JAMES INGRAM

ONE OF THE OLD CITIZENS OF RINGGOLD COUNTY, MR. JAMES INGRAM PASSED AWAY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1899, AT THE HOME OF HIS DAUGHTER, MRS. G.F. LESAN, IN POE TOWNSHIP. MR. INGRAM WAS BORN IN MORROWSHIRE NEAR ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND, APRIL 11, 1812. HE OBTAINED HIS EDUCATION AND SPENT HIS EARLY LIFE IN HIS NATIVE COUNTRY, AND COULD RELATE MANY INTERESTING MEMORIES OF THAT PERIOD OF HIS LIFE. EARLY IN LIFE HE UNITED WITH THE SECEDER CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. HE ALWAYS MANIFESTED DUE REVERENCE AND RESPECT TOWARD DIVINE THINGS, SO COMMON TO THE SCOTCH PEOPLE. GOD’S PROVIDENCES AND EVERTHING PERTAINING TO THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIANITY IN GENERAL, WERE SACRED IN HIS EYES AND COMMANDED HIS RESPECT. HIS EARLY TRAINING FOLLOWED HIM THROUGH ALL THE VARIED SCENES OF HIS LIFE, AND MUST HAVE MADE A DEEP IMPRESSION UPON HIS EARLY YEARS. HE CAME TO AMERICA IN 1835 AND SETTLED IN OHIO. AT SAVANNAH, IN THAT STATE, HE WAS UNITED IN MARRIAGE TO MARGARET BUCHAN JULY 22, 1837. HE USED TO SAY THAT HIS WIFE CAME TO HIM ACROSS THE WATER. TO THIS UNION EIGHT CHILDREN WERE BORN, SIX OF WHOM, WITH HIS COMPANION, HAVE PASSED ON BEFORE. HIS WIFE DIED ABOUT 2 YEARS AGO. THEY HAD OBSERVED THEIR GOLDEN WEDDING. MR. INGRAM WAS WHAT THEY USED TO CALL A “49ER” THAT IS HE BELONGED TO THAT LARGE CLASS OF MEN WHO WENT TO CALIFORNIA TO SEEK THEIR FORTUNES. THE GRAND RUSH WAS IN 1819, ALTHOUGH MR. INGRAM WENT SOME TIME IN 1848. HE KNEW MUCH OF THE WORLD. HIS EXPERIENCES RELATING TO HIS CALIFORNIA TRIP, AS RELATED BY HIMSELF, WERE EXCEEDINGLY INTERESTING. HIS FUND OF INFORMATION WAS VERY GREAT, AND BUT FOR THE FACT OF HIS DULL HEARING, WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH SOUGHT AFTER. HE COULD TELL THINGS WITH A CHARMING SCOTCH SYMPLICITY, AND NO DOUBT WITH GREAT ACCURANCY. HE LOVED TO TELL OF HIS EXPERIENCES. HE WORKED HARD AND FOUND PLENTY OF GOLD. AT ONE TIME HE HAD FOR THOSES DAYS A SNUG FORTUNE HID IN HIS TENT IN THE SHAPE OF A BAG OF GOLD DUST–AND IT WAS STOLEN. HE LOST ALL HIS HARD LABOR AND IN AFTER DAYS LAUGHED AT THE INCIDENT. FINALLY HE CAME HOME WITH A LITTLE MONEY AND BRAVELY TOOK UP THE BURDENS OF LIFE. IN 1856 HE MOVED TO KNOX COUNTY, ILLINOIS, WHERE HE REMAINED FOUR YEARS. HE THEN MOVED TO MISSOURI AND STAYED TWO YEARS, AND THEN RETURNED TO ILLINOIS, WHERE HE LIVED UNTIL 1876, AT WHICH TIME HE MOVED TO RINGGOLD COUNTY, IOWA. HE WAS BY TRADE A STONE MASON AND WORKED WHEN OPPORTUNITY OFFERED. HE WAS ALWAYS INDUSTRIOUS AND DESPISED THE IDLER. HE DIED OF OLD AGE. OF ALL DISEASES THIS IS THE MOST INCURALBE. AGE HAD DULLED ALL HIS SENSES AND HE HAD REACHED THAT STAGE OF LIFE WHEN HE COULD SAY WITH BRAZILLAI: “CAN I HEAR ANY MORE THE VOICE OF SINGING MEN AND SINGING WOMEN?” HE LEAVES TWO CHILDREN TO MOURN HIS DEATH, J.R. INGRAM AND MRS. FRANK LESAN. THE FUNERAL TOOK PLACE FROM THE HOME OF MRS. LESAN SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, AT 9:30 A.M. AND WAS CONDUCTED BY REV. DR. JOSEPH CALHOUN OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. THE INTERMENT WAS MADE IN ROSE HILL CEMETERY.