The Poole Family

Samuel G. Poole in Past and present of Shelby County, Iowa

The full biographical sketch as printed, transcribed from the public-domain book. Spelling and wording are the original author’s; a few scanning errors may remain.

SAMUEL G. POOLE.

A good citizen, a widely known pioneer of Shelby county, and a valiant soldier of the Civil War, was the late Samuel G. Poole of Lincoln township. In the respect that is accorded to men who have fought their own way to success through unfavorable environment we find an unconscious recognition of the intrinsic worth of a Gharacter which could not only endure so rough a test as the Civil War but gain new strength through the discipline which carried him through the long years of warfare in behalf of his country and enabled him to carve a fortune for himself in Shelby county. Samuel G. Poole was not favored by inherited wealth or by the assistance of influential friends, but in spite of this, by perseverance, industry and wise economy, he had atttained a comfortable station in life and made his influence felt for good in his community in Lincoln township, where he had long maintained his home. His career was an honorable one of which his descendants can be justly proud, and they can also be proud of the fact that he was numbered among those patriotic sons of the Xorth who assisted in saving the nation's integrity in the dark days of the sixties. Xo man is more worthy of an honorable place in the annals of this county.

Samuel G. Poole was born May 29, 1 841, in Delaware county, Ohio, and died in Shelby county. Iowa, September 24, 1914. His parents, Peter and Frances (Wilson) Poole, were born in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsyl- vania, in 1800 and 1810. respectively. Peter Poole settled in Ohio in the early history of that state and lived the life of a simple farmer there until his death in 1865. They were the parents /of several children, two of whom, Mrs. William Southwick and Mrs. Marion Mittchell, are yet living.

When Samuel G. Poole was eighteen months of age his parents moved to Washington county. Pennsylvania, where they resided for a time. They then went to Allegheny county, rennsvlvania, where thev lived until the

son grew to manhood. Mr. Poole's father died when lie was yet a lad and he was reared on a farm and received his education in the district schools

of the neighborhood. When he was seventeen years of age. he came to Davenport, Iowa, where he worked for eighteen months at the trade of carpenter. lie went from Davenport to St. Louis where he worked for a time. He was also employed in Alton. Illinois, and journeyed as far south as Xew Orleans, arriving in this city just before the outbreak of the Rebel- lion. It was in this far southern city that he heard a number of prominent southern men addressing the people, inciting them to revolt against the Wash- ington government and go to Washington- and kill President Lincoln. He returned to the north and went to Salem, Ohio, where his mother was re- siding.

He responded to President Lincoln's call for three hundred thousand men on August 13, 1861, and became a member of Company C, Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served for three years, being honorably dis- charged at Chattanooga in 1864, his time of enlistment having expired. He again enlisted and joined General Hancock's veteran corps and served until his discharge in March of 1865. He participated in the great battles of Shell Mountain (Virginia), where he was first under fire. Gaily Ridge (Vir- ginia), Bull Run, Antietam, South Mountain, Xashville, Hooper's Gap, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Dalton and Resaca, be- side many minor engagements. Mr. Poole received his final discharge from the service in Xew York city and at once returned to his old home in Ohio and worked at various occupations until the year 1870 when he came with his family to Shelby county, settling on the Rock Island railway land. He squatted on the railroad land for three years and then purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres at eight and ten dollars an acre in Lincoln town- ship. After making his first payment on this land he was too poor to buy horses to break it up. He hired it broken up for the first time and graduallv got a start, but it was many years before he could call himself a prosperous farmer. He put up a shanty with two rooms and lived in it until 1892 when he built the present substantial home. The country at the time Mr. and Mrs. Poole came here was mostly an unbroken prairie and there was a time when Mr. Poole hauled his corn to a market twelve miles away and received only fifteen cents a bushel for it. He and his good wife met with manv discouragements and hardships, but they stayed with the farm and had the satisfaction of seeing it yield more satisfactory returns as tin- years went by. At the time of Mr. Poole's death September .24, 19 ! 4- he was the possessor of one of the best improved farms in the county.

The funeral of Samuel G. Poole was held on the Sunday following his demise and the services were conducted by Rev. Hardaway, of the Methodist Episcopal church. A short talk was also made by D. O. Stuart. The body was interred in the city cemetery in the presence of a large assemblage of friends and relatives and members of the Grand Army post of which Mr. Poole was a member.

Mr. Poole was married July 13, 1S60, to Mary (Tucker) Brown. To this union eight children were born. Joseph R.. William L., Xevada (wife of P. F. Wash), Rolla A.. Ralph E., Nellie (wife of R. W. Boardman), Pearl (wife of Clinton Hoover) and Mount Trevada, who died in infancy. Mrs. Poole is residing on the old home place in Lincoln township. She was born January, 22, 1841, in West Virginia, the daughter of Shertan and Julia (Tucker) Brown.

Mr. Poole voted the Republican ticket for more than fifty years, hav- ing cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in the fall of iS'64. He was a member of the Grand Army post and took a deep interest in its affairs. For over forty-four years he was a resident of Shelby county and had the satisfaction of seeing it emerge from a broad and trackless waste of prairie land to its present prosperous condition and did no inconsiderable part in the bringing about of this wonderful transition. Xo man in the county is more deserving of a higher regard than he. and when he answered the last roll call, there was removed from the county one of its worthiest pioneers. He was a kind and true husband, a loving father, a good neighbor and was respected by all who knew him.

Source: Past and present of Shelby County, Iowa. See the original pages at the Internet Archive.