H. C. LIGHTER
H. C. Lighter, mayor of Anita, was born in Morgan county, Illinois, July 12, 1844. He is a son of Andrew and Nacy Padgett, who were the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters. In 1842 or 1843, they left their home in Kentucky and located in Morgan county, Illinois, where they engaged in farming. In 1846 they removed to Iowa, and settled in Mahaska county. The subject of this sketch received a common school education. In 1862 he enlisted in Company E, of the One Hundred and First Illinois Infantry, and was detailed at Grant's headquarters, as messenger boy. He was at Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain and Pea Ridge. He was taken sick and sent to Holly Springs, where he, with thirteen hundred others, was taken prisoner. Soon after he was paroled and sent to St. Louis, where he was exchanged. In the spring of 1864, he was discharged on account of disability. He returned home and for one year was confined to his bed. Mr. Lighter was married in 1869, to Hattie Libby, daughter of Jerry Libby, of Mahaska county, and one of its earliest settlers. By this union there were three children--Effie May, Edwin C. and Henrietta. In 1870, Mr. Lighter came to Cass county and located in Franklin township, where he took up land and made a farm. He removed to Anita in 1876. He has held many local offices of trust and is the present mayor of the city. He is a member of the Obedience Lodge, No. 380, and a Master Mason.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 699-700.
