Simon P. Awtry grew up [on the farm of his father] and when the Civil war came on he enlisted for service in the Federal army, in Company C, Fifteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in which he served very faithfully for three years and ten months. He was wounded at the battle of Shiloh and came home on a furlough, after which he returned to his regiment and served out his time, receiving an honorable discharge. After coming back to Iowa from his army career he was married and soon afterwards began farming, buying a part of his father's homestead. Through close application and good management he prospered from year to year and added to his holdings until at the time of his death, on July 25, 1891, he owned four hundred and forty acres of valuable land, which he had brought up to a high state of improvement and cultivation. His widow survived until in August, 1910. Simon P. Awtry led a quiet home life, preferring to give his attention to his farm and his family rather than seek precarious public honors. His wife was a member of the Christian church, and known as a kind-hearted, noble-minded woman. Their family consisted of eight children, six of whom are living at this writing.
SOURCE: James Baird Weaver, Past And Present Of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. 1, p. 428-9, Abstracted from the biographical sketch of Emmet Awtry.
