Kinyon Digital Library

Civil War Rosters
County/Local Histories
Census Transcriptions
Local Maps and More

Home  ||  What's New?  ||  Notes  ||  Census Data  ||  Data By State  ||  Military Records  ||  Links  ||  Tombstones  ||  Poetry

Custom Search

Kinyon Digital Library

Copyright © 1999-2013,
 all rights reserved.

History of Adair
County, Iowa, 1915.

Biographical.  Volume 2.

  
 

Iowa Index || - || Previous Page || Table of Contents  || Next Page


 

 

Franklin Dutro.

Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Dutro

For more than forty years Franklin Dutro was actively engaged in farming in Adair county, where he has resided since 1873.  In 1914 he put aside the cares and responsibilities of an active business life and is now living retired in Adair.  His birth occurred in Bureau county, Illinois, on the 19th of August, 1847, his parents being George and Betsy Elizabeth (Neff) Dutro.  The father was born at Duncan Falls, Ohio, and was descended from Scotch-Irish ancestry, while his wife, who was born in Zanesville, Ohio, was of Pennsylvania-Dutch descent.  They were married at Duncan Falls, and in the early '40s removed westward to Illinois, where the father engaged in farming for about a quarter of a century.  In 1869 he went to Kansas, where he continued to live until called to his final rest, his death occurring during the intensely cold winter of 1901.  He was a veteran of the Civil war, for as one of the boys in blue of Company C, Sixty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, he had aided in protecting the stars and stripes for over three years, while in the same company were his two sons, James and Franklin.  Mr. Dutro long survived his wife, who died upon the home farm in Kansas in 1872.

Franklin Dutro spent the first sixteen years of his life under the parental roof, and then, although but a boy, scarcely fitted for such a strenuous life, he offered his services to the country and enlisted in January, 1864, as a member of Company C, Sixty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, joining his command at Sheffield, Illinois.  He thereafter served until the close of the war and participated in the Atlanta campaign, taking part in the siege of Atlanta and afterward going with Sherman on the celebrated march to the sea, whereby the weakness of the southern confederacy was exposed, for it was proven that the troops had been drawn from the interior to protect the border.  His military experience was indeed fraught with many hardships and dangers.  He was under fire one hundred and twenty days in the siege of Atlanta, fighting all the way from Chattanooga to Atlanta.  Later he was in the siege of Savannah, and after the march to the sea had been completed he participated in the campaign through the Carolinas and was at Raleigh when Johnson surrendered.  He was under fire at the battles of Peach Tree Creek, Resaca, Dallas, Allatooona, Snake Creek Gap and Rome Crossroads, all in Georgia, and also participated in the last fight of the war at Bentonville, North Carolina.  After the war was ended Mr. Dutro participated in the Grand Review in Washington, where thousands of victorious Union soldiers marched through the streets of the capital and passed before the reviewing stand on which stood the president.  He was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, and was honorably discharged at Springfield, Illinois.

Mr. Dutro then returned home and for a few years was employed by the month as a farm hand.  In 1869 he was married and removed to Kossuth county, Iowa, where he engaged in farming for a year.  He then went to Kansas, where he continued until 1873, when he came to Adair county, purchasing land in Summit township, where he secured eighty acres.  Taking up his abode thereon, he bent his attention to farming, and that he was not afraid of hard work was soon manifest in the excellent appearance of his fields, which annually brought forth golden harvests.  Year by year he carefully cultivated his farm until forty-one years had passed, when in March, 1914, he retired from active life, disposed of his land and removed to Adair, where he now makes his home.

On the 5th of October, 1869, Mr. Dutro was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Foster, a daughter of Tildon and Betsey (Heatherton) Foster, who were native of England and passed away in Kossuth county, Iowa.  The father was a stationary engineer.   Mr. and Mrs. Dutro have become the parents of four children, as follows:  Viola, the wife of Ed Gaines, an agriculturist of Summit township, by whom she has four children --- Mildred, Claude, Marion and Audrey;  Claude, a member of the firm of Dutro & Kading, conducting an auto garage in Adair, who wedded Miss Orpha Huff and has two children, Harry and Marie;  Mamie Katie, who gave her hand in marriage to George Kading, junior member of the firm of Dutro & Kading;  and Minnie, who died when thirteen months old.

Mr. Dutro has always given his allegiance to the republican party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise.  He served several years as a trustee in Summit township, but resigned that position on his removal to the city.  He has served as a director on the school board and is a stalwart champion of the cause of education.  He maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades as a member of Washington Post, No. 135, G. A. R., in which he is now serving as quartermaster.  He has ever been as true and loyal to his country in days of peace as when he followed the old flag on southern battlefields, and he has never believed in lowering the standards of citizenship in the slightest degree.

 

 

Iowa Index || - || Previous Page || Table of Contents || Next Page

  

Home  ||  What's New?  ||  Notes  ||  Census Data  ||  Data By State  ||  Military Records  ||  Links  ||  Tombstones  ||  Poetry

Site Statistics By

since 17 December 1999.

Copyright © 1999-2013
Kinyon Digital Library,
All Rights Reserved.