Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-07-07
IS SURVIVOR OF
THE : REAL SONS
WESLEY J. BANKS, LIVING NEAR
CENTERViLLE, SERVED IN
MEXICAN WAR.

Centerville, July 5.-Wesley Banks
living southwest of Centerville, has
lot of friends in this county. He is one
of the old war heroes of the country
having served in the Mexican war
He was able to come to. Centerv1lle
decoration day and met several OF the
soldier boys in whom he maintains
such an interest.
To be a son of the American Revo
luton is an honor in itself, but to be
the only man in Iowa whose father
was soldier Of the revolutionary wal
carries with it far greater honor
Such is the distinction borne by Yves
ley Johnson Banks, whose home is In
Appanoose county, about Ave miles
from Centerville
Several sons Of revolutionary sires
have lived in Iowa, a fact not at all
strange when it is remembered that
at least eight and probably ten sold
iers of the revolution passed their de
cining days in Iowa, and have been
buried in Iowa soil. But Mr.. Banks
is the last survivor Of the real sons
in Iowa.
William Banks, the father of Yves
ley Johnson Banks, was born In Cul'
pepper county, Virginia, June %, 1852
He enlisted in the patriot army at
Amherst county, Virginia, and served
six months as sergeant in Captain Pop
Inns company Of Colonel Richardson
regiment under command of Baron
Steuben, and was in service through
the war. Linn Banks and William
Brown, his grandfathers. were also in
$1r A ri -, fronHOno
That several of his relatives were in
the war of 1872 shows that the family
were of fighting stock. For fourteen
years Wesley lived in daily, hourly
touch with one who was true in days
that tried mems souls" and absorbed
from his father his patriot zeal.
Wesley Johnson Banks, when he
was born in Garrard county, Kentucky,
July %, 1925, thus inherited fighting
qualities which were sure to assert
themselves in time. The father. Will
lam Banks. died in 1899, in Putnam
county, Indiana, having removed from
Kentucky some time before.
The young Wesley, being full of the
fire of youth. and true to the warllke
spirit of his ancestors, enlisted in the
First Indiana regiment when the Mex
lean war came on. as did his brother
Joseph. Young Banks served faith
fully and efficiently in the Mexican
war and on receiving his discharge
at it's close. at once re-enlisted in the
regular army and marched with the
troops sent to California. remaining in
the service in California until he re-
ceived an honorable discharge March
81. 1S49. ..s .a,.-,
He returned home in 1851. via Pan
anna and New Orleans, and soon after!
ward removed to Iowa and settled in
Appanoose county, which has been his
home ever since, where he is an hon
ored and esteemed member of the
community As the result of an acct
dent he has not been able to walk for
nine years. In his young manhood
he stood six feet tall. was Of COM
presence and pleasing per
son. His eighty years have not
clouded his mind nor left him without
interest in men and events and his
mind is we'll filed storehouse OF
knowledge garnered through his four
score years.
He became member Of the Iowa
Society Of the Sons of the American
Revolution in July, 1897, and it is
with pride that the society carries
his name upon it's rolls.