Buena Vista County, IA
USGenWeb Project

Colonel George Currier has for more than a third of a century been a resident of Buena Vista county and during this time has been closely associated with various business interests which have been an element in the county's growth.  He is, moreover, entitled to representation in this volume from the fact that he is a veteran of the Civil war loyally aiding in the preservation of the Union.  He was one of live brothers who wore the blue during that dark hour in our country's history and never did he falter in the performance of his duty whether stationed on the lonely picket line or in the face of danger on the firing line.

He was born in Readfield, Maine, June 29, 1842.  His father, James C. Currier, was also a native of that town and his life record covered a span of eighty-two years, his death occurring in April, 1888.  He was of English descent and grandson of Jonathan Currier, who was a member of a New Hampshire regiment at the time of the Revolutionary war.  He served as orderly sergeant and laid down his life on the altar of liberty, being buried at Valley Forge.  He was a member of the regiment being commanded by Colonel John Stark, the hero of the battle of Bennington.  His son, Samuel Currier, father of James Currier, was a physician at Readfield, Maine, and served as a major in a Maine regiment in the war of 1812.

In his early manhood James Currier devoted his energies to teaching school, and after his marriage turned his attention to general agricultural pursuits.  In 1852 he removed to Massachusetts, where he resided until his death and in community affairs he took an active and helpful part, giving earnest support to many measures and movements which were of direct benefit to the locality.  He served as deputy sheriff and constable and voted with the whig party until its dissolution, when he joined the ranks of the new republican party, marching under its banners until his demise.  He was a man of broad mind and liberal views, who recognized the good in all and believed that the world was constantly growing better.  He held membership in the Universalist church and at a ripe old age passed from this life.  His wife bore the maiden name of Mehitable Harding, and was born in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.  She died August 8, 1876, at the age of sixty-six years.  She was of English descent and was also a representative of Revolutionary stock, for her grandfather, Moses Nickerson, was a private in a Massachusetts regiment.  He drew pension from 1817 until his death in 1842, the government thus recognizing the aid which he had rendered in the establishment of a republic.  Like her husband, Mrs. Currier was a member of the Universalist church.  They became the parents of thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters.  Five of the sons were valued soldiers of the Union army in the Civil war and though all were wounded all lived to return to their homes.

George Currier pursued his education in the schools of Natick, Massachusetts, and Readfield, Maine, after which he learned the shoemakers' trade, which he followed until the outbreak of hostilities between the north and the south in 1861.  He watched with interest the progress of the war until feeling that his first duty was to his country, he enlisted on the 4th of January, 1862, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, joining the Thirteenth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry under, command of Colonel Leonard.  He served with Company H for three months and was then honorably discharged because of disability.  On the 4th of January, 1864, having sufficiently recovered, Mr. Currier reenlisted as a member of the Seventh Massachusetts Battery and continued with that command for about twenty-one months, or until the close of the war.  He took part in the engagements of Mansur Plains, Yellow Bayou, Chevalier Bayou, Mobile, Fort Blakely and was wounded in front of Spanish Fort at Mobile.  He was, however, only in the hospital for a short time and he attained the rank of gunner.  The military history of the family is a most creditable one.  Samuel Currier, the eldest brother of our subject, joined the boys in blue of Company C, Thirteenth Massachusetts Infantry and rose to the rank of first lieutenant in the Forty-first Massachusetts, which he subsequently joined.  While still serving with the Thirteenth, at the battle of Antietam, he was reported mortally wounded.  His father then went to the front after him and returned with him to his home where, under careful nursing, he recovered.  Charles P. Currier, another brother, was a member of Company I, Thirty-ninth Massachusetts Infantry and attained the rank of orderly sergeant.  He lost a leg in the battle of the Wilderness, was captured and taken to Libby Prison, where he remained for about four months and was then exchanged.  He returned home at the close of the war but is now deceased.  Joseph Currier also became a member of Company I, Thirty-ninth Massachusetts Infantry and was company sergeant.  He was captured and sent to the prison at Salisbury, where he remained for thirteen weeks.  It was after he was wounded in the battle of the Wilderness that he was captured.  James Currier enlisted as a private in Company H, Thirteenth Massachusetts Infantry, under Colonel Leonard.  He was wounded in battle and was in a three days' fight at Gettysburg in the Shenandoah valley and was captured, but was paroled and sent to Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio.  Samuel Currier was captured in the field hospital at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, but was at once paroled.

In taking up the personal history of George Currier we present to our readers the life record of one who is widely and favorably known in Storm Lake.  He remained a resident of New England until 1866, when he removed to Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where he made his home for two years, and in 1868 became a resident of Dallas county, Iowa, where he lived for a year and a half, and in 1869 took up a homestead in Grant township.  On the 1st of May, 1870, he located on this farm which he tilled and cultivated until the 1^st of May, 1875, when he came to Storm Lake and engaged in the lumber business.  Soon afterward he was called to official duty, being appointed city marshal and street commissioner.  In 1877 he purchased the general store of J. A. Campbell and carried on the business for five years, after which he sold out and bought an interest in a coal, lumber and implement business, conducting this business under the firm name of Sweetser & Currier.  Three years later he sold out and again located on the farm, to which he added by additional purchases, while for eight years he tilled the soil, thereby winning a fair measure of prosperity in farming operations.  On the expiration of that period he retired to Storm Lake and was afterward appointed superintendent of roadmaking [sic] and city weighmaster [sic].  He has also been a member of the city council and in his different official positions has discharged his duties with promptness and fidelity.  He was also further identified with business interests here as a grain buyer and conducted the St. Paul and Kansas City elevator for two years, but is now living retired.

In 1866 Mr. Currier was married to .Miss Adelia Rokes, who was born in Appleton, Maine, in 1845 and is a daughter of Lincoln and -Alary A. (Gordon) Rokes, both of whom died during her early girlhood.  They were of English lineage and the father was a cooper by trade.  Mr. and Mrs. Currier are the parents of a daughter and son:  Mary Isabel, who was born in Stockton, Wisconsin, is the wife of August Duglosch, a clothing merchant of Storm Lake, and they have one child; Edward C., the son, was born in Redfield, Iowa.  He is now in the wholesale glass and paint business at Sioux City.  He, too, is married and has one child.

Mr. Currier is a member of Edward D. Baker Post No. 80, G. A. R., of which he has been adjutant twelve years and is a past commander.  He received the title of colonel by appointment as chief mustering officer in the Grand Army of the Republic by General Newman, on whose staff he served.  He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity and both he and his wife are members of the Universalist church, in which he is now serving as a member of the board of trustees.  He likewise belongs to the Sons of the American Revolution, and is also interested in everything pertaining to religious matters.  In his political views he has ever stood by that party which was the main defense of the Union during the dark days of the Civil war, voting the republican ticket.  He was the first township clerk of Grant township and one of its organizers, and he has also served as a member of the school board.  Patriotism might well be termed the keynote to his character.  It has been manifest in all of his relations of life and is evidenced by his faithful service in office and his cooperation with the various movements which have tended to promote the interests of county, state or nation. In 1907 he spent four months traveling through the east, visiting the Jamestown Exposition and many points in the New England States.