Member of Co B 53 Illinois Infantry. Fought in the battle of Shiloh, the siege of Vicksburg and through the Mississippi campaign.Was a prisoner at Belle Island.
(from a history of Kingman County KS)
Among the successful pioneers in Kingman County Kansas was Courtland Van Arsdale, an ex-soldier of the Civil War, respected citizen and host public official of Chikaskia Township. He was born in Peekskill, NY, in 1842. His parents were Aaron H. and Elizabeth (Cooper) Van Arsdale, the former of whom was born in New Jersey, whose family traced back to Holland. Cortland Van Arsdale, of this sketch, was reared until the age of 14 years in New York, and then accompanied the family in its removal to Grundy County, IL. He became a soldier in 1961, entering Company B Fifty-third Illinois Inf., under Colonel Cushman and Lt. Colonel Hitt. Company B took a very prominent part in the movements of the regiment and Mr. Van Arsdale participated in forty-two battles and skirmishes. Among them was the Battle of Shiloh, the siege of Vicksburg and the Mississippi campaign, and was one of the survivors at Jackson Mississippi on 12 of July, on the memorable occasion when four regiments of eight hundred and twenty-eight men, after a struggle of twenty minuted, could only muster two hundred and twenty-five survivors. He was taken prisoner and incarcerated at Belle isle, on the James River, where was held for eleven weeks. After being paroled he returned home and was exchanged in the following May, returning to the service and entering Gen. Sherman's army in May when it was near Rome, Georgia. His discharge was given him at Marietta, GA after three years of service, with a record he could be proud of. At the close of the war he engaged in farming in Livingston, Co. Illinois until 1873 when was united in marriage to Mary A. Cook. she was born and raised and educated in Paulding Co. Ohio and later resided both in Grundy and Livingston Co., Illinois. She was a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Cline) Cook. four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Van Arsdale as follows: Lettie E., who married Clem Cramer; Amy J. who married Irvin Tucker; and Clara M. who married Jim Ingram; and Gladys Y. who married Lloy Dixon. In 1883 he moved to Kansas and settled in Belmont Township on 240 acres and in Chikaskia Township, near Spivey he owned 187 acres, all goo for farm land and also stock operations. His residence was on the latter tract, where had a good comfortable home--he applied his knowledge of carpentry in Spivey, and built four homes in that town. In politics he was an active Republican, being township trustee for four years and identified himself with other public spirited enterprise. He was an important factor in fostering the stick interests of Kingman county. He and his were members of the Methodist Church.
Obit from Kingman County Recorder Courier:
C. Van Arsdale died at the city hospital in Kingman Sunday, Dec. 12, 1920, after a prolonged illness. funeral services were held at Cleveland Tuesday the 13 conducted by his pastor, Rev. Parrish of Spivey and interment was at Clevland Cemetery. Cortland Van Arsdale, son of Aaron H. and Elizabeth (Cooper) Van Arsdale, was born at Peekskill, New York, in the year 1842, the offspring of an honorable ancestry. At the age of 14 years he accompanied his parents to Grundy county, Illinois.
In the year 1861 he enlisted as a Union soldier in the Civil War, in company B 53rd Illinois infantry under Colonel Cushman and from the very beginning took an active part in the movements of his regiment. during his service he took part in forty-two battles and minor engagements, some of which were the most decisive and hard-fought battles of the war, among them being the battles of Shiloh, the memorable siege of Vicksburg, and through the Mississippi campaign. He had the distinction of having been one of the survivors at Jackson Mississippi on that memorable occasion when four regiment of 828 men after a hand-to-hand struggle of twenty minutes, could only muster 225 survivors. He was taken prisoner and confined at Belle Isle, and was there confined a number of weeks, but was finally paroled and exchanged and after a short time again entered the service under the command of General Sherman, where, after a service of three years he was given an honorable discharge at the close of the war. The narrator makes this extended mention of his service as a soldier of the Union, from the fact that Mr. Van Arsdale considered his war record, and service while wearing the uniform of his country, as the most notable period in his life and was proud to be known as a Civil war veteran.
After the close of the war Mr. Van Arsdale engaged in farming in Livingston county, Illinois, until 1878, when he married Miss Mary A. Cook, daughter of William and Elizabeth Cook. Ten years later Mr. and Mrs. Van Arsdale came west and settled in Kingman county in Belmont township in 1883 and continued to make this county his home.
Four daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Van Arsdale and still survive. They are Lettie, wife of Clem Cramer of Spivey, Amy J. wife of Irving Tucker of Augusta; Clare, wife of James Ingram of this county and Gladys, wife of Lloyd Dickson, also of this county, all of whom were present at the funeral, and who together with the bereaved wife, are left to mourn on account of his death.
"Cooney" Van Arsdale, a nickname by which he was best known, was one of the substantial citizens of Kingman county , and stood high in the business and social life of the community where he resided over 37 years, and who will be missed and mourned by all who shared is his acquaintance.
Biographical History
Among the successful farmers and stock raisers who have given prominence to Kingman county, Kansas Cortland Van Arsdale, an ex soldier of the Civil War, a highly respected citizen and an incorruptible public official of Chikaskia township. The birth of Cortland Van Arsdale was at Peekskill, New York, in 1842, a year notable as also having been that of the birth of King Edward of England. The parents of our subject were Aaron H. and Elizabeth (Cooper) Van Arsdale, the former of whom was born in New Jersey of a family which traced an honorableancestry to the best of Holland's old families. Aaron H. Van Arsdale grew up in NewJersey and learned the trade of potter. By marriage he became connected with another of the oldest established families of Orange county, New Jersey. In 1856 he moved his family to Grundy County, Illinois, where he died two years later, at the age of forty-eight years. In politics he was a Whig, and in religious matters he was a liberal thinker. Although he died in the prime of life he was highly regarded by all who knew him and is remembered as a kind father and excellent citizen. His widow survived until her sixty-fourth year, and she, too, was beloved by her family and friends, and fulfilled every ideal of good, Christian womanhood. The seven children born to Mr. and Mrs Van Arsdale were as follows: Isaac, who is a resident of Canada; Theodore, who served through the Civil was as a member of the Thirty-second Wisconsin Infantry, and resides in Coffey county, Kansas, Cortland who is the subject of this record; Artemus, who lives in Harper county, Kansas; Henry, deceased, enlisted when only a lad in the ninth Kansas Infantry, and served in the Civil War; Mrs. Elizabeth Potter who lives in Fairbury, Illinois; and Mrs. Adaline Rutherford, who is a resident of Chicago. Cortland Van Arsdale of this sketch, was reared until the age of fourteen years, in New York, and then accompanied the family in its removal to Grundy county, Illinois. He had scarcely finished his schooling when the outbreak of the Civil war changed the current of his life. He belonged to a family in which flowed most loyal blood, and as early as 1861, he became a soldier, entering Company B, Fifty-third Illinois Infantry, under Colonel Cushman and Lieutenant Colonel Hitt. Company B took a very prominent part in the movements of the regiment, and Mr. Van Arsdale participated in forty-two battles and skirmishes; many of these being among most decisive of the whole war. At Shiloh, at the siege of Vicksburg and all through the Mississippi campaign he gravely did his duty and was one of the survivors at Jackson, Mississippi on the 12 of July, on the memorable occasion when four regiments of eight hundred and twenty-eight men, after a struggle of twenty minutes, could only muster two hundred and twenty-five survivors. Our subject was taken prisoner and was incarcerated at Belle Isle, on the James River, where he was held for eleven weeks. After being paroled he returned home as was exchanged in the following May, returning to the service and entering General Sherman army in May, when it was near Rome, Georgia. His discharge was given him at Marietta, in that state, after three years' of valiant service, with a record of which his children will never cease to be proud. After the close of his war service Mr. Vanarsdale returned to a peaceful pursuits, and engaged in farming in Livingston county, Illinois, until 1873, when he was united in Marriage to Miss Mary A. Cook, a lady of most superior and lovable traits of character, who has been spared to be his amiable companion and cheerful, affectionate and beloved wife. She was born, reared and educated in Paulding county, Ohio, and later resided in both Grundy and Livingston counties in Illinois. She was a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Cline) Cook, more extended mention of whom will be found in another portion of this volume. She was a member of a family of eleven children born to her parents, in which there were nine daughters and two sons, all of whom still survive. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Van Arsdale, as follows: Lettie E. who is the wife of Clem Cramer, of Belmont township; Amy J., who is the Wife of Irvin Tucker of Belmont township; and Clara M. and Gladys, who are bright students still at school. Mr Van Arsdale is a self-made man, his present comfortable financial condition being the result of his own endeavors. In 1883 he removed to Kansas and settled in Belmont township, where he has a fine estate of two hundred and forty acres and in Chikaskia township; near Spivey, he has one hundred and eighty seven acres, all being devoted to farming and extensive operations in stock. His residence is on the latter tract, which is fertile bottom land, and here he has a most comfortable and attractive home, with barns and accommodations of the most complete kind. Few men in this locality have met with more success, which is thoroughly deserved and but the natural result of provident industry. In politics he is an active Republican. For four years he has been the efficient township trustee and is identified with many of the public-spirited enterprises of this section. In the fostering of the stock interests of Kingman county he has been a very important factor. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist church, known for their charities and neighborly acts, and both delight to offer a generous hospitality to their many friends.
Written by Clara Van Arsdale Ingram in 1962 " My father, Cortlandt Van Arsdale, was born in Clinton County, New York. This county is in the tier counties next to Quebec Canada. I don't know much of his family history in New York. Only that he told us about his father, Aaron Van Arsdale, being a potter and that he died and left his wife and seven children - five boys and two girls. (The family record says papa's father died at Felix, Illinois, but my cousin Mary Potter Best wrote me that she visited his grave in Ithica, New York. So I don' t know perhaps, he came to Illinois also but never remember hearing papa say so.) One baby, the first, died in infancy. His mother's name was Elizabeth A. Cooper before her marriage. After his father's death (who I thought was buried at Utica, New York) she came to Illinois with her family and they were farmers at Fairbury, Illinois. In 1861, age 16, papa enlisted in the Union Army and fought three years in the Civil War. He talked very little about it, but I have his honorable discharge. His mother later married a man in Illinois by the name of Cox where they lived until her death and according to letters from the Kecks in Fairbury I take it that she is buried there. One of his brother, Frank and wife Clara who lived in Coffee County, KS. visited us once a Spivey when Gladys and I were small and lived on the Orr place. They drove through with team and buggy. They had no children. He died in Florida when old. One brother, Artie, who married mamma's sister, Lizzie, came west also at the time my parents did or near about then. His sister, Lizzie Potter, visited us several times. The last time shortly before papa began to fail in health. Daddy and I lived on the home place than and Van was small. Two of her daughters also visited us at one time. Mary, who I mentioned before and Elva Keck (mother of Karl Keck who I tried to reach when we went through Fairbury.) Also, one of her daughters, Eunice Flickenger had visited the folks when she lived in Wichita with her husband and children. Later after she lost her husband she came and stayed at Amy's for some time in Wichita from Illinois where they had gone. Henry Rutherford's mother, papa's sister, also visited us once after I could remember. Her name was Adline (Addie). She had visited the folks on the farm years before when Henry and his brother Frank were smaller. Amy told me about it. Her home was in Chicago. Papa and Uncle Frank went ther once to visit her and Uncle Isaac, his oldest brother who was from Canada and was to meet them there but never did come. I believe that to be the only time papa ever went back to Ill. after he came to Kansas. He died December 12, 1920 and would have been 79 in Jan. following. Mamma went to Wichita and her and Aunt Lizzie VanArsdale lived in an Apt. at Aunt Hattie Cramers until Lettie moved to Wichita. She then boarded and roomed with Lettie's until her death on April 18, 1924. Age 73. Mamma's parents with eleven children had moved from Ohio to Illinois. My mother was born near Lima, Ohio. They came to Illinois and settled on a farm north of Chatsworth, Illinois which is not far from Fairbury. Mamma, Mary Ann Cook and papa were married in February 1873 and lived around and in Chatsworth and Fairbury until they came to Kansas in 1884 in September. I think mamma's parents and her brothers and sisters all came to Kansas in close succession. Two of her sisters with their familyes later settled in Oklahoma. Some of her sisters and one brother were not married when they came from Illinois with heir parents. They first all settled in Belmont township and southwest Cleveland which in the earl y day became known as a part of the Cleveland Ridge and was known to be of a very fertile soil. The cemetery where many of them and their descendants are laid to rest is one-half mile west of Cleveland. In the early days many of the pastures were not fenced and trails were made across them in n the shortest distance from one town to another. These roads also ran from settlers homes t o the towns near by. These road were nick-named hog-back roads because for the tracks cut down where wheels and horses ran leaving them high in the center. A few drove one horse after the buggy came into use. Then there would be a slight track in the center which might be equal to the hogs back bone were he a fat hog. Some of these I remember, especially, on the section lines which at that time were never graded, but a new track started beside the old on e when it became to deep. On these trails the road would get through the years to be many tracks wide and can still be seen in some large pastures near towns. One is straight north of Spivey. At one time in early days of settlement in Kingman County, Cleveland and Kingman had a big dispute as to location of the County seat. Cleveland being so near center of county did all they could to get the courthouse here. A big well which was dug to provide water for increase in population was later filled when they didn't need it. This well caved in making quite a hole in the now north and south road through Cleveland a few years ago. 1960 I believe."
More About Cortlandt VAN ARSDALE: Fact 13: Kingman Co, KS, Cleveland Cem.99
More About Cortlandt VAN ARSDALE and Mary Ann COOK: Marriage: 26 February 1873, Chatsworth, IL.99
Children of Cortlandt VAN ARSDALE and Mary Ann COOK are:
Cortlandt VAN ARSDALE (b. 21 January 1842, d. 20 December 1920)
Notes for Cortlandt VAN ARSDALE: