My Genealogy Hound

D. P. JUNK. Measured by the length of residence of the oldest settlers, the subject of this sketch may be considered a comparatively recent accession to the population of the town of Shelton, Buffalo county, where he settled in May, 1883. Mr. Junk came from Fairfax, Linn county, Iowa, to Nebraska; his native place, however, being Fayette county, Ohio. He is descended from pioneer ancestors, people of strong limbs and stout hearts. He is of Welsh and Scotch extraction, his paternal grandfather, Thomas Junk, being a native of Wales, who came to America when a lad and settled when a young man in Fayette county, Ohio, and his mothers people coming from Scotland to the Western states by way of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Junk’s father, whose christian name was Thomas, was born in Fayette county, Ohio, was reared and married there, and in after years moved to Bloomington, Ill., and then to Linn county, Iowa, where he subsequently lived and died. He lived till 1876, having reached his seventy-second year.

Mr. Junk’s mother, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Pinkerton, being a daughter of William Pinkerton, was born in Pennsylvania and came West at an early date with her parents, who settled in Fayette county, Ohio. There she was reared and married. She is still living.

Thomas and Elizabeth Junk were the parents of five children, of whom the subject of this biographical notice is the third. The others are — Amelia, now wife of Thomas Springer, of Fairfax, Iowa; Emily, wife of Andrew D. Karr, of Dakota; Ada, wife of Calvin Harrow, of Des Moines, Iowa, and James C., of Fairfax, Iowa. These are all living.

The third, David P., an outline of whose life is here proposed, was born in Fayette county, Ohio, April 4, 1844. He was reared mainly in Bloomington, Ill., whither his father moved when he was small, and was a young man when his father moved to Iowa. Entering the army early in the spring of 1862, when he had just turned into his eighteenth year, the next three years of his life were spent “where the roar of cannon and the rattle of musketry made the only music that greeted his ears,” while the long, fatiguing marches and the privations and hardships of camp life contrasted forcibly with the peace and comforts of the home in which he had been reared. Mr. Junk enlisted in Company A, Fifteenth Iowa volunteer infantry, his regiment forming a part of the famous Iowa brigade, which, under the command of Colonel Crocker, did such noble execution, and an outline of its history is here worth mentioning, as showing in some measure the part Mr. Junk took as one of the countless thousands of brave men, now “to fortune and to fame unknown.”

The Fifteenth Iowa was organized at Keokuk, February 22, 1862, and mustered in on March 14th. It left the state, one thousand and thirty-eight strong, on March 19th, stopping at St. Louis, where it was armed and equipped, and on the morning of April 6th arrived at Pittsburg Landing, just as the battle of Shiloh was beginning. It had been previously assigned to Prentiss’ division, but, unable to find that command, Colonel Reid ordered the regiment into line and it fought in McClernand’s division; though entering the battle with so little preparation, it rendered efficient service and acquitted itself creditably. Its loss at Shiloh was twenty-one killed, one hundred and fifty-six wounded, and eight missing — a total of one hundred and eighty-five out of seven hundred and sixty engaged. Soon after this battle the famous Iowa brigade, composed of the Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth, was formed and placed under command of Colonel Crocker, and in the battle of Corinth fought in McKean’s division. The Fifteenth, Col. Wm. W. Belknap commanding, sustained the principal loss in the brigade, its casualties amounting to eleven killed, sixty-seven wounded and eight missing, out of about three hundred and fifty engaged. In the early spring of 1863, the regiment encamped near Lake Providence, La., and assisted in digging the military canal, connecting the lake with the Mississippi river. It was then placed in McArthur’s division, seventeenth corps, and served through the Vicksburg campaign of that summer. The regiment re-enlisted, and, returning from its veteran furlough, joined Sherman’s army, June 10, 1864, at Kenesaw, Ga., and served in the remainder of the Atlanta campaign. In the battle of Atlanta, July 21 and 22, the regiment lost one hundred and seventy-eight men, killed, wounded and missing, and captured the flags of two Confederate regiments. It was on the march to the sea and in the campaigns through the Carolinas. Mr. Junk’s term of enlistment expired while the army was around Atlanta and he did not re-enlist, he was in all the engagements, however, up to that date. He served as private and later as sergeant. He returned home in the summer of 1864 and went to farming. A few years afterwards he embarked in the mercantile business in Fairfax, Iowa, and remained there in that business till coming to Nebraska, in May, 1883.

On locating in Shelton, his present place of residence, he entered into partnership with John S. Hedges, who came from Fairfax, Iowa, with him, forming the firm of Hedges & Junk, and began handling grain, lumber and coal. He has been so engaged since.

In addition to this, Mr. Junk has an interest in the Shelton State Bank, having helped to organize that institution, and is now vice-president of it. He is chairman of the board of the town council of Shelton, and chairman also of the board of trustees of the Shelton high school. He belongs to Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Shelton, and is a zealous member of the Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Junk is a man of family, having married in Fairfax, Iowa, in October, 1867. His wife before marriage was Miss Anna McLaughlin, a daughter of Ira McLaughlin, a citizen then of Fairfax. Mrs. Junk was born and reared in Claremont, N. H., and comes of old New England stock. To this union have been born four children, three girls and one boy, the eldest two of whom are now dead, the others being — Bertha and Herbert L.

Mr. Junk has been an almost life-long member of the Presbyterian church, inheriting his belief from an ancestry distinguished for their attachment to that faith.

The Junk family are socially of very high standing in the community in which they live.