Aquilla
Standifird
From the Indianola Herald Newspaper,
Iowa; Thursday, February 4, 1932
Captain Aquilla Standifird, 93, Hears Last Roll Call.
Captain A. Standifird, 93, who was a resident of Wayne county for a number of years and had many friends here, passed away in the National Soldiers' Home at Leavenworth, Kansas., Jan. 2, 1932. Funeral services were held in the Lilly funeral home at Des Moines, Tuesday with burial at Indianola. The following is the life story of Captain Standiford:
Aquilla Standifird, son of William and Rebecca Standifird, was born in Ripley county, Ind., October 22, 1838. He passed death's portals Jan. 2, 1932, at the National Soldiers' Home at Leavenworth, Kan., making him 3 months and 10 days past his 93rd birthday. His parents moved from Indiana to Kirksville, Iowa, in the fall of 1853. In the spring of '54 they located on a farm one mile west of Drakesville. In the spring of 1859 they moved to Wayne Co, Iowa. He was married to Anna Gray, October 5, 1860, and to them were born 8 children, 5 girls and 3 boys. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he answered President Lincoln's call for volunteers and enlisted July 26, 1861, in Company D, 23rd Iowa Infantry. He was chosen as 1st sergeant upon the organization of the company and in April of 1863 was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant. He was in various battles in the Midwest and was in the entire siege of Vicksburg. Because of ill health caused by sickness and exposure in the siege he was honorably discharged from the army in the spring of 1864. Upon his return home to Wayne county, he was commissioned as captain of the Grand River militia company, which place he held until the disbanding of the company some months after the close of the war. With bushwhackers coming from Missouri, and Knights of the Golden Circle, the captain of the militia company was in almost as grave danger as though in the union ranks in active service.
After the war his home was on a farm east of Clio, until in 1892 when he sold out and moved to Indianola. A few years later, Mr. and Mrs. Standifird moved to Des Moines, residing on Logan avenue. While here they united with the Simpson M. E. church and Mr. Standifird became a member of Kinsman Post Grand Army of the Republic, in which he retained his membership until his transfer to the Great Beyond. After a few years residence in Des Moines they returned to Indianola where in 1914 the companion of the years, passed to her crowing. Since her death, Mr. Standifird has made his home with his children and in the Soldiers' home at Leavenworth.
Of the eight children born, all survive their father. They are Mrs. Ida Allen of Fresno, Calif., Mrs. Inez Burnett, Des Moines; William Standifird of Woodward; Mrs. Maude Jones, May, Okla.; Mrs. Nettie Silcott, Pleasanton; Mrs. Edith Silcott, Des Moines; Edward Standifird and Guy Standifird, both of Des Moines. In the immediate family there are 26 children, 20 great grandchildren and a great great grandchild.
* Aquilla Standifird is buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Manoah Section, at Indianola, Iowa.
Click here for the lineage of Aquilla Standifird
Click
here for Aquilla's Civil War Diary - a must read!.
