Absalom Sines was born around the year 1818 in Pennsylvania. Of his family, little is known. What we do know is that he moved west to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and, in 1854, he married Miss Mary Wadsworth, one of eight sisters from Maine. Her parents were Abner and Jeanette (Towers) Wadsworth. Miss Wadsworth's father was a lumber merchant, and her husband, a miller for Ely Mills, in the Cedar Rapids vicinity. One of her sisters, Mrs. William Smith (Miss Anna Towers Wadsworth) also lived in Cedar Rapids. Unfortunately, Mrs. Sines died only one year after her marriage, and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Seven years later, at the age of forty-four, Mr. Sines decided to enlist in the 24^th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment in order to suppress the rebellion. His brother-in-law, Mr. Smith, had enlisted, and been commissioned as a First Lieutenant of Company G. Absalom Sines enlisted on August 11, 1862, and mustered into the regiment on September 3, 1862, as a 4^th Sergeant. On May 16, 1863, Mr. Sines was killed in action in the battle of Champion's Hill, Mississippi. His body was returned to Iowa, and he was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery next to his beloved wife Mary.

Mary Wadsworth Sines and Absalom Sines' Gravestones