EDWARD BROSHAR is a native of Indiana, born near Napoleon, Ripley County, September 26, 1838, a son of Zachariah and Mary (Lindebaugh) Broshar, the former a native of Indiana, of French descent, and the latter of Kentucky, of German descent. His parents came to Iowa in 1855, and located on a farm in Chariton Township, Appanoose County, where the mother died in the spring of 1862, age about fifty-one years. The father still lives on the old homestead with his son Levi, at the advanced age of eighty-two years. They had a family of six children, of whom one died in infancy and five are living. The living are: Sarah, Mary Elizabeth, wife of Lewis Main, of Chariton Township ; Edward, Levi, and Nancy Ellen, wife of George Funkhouser, of Ringgold County, Iowa. Edward Broshar remained with his parents till maturity, and when he began life for himself engaged in farming on rented land. August 15, 1861, he enlisted in the Union service as a private in Company M, Third Iowa Cavalry, and in the spring of 1864 re-enlisted as a veteran and served four years. Soon after his enlistment he was appointed Duty-Sergeant, and served as such till mustered out. He participated in the battles of Pea Ridge, Hartsville, Little Rock, Guntown, Tupelo, Mount Valley, Ebenezer Church, Selma, Columbus, and many others, numbering in all sixteen. He was discharged at Atlanta, Georgia, August 9, 1865, and returned to Appanoose County, and resumed farming. In politics he was a Republican till the organization of the Greenback party, and since then has cast his suffrage with that party. In 1881 he was elected assessor of Walnut Township, and also held the same office in 1883 and 1884. In 1882 he was elected to fill a vacancy on the county board and was elected to the same office in 1884, for a term of three years, expiring January 1, 1888. He has also held several minor offices in the township and on the school board. In July, 1859, he was married to Miss Minerva J. Funkhouser, of Chariton Township. They have had ten children, of whom nine are living: Alferetta, wife of Lemly Hiner, of Kansas ; James E., Ella, Alice, Louis, Anna, Winnie, Willie and John. A daughter, Gertrude, died in 1878, aged fourteen months. Mr. Broshar is a member of John L. Bashore Post, No. 122, G.A.R. He was reared in the faith of the United Brethren church, of which both his parents were members, and he and his wife are both identified with that denomination.

SOURCE:  Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties, Iowa  Inter-State Publ. Co. Chicago. 1886.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2008