A. M. Dildine
A. M. Dildine, a well-known citizen of Lima, who is now associated with the Prudential Insurance Company of America, has been a resident of this city since 1891. He is a man of Large business experience and is entitled to the highest measure of respect for his years of service in the Civil War. Mr. Dildine was born in Seneca County, Ohio, June 29, 1843, and is a son of the late John H. Dildine, also of Ohio, who was well-known in political circles in and about Fostoria.
Our subject was reared in his native county and attended school at Tiffin and Fostoria until he was 18 years of age. With boyish enthusiasm he then joined his comrades in enlisting for service in the Civil War which had aroused both young and old all over the land. On August 12, 1861, he was made a member of Company E, 49th Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf. He remained a soldier of the Union Army for four years and three months, enduring in full degree the hardships, pain and disablement which fell to the lot of many of those who fought for the flag. His regiment reported first to General Anderson, in Kentucky, and from Louisville they went South, where they met the enemy in battle at Rolling Fork. The regiment remained in camp at Green River during the greater part of the winter of 1861; but this comparative quiet was followed by the terrible battles of Shiloh and Stone River and the memorable struggle at Chickamauga.
It was one the second day of battle at Chickamauga that Mr. Dildine received a serious wound in the left foot, which necessitated his being sent to the hospital. He was first placed in the hospital at Stevenson, Alabama, and later was sent to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was under treatment for five months. His courage was not diminished in any way, however, by his long period of suffering and in fact he had not yet given up his crutch when he reenlisted. Subsequently he went out with his regiment and participated in the Georgia campaign and was unfortunate enough to be wounded a second time, the accident occurring at the battle of Pickett's Mills, Georgia, May 27, 1864. This was a very serious affair a gun shot wound in the right hip. He was treated for some 15 days in the field hospital and was then transferred to Chattanooga and later to Nashville, Tennessee. For six long and weary months the young soldier lay on a cot in this hospital submitting to many operations, as many as 48 pieces of bone being removed from his hip; but at last he was able to get about again on crutches, and he was then transferred to Jeffersonville, Indiana. Here accommodations were intolerable and he succeeded in being transferred to Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained until he was mustered out of the service in June, 1865.
No longer a boy with youth's cheery attitude toward life, but a man, crippled in the defense of his country, he represented a great class which deserved then and still deserves the respect and gratitude of the whole American people. With a few added years and a whole world of experience, Mr. Dildine returned to his home in Fostoria, still on crutches, and for 22 months he was obliged to depend upon their help. He secured a position in the postoffice which he filled for a time and then, as he grew stronger, served in a grist-mill for some nine months.
Realizing the incompleteness of his business education and with an eye to the future Mr. Dildine took a course in a well-known commercial college at Chicago. For the next nine months he was with the United States Express Company at Vermilion, Ohio, and for some 15 months was connected with a wholesale grocery house at Saginnaw, Michigan. Upon his return to Fostoria he was made deputy postmaster a position he filled for six years or more and then reentered business with the wholesale house of Davis & Foster. In 1891 he came to Lima as bookkeeper for the Singer Sewing Machine Company, but shortly afterward accepted a position as yard clerk in the C., H. & D. Railway office. Subsequently he was made chief clerk, and remained with that corporation for 10 1/2 years. Since then he has been associated with the Prudential Insurance Company of America.
During his residence in Seneca County, Mr. Dildine took a very active part in politics, and for about seven years he was a member of the Republican Executive Committee, and was township chairman for five years. He has always been interested in Grand Army affairs, and at present is serving his third term as commander of Mart Armstrong Post, No. 202 G. A. R., at Lima. he has been secretary of the 49th Ohio Regimental Association for the past 25 years.
Mr. Dildine was married September 14, 1869, to Isabel K. Claire, who is a daughter of James Claire, of Saginaw, Michigan. They have three children,viz: Maud, wife of Edward Beck, of Lima, Ohio; Emily, wife of Hugh Mulholland, of Clio, Michigan; and Archie B., who is a first- class machinist on the United States steamship "Chattanooga."
Mr. Dildine is a member of the Wayne Street Church of Christ. The pleasant family home is at No. 551 North McDonald street.