My Genealogy Hound

Matt Landan, one of the few remaining veterans of the Civil war and for years a prosperous farmer of Union county, owns a good tract of land in Douglas township. He has made his home in the county since 1872 and his present place of residence is far separated from the land of his birth, for he is a native of France, having first opened his eyes to the light of day on the River Rhine, February 6, 1837. There he was reared and attended the public schools but his knowledge of English has been self-acquired. In 1856 he emigrated to the new world, taking ship at Havre, France, and making what was considered a quick voyage across the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, arriving in New York harbor after thirty days. He did not tarry in the east, however, but made his way to the Mississippi valley, locating first at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He worked for three years in the city, after which he traveled through Minnesota, Missouri and Illinois, finally locating in Stark county of the last named state. There he worked at farm labor until 1862.

The country was engaged in the Civil war and with patriotic ardor Mr. Landan offered his services to the government, enlisting on the 15th of August, 1862, as a member of Company H, Ninety-third Illinois Infantry. With the regiment he went south to Memphis, Tennessee, and was first under fire at Holly Springs, Mississippi. He afterward participated in the battles of Jackson and Champion Hill and at the latter was wounded, a bullet passing across and through the small of his back, so disabling him that he was in the hospital for a month, after which he was granted a thirty days’ furlough and returned to Stark county, Illinois. On the expiration of his leave of absence he rejoined his regiment at Vicksburg and was afterward at Chattanooga and in the battle of Missionary Ridge. The succeeding winter was passed at Huntsville, Alabama, and in the ensuing year Mr. Landan participated in the battle of Dalton, Georgia, and in the Atlanta campaign. With the command he was sent back to Altoona, Georgia, where one of the most hotly contested engagements of the war occurred. Again he was wounded, this time in the head, and also sustained a flesh wound in the left side, after which he was in the hospital for about six weeks. Subsequently he went from Chattanooga to Newbern, North Carolina, and participated in a three days’ fight at Kingston on the trip. They met Sherman’s army at Goldsboro and with that command marched on to Washington, D. C, where Mr. Landan participated in the grand review, the most celebrated military pageant ever seen on the western continent. It was a gala day in the history of the country. Thousands of people lined the streets of the capital city to see the brave boys in blue whose courage, loyalty and sacrifice had saved the Union, and over the broad Pennsylvania avenue there was suspended a banner bearing the words: “The only debt which the country cannot pay is the debt that she owes her soldiers.” Later Mr. Landan was sent to Louisville, Kentucky, and there mustered out, while at Chicago on the 5th of July, 1865, he was honorably discharged.

The war having ended, Mr. Landan returned to Stark county, Illinois, with a most creditable military record, for in all the hotly contested battles, on the long marches or on the lonely picket line he had been loyal to the cause he espoused. Resuming the pursuits of civil life, he worked as a farm hand by the month and was married in Stark county on the 6th of March, 1867, to Miss Samantha Ricker, who was born and reared in Illinois. Following his marriage Mr. Landan operated a rented farm in Stark county for a year, after which he removed to Bureau county, Illinois, and took charge of a large farm there. After a year, however, he returned to Stark county and managed a stock farm of a thousand acres for Captain Stewart. In 1869 he came to Union county, Iowa, and purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in Douglas township.

In 1872 Mr. Landan removed to his farm in Iowa and immediately began to break the sod, to fence the fields and further improve the property. He erected good buildings and brought his fields under a high state of cultivation. Later he purchased an adjoining tract of eighty acres of raw land and subsequently bought eighty acres more in cultivation. His next purchase was a forty acre tract and he now owns altogether three hundred acres in one body. In the midst of the farm stands a commodious and substantial residence with good cellar underneath. He also has upon the place two barns, sheds, a double corn crib and in fact all of the improvements of a model farm. There is a good orchard and a beautiful grove of maple trees. Mr. Landan carried on farming there for fifteen years with excellent success and then bought a lot and built a pleasant home in Cromwell, where he has since lived retired, deriving a good income from his property. On his place in town he has a large garden and he also raises great quantities of small fruits.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Landan was born a daughter, Katie, who died March 1, 1886, in her fifteenth year, this being the greatest sorrow that has ever come to them. Mr. Landan is a charter member of Cromwell Post, G. A. R. Politically he is a republican, having stanchly supported the party since casting his first ballot for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He was reared in the Catholic church, while his wife is a member of the Baptist church. Mr. Landan is one of the few men of French birth who fought for the old flag of the Union and in all the intervening years he has been as loyal in citizenship as when he defended the stars and stripes upon the battlefields of the south. In business, too, he has made good use of his opportunities and through his own labor has gained the substantial competence that now enables him to live retired in the enjoyment of well earned ease.