A fitting reward of a well-spent life is an honored retirement from labor, an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of former toil and to spend some years unharassed by business cares and burdens. This has been vouchsafed to Mr. STROUD, who, after a long connection with agricultural pursuits, has now retired, the accumulations of former decades supplying him with all the comforts and many of the luxuries that go to make life worth living.

A native of Tennessee he was born in Bedford county in 1830. His father was a native of North Carolina and at an early day emigrated to Tennessee, taking up his residence in Bedford county, where he devoted his time and energies to agricultural pursuits. He had a brother who served as a color-bearer under General JACKSON at the battle of New Orleans in the war of 1812, and was the first to plant the stars and stripes upon the breastworks there. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Rebecca GREENE, and was a relative of General GREENE of Revolutionary fame. She was born in Tennessee and was of Scotch descent, a representative of a family that was prominent in the Revolutionary war.

The parents of our subject were married in the mother's native state, and their opposition to slavery and its practices led to their removal to the north. They located first in Illinois, and afterward came to Iowa.

Alexander STROUD accompanied his parents on their removals and thus became identified with pioneer life in the Hawkeye state. His educational privileges were very limited, for there were no free schools and this necessitated his attendance at subscription schools. The first schoolhouse which he ever saw was built by his parents and their neighbors out of materials which they hauled to the place, therefrom erecting a structure that their children might receive some educational privileges. Mr. STROUD's training at farm labor, however, was not meager, for at a very early day he began work in the fields and followed the plow at the time of the spring planting and garnered the crops during the summer and autumn harvests. He carried on farming in connection with his father until 1879, when he removed to Hillsdale, Center township, Mills county, Iowa, his present home. He has now retired from active business life, but is still a land-owner in this locality. He superintends his investments, but otherwise is engaged in no active labor.

At the time of the Civil war Mr. STROUD manifested his loyalty to the Union by enlisting in the army at Knoxville, Iowa, on the 15th of August, 1862. He joined the "boys in blue" with Company A, Fortieth Iowa Infantry, under the command of Captain M. V. B. BENNETT and Colonel John A. GARRETT. With his company he went to Iowa City and direct to "Dixie land," going into camp at Columbus, Kentucky. The regiment was engaged in heavy skirmishing throughout the winter. Their next camp was at Paducah, Kentucky, from which point they went to the support of GRANT in the siege of Vicksburg. After the fall of that city Mr. STROUD saw some very hard and trying service in the Yazoo valley country, chasing the rebels through miry swamps and almost impenetrable thickets and canebrakes. He took part in the battle of Jenkins' Ferry, a very severe engagement, and was afterward in service along the Mississippi, where they were constantly subjected to the fire from the sharpshooters and the guns on the gunboats. They made one march of fifty-five miles in twenty-two hours, Mr. STROUD and three of his companions being the only members of the company to stack arms on their arrival at their destination. Subsequently he went with his regiment to Jackson, Mississippi, and Helena, Arkansas, and thence to the Arkansas river, opposite Little Rock, where he experienced some of the very hardest service of his enlistment. The men were ordered across the river in the face of the rebel guns to capture the city, and though the service was a very difficult one it was performed by the brave "boys in blue." Then occurred some very sanguinary battles, the soldiers being mown down like grass. The regiment turned south in Arkansas toward Texas, and the subsequent battles, skirmishes and forced marches in dangerous places and in the darkness of the night were enough to try the metal of the most courageous soldier, but through it all Mr. STROUD never wavered, and when mustered out of service he could claim the honorable distinction of having never lost a day and having ever been found at his post of duty, whether in the thickest of the fight or upon the tented field. His patience, fortitude and valor are worthy of the highest commendations, for no other soldier ever bore such hardships with a more cheerful or courageous spirit. He was mustered out at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, after a service of about three and one-half years.

Mr. STROUD was united in marriage to Miss Sarah WADE, in Marion county, Iowa, her people having come to the west from Indiana. She is an estimable lady and has been to her husband a faithful wife and helpmate on life's journey. Unto Mr. and Mrs. STROUD have been born ten children: Angeline, who became the wife of Dr. EDDY, of Malvern, Iowa, but both are now deceased. Judith, the wife of William McCOY, who resides on a farm near Tabor in Mills county; Priscilla J., the wife of Calvin GODDARD, of Pueblo, Colorado; Rebecca, the wife of Dr. CROSS of Hillsdale; Clara, who married Daniel ANDERSON, a farmer of Mills county; Telitha, who wedded S. E. SURFACE, a resident farmer of Ringgold county, Iowa; Ola, who is the wife of C. S. DAY, an agriculturist of Monona, Iowa; Joseph F., the elder son, who was reared as a farmer but is now in business in Hillsdale; Willis C., the younger son, who is a resident of Ottumwa, Iowa; and Sadie, who is deceased.

In his political views Mr. STROUD is a Republican, having voted the ticket since the organization of the party. He has filled a number of local offices of trust, discharging his duties with promptness and fidelity, thus winning the high commendation of all concerned. He has a wide acquaintance in Mills county and enjoys the respect and esteem of his fellow men by reason of his honorable and upright life.

SOURCE: History of Fremont and Mills County p. 467. Lewis Publ. Co. Chicago. 1901.

Transciption by Sharon R. Becker, June of 2009