David W. Poak
David W. Poak was born around 1842 in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, to John Poak and Sarah Duff. His father was a farmer who owned $7,800 of real estate by 1850. His father was a farmer who owned $7,800 of real estate by 1850. His mother probably died in the 1840s. He grew up and attended school in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and he moved to Mercer County, Illinois, in the 1850s. By the early 1860s, he was working as a teacher in Millersburg, Illinois.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 12, 1861, and he mustered in as a sergeant in Company A of the 30th Illinois Infantry on August 29. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 5¼ inches tall, with sandy hair and blue eyes. The regiment took part in the siege of Vicksburg, the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant on January 13, 1863, and he mustered out on April 6, 1865.
He returned to Millersburg after the war before settling in Pleasanton, Kansas. He served as a school director, and he was elected mayor in October 1870. He moved to Sherman, Texas, in the 1870s and earned a living as a banker. He eventually returned to Pennsylvania, and he died of consumption there in March 1879.
DATABASE CONTENT
| (2691) | Poak, David W. | 1842 | 1879-03 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Sergeant
- Rank out: 1st Lieutenant
- Rank highest: 1st Lieutenant
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 2
People - Records: 1
- (2692) Poak, Sarah is the [sibling of] (2691) Poak, David W.
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (813) [officer] [A] ~ 30th Illinois Infantry
SOURCES
1850 and 1860 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; Databases of Illinois Veterans Index, 1775-1995, available from Ancestry.com; “Dear Sister Sadie”: The Letters of David W. Poak, 30th Illinois During the Civil War (n.p., 2014)
