History of Wilkesville, (Vinton County) Ohio United States of America

Our database does not include an historic photo for Wilkesville, (Vinton County) Ohio, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

William Gates Le duc, agriculturist, was born in Wilkesville, Ohio, March 29, 1828; second son of Henry Savary and Polly (Stowell) Le Duc; grandson of Henri and Lucy (Sumner) Duc; great grandson of Capt. John and Elizabeth (Reynolds) Sumner; great2 grandson of William and Hannah (Clark) Sumner; great3 grandson of Hezekiah and Abigail (Bidwell) Sumner; great4 grandson of William Sumner, freeman, 1678; great5 grandson of William and Elizabeth (Clement) Sumner; great6 grandson of William and Mary (West) Sumner, who came to New England from Bicester, England, in 1636, and settled in Dorchester, Mass. Henri Due was a native of Lyons, France. William Gates Le Duc was graduated from Kenyon college, A.B., 1848, A.M., 1851; was admitted to the bar in 1850, and practised at St. Paul, Minn. He was a pioneer promoter Of immigration to Minnesota Territory, obtained the first charter for a railroad there, and organized the Wabash Bridge company which built the first bridge over the Mississippi river. He removed to Hastings, Minn., in 1856, and engaged in milling spring wheat and in shipping the flour, an industry that developed into the leading business of the territory and state. In 1862 he entered the army as assistant quartermaster of volunteers, with rank of captain, and was promoted lieutenant-colonel and assistant quartermaster, serving with the Army of the Potomac till after the Gettysburg campaign, when he went with General Hooker's command to the relief of Rosecrans in Tennessee. Being placed in charge of Bridgeport, he organized a base of supplies, built a steamboat and navigated with barges loaded with rations to Kelly's ferry, within reach of the starving troops at Chattanooga. He also supplied General Hooker's command, which had gone forward to clear the way and protect the transportation; went with General Sherman's army to Atlanta, and was chief quartermaster of General Thomas in repelling Hood's campaign. He was brevetted brigadier-general of U.S. volunteers in 1865. He returned to his farm at Hastings, Minn., and took an active interest in building railroads in that section. He was U.S. commissioner of agriculture, 1877-81, and organized what became the bureau of animal industry and the division of forestry in the department of agriculture. As commissioner of agriculture he also established a tea farm at Summerville, S.C., and encouraged the manufacture of sugar from sorghum cane and beets. On retiring from this office in 1881 he returned to his home at Hastings. He was married, March 25, 1851, to Mary Elizabeth, only daughter of Prof. G. P. Bronson, of Mount Vernon, Ohio. He was elected a member of the National Agricultural society of France, Dec. 7, 1881, the only other Americans at that time so honored being George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Thompson (Count de Rumford). He is the author of: The Little Steamboat that Opened the Cracker Line in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," Vol. Ill., p. 676, and of A Model State, a brief compilation of the constitution and laws of Minnesota.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Wilkesville, (Vinton County) Ohio

Biographies: