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Thomas Simons is a retired farmer who for
two decades during the middle portion of the nineteenth century carried on
general agricultural pursuits in Delhi township, but since 1883 has lived
retired in Delhi, where he is widely and favorably known. He is very prominent
in the Grand Army of the Republic and on many occasions he has manifested
loyalty to the public good equal to that which he displayed when he followed the
stars and stripes upon the battlefields of the south. He was born in Ivanhoe,
England, May 10, 1839, a son of George and Sarah (Short) Simons, who in 1842
crossed the Atlantic to America, settling in Cleveland, Ohio. In the year 1860
they became residents of Delhi township, Delaware county, where the mother died
many years ago. After her demise the father returned to England, where his last
days were spent. At the time of the Civil war he served as a soldier in the
Union army, enlisting in August, 1862, in the Twenty first Iowa Volunteer
Infantry, and he participated in a number of important engagements which led up
to the final victory that crowned the Union arms. He was honorably discharged in
1865.
Thomas Simons attended the common schools of Ohio,
whither he was taken by his parents when a little lad of but three years. There
he remained until 1857, when at the age of eighteen years he came to Iowa,
settling in Dubuque, where he was employed for three years, after which he came
with his parents to Delhi township, Delaware county, where his father had
purchased land. He aided in the development of the home place but in August,
1862, responded to the country's call for troops and enlisted in defense of the
stars and stripes. With his regiment he went to the front and took part in a
number of the big battles of the war. He was mustered out at Baton Rouge on the
15th of July, 1865, when the war had been brought to a victorious close. He then
returned to Delaware county and resumed the occupation of farming, in which he
engaged until 1883, when he put aside the work of the fields and took up his
abode in Delhi, where he has since made his home, enjoying a well earned rest.
He derives a gratifying annual income from the farm of one hundred and sixty
seven acres which he still owns, it being rented.
On the 4th of February, 1866, at Delhi, Mr.
Simons was married to Miss Marion A. Talmadge, who was born in Rockton,
Illinois, a daughter of Nathan and Mary (Pitcher) Talmadge, who arrived in
Delaware county in the '40s and took up land. Their last days were spent in
Delhi and they were interred in the cemetery at that place. Mr. Simons attends
the Methodist church. His political support is given to the republican party
where national issues are involved, but he does not hesitate to cast an
independent ballot at local elections. He has filled various local offices,
remaining in one township position for fifteen years. He was first president on
the organizing of the Delhi Savings Bank. He has also served on the school board
and has held other offices which bring little or no remuneration but which
public-spirited citizens feel it a duty to accept and thus further public
progress.
Mr. Simons belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic
and to the Sons of Veterans. This is unusual, for seldom can one belong to the
two organizations, but Mr. Simmons is entitled to do so from the fact that while
he was serving as a soldier of the Civil war his father was also aiding in the
defense of the Union. In the Grand Army of the Republic he is very prominent. On
one occasion there was considerable talk concerning the erection of a soldiers'
monument through public subscription, but the effort was without result and Mr.
Simons then came to the front and donated the monument, which is now to be seen
in the Delhi cemetery and which is one of the finest in the country. Mr. Simons
is a man of strong convictions and his position is never an equivocal one. He
stands loyally for what he believes to be right and throughout his entire career
has displayed many sterling traits of character which have won him high regard. |
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