Henry Newhouse: Not the last man standing

Henry Andreas Newhouse was most noted when he died at age 94 on July 25, 1940, as the youngest of three veterans of the Civil War still alive and kicking in Lucas County. When funeral services were held the following Sunday at the Methodist church in Oakley, his seniors --- Robert Killen and William Humphreys, both 96 --- attended.

A few months later, rather than making a last-man-standing contest out of it, both Mr. Killen and Mr. Humphreys died at their respective homes on Jan. 25, 1941, thus closing in tandem a significant chapter of Lucas County history.

Many years later, representatives of the Iowa Division, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, came to Graceland and Mount Zion cemeteries, where Killen and Humphreys are buried, to recognize their longevity. You may read more about that if you like in two earlier Lucas Countyan posts, "Lucas County's Last Men Standing to be Honored" and "Going to Graceland: Honoring Civil War Veterans."

Henry, however, didn't receive so much as an honorable mention. But as it turns out, we have a portrait of this good-humored looking gentleman in the military collection at the Lucas County Historical Society, so I thought the least I could do was given him a belated nod. The Find A Grave image below the portrait is of his tombstone at Niswender Pioneer Cemetery.

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Henry was German-born, native to Harbke, Bordekreis, Saxony-Anhalt. His parents were Johann Friedrich Jacob and Dorothea Elisabeth (Rohloff) Neuhaus and he reportedly was born on Dec. 29, 1845.

Henry was a member of Chariton's Iseminger Post No. 18, Grand Army of the Republic, and his membership card includes a wealth of information, including the statement that his father, who died in 1848, perished after a fatal encounter with a windmill fan in Germany.

According to an article about Civil War veterans published in The Herald-Patriot on May 28, 1936, Henry came to the United States when 10 years old, ca. 1855, and started work as a butcher's apprentice when he was 12. This seems to have been a family group that included Henry's mother, a brother, Andreas Frederich, and a sister, Sophia Louisa, both of whom were older.

The family settled first in or near Hartford, Connecticut, and at the outbreak of the Civil War both Henry and Andreas enlisted during August of 1862 in Company D, 22nd Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. This was a 9-month unit assigned to guard and patrol duties within and adjacent to Washington, D.C. Although there were skirmishes, unit losses were to disease rather than combat and Henry returned safely to Hartford and was discharged at the expiration of his term of service during July of 1863.

Henry arrived in Chariton during 1869 and it is possible that his mother, brother and sister lived here, too, briefly --- but they moved on to Red Cloud, Nebraska, while Henry remained.

According to that 1936 Herald-Patriot article, at first he "worked in a (meat) market operated by Jacob Yengel, father of Bert and Fred Yengel, who now own the business." But Henry turned to farming, purchased land in he Oakley neighborhood northwest of Chariton and lived there for more than 50 years.

He married Regina Kull on Sept. 8, 1872, and they had three sons --- William F., Harry and Charles J. Charles died as a young man, age 21, on Jan. 11, 1898, and he was the first family member buried in Niswender Cemetery, near the family home.

Regina died at the age of 83 on Nov. 26, 1925, and was buried beside Charles. Two years later, Henry married Clara (McCaffrey) Curtis and they established a new home together in Lucas. Henry also outlived Clara, who died during June of 1938.

Henry died at home in Lucas during July of 1940 and, as noted earlier, funeral services were held the Sunday afternoon following at the Methodist Church in Oakley. Burial followed beside Regina and Charles in the Niswender Cemetery.