Leroy W. ALLUM

  General Notes:

Tin-type: The only identified image in an album, this tin-type of Leroy W. Allum as a Civil War soldier is shared by Julie Eggert Getter. A pleasant surprise, this likeness surfaced approximately 147 years after it was created!

A native of Pennsylvania, Leroy lived in Newton, Jasper County, Iowa when he enlisted at age 18 in 1862. Leroy and his father, Thomas Allum, were in the 22nd Iowa Regiment, Company C.


Copy of tin-type provided to ALLUM by Julie Eggert Getter in 2009



Born in Greene County, Pennsylvania in 1844, at age 9 Leroy migrated with his parents to Iowa where the family is documented in the 1854 Iowa State Census in Davenport, Scott County. By 1860 the family resided in Jasper County where, at age 18 in 1862, Leroy enlisted in the Civil War, joining the 22nd Regiment, Company C.

On this page we are privileged to have Leroy's image as a Civil War soldier from an 1860s tin-type shared by Julie Eggert Getter. His likeness is the only identified image in an album that originated in Iowa County, Iowa. Likely taken in 1862, the year he enlisted in the war, it has become public 147 years later (2009) and demonstrates yet again the power of the Internet combined with a willingness on the part of another to share.

Leroy was a son of Thomas and Matilda Allum. While yet a resident of Jasper County, he became publisher of newspapers known as SOUTH SIDE TRANSCRIPT and MONROE MIRROR. A Californian by 1882, he published a daily and weekly Republican paper called VIDETTE, a venture he continued for nine years.

Leroy preceded his wife, Alice Gertrude Israel, in death by ten years. As noted on this page, they are buried in Olivewood Cemetery in Riverside, Riverside County, California.

Of interest: Leroy's father Thomas also served in the 22nd Iowa Regiment, Company C.


--DeeAnna Allum Granston



1844 BIRTH of Leroy W. Allum (his middle name was "Wood" or "Woods")

1850 CENSUS, Pennsylvania, Greene County, Richhill Township ("Leroy Woods," age 6, with parents) (Thomas and 1st wife Matilda)

1853 MIGRATED from Pennsylvania to Iowa (with parents Thomas and Matilda)

1854 CENSUS, Iowa State Census, Scott County, Davenport (Leroy is one of three males--including his father--in the Thomas Allum household)

1856 CENSUS, Iowa State Census, Scott County, Davenport ("Leroy W.," age 12, with parents) (Thomas and 1st wife Matilda)

1859 DEATH of grandmother, Jemima (Barnhart) Allum

1860 CENSUS, Iowa, Jasper County, Newton Township, Newton ("Leroy W.," age 16, with parents) (Thomas and 1st wife Matilda)

1863 DEATH of mother Matilda

1865 MARRIAGE of father Thomas to stepmother, Rebecca Wert

1868 DEATH of grandfather, Charles W. Allum

1870 CENSUS, Iowa, Jasper County, Newton Township, Newton ("Leroy," age 26, with father Thomas and stepmother Rebecca) (Leroy "Allums," age 26, "Printer")

1872 ESTABLISHED newspaper in Fairview Township, Jasper County, Iowa, according to excerpt below from the 1878 HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY, IOWA, Western Historical Company, Chicago, Illinois, page 451:

Re NEWSPAPERS:

Monroe Mirror.--This paper was established by Leroy W. Allum in 1872, bearing the name of South-Side Transcript, but was changed to the Mirror late in 1873 in consequence of Mr. Allum having sold the Transcript's material, but not the subscription list, the purchaser having forgotten to include the latter in the bargain, and would not pay a reasonable price in addition. Mr. Allum continued the Mirror till 1877 when P. St. Clair took a partnership for a time but retired in four months when Mr. Allum again took full ownership, which he still holds. The Transcript and Mirror continued side by side for about nine months when the Transcript "turned its toes to the daisies." In April, 1877, Betzer & Jarnigan started the Times, which endured three brief months. Betzer was old enough to have known better. Later on, the Monitor, a little monthly, was started by Elder J. W. Todd, which in three months was changed to the Temperance Reform, which issue it advocated three months, when it was converted into a weekly local paper that stood a "racket" of adozen weeks, with four editors. The Mirror is a six-column quarto paper, and is doing a good business. It is Republican in politics and edited with taste and judgment."

1872 newspaper, SIOUX CITYJOURNAL, Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa October 3:

Leroy W. Allum has started a Republican newspaper called the South-side Transcript at Monroe, Jasper County, Iowa.

1874 MARRIAGE of Leroy W. Allum and Alice Gertrude Israel at the bride's parents' home in Monroe, Jasper County, Iowa by Methodist Minister D. McIntire*

1878 HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY, IOWA, Western Historical Company, Chicago, Illinois, page 551:

Fairview Township:
ALLUM, L. W.; Editor of Monroe Mirror, Monroe

1880 CENSUS, Iowa, Jasper County, Monroe ("L. W. Allence," age 36, "Editor") (Leroy published the SOUTH SIDE TRANSCRIPT in the 1870s)


1882 newspaper, FRESNO REPUBLICAN, Fresno, Fresno County, California, May 6:

PROSPEROUS EXCHANGES. -- The Los Angeles Express, one of the most wide-awake papers of the state, has donned a new dress. The Tulare Times has passed into the hands of W. G. Miller, an experienced journalist, and the first number under his management presents a vigor of improvement that must meet with a general appreciation. The Weekly Vidette, published by L. W. Allum at East Oakland, is this week welcomed to our table. It is now in its seventh volume, has recently enlarged in size, and treats comprehensively a wide range of subjects."


1897 DEATH of father, Thomas Allum

1900 CENSUS, Arizona Territory, Gila County, Globe ("L. W. Allum," age 56, head of household with his son, "F. M." (Frederick Melville); (Leroy, "Telephone Manager")

1900 CENSUS, California, Riverside County, Riverside ("Alice G.," age 43, with daughter "Ruth," age 9)

1910 CENSUS, California, Riverside County, Riverside ("Leroy W.," age 65, "Superintendent, Electric Plant") (wife "Alice," age 53)

1918 DEATH of stepmother, Rebecca (Wert) Allum

1920 CENSUS, California, Riverside County, Riverside ("Leroy W.," age 76, occupation "none"; a notation on the census states, "Not at home -- information from neighbors") (wife "Alice," age 66)

1930 CENSUS, California, Riverside County, Riverside ("Laroy W.," age 85, occupation "None" [retired] ) (wife "Alice G.," age 73)

1932 DEATH, Leroy W. llum, at the Veterans Administration Home at 88 years 4 months 27 days

1942 DEATH of wife, Alice Gertrude (Israel) Allum, at 86 years 0 months 25 days



Alice's father, M. C. Israel, was a merchant in Monroe, Jasper County, Iowa


*Leroy and Alice's wedding reception was at the home of Leroy's elder sister and her husband, Minerva Jane (Allum) Garton and William Thomas Garton


The Leroy Woods Allum family Bible with birth, marriage and death records is in the possession of a descendant of Leroy and Alice



MILITARY SERVICE: Civil War, Corporal, Company C, 22nd Regiment, IOWA Infantry Volunteers, August 2, 1862 to July 25, 1865, honorably discharged at Savannah, Georgia. There is no physical description of Leroy in his military record.

From ROSTER OF IOWA VOLUNTEERS, Iowa State Department of History and Archives, Des Moines, Iowa:

ALLUM, Leroy W.

Age 18. Residence Newton, nativity Pennsylvania. Enlisted August 2, 1862. Mustered August 28, 1862. Promoted Fifth Corporal July 30, 1863; Fourth Corporal March 6, 1864; Third Corporal May 17, 1865. Mustered out July 25, 1865, Savannah, Georgia. 22nd Regiment, Company C.

Note: According to the biography of Leroy Woods Allum in AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (see "BOOK" category, below), Leroy was in the following battles: Port Gibson, Champion Hill, Black River and at the siege of Vicksburg. "It was his regiment, under Colonel William M. Stone (afterward Governor of Iowa), that planted the flag upon the works, when twenty-eight men were killed in a few minutes, and some captured. They were obliged to withdraw, but they brought the colors back with them. Vicksburg was taken the 4th of July following. After this the regiment was in the battle of Jackson, Mississippi and was in New Orleans and Texas and on the Red River campaign. They were also in the Shenandoah Valley, Fish Hill, Cedar Creek and Winchester. In 1866, he with his bunk and messmate, Thomas M. Rogers, started the REPUBLICAN, a newspaper, at Newton, Iowa, which he continued until 1878 when he moved to Oakland, California, where he published the VIDETTE, a Republican paper (daily and weekly) and continued there nine years."


MILITARY PENSION RECORD: No. XC 2 653 031


DESCRIPTION: No physical description in military record


SIGNATURES: Leroy W. Allum and Alice G. Allum (from military record)


AMONG OCCUPATIONS: Publisher of the SOUTH SIDE TRANSCRIPT, Monroe, Jasper County, Iowa in the 1870s; associated with others newspapers, including, later, one in Riverside, California

DeeAnna Allum Granston, October 2, 1964 letter to Shirley Allum Hudlicky:

"It rained the two days going to and returning from DesMoines. 'Stopped at City Cemetery in Monroe, Iowa, 'walked through it but found nothing. There was a farmer unloading something nearby who said he has taken care of the cemetery for 16 years and did not believe any Allums were buried there. In remodeling his house, however, he found newspapers printed in 1874 showing Leroy Allum as editor. He said they are old, yellowed and partially destroyed but he would send one that showed the editor's name."

'Never did receive a newspaper, even though I sent a follow up note!



PHOTOCOPY:
Newspaper masthead titled SOUTH SIDE TRANSCRIPT, Monroe, Jasper County, Iowa, Friday, November 8, 1872 documenting "Leroy W. Allum, Publisher"


Linda Kelley Schlater, July 19, 1998 e-mail:

"Leroy Wood (sic) Allum is on page 551 of the the HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY, IOWA. ' L. W. Allum, editor, Monroe Mirror, Monroe.' The births of his children in Iowa were not recorded--at least they were not listed in the index that begins in 1880."



LOCATIONS: Greene County, Pennsylvania to Davenport, Iowa (1853); to Newton, Iowa (1862); Oakland, California (1878); Riverside, California (1897); Gila County, Arizona (1900 census); Groveland, California (1915); West Los Angeles, California (1932); 2275 LaGranada Drive, Hollywood, California (1932) (Alice only)



BOOK: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890, Chicago, page 348:

LEROY W. ALLUM, San Diego's first assistant Postmaster, is a veteran. He and his father, Mr. Thomas Allum, both enlisted at the beginning of the war. His father enlisted in Company C, Twenty-second Iowa Infantry, but was discharged at Vicksburg on account of sickness. He recovered and recruited a company of 100-day men, Company D, Forty-eighth Iowa, August, 1864. He was promoted to First Lieutenant and served until the close of the war. He married Miss Matilda A. Allum, a distant relative, of Scotch-English descent, and had a family of ten children, of which the subject of this sketch was the third. The family came to Iowa in 1853 and settled in Davenport. In 1856 Leroy went to Hazel Dell Academy, which he left October 2, 1862, at the age of eighteen, to enlist in Company C, Twenty-second Iowa, the same company in which his father first enlisted. He went all through the war, and came back without a wound, although in many places of great danger. He was in the following battles: Port Gibson, Champion Hill, Black River, and at the siege of Vicksburg. It was his regiment, under Colonel William M. Stone (afterward Governor of Iowa) that planted the flag upon the works, when twenty-eight men were killed in a few minutes, and some captured. They were obliged to withdraw, but they brought the colors back with them. Vicksburg was taken the 4th of July following. After this the regiment was in the battle of Jackson, Mississippi and was in New Orleans and Texas and on the Red River campaign. They were also in the Shenandoah valley, Fish Hill, Cedar Creek and Winchester. In 1866, he, with his bunk and messmate, Thomas M. Rogers, started the REPUBLICAN, a newspaper, at Newton, Iowa, which he continued until 1878 when he moved to Oakland, California, where he published the VIDETTE, a Republican paper (daily and weekly) and continued there nine year
He was married to Miss Alice G. Israel, daughter of Mr. M. C. Israel, a merchant of Monroe, Iowa, and has three children, all boys: Leroy M., born November 6, 1875; Ralph L., born September 11, 1878, and Fred M., born August 11, 1883. He is a Knight Templar in the York rite, and thirty-second degree in the Scottish rite Masonry, and is a member of the G. A. R. He belongs to Heintzelman Post, No. 33, of San Diego.



BOOKS: PAST AND PRESENT OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Joseph E. Baker, Editor, Volume I, S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1914, pages 208 an 209...and the HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, by Roy W. Cloud, Volume I, S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1928, pages 278 and 279...include references to Leroy



CONTRIBUTORS to this page:

Louise Allum Fortune

Ralph Laurance Hill

Doris Hill Smith

J. Robert Israel

Linda Kelley Schlater

Julie Eggert Getter

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Leroy married Alice Gertrude ISRAEL, daughter of Martin Clay ISRAEL and Mary Ann HORNER, on March 10, 1874 in Monroe, Jasper County, Iowa. (Alice Gertrude ISRAEL was born on November 29, 1856 in Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa, died on December 24, 1942 in Duarte, Los Angeles County, California and was buried in Olivewood Cemetery, Riverside, Riverside County, California.)