W. H. ENSIGN

ENSIGN

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/22/2020 at 20:25:18

W. H. ENSIGN.—This gentleman has been a resident of Douglas township for many years and is well known here. A brief review of his life and ancestry furnishes the following facts:

The family name was originally English[.] One of his ancestors was an ensign in the British army, and was a rebel and deserter. Coming to America he dropped his own name and assumed that of Ensign, which has been handed down to his posterity. The great-grandfather of our subject was a mechanic by trade and made cutlasses for the Revolutionary soldiers. His grandfather, Isaiah Ensign, was a captain in the war of 1812, and both he and his son William, father of W. H., were natives of Hartford, Connecticut. William was twenty years old when his father moved to New York State, and the former was engaged in the manufacture of salt at Syracuse when that town contained only four houses. He married Huldah Brookins, a native of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and a daughter of of Stephen Brookins, a native of Massachusetts. Stephen Brookins was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, as was also his wife's father, Michael Taylor. The Ensign family were among the early settlers in Madison county, New York, Captain Ensign died there, aged eighty-eight, and his wife, ninety-six.

In 1856 William and Huldah Ensign removed from Madison county, New York, to Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, where they remained until 1866, when they came to Adams county, Iowa. They reared a family of five children, four of whom are living. Here the mother died in 1873, and the father passed away at the age of seventy-five years. The latter was a Whig and subsequently a Republican; was an earnest Christian man, first a Baptist, afterward a Methodist, and at the time of his death a member of the United Brethren Church. The names of the children born to them are as follows: Polly Noise, of Bates county, Missouri; W. H., whose name heads this sketch; O. S., of Douglas township, Adams county; Stephen B., deceased, and Eunice Jenette Wright, of Bates county, Missouri.

Stephen B. Ensign was born in Madison county, New York, and was reared there and in Wisconsin. He was married in Adams county, Iowa, to Mrs. Mary E. Erskins, nee Spargur. She was born and reared in Highland county, Ohio, daughter of Caleb W., and Lydia Spargur. Her first husband, Michael Erskins, died in Highland county, Ohio, leaving her with one son, M. G. Erskins, who now resides with W. H. Ensign. Stephen B. Ensign and wife both died about the same time, some twelve years ago, leaving a daughter, Anna Belle Ensign, who also resides with her uncle, W. H. Ensign.

The subject of our sketch was reared on a farm in Madison county, New York, where he was born August 18, 1835. He received his education in the common schools of his native State, and was twenty years old when the family moved to Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin. February 9, 1864, he enlisted in Company I, Thirty-fifth Wisconsin Infantry, volunteers; served on the Mississippi river, most of the time doing provost and guard duty, and was honorably discharged at Madison, Wisconsin, May 12, 1865. In 1866 he came to Adams county, Iowa, with his parents and older sister, making the journey with teams and camping out at night. He settled on his present farm in 1870. It was then wild land, and under his judicious management it has been developed into a fine farm. The two-story residence is built on the southern style and is located somewhat back from the road. Mr. Ensign has given much attention to stock. He owns one horse, now twenty-six years old, that he brought with him from Wisconsin.

A jovial bachelor, honorable and upright in all his business dealings, and frank and cordial at all times, Mr. Ensign is a favorite among his many friends. He is a Republican and a member of the Meyerhoff Post.