Ira Day Brougher

Son of a blacksmith, in 1860 he was a 17 year old servant living with his parents and siblings at Lewisburg, York County, PA. On 9 August 1862, by then a coachbuillder, he mustered into service as a Private in Company F, 130th Pennsylvania Infantry

He was wounded in the right arm action at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He was hospitalized in Harrisburg, PA, and his right arm was amputated. He was discharged on 25 December 1862 for wounds and was a US Government storekeeper at Alexandria, VA until 1866.

He graduated from the Philadelphia Commercial Business College in 1867 and was a bookkeeper in York County to at least 1870 and a traveling salesman. He moved to Great Bend, KS in February 1875, made a homestead claim, and began farming. He was elected Town Clerk in 1877, and was reelected to at least 1883. By 1896 he had considerable acreage and began breeding registered Hereford stock. He was also in real estate, insurance, and made loans. He'd finally retired by 1920, and lived alone in Great Bend, then age 76.

Service basics from Bates.1 Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860, 1870, 1900, & 1920, and bio sketches in William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas (1883) and Lewis Publishing's A Biographical History of Central Kansas (1902). His gravesite is on Findagrave.

05/14/1843; York County, PA

05/17/1920; burial in Great Bend Cemetery, Great Bend, KS