Lorenzo Stoddard Merchant.
Great-grandson of Private Obadiah Dunham, Captain Thomas Sawyer's Company, Vermont Militia, 1779; also Captain Eli Noble's Company, Major Ebenezer Allen's detachment, Vermont.
Lorenzo Stoddard Merchant was born in Bennington, Vermont, August 29, 1849, and died in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, October 18, 1884. Until he was ten years of age he resided in New York City, where his father, Albert Merchant, was a teller in the Merchants' Exchange National Bank. The family then returned to Bennington. He was educated at Mt. Auburn Seminary, and upon attaining his majority determined to come West. He first located at Cedar Falls, Iowa, and there learned the printing business, becoming in course of time part owner of the Cedar Falls Gazette.
In November, 1877, he was united in marriage with Miss Ella Robinson, daughter of Dr. William Robinson of Cedar Falls. Three years later he removed to Butte, Montana, where he assisted in founding the Daily Inter-Mountain. In 1883 he came to Cedar Rapids and purchased a portion of the stock of the Daily Republican. To build up and advance the interests of this paper and this business became his life work, and he won a success that made him prominent throughout the West.
In 1884 he was chosen by the General Assembly State Binder for Iowa, and held the position four years. In 1894, he was appointed by Governor Jackson State Inspector of Oils, which office he held at the time of his death. He was a far-seeing, energetic business man, and to his ability and sagacity the success of the Republican was due. As a writer he possessed wonderful descriptive powers, and a discrimination for things beautiful that was remarkable.
Mr. Merchant was a true man in every relation of life - true to his fellows, his family, and his country. The patriotic instinct in him was strong, and he had cultivated it assiduously. He was a member of no society, save only the Sons of the Revolution, and he esteemed that membership at once an honor and a privilege.
He was cut down in the midst of prosperous and promising career, but he had lived long enough to leave his imprint on the life and spirit of his day.
James Madison De Armond
James Madison De Armond was born in Blair County, Pennsylvania, September 7, 1847. He was a son of James De Armond and grandson of Michael De Armond, a brave soldier in the Revolutionary War, a member of Company B in the 5th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was, with his Company, engaged in the fierce battle of Long Island on the 27th of August, 1776.
The earlier years of James Madison De Armond were spent on a farm, his educational advantages being meagre and confined to a few months' attendance upon a country school during the winter. At the age of nineteen his father's family came to Davenport. Here Mr. De Armond attended the High School, from which he graduated. Soon after graduation he was installed as a teacher in the city schools, and this calling claimed his best years and energies. He was a thorough and close student and his indomitable will knew no failure in scholastic endeavors. He became recognized as a ripe scholar. History was his chosen study and he mastered the history of his own country as few authors have done. He was Postmaster of Davenport from 1884 to 1888, but his life work was in the school-room, and it was there that he found the truest enjoyment. Among his books he always found friends of whom he never wearied, and who never failed to cheer. During his life-time as a teacher he was principal of three of the public schools of this city, his first appointment being to Hamburg district, No. 5 and No. 3 following in order.
Two years before his death his health began to fail, and early in January, 1895, he went to New Mexico, and after a stay of some months returned improved in health but without complete relief. In the fall of the same year he again went South, but after a protracted stay it became apparent that no benefit was being received and he returned home fully conscious that the end was near. One month after his return, and after as brave a struggle as ever mortal made against encroaching disease, he laid down the burden of life and entered into eternal rest June 4, 1896.
So ended the life work of a ripe scholar; an educator of more than state renown; a courteous gentleman; and a citizen whose loss no community can suffer without keen regret by all who love honesty, vigorous manhood, and worth.
Oscar Augustus Barker
At noon on the 28th day of January occurred the death of the only member of the Society of Sons of the Revolution in Iowa who was the son of a Soldier of the Revolution, Oscar Augustus Barker.
His boyhood was spent in the vicinity of Duchess County, New York, the place of his nativity. At the age of seventeen he was in business at Cold Spring, New York. On the 16th of May, in 1831, at Newburgh, New York, he was married to Miss Maria Chapman. In 1835 we find him in business at Michigan City, Indiana. thence he removed to Davenport, Iowa, where, in 1850, he began business as a book-keeper. Here he spent forty-seven years; known by all as upright in business; a devout and earnest Christian; a conscientious and interested citizen in all that pertained to civil duties and responsibilities.
Our Iowa Society of Sons of the Revolution felt that in him we had a link connecting us closely with the past.
He was the son of General Samuel Augustus Barker, who held, among other positions, that of a Staff Officer, accredited to Connecticut, on the Staff of the Marquis de La Fayette. In this relation he seems to have been more to the heroic and liberty-loving Frenchman than a brave and efficient military aid. He came to La Fayette as a young Connecticut Adjutant, of the Regimental Staff of dashing Brigadier-General Wayne -- "Mad Anthony," the hero of Stony Point. He soon became the trusted and beloved friend of the Marquis. In the battle of Monmouth, 1778, in which La Fayette's command was engaged, and so valiantly helped to rout the British forces, the quiet and undemonstrative young American elicited from the Marquis, as so often before, the most enthusiastic praise for his gallant conduct. "My brave! my good! my virtuous! my adopted brother!" cries the demonstrative General, with that spirit so common to his countrymen, catching the young Aid to his breast and kissing him upon the cheek.
This admiration never died out; for after La Fayette's return to France he watched the course and noted the promotions and preferments of his young aid-de-camp. The evidence of this is found in the following acrostic, written by La Fayette, and sent to young Colonel Barker soon after his election to some political honor. The
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initial letters of each line of the poem will spell out for you the name of this soldier-friend of La Fayette. And here is an exact copy of the acrostic and of the postscript that accompanied it:
Sage of the East! where wisdom rears her head,
Augustus, taught in virtue's path to tread,
'Mid thousands of his race, elected stands
Unanimous to legislative bands;
Endowed with every art to frame just laws,
Learns to hate vice, to virtue gives applause.
Augustus, oh, thy name that's ever dear
Unrivalled stands, to crown each passing year!
Great are the virtues that exalt thy mind,
Unenvied merit marks thy worth refined.
Sincerely rigid for your country's right,
To save her liberty you deigned to fight;
Undaunted courage graced your manly brow,
Secured such honors as the Gods endow.
Bright is the page; the record of the days
Attracts my muse thus to rehearse thy praise.
Rejoice then, patriots, statesmen, all rejoice!
Kindle his praises with one general voice!
Emblazon out his deeds, his virtues prize,
Reiterate his praises to the skies!
M. D. LA FAYETTE,
P.S. - The Colonel will readily apologize for the inaccuracies of an unskilled muse, and be convinced the high estimation of his amiable character could alone actuate the author of the foregoing.
M. D. LA FAYETTE
So the name of the young General's friend and aid-de-camp was Samuel Augustus Barker.
Oscar Augustus Barker was never called to such service as his distinguished father rendered; but in the quiet, manly life he lived he was victorious in battles wherein many fall. He "fought a good fight."
Many members of the Society of Sons of the Revolution attended his funeral at the First Presbyterian Church, in which for many years he was a deacon; and followed him to Oakdale cemetery, where a simple stone marks his resting place.
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