Joab Somers

Company L.

Was born in Gloucester county, New Jersey, on May 4th, 1830. In 1835 his parents moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1837 they migrated to the State of Ohio, near the town of Springborough, Warren county. There he was taught farming until 1845. Then they moved to Jay county, Indiana, where he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for some time, but made farming his principal business until 1861, when he went to Iowa on business, and worked at Delhi in a nursery for Judge Doolittle part of the summer, and part of the summer for Charles Fleming, until after the great Bull Run battle. Then, on the 28th day of August, 1861, he enlisted at Dubuque in the First Iowa Cavalry, under Colonel Fitz Henry Warren, and remained in the regiment until the 15th day of February, 1866, and then resumed farming until the last few years when he got past work.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lothrop, A History Of The First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, p. 350-1