty of buying cattle, which he feeds and then sells directly to stock dealers, who ship them to market.

Politically Mr. Hendrix advocates the principles of the Republican party, while religiously, he and his wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They are the parents of an interesting family of four children, namely: Willard D., who is at home; James F., who is attending school at West Liberty; Mary M. and Roy L. G., both at home. Since coming to the county, his honorable, upright course of life and kindly manner, has won Mr. Hendrix a host of friends, and he is highly esteemed by all who know him.

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