Senator Lewis S. Hanchett View All Years

Compiled Historical Information
Date of Death: 5/12/1897
Party Affiliation:
Independent
Republican
Assemblies Served:
Senate: 22 (1888) - 23 (1890)
House: 19 (1882)
Home County: Bremer
Lewis S. Hanchett
Bremer County
Born in Chautauqua County, New York, on the 14th day of July, 1843, the son of Joseph C. and Sabrina (Howard) Hanchett. He was reared on a farm, and received a liberal education. In 1861 he enlisted in the Forty-ninth New York Volunteer Infantry, and participated in the following engagements; Yorktown, May 3, 1862; Williamsburg, May 5, 1862; Mechanicsville, May 5, 1862; South Mountain, September 14, 1862; Antietam, September 17, 1862; first and second battles at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. He was taken prisoner near Spotsylvania court house, and was thrown into prison at Andersonville, where he remained six months, when he was exchanged, and returned to his regiment. He participated with Grant before Petersburg, and at the surrender of Lee. The company left Buffalo eighty strong, but only eight returned with the regiment. In January, 1865, Mr. Hanchett came to Bremer County, Iowa, and embarked in the mercantile business. In the fall of 1875, he was elected sheriff of the county, which office he filled for three terms. In the fall of 1881, he was elected to the State Legislature and served in the Iowa House in the Nineteenth Iowa General Assembly, and reelected to serve in the Iowa Senate in Twenty-second and Twenty-third Iowa General Assemblies, 1888-90. In 1878 he was married to Miss Kate Wuest, a native of Germany.
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