OBITUARY - WESLEY VANDERCOOK, SR. Submitted by: Linda Wilbur, lwilbur at cablespeed dot com Source: "Longview Dailey News," Longview, Cowlitz Co., Washington, 19 Nov 1935. Page 1, column 6. DEATH TAKES LAST VETERAN OF CIVIL WAR Wesley Vandercook, Sr., Pioneer Railroad Builder, Dies at Home of Son in Longview This Morning VOTED FOR LINCOLN Diary of War Veteran Reveals He Once Came Near Being Buried Alive; Funeral to be Wednesday. Wesley Vandercook, Sr., pioneer railroad builder and one of the oldest Civil War veterans in the United States, has answered his last bugle call. He was the last surviving G. A. R. member in this city, insofar as is known. Death early today summoned the 92-year-old retired Longview resident at the home of his son, Bogue Vandercook, at 1626 Twenty-first avenue. HIs passing took from the community a beloved figure respected and admired for his great interest in the early development of Longview, his unfailing good humor, and active personality. To the moment of his passing he possessed a keen awareness of national and international events and appeared in excellent health. [The next line is unreadable - not even sure if there was any print there or not.] The son of Abraham F. and Mary Forsythe Vandercook, the deceased was born in Pierce, Huron County, Ohio, May 8, 1843. His boyhood was spent in that state. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, young Vandercook enlisted at the age of 19 in the 169th Ohio infantry at Fremont, O., refusing to permit his guardian to send what was then known as a "substitute" in his place. The deceased often recalled that his guardian objected to his enlistment in the Northern army, and unsuccessfully attempted to persuade him to remain at home and give his rank over to another young man with a cash bonus, as was a frequent custom at the outbreak of hostilities. Guard Reb Prisoners. Mr. Vandercook served as a hospital steward under Col. Nat Haynes, and was stationed for a time on Johnson island on Lake Erie with a regiment assigned to guard rebel prisoners. HIs diary observes candidly that the "war prisoners usually had better food than the soldiers" and that they often sent home for good food. Later, the regiment was sent to Washington in cattle cars, enjoying only one meal enroute at Pittsburg. From Washington the soldiers marched into Virginia and Mr. Vandercook spent an undetermined number of months with the Union forces on that front. He was stricken with typhoid fever while in active service and once was (next line unreadable)..recorded this incident in humorous detail, relating that he crawled into a coffin to sleep and was almost nailed in before it was discovered he was still very much alive. Mr. Vandercook cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1863 when the assassinated president was elected for a second term. Following the close of the war, the deceased entered a civil engineering school at Troy, N.Y., in 1868. Among his classmates were Cornelius Roosevelt, a distant relative of the present president, and Virgil Bogue, who later became a nationally famous city planner and life long friend of Mr. Vandercook. Pioneered the West After graduation Mr. Vandercook began his pioneer explorations in the rugged and wild west. He spent several years in railroad location work when Iowa and Wisconsin were still frontiers. One of his first assignments was locating a part of the Cheyenne-Northern railroad, known today as the Union Pacific. He also located the Rock Island and Pacific railroad from Des Moines to Council Bluffs, Iowa, about 1870. It was about this time that the great railroad boom started. Mr. Vandercook also observed in his diary that the latter railroad extended 150 miles through healthy forest land, and he also recalled the number of small towns that mushroomed into existence as the railroads progressed further west. Mr. Vandercook then went to work in Springfield, Ill., helping to build the Springfield to Chicago branch of the Illinois Central railroad. On March 31, 1871, the deceased was married to Miss Mary Forsythe (Errata: Wesley married Elizabeth "Libbie" Clagg and their wedding date was March 30, 1871.) at Clinton, Ill., and the young couple went to Wisconsin where Mr. Vandercook spent some time locating the Wisconsin Central railroad. The couple lived in a log house during this time, and their only companions in the small community were Indians. In July, 1872, they returned to Tiffin, O., and Mr. Vandercook was employed as one of the contractors on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. His work necessarily required a great deal of travel, and in the next few years Mr. and Mrs. Vandercook resided in Toledo, O., Springfield, Ill., and Wyoming. Returning to Springfield in 1876, the deceased was employed with the Wabash railroad until 1882, when he went to Wyoming to work for the Cheyenne-Northern line. Located California Roads Later, he was associated with the Denver and Rio Grande railroad before returning to the Wabash line for a short period. The couple came to the Pacific coast about 1890, remaining about 10 years. In that time Mr. Vandercook had charge of locating the southern California branch of the Santa Fe railroad from Los Angeles to San Diego. At that time Los Angeles had only 10,000 inhabitants, but Mr. Vandercook recalls in his diary that even this number was then considered too many. San Diego had a population of about 12,000 persons. Following this work, Mr. Vandercook helped to build a railroad in what was then Indian territory. The railroad was known as the Arkansas and Chocktaw line. When this job was completed, the deceased went to St. Louis to supervise erection of various exhibits at the World Fair, returning to Los Angeles in 1904 to open an office as consulting engineer. He had remained on the Pacific coast since. Mr. Vandercook's achievements were unique in that he spent practically his entire life in his chosen profession, engineering. Even after he retired and came to Longview in 1923, he still found enjoyment in assisting others in municipal problems, and while he preferred to work without recognition, friends here recall that he gave largely of his time and energy in solving various local engineering problems. Members of the family observed that Mr. Vandercook, despite his advanced age, would wrestle with a difficult engineering assignment far into the night, and go back the next day and often many days determined to find the solution. He took a conscientious interest in all phases of engineering, and no task ever seemed too large to complete. Mrs. Vandercook passed away in 1925. Since the couple came to Longview, they had made their home with a son, Wesley, Jr., builder of the Longview-Rainier Columbia river bridge. Other survivors are four sons, Volney of Springfield, Ralph of Ft. Pierce, South Dakota, Clarence of Ryderwood, and Bogue of Longview. A daughter, Mrs. Susan Gibbs, resides in Brighton, Ill. There are ten grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the chapel of the Steele funeral home, with the Rev. E.H. Gebert officiating. Interment arrangements have not been announced. Active pallbearers will be three grandsons, Clagg of Portland, Bethuel of Seattle, and Clarence, Jr., of Ryderwood, and the husbands of three grandaughters, Larry Keller of Portland, Edward Johnson of Longview, and Will Landin of Ryderwood. Mr. Vandercook was a member of the Knights Templar and an active Mason during the greater part of his life.