VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR: REUBEN CADE
BY KAREN HANSEN
Death of Reuben Cade
The death of Ruben [Reuben] Cade last Thursday morning [May 29, 1902] while not entirely unexpected by his family was a surprise to many of his friends who had not thought his illness of a serious nature. He died from heart trouble from which he has been suffering for many years.
He was born at Coshocton, Ohio, August 31, 1848 [July 30, 1847 per his age on his tombstone], and came to Iowa while yet a boy and grew to manhood in this state, coming to Walnut twenty-four years ago. He was united in marriage September 1, 1867 with Margret Soper, who with ten children survives him. All of whom were present at the funeral which was held from the home at two o’clock Sunday afternoon by Rev. Andrew Herron of the Presbyterian church. The Woodmen of the World Lodge, of which he was a member took charge of the funeral and conducted it in accordance with the rituals of the lodge. A large number of Woodmen were here from Harlan, Avoca, Marne and other places to pay the last sad respects to their departed brother and friend. (The Walnut Bureau, June 6, 1902)
Reuben Cade served in the Confederacy during the Civil War. On July 25, 1862, he enlisted at Lewis County, Missouri for 1 year in Co. B, 2nd Regiment Northeast Missouri Cavalry. Rueben claimed to be 23, but I believe that he was much younger, about 15. On September 9 or October 1, 1862 [records differ], he was captured in Knox County, Missouri and was transferred from St. Louis, Missouri to Alton Military Prison in Illinois on January 6, 1863. On April 8, 1863, he was exchanged at City Point, Virginia. Records show that Private Cade also served in the 1st Regiment Northeast Missouri Cavalry and in Company D of the 9th Battalion, Missouri Sharpshooters. His name appears on a prisoners of war roll due to the surrender at New Orleans, Louisiana on May 26, 1865 and paroled on June 7, 1865.
The only Reuben Cade that I found in Missouri was in the 1860 Census in Jeddo Township, Knox County, Missouri. He was 20, should have been 13, and was born in Ohio. He was in the household of John King and Eliza J. King, age 18, also born in Ohio and possibly a sister. Interestingly, Reuben belonged to the J. A. Dix GAR Post #408 at Walnut even though he served on the Confederate side.
By the 1870 Census, Reuben, 28, was married to Margaret, 22, and they had a son, John Edward, who had been born in January. Reuben was a farmer, with $300 of personal estate value in Nodaway Township, Adams County, Iowa.
Walnut was their home in 1880, where Reuben was a mason. Their children were John E., 9, Margaritt, 7, Charles, 6, and Esta, 3. By 1900, they had a large household living in Walnut. Their children were Charles, Elvera, Oscar, Allice, Lewis, Nick and Verne. Also with them were John H. Smith, stepbrother, Adelia Meagher, daughter and Margaret, May and Alta Meagher, listed as step-granddaughters, but should be granddaughters if Adelia was a daughter. Her marriage record on January 27, 1909, listed her name as Margaret Cade Maher, with R. Cade and Margaret Soper as her parents. She married J. Stonestreet in Avoca, Iowa.
John H. Smith, Reuben’s stepbrother, was 35 and single, born in Iowa in August, 1865. His father was born in Virginia and his mother was born in Ohio, as was Reuben’s mother. Apparently, Reuben’s mother married a Smith after her marriage to a Cade.
“Reuben Cade, it is presumed, is exhibiting his two headed calf and smallest dog on earth to the Blue Grass Palace visitors this week. From Creston he will go to Des Moines to show during the state fair.” (The Walnut Bureau, August 21, 1891)
In the 1892 Walnut Resident Directory, Reuben Cade, a plasterer, lived on the West Side, no street address.
“W. O. W. Certificate Paid in Full. A word to the many friends who so often have said to me that the certificate my late husband held in the W. O. W. was not worth the paper it was written on.
This is to certify that the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World, of which my late husband was a member; has made full and complete settlement with me for $1000.00 being the amount of the certificate held by him, and they have also delivered an order for $100.00 for a monument to be placed over his grave. I desire also to thank the sovereign Camp for its promptness and the kind treatment shown me in making this settlement which was done without any quibble or hesitancy on its part, and only three weeks from the date of his death until I received the money. Very sincerely, Margaret Cade.” (The Walnut Bureau, June 27, 1902)
The monument at the grave of Reuben Cade was erected late in the fall of 1902. It was unveiled by the Woodmen of the World in a formal ceremony on June 14, 1903. They marched from the W. O. W. hall to the Cade home, then to the cemetery. There was singing by a choir and music by the Avoca band, along with speeches by the officers of the Omaha lodge. It was detailed in the local newspaper.
Margaret Lovina Soper Cade was born at Kittley Corner, Canada, on February 17, 1849, and died at her late home in Walnut, Iowa, November 7th 1914, aged 65 years, 8 months and 21 days.
She came to Iowa with her parents in 1866, who settled on a farm near Villisca, and on September 1st, 1867 she was united in marriage to Reuben Cade. To this union were born eleven children, ten of whom survive her, namely, Edgar, Charles, Oscar, Lewis, Mrs. Frank McLyman [Esther L.], Mrs. Elvira Dougherty of Walnut, Nick and Vern Cade and Mrs. Alice Boch [Bach] of Harlan, and Mrs. Della Stonestreet of Council Bluffs. She is also survived by one sister and four brothers, all of whom mourn the loss of a dear mother, sister and friend.
Funeral services were held at the home, Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock. Rev. E. R. Stroud conducted the services, assisted by Rev. J. B. Cherry. Interment was made in the Walnut cemetery.
In the presence of such a sorrow, how cold and impotent are words and how doubly deep would be the grief over the grave did not the rainbow of Christian hope span the dark gulf between time and eternity, and such pure lives inspire the belief that there is a better world beyond, where, free from the corroding cares of earth, the good and true are reunited. It is the broken ties at the grave that prompts us to a fuller appreciation of the tenderness of the ties that are not yet broken and so when we mourn the loss of our dead we may rejoice that there is no cloud so dark that there is no light behind it, no sorrow so poignant that there is not a balm for the wound it inflicts. (The Walnut Bureau, November 12, 1914)
Searching the Walnut newspapers, I found that Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Cade had twins on April 15, 1886. On August 14, 1886, one of their infant children passed away after an illness of only a few hours. Alice Bach was the surviving twin. On June 3, 1888, they became the parents of a son, Louis A. Cade.
After the death of Mrs. Reuben Cade, her children advertised a good eight room house, with about 2 acres of land, in a good location was for sale. The ads appeared in the local paper in early 1915. This property, on the east side of town, was just south of 901 Pearl Street in Walnut.
Betty Griffith, who we featured in our last newsletter, was a granddaughter of Reuben and Margaret Cade.
KH
