Portrait and Biographical Album of Peoria County
Trivoli Township
Pages 908-909
Richard T. Merchant, an honored resident of Trivoli Township, is an old soldier who spent some of the best years of his life in the struggle against rebel hands that sought the Nation's destruction. The agricultural work to which he has devoted himself during most of his mature years, has resulted in securing him a fine estate of two hundred and forty-five acres on sections 4 and 10, where he has made excellent improvements, including the good fences and farm buildings usually seen on the land of an enterprising man, together with tile drains, orchards, etc., that indicate taste and prosperity. The entire acreage is tillable, being watered by Clark's Creek, and is well adapted to the raising of stock, in which Mr. Merchant takes considerable interest. The place is four miles from Farmington and one and a half from Cramer's Corners.
The Rev. Isaac Merchant, father of our subject, was born in Berkeley County, Va., to Abraham and Sarah (Bull) Merchant, natives of the same State in which the father died, the mother living to a venerable age in this county. Isaac Merchant grew up on a farm, leaving his native State when quite small to accompany a Mr. Brown to Highland County, Ohio, where he began his own career by working out on neighboring farms. After he married he removed to Fayette County, settling on a farm of ninety-five acres, for which he paid $2.50 per acre. It was but partially improved and he was obliged to grub the balance, chopping by day and burning brush by night. He built a small frame house, and surrounded the home with such comforts as were possible. He became a preacher in the Friends Church, serving as such until he left the section in 1854.
At that date Isaac Merchant came to Central Illinois, spending the winter in Farmington, and in the spring buying a quarter-section of partly-improved land in this county, now occupied by the son, our subject. He cultivated it until 1866, when he sold it to his son, returned to Ohio among the Quakers, and occupied himself solely with preaching until 1870. He then removed to Villisca, Iowa, living in retirement until called to the better land in 1888. His remains were brought to his old home and deposited in the family burying ground. His political adherence was to the Whig party of the old time. He reached the advanced age of eighty-eight years. His brother Jonah was one of the first settlers in Fulton County. He enlisted in the Black Hawk War, and rose to the rank of Major General. He was a conductor on the "Underground Railroad."
The wife of Isaac Merchant was Jane, daughter of Richard and Jane Todhunter. Her father was an Englishman who came to the United States in boyhood, became a farmer, was an early settler in Fayette County, Ohio, cleared land there and secured much real estate. He died when eighty-eight years old, cheered by the belief of the Society of Friends. His daughter Jane was born in that county, educated in the State, and died after a well-spent life in 1862, at the home in the Prairie State. She was the mother of twelve children who grew to maturity. Whalen is a retired farmer, now dealing in real estate in Washington, Iowa; Abraham is farming near Des Moines; Mrs. Sarah Littler lives in that city; our subject is the next in order of birth; Mrs. Rebecca Arnold lives in Washington County, Iowa; William was a member of the First Iowa Battery from 1861 until killed at Black River, Miss.; Mrs. Harriet McMackin lives in Colorado; Mrs. Elizabeth Hill died in Gage County, Neb.; Mrs. Lydia Hunter lives in Greenfield, Ohio; Mrs. Matilda Thatcher lives in Elmwood, this county; Mrs. Cora Holmes lives at Washington Courthouse, Ohio; Mrs. Alwilda Keel lives in Trivoli Township, this county.
Our subject was born in Fayette County, Ohio, December 1, 1834, reared on the farm, attending the subscription schools in the old-fashioned log schoolhouse, and when eighteen years old entering New Martinsburg Academy, pursuing his studies there two winters. He was early set to work, learning to drive oxen and in other ways aid in the cultivation of the home acres, but having much better opportunities for study than fell to the lot of many of his contemporaries. He came West with their parents, their journey being made by means of "prairie schooners," and their route crossing the level lands of Indiana and Illinois to the Illinois River, which they forded at Pekin.
After land was bought by the father, our subject and his brother Abraham rented and operated it until 1858, when the connection was dissolved and both went to Iowa, driving in a buggy to Pilot Grove, Washington County. Our subject bought a raw farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he improved, stocking it with cattle, and in connection with the labors thereon running a breaking plow with thirty-inch shire and drawn by six yoke of oxen. His principal business until the war broke out was the breaking of soil, but the needs of the country drew him to the battlefield.
On August 16, 1862, Mr. Merchant became a member of Company K, Thirtieth Iowa Infantry, was mustered in at Keokuk as Corporal under Capt. Gallagher, and going to the front spent much time on boats moving up and down the Mississippi River as need arose. He was at Haines Bluff, Yazoo, Little Rock, Black River, Jackson (twice), Champion Hill, at the siege of Vicksburg forty days, returned to Jackson, then again to Vicksburg, and to Milliken's Bend and Grand Gulf. After this round of engagements he was a participant in the battles of Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, then having wintered in Tennessee, joined Sherman as an integral part of the Fifteenth Army Corps, commanded by the gallant "Black Jack," whom this State loves to honor.
Again Mr. Merchant bore a part in some of the most noted battles of the war, among them being Dallas, Resaca, Buzzard's Roost, Big Shanty and Kenesaw Mountain. At the siege of Atlanta he acted the part of the brave patriot, and in the battle of Jonesborough he continued his courageous conduct. After this he was with Hood in Tennessee, then returning to Atlanta, made one of the band that marched to the sea, then north through the Carolinas, and after Lee's surrender and the death of the martyred Lincoln, he went to Richmond and on to Washington to take part in the Grand Review, June 15, 1865. The next step in his life was his discharge and return to his property in Iowa. Several times his clothes were cut by bullets, but he received no wounds. One fall he suffered from typhoid fever, that being the only period when he was off duty.
The land Mr. Merchant being rented, he gave his attention to buying, feeding and shipping cattle, doing well at that business. While on a trip to Chicago with stock in the fall of 1866, he bought the homestead from his father, and the next year located upon it, again becoming a farmer. He finally sold his Iowa land and bought an additional eighty here, thus bringing up his estate to the comfortable amount before mentioned. He raises hogs of good breeds, also feeds several carloads of cattle each year, finding this the most profitable way to use the corn he raises. He likewise raises good draft horses and roadsters, having twenty head at this writing, at the head of the heard being two standard bred Wilkes and Hambletonian horses.
In Richmond, Iowa, November 18, 1866, Mr. Merchant was united in marriage with Miss Maggie Gallagher, a native of Fredericktown, Md. Her brother James, a native of Maine and early settler in Washington County, Iowa, was Captain of the company in which our subject served, having joined at the same time. He is now retired from active life. Mrs. Merchant was educated in Maryland and Iowa, was graduated from Washington Academy, and taught school from the age of sixteen years until her marriage. She was of Irish ancestry, and possessed the ready intelligence and aptness characteristic of the better classes of that race, together with excellent traits of character. She entered into rest June 27, 1880, mourned by many beyond the walls of the home in which she was sorely missed.
The family of Mr. Merchant comprises six children, whose record is as follows: Lorena married William Akin, a blacksmith living in Trivoli Township; Jessie O. is the wife of Lewis Kerr, a farmer at Oak Hill; Walter L. and Grace M. are at home; Daisy died when thirteen years old; William is attending school in Farmington. Grace attended the High School at Washington, Iowa, then in Peoria, being obliged to abandon her studies on account of poor health; she secured a teacher's certificate when but fifteen years old.
Mr. Merchant has been School Director fifteen years, and is now President of the Board. He joined the Masonic fraternity after the war, and now belongs to a lodge at Farmington; he also holds his place among the members of the Grand Army of the Republic at Elmwood. By birthright he was a Quaker, but married without the pale of the society, his wife having been a Baptist. In politics he is a stanch Republican, has been delegate to county and State conventions, and a Central Committee man. At stock shows he has acted as judge, being competent to determine the respective merits of various species and breeds.
{Note the surname is also spelt Marchant in the 1871 History of Fulton Co., Il.]
-------------------------------------------
From Find A Grave contributor K L Bonnett:
Civil War Veteran
Co K 30th Iowa Infantry
From military records:
Merchant, Richard S.(Initial differs)
Age 28.
Residence Richmond,Ia
nativity Ohio.
Enlisted Aug. 16, 1862, as Corporal.
Mustered Sept. 14, 1862.
Mustered out June 6, 1865, Washington, D. C.
----------------------------
Merchant, William. Age 26.(probably his brother) same residence,nativity, enlisted same day into same company. Died of disease Aug. 28, 1863, Black River, Miss. Buried Vicksburg Nat. Cemetery.
Trivoli Township
Pages 908-909
Richard T. Merchant, an honored resident of Trivoli Township, is an old soldier who spent some of the best years of his life in the struggle against rebel hands that sought the Nation's destruction. The agricultural work to which he has devoted himself during most of his mature years, has resulted in securing him a fine estate of two hundred and forty-five acres on sections 4 and 10, where he has made excellent improvements, including the good fences and farm buildings usually seen on the land of an enterprising man, together with tile drains, orchards, etc., that indicate taste and prosperity. The entire acreage is tillable, being watered by Clark's Creek, and is well adapted to the raising of stock, in which Mr. Merchant takes considerable interest. The place is four miles from Farmington and one and a half from Cramer's Corners.
The Rev. Isaac Merchant, father of our subject, was born in Berkeley County, Va., to Abraham and Sarah (Bull) Merchant, natives of the same State in which the father died, the mother living to a venerable age in this county. Isaac Merchant grew up on a farm, leaving his native State when quite small to accompany a Mr. Brown to Highland County, Ohio, where he began his own career by working out on neighboring farms. After he married he removed to Fayette County, settling on a farm of ninety-five acres, for which he paid $2.50 per acre. It was but partially improved and he was obliged to grub the balance, chopping by day and burning brush by night. He built a small frame house, and surrounded the home with such comforts as were possible. He became a preacher in the Friends Church, serving as such until he left the section in 1854.
At that date Isaac Merchant came to Central Illinois, spending the winter in Farmington, and in the spring buying a quarter-section of partly-improved land in this county, now occupied by the son, our subject. He cultivated it until 1866, when he sold it to his son, returned to Ohio among the Quakers, and occupied himself solely with preaching until 1870. He then removed to Villisca, Iowa, living in retirement until called to the better land in 1888. His remains were brought to his old home and deposited in the family burying ground. His political adherence was to the Whig party of the old time. He reached the advanced age of eighty-eight years. His brother Jonah was one of the first settlers in Fulton County. He enlisted in the Black Hawk War, and rose to the rank of Major General. He was a conductor on the "Underground Railroad."
The wife of Isaac Merchant was Jane, daughter of Richard and Jane Todhunter. Her father was an Englishman who came to the United States in boyhood, became a farmer, was an early settler in Fayette County, Ohio, cleared land there and secured much real estate. He died when eighty-eight years old, cheered by the belief of the Society of Friends. His daughter Jane was born in that county, educated in the State, and died after a well-spent life in 1862, at the home in the Prairie State. She was the mother of twelve children who grew to maturity. Whalen is a retired farmer, now dealing in real estate in Washington, Iowa; Abraham is farming near Des Moines; Mrs. Sarah Littler lives in that city; our subject is the next in order of birth; Mrs. Rebecca Arnold lives in Washington County, Iowa; William was a member of the First Iowa Battery from 1861 until killed at Black River, Miss.; Mrs. Harriet McMackin lives in Colorado; Mrs. Elizabeth Hill died in Gage County, Neb.; Mrs. Lydia Hunter lives in Greenfield, Ohio; Mrs. Matilda Thatcher lives in Elmwood, this county; Mrs. Cora Holmes lives at Washington Courthouse, Ohio; Mrs. Alwilda Keel lives in Trivoli Township, this county.
Our subject was born in Fayette County, Ohio, December 1, 1834, reared on the farm, attending the subscription schools in the old-fashioned log schoolhouse, and when eighteen years old entering New Martinsburg Academy, pursuing his studies there two winters. He was early set to work, learning to drive oxen and in other ways aid in the cultivation of the home acres, but having much better opportunities for study than fell to the lot of many of his contemporaries. He came West with their parents, their journey being made by means of "prairie schooners," and their route crossing the level lands of Indiana and Illinois to the Illinois River, which they forded at Pekin.
After land was bought by the father, our subject and his brother Abraham rented and operated it until 1858, when the connection was dissolved and both went to Iowa, driving in a buggy to Pilot Grove, Washington County. Our subject bought a raw farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he improved, stocking it with cattle, and in connection with the labors thereon running a breaking plow with thirty-inch shire and drawn by six yoke of oxen. His principal business until the war broke out was the breaking of soil, but the needs of the country drew him to the battlefield.
On August 16, 1862, Mr. Merchant became a member of Company K, Thirtieth Iowa Infantry, was mustered in at Keokuk as Corporal under Capt. Gallagher, and going to the front spent much time on boats moving up and down the Mississippi River as need arose. He was at Haines Bluff, Yazoo, Little Rock, Black River, Jackson (twice), Champion Hill, at the siege of Vicksburg forty days, returned to Jackson, then again to Vicksburg, and to Milliken's Bend and Grand Gulf. After this round of engagements he was a participant in the battles of Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, then having wintered in Tennessee, joined Sherman as an integral part of the Fifteenth Army Corps, commanded by the gallant "Black Jack," whom this State loves to honor.
Again Mr. Merchant bore a part in some of the most noted battles of the war, among them being Dallas, Resaca, Buzzard's Roost, Big Shanty and Kenesaw Mountain. At the siege of Atlanta he acted the part of the brave patriot, and in the battle of Jonesborough he continued his courageous conduct. After this he was with Hood in Tennessee, then returning to Atlanta, made one of the band that marched to the sea, then north through the Carolinas, and after Lee's surrender and the death of the martyred Lincoln, he went to Richmond and on to Washington to take part in the Grand Review, June 15, 1865. The next step in his life was his discharge and return to his property in Iowa. Several times his clothes were cut by bullets, but he received no wounds. One fall he suffered from typhoid fever, that being the only period when he was off duty.
The land Mr. Merchant being rented, he gave his attention to buying, feeding and shipping cattle, doing well at that business. While on a trip to Chicago with stock in the fall of 1866, he bought the homestead from his father, and the next year located upon it, again becoming a farmer. He finally sold his Iowa land and bought an additional eighty here, thus bringing up his estate to the comfortable amount before mentioned. He raises hogs of good breeds, also feeds several carloads of cattle each year, finding this the most profitable way to use the corn he raises. He likewise raises good draft horses and roadsters, having twenty head at this writing, at the head of the heard being two standard bred Wilkes and Hambletonian horses.
In Richmond, Iowa, November 18, 1866, Mr. Merchant was united in marriage with Miss Maggie Gallagher, a native of Fredericktown, Md. Her brother James, a native of Maine and early settler in Washington County, Iowa, was Captain of the company in which our subject served, having joined at the same time. He is now retired from active life. Mrs. Merchant was educated in Maryland and Iowa, was graduated from Washington Academy, and taught school from the age of sixteen years until her marriage. She was of Irish ancestry, and possessed the ready intelligence and aptness characteristic of the better classes of that race, together with excellent traits of character. She entered into rest June 27, 1880, mourned by many beyond the walls of the home in which she was sorely missed.
The family of Mr. Merchant comprises six children, whose record is as follows: Lorena married William Akin, a blacksmith living in Trivoli Township; Jessie O. is the wife of Lewis Kerr, a farmer at Oak Hill; Walter L. and Grace M. are at home; Daisy died when thirteen years old; William is attending school in Farmington. Grace attended the High School at Washington, Iowa, then in Peoria, being obliged to abandon her studies on account of poor health; she secured a teacher's certificate when but fifteen years old.
Mr. Merchant has been School Director fifteen years, and is now President of the Board. He joined the Masonic fraternity after the war, and now belongs to a lodge at Farmington; he also holds his place among the members of the Grand Army of the Republic at Elmwood. By birthright he was a Quaker, but married without the pale of the society, his wife having been a Baptist. In politics he is a stanch Republican, has been delegate to county and State conventions, and a Central Committee man. At stock shows he has acted as judge, being competent to determine the respective merits of various species and breeds.
{Note the surname is also spelt Marchant in the 1871 History of Fulton Co., Il.]
-------------------------------------------
From Find A Grave contributor K L Bonnett:
Civil War Veteran
Co K 30th Iowa Infantry
From military records:
Merchant, Richard S.(Initial differs)
Age 28.
Residence Richmond,Ia
nativity Ohio.
Enlisted Aug. 16, 1862, as Corporal.
Mustered Sept. 14, 1862.
Mustered out June 6, 1865, Washington, D. C.
----------------------------
Merchant, William. Age 26.(probably his brother) same residence,nativity, enlisted same day into same company. Died of disease Aug. 28, 1863, Black River, Miss. Buried Vicksburg Nat. Cemetery.
Portrait and Biographical Album of Peoria County
Trivoli Township
Pages 908-909
Richard T. Merchant, an honored resident of Trivoli Township, is an old soldier who spent some of the best years of his life in the struggle against rebel hands that sought the Nation's destruction. The agricultural work to which he has devoted himself during most of his mature years, has resulted in securing him a fine estate of two hundred and forty-five acres on sections 4 and 10, where he has made excellent improvements, including the good fences and farm buildings usually seen on the land of an enterprising man, together with tile drains, orchards, etc., that indicate taste and prosperity. The entire acreage is tillable, being watered by Clark's Creek, and is well adapted to the raising of stock, in which Mr. Merchant takes considerable interest. The place is four miles from Farmington and one and a half from Cramer's Corners.
The Rev. Isaac Merchant, father of our subject, was born in Berkeley County, Va., to Abraham and Sarah (Bull) Merchant, natives of the same State in which the father died, the mother living to a venerable age in this county. Isaac Merchant grew up on a farm, leaving his native State when quite small to accompany a Mr. Brown to Highland County, Ohio, where he began his own career by working out on neighboring farms. After he married he removed to Fayette County, settling on a farm of ninety-five acres, for which he paid $2.50 per acre. It was but partially improved and he was obliged to grub the balance, chopping by day and burning brush by night. He built a small frame house, and surrounded the home with such comforts as were possible. He became a preacher in the Friends Church, serving as such until he left the section in 1854.
At that date Isaac Merchant came to Central Illinois, spending the winter in Farmington, and in the spring buying a quarter-section of partly-improved land in this county, now occupied by the son, our subject. He cultivated it until 1866, when he sold it to his son, returned to Ohio among the Quakers, and occupied himself solely with preaching until 1870. He then removed to Villisca, Iowa, living in retirement until called to the better land in 1888. His remains were brought to his old home and deposited in the family burying ground. His political adherence was to the Whig party of the old time. He reached the advanced age of eighty-eight years. His brother Jonah was one of the first settlers in Fulton County. He enlisted in the Black Hawk War, and rose to the rank of Major General. He was a conductor on the "Underground Railroad."
The wife of Isaac Merchant was Jane, daughter of Richard and Jane Todhunter. Her father was an Englishman who came to the United States in boyhood, became a farmer, was an early settler in Fayette County, Ohio, cleared land there and secured much real estate. He died when eighty-eight years old, cheered by the belief of the Society of Friends. His daughter Jane was born in that county, educated in the State, and died after a well-spent life in 1862, at the home in the Prairie State. She was the mother of twelve children who grew to maturity. Whalen is a retired farmer, now dealing in real estate in Washington, Iowa; Abraham is farming near Des Moines; Mrs. Sarah Littler lives in that city; our subject is the next in order of birth; Mrs. Rebecca Arnold lives in Washington County, Iowa; William was a member of the First Iowa Battery from 1861 until killed at Black River, Miss.; Mrs. Harriet McMackin lives in Colorado; Mrs. Elizabeth Hill died in Gage County, Neb.; Mrs. Lydia Hunter lives in Greenfield, Ohio; Mrs. Matilda Thatcher lives in Elmwood, this county; Mrs. Cora Holmes lives at Washington Courthouse, Ohio; Mrs. Alwilda Keel lives in Trivoli Township, this county.
Our subject was born in Fayette County, Ohio, December 1, 1834, reared on the farm, attending the subscription schools in the old-fashioned log schoolhouse, and when eighteen years old entering New Martinsburg Academy, pursuing his studies there two winters. He was early set to work, learning to drive oxen and in other ways aid in the cultivation of the home acres, but having much better opportunities for study than fell to the lot of many of his contemporaries. He came West with their parents, their journey being made by means of "prairie schooners," and their route crossing the level lands of Indiana and Illinois to the Illinois River, which they forded at Pekin.
After land was bought by the father, our subject and his brother Abraham rented and operated it until 1858, when the connection was dissolved and both went to Iowa, driving in a buggy to Pilot Grove, Washington County. Our subject bought a raw farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he improved, stocking it with cattle, and in connection with the labors thereon running a breaking plow with thirty-inch shire and drawn by six yoke of oxen. His principal business until the war broke out was the breaking of soil, but the needs of the country drew him to the battlefield.
On August 16, 1862, Mr. Merchant became a member of Company K, Thirtieth Iowa Infantry, was mustered in at Keokuk as Corporal under Capt. Gallagher, and going to the front spent much time on boats moving up and down the Mississippi River as need arose. He was at Haines Bluff, Yazoo, Little Rock, Black River, Jackson (twice), Champion Hill, at the siege of Vicksburg forty days, returned to Jackson, then again to Vicksburg, and to Milliken's Bend and Grand Gulf. After this round of engagements he was a participant in the battles of Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, then having wintered in Tennessee, joined Sherman as an integral part of the Fifteenth Army Corps, commanded by the gallant "Black Jack," whom this State loves to honor.
Again Mr. Merchant bore a part in some of the most noted battles of the war, among them being Dallas, Resaca, Buzzard's Roost, Big Shanty and Kenesaw Mountain. At the siege of Atlanta he acted the part of the brave patriot, and in the battle of Jonesborough he continued his courageous conduct. After this he was with Hood in Tennessee, then returning to Atlanta, made one of the band that marched to the sea, then north through the Carolinas, and after Lee's surrender and the death of the martyred Lincoln, he went to Richmond and on to Washington to take part in the Grand Review, June 15, 1865. The next step in his life was his discharge and return to his property in Iowa. Several times his clothes were cut by bullets, but he received no wounds. One fall he suffered from typhoid fever, that being the only period when he was off duty.
The land Mr. Merchant being rented, he gave his attention to buying, feeding and shipping cattle, doing well at that business. While on a trip to Chicago with stock in the fall of 1866, he bought the homestead from his father, and the next year located upon it, again becoming a farmer. He finally sold his Iowa land and bought an additional eighty here, thus bringing up his estate to the comfortable amount before mentioned. He raises hogs of good breeds, also feeds several carloads of cattle each year, finding this the most profitable way to use the corn he raises. He likewise raises good draft horses and roadsters, having twenty head at this writing, at the head of the heard being two standard bred Wilkes and Hambletonian horses.
In Richmond, Iowa, November 18, 1866, Mr. Merchant was united in marriage with Miss Maggie Gallagher, a native of Fredericktown, Md. Her brother James, a native of Maine and early settler in Washington County, Iowa, was Captain of the company in which our subject served, having joined at the same time. He is now retired from active life. Mrs. Merchant was educated in Maryland and Iowa, was graduated from Washington Academy, and taught school from the age of sixteen years until her marriage. She was of Irish ancestry, and possessed the ready intelligence and aptness characteristic of the better classes of that race, together with excellent traits of character. She entered into rest June 27, 1880, mourned by many beyond the walls of the home in which she was sorely missed.
The family of Mr. Merchant comprises six children, whose record is as follows: Lorena married William Akin, a blacksmith living in Trivoli Township; Jessie O. is the wife of Lewis Kerr, a farmer at Oak Hill; Walter L. and Grace M. are at home; Daisy died when thirteen years old; William is attending school in Farmington. Grace attended the High School at Washington, Iowa, then in Peoria, being obliged to abandon her studies on account of poor health; she secured a teacher's certificate when but fifteen years old.
Mr. Merchant has been School Director fifteen years, and is now President of the Board. He joined the Masonic fraternity after the war, and now belongs to a lodge at Farmington; he also holds his place among the members of the Grand Army of the Republic at Elmwood. By birthright he was a Quaker, but married without the pale of the society, his wife having been a Baptist. In politics he is a stanch Republican, has been delegate to county and State conventions, and a Central Committee man. At stock shows he has acted as judge, being competent to determine the respective merits of various species and breeds.
{Note the surname is also spelt Marchant in the 1871 History of Fulton Co., Il.]
-------------------------------------------
From Find A Grave contributor K L Bonnett:
Civil War Veteran
Co K 30th Iowa Infantry
From military records:
Merchant, Richard S.(Initial differs)
Age 28.
Residence Richmond,Ia
nativity Ohio.
Enlisted Aug. 16, 1862, as Corporal.
Mustered Sept. 14, 1862.
Mustered out June 6, 1865, Washington, D. C.
----------------------------
Merchant, William. Age 26.(probably his brother) same residence,nativity, enlisted same day into same company. Died of disease Aug. 28, 1863, Black River, Miss. Buried Vicksburg Nat. Cemetery.
Trivoli Township
Pages 908-909
Richard T. Merchant, an honored resident of Trivoli Township, is an old soldier who spent some of the best years of his life in the struggle against rebel hands that sought the Nation's destruction. The agricultural work to which he has devoted himself during most of his mature years, has resulted in securing him a fine estate of two hundred and forty-five acres on sections 4 and 10, where he has made excellent improvements, including the good fences and farm buildings usually seen on the land of an enterprising man, together with tile drains, orchards, etc., that indicate taste and prosperity. The entire acreage is tillable, being watered by Clark's Creek, and is well adapted to the raising of stock, in which Mr. Merchant takes considerable interest. The place is four miles from Farmington and one and a half from Cramer's Corners.
The Rev. Isaac Merchant, father of our subject, was born in Berkeley County, Va., to Abraham and Sarah (Bull) Merchant, natives of the same State in which the father died, the mother living to a venerable age in this county. Isaac Merchant grew up on a farm, leaving his native State when quite small to accompany a Mr. Brown to Highland County, Ohio, where he began his own career by working out on neighboring farms. After he married he removed to Fayette County, settling on a farm of ninety-five acres, for which he paid $2.50 per acre. It was but partially improved and he was obliged to grub the balance, chopping by day and burning brush by night. He built a small frame house, and surrounded the home with such comforts as were possible. He became a preacher in the Friends Church, serving as such until he left the section in 1854.
At that date Isaac Merchant came to Central Illinois, spending the winter in Farmington, and in the spring buying a quarter-section of partly-improved land in this county, now occupied by the son, our subject. He cultivated it until 1866, when he sold it to his son, returned to Ohio among the Quakers, and occupied himself solely with preaching until 1870. He then removed to Villisca, Iowa, living in retirement until called to the better land in 1888. His remains were brought to his old home and deposited in the family burying ground. His political adherence was to the Whig party of the old time. He reached the advanced age of eighty-eight years. His brother Jonah was one of the first settlers in Fulton County. He enlisted in the Black Hawk War, and rose to the rank of Major General. He was a conductor on the "Underground Railroad."
The wife of Isaac Merchant was Jane, daughter of Richard and Jane Todhunter. Her father was an Englishman who came to the United States in boyhood, became a farmer, was an early settler in Fayette County, Ohio, cleared land there and secured much real estate. He died when eighty-eight years old, cheered by the belief of the Society of Friends. His daughter Jane was born in that county, educated in the State, and died after a well-spent life in 1862, at the home in the Prairie State. She was the mother of twelve children who grew to maturity. Whalen is a retired farmer, now dealing in real estate in Washington, Iowa; Abraham is farming near Des Moines; Mrs. Sarah Littler lives in that city; our subject is the next in order of birth; Mrs. Rebecca Arnold lives in Washington County, Iowa; William was a member of the First Iowa Battery from 1861 until killed at Black River, Miss.; Mrs. Harriet McMackin lives in Colorado; Mrs. Elizabeth Hill died in Gage County, Neb.; Mrs. Lydia Hunter lives in Greenfield, Ohio; Mrs. Matilda Thatcher lives in Elmwood, this county; Mrs. Cora Holmes lives at Washington Courthouse, Ohio; Mrs. Alwilda Keel lives in Trivoli Township, this county.
Our subject was born in Fayette County, Ohio, December 1, 1834, reared on the farm, attending the subscription schools in the old-fashioned log schoolhouse, and when eighteen years old entering New Martinsburg Academy, pursuing his studies there two winters. He was early set to work, learning to drive oxen and in other ways aid in the cultivation of the home acres, but having much better opportunities for study than fell to the lot of many of his contemporaries. He came West with their parents, their journey being made by means of "prairie schooners," and their route crossing the level lands of Indiana and Illinois to the Illinois River, which they forded at Pekin.
After land was bought by the father, our subject and his brother Abraham rented and operated it until 1858, when the connection was dissolved and both went to Iowa, driving in a buggy to Pilot Grove, Washington County. Our subject bought a raw farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he improved, stocking it with cattle, and in connection with the labors thereon running a breaking plow with thirty-inch shire and drawn by six yoke of oxen. His principal business until the war broke out was the breaking of soil, but the needs of the country drew him to the battlefield.
On August 16, 1862, Mr. Merchant became a member of Company K, Thirtieth Iowa Infantry, was mustered in at Keokuk as Corporal under Capt. Gallagher, and going to the front spent much time on boats moving up and down the Mississippi River as need arose. He was at Haines Bluff, Yazoo, Little Rock, Black River, Jackson (twice), Champion Hill, at the siege of Vicksburg forty days, returned to Jackson, then again to Vicksburg, and to Milliken's Bend and Grand Gulf. After this round of engagements he was a participant in the battles of Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, then having wintered in Tennessee, joined Sherman as an integral part of the Fifteenth Army Corps, commanded by the gallant "Black Jack," whom this State loves to honor.
Again Mr. Merchant bore a part in some of the most noted battles of the war, among them being Dallas, Resaca, Buzzard's Roost, Big Shanty and Kenesaw Mountain. At the siege of Atlanta he acted the part of the brave patriot, and in the battle of Jonesborough he continued his courageous conduct. After this he was with Hood in Tennessee, then returning to Atlanta, made one of the band that marched to the sea, then north through the Carolinas, and after Lee's surrender and the death of the martyred Lincoln, he went to Richmond and on to Washington to take part in the Grand Review, June 15, 1865. The next step in his life was his discharge and return to his property in Iowa. Several times his clothes were cut by bullets, but he received no wounds. One fall he suffered from typhoid fever, that being the only period when he was off duty.
The land Mr. Merchant being rented, he gave his attention to buying, feeding and shipping cattle, doing well at that business. While on a trip to Chicago with stock in the fall of 1866, he bought the homestead from his father, and the next year located upon it, again becoming a farmer. He finally sold his Iowa land and bought an additional eighty here, thus bringing up his estate to the comfortable amount before mentioned. He raises hogs of good breeds, also feeds several carloads of cattle each year, finding this the most profitable way to use the corn he raises. He likewise raises good draft horses and roadsters, having twenty head at this writing, at the head of the heard being two standard bred Wilkes and Hambletonian horses.
In Richmond, Iowa, November 18, 1866, Mr. Merchant was united in marriage with Miss Maggie Gallagher, a native of Fredericktown, Md. Her brother James, a native of Maine and early settler in Washington County, Iowa, was Captain of the company in which our subject served, having joined at the same time. He is now retired from active life. Mrs. Merchant was educated in Maryland and Iowa, was graduated from Washington Academy, and taught school from the age of sixteen years until her marriage. She was of Irish ancestry, and possessed the ready intelligence and aptness characteristic of the better classes of that race, together with excellent traits of character. She entered into rest June 27, 1880, mourned by many beyond the walls of the home in which she was sorely missed.
The family of Mr. Merchant comprises six children, whose record is as follows: Lorena married William Akin, a blacksmith living in Trivoli Township; Jessie O. is the wife of Lewis Kerr, a farmer at Oak Hill; Walter L. and Grace M. are at home; Daisy died when thirteen years old; William is attending school in Farmington. Grace attended the High School at Washington, Iowa, then in Peoria, being obliged to abandon her studies on account of poor health; she secured a teacher's certificate when but fifteen years old.
Mr. Merchant has been School Director fifteen years, and is now President of the Board. He joined the Masonic fraternity after the war, and now belongs to a lodge at Farmington; he also holds his place among the members of the Grand Army of the Republic at Elmwood. By birthright he was a Quaker, but married without the pale of the society, his wife having been a Baptist. In politics he is a stanch Republican, has been delegate to county and State conventions, and a Central Committee man. At stock shows he has acted as judge, being competent to determine the respective merits of various species and breeds.
{Note the surname is also spelt Marchant in the 1871 History of Fulton Co., Il.]
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From Find A Grave contributor K L Bonnett:
Civil War Veteran
Co K 30th Iowa Infantry
From military records:
Merchant, Richard S.(Initial differs)
Age 28.
Residence Richmond,Ia
nativity Ohio.
Enlisted Aug. 16, 1862, as Corporal.
Mustered Sept. 14, 1862.
Mustered out June 6, 1865, Washington, D. C.
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Merchant, William. Age 26.(probably his brother) same residence,nativity, enlisted same day into same company. Died of disease Aug. 28, 1863, Black River, Miss. Buried Vicksburg Nat. Cemetery.
Inscription
CORP. CO K 30 IA INF
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