Captain James M. TREICHLER occupies a pleasant home in Orient, a thriving village situated on the Creston and Northern branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. He was in early life identified with farming, but owing to injuries received in the service, he was eventually compelled to change occupations, and later engaged in painting and paper hanging, which business he pursued until a short time ago. He is now retired from active business life to enjoy his home which he so richly deserves. He has now passed the seventy-first milestone of his journey through life. He was born in Trappe, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th day if January, 1844. His parents were Abram and Margaret (MILLER) TREICHLER. At this place still stands the old Lutheran church built in 1744, one of the remaining landmarks of the earlier settlements. The grandfather of his mother (James MILLER) was one of the founders of this church. At the close of the civil war in November, 1865, Captain TREICHLER came to Cedar county, Iowa, and in the spring of 1866 his father and family also came to Iowa and settled upon a farm in the Coon Creek settlement; on this farm his father and mother continued to live until they were called to their final rest. His father's family consisted of nine children, of whom seven are still living.

Captain TREICHLER remained a member of his father's family in Pennsylvania until the breaking out of the Civil war. He enlisted as a private in Company H, Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, in September, 1861. This regiment was enrolled at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and later assigned to the Army of the Potomac. His promotion to fifth sergeant occurred at Brady Station, Virginia, by special order from regimental headquarters. From fifth sergeant he was promoted sergeant-major of the regiment. This position he held until the discharge of the regiment at the expiration of its three years service, at Cedar Creek, Virginia. He was then placed in command of the re-enlisted veterans of his regiment; and the detachment was soon consolidated with the reenlisted veterans of the Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry and called the Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. In this regiment he commanded Company G until the close of the war. In a very short time he received his commissions as second lieutenant, first lieutenant and captain. He also filled the office of adjutant of his regiment the remainder of his service, but retained the command of his company. Captain TREICHLER served three years and ten months and was engaged in all the general battles of the Army of the Potomac from Yorktown to Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. His regiment belonged to the Second Brigade, First Division, Sixth Army Corps; commanded by General SEDGWICK until his death at Spottsylvania.

In 1873 Captain TREICHLER was united in marriage to Miss Emma DANCE, a daughter of Major John and Phebe (HODSON) DANCE, both natives of England. They came to America in 1880 and first settled in Ohio, where they lived for four years. They then removed to Cedar county, Iowa, and took up their abode upon the farm which Mr. DANCE entered from the government. Still later he removed to Linn county and there both he and his wife passed away. In their family were four children, of whom two are yet living. Mrs. Emma WESTCOTT, an aunt of Mrs. TREICHLER, was housekeeper for Queen Victoria at Buckingham palace for a number of years and was married while in her service, at which time she received from the queen a beautiful Dresden china set. Mrs. TREICHLER's great-aunt, Mrs. DATE, was housekeeper for Queen Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent, at Kensington Palace, when Victoria was a young girl.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. TREICHLER has been blessed with eight children: Frank A., a farmer; Leroy and Cyril H., lumbermen at Kellerton; Rex O. and Winslow A., lumbermen at Afton; Gladys E., who is in Omaha, Nebraska, with her brother James E., foreman of the Ralph Printing Company, and who is pursuing a musical education in voice culture; and Samuel H., who is rural mail carrier on route No. 2, Orient, and is also connected with the TREICHLER Brothers Lumber Company of Kellerton and Afton.

Both Captain and Mrs. TREICHLER are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which they are actively and helijfully interested. He also belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic and thus maintains pleasant relations with his comrades who wore the blue during the dark days of our country's history. In politics he has always been an earnest Republican and has served in several local offices. His aid and support can be counted upon to further plans and measures that are working for the progress and development of his section of the state. Those who know him esteem him because of his upright life and his record furnishes an example which others might well follow.

Mrs. TREICHLER is a lady of liberal culture and broad reading. She has been a successful teacher for ten terms and that she possesses poetical talent is shown by the number of her productions that have appeared in print. The following poem, dedicated at his death to her father, who was a veteran of the Civil war, is entitled:

This song was set to music and copyrighted by the late composer, C. V. STRICKLAND, of Huntington, Indiana, and has become popular as a memorial and campfire song.

SOURCE:  KILBURN, Lucian M., supervising editor. History of Adair County Iowa, Pp. 208-10. The Pioneer Publishing Co. Chicago. 1915.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, February of 2009