A. D. WORK was born in Knox county, Ohio, July 27, 1840.
He is a son
of William and Azuvan (Lewis) Work, the father being
a native also of Knox county, Ohio. The father was born in 1815, was reared in his native place
and there married, moving thence in 1850 to
Winnebago county, Ill.,
where he resided till 1871, and then to Delaware
county, this state. He afterwards resided in Delaware
and Dubuque
counties, dying in the city of Dubuque in 1888, aged
seventy-three. In early life he followed the trade of a currier and tanner, and
later, that of a carpenter. Towards the close of his life his health gave way,
and he was not actively engaged in any pursuits.
In his youth and mature manhood he vigorously pursued his trades,
leading the active, industrious and useful
life common to them, and succeeding
by means of them in rearing and
providing for a family of some size.
The wife survives her husband, and is now residing with her daughter, Mrs.
Luke Rich, at Cedar Rapids, this state, having
attained the seventieth year of her age.
Of
the seven children born to William and Azuvan Work,
five are now living, and two are dead. These
are—Prudence E., now deceased; Amasa Day, the
subject hereof; Robert R., of Dubuque, Iowa; Maria, wife of Luke Rich, of
Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Joseph; R. Levi, of Dubuque, Iowa, and Amanda, wife of
Chauncey Sargent, of Strawberry Point, Iowa.
Amasa
Day Work, the subject proper of this biographical notice,
was reared in Knox county, Ohio, where he was born, and
in Winnebago county, Ill., whither his parents moved when he was nine years of age. He was brought up to the
practical pursuits of life, receiving only
a limited education in his boyhood. Being the eldest son of a rather
large family, the pressing duties of life fell upon his shoulders at an early age; he started out when only ten years old to make his own way
in the world. He hired out as a farm hand,
serving as chore boy and general service hand for some years. He then entered a grocery store in Rockford, where he clerked for
five years, and was beginning to get the foundation laid for a prosperous business career when he was warned
by failing health that he must seek other employment and possibly another climate. Loading up a small huckster
wagon with different assortments of 'teas he started through the country peddling
it out to the villagers and way-side farmers,
working on a.salary. This proving something
of a success, and the kind of life
proving decidedly beneficial to his health,
he made up his mind to continue in
the field but to change his line of goods. He loaded his wagon with notions
and sold these from point to point, continuing at that till 1860. He then went
on a farm and was engaged in the
peaceful pursuits of agriculture when, in July, 1862,
the second call was made on Illinois for her quota of
volunteers to defend the Union against the
rebellion. Mr. Work, then in his twenty-first year, performed the first,
and it may justly be said the greatest, act of a freeman by offering his
services for the defense of his country.
He enlisted in Company F, Seventy-fourth
volunteer infantry and marched at once to the
front. The Seventy-fourth served in
different brigades and corps, but is
usually designated in the war books
as part of Sherman's (1st) brigade; Sheridan's (2d)
division, 4th corps. It formed part of one of the noted brigades of the late war, doing splendid service on many a hotly contested
battlefield. Its loss in killed and wounded was 83;
its loss from disease, accident and in prison 119, making a total of 202. The subject of this sketch shared its
fortunes from the
date of his enlistment till December,
1864, at which time he was discharged on account of a failure of
health. Returning home the family
physician made an examination
of him and pronounced him a hopeless invalid, soon to die with that
dread disease, consumption. Taking
as cheerful a view of the situation as possible, Mr. Work knocked
around among his friends
and companions in Winnebago county for the next five or six
years, doing some work when able and trying occasional remedies for the
cure of his trouble, as chance threw them in his
way, never, however, feeling disposed to accept the doctor's opinion as absolute and final. He married in the meantime and finally, with
a hope of
improving his health, he came to Iowa
in 1870, and settled in Manchester. At
that time
he
weighed
one hundred and twenty pounds, and being large of frame
looked very much like the proverbial walking skeleton. He
engaged in the butcher business on
locating in Manchester,
working for another by the month, and at the same time began treating his own case with what has
since got to be commonly known to the
citizens of Manchester
and vicinity as "Work's Blood Remedy."
The remedy consists in drinking daily a certain quantity of blood when taken fresh from a beef, beginning with a teaspoonful and increasing,
as the subject's taste and capacity for consumption and assimilation increases. By a strict
adherence to this method Mr. Work grew in four years from a skeleton of one-hundred and twenty pounds, of correspondingly weak and emaciated constitution,
to a corpulent
man weighing two hundred and thirty
pounds in the flush vigor and tide of good health, and he has continued
so since, weighing, however, a little less, his frame not being able to accomodate
with comfort and ease quite that quantity of flesh. He has never been sick since he began the
use of this remedy, and he has not now, nor has he had for years, the slightest
trace of pulmonary trouble. He continues the use of the blood,
having learned to like it and relying largely on it as a source of nutriment. He
has recommended his remedy to others and
has always had one or
more patients who use it under his directions. He has
effected cures of cases similar
to his own and he has restored to good health, vigor and the enjoyment of life others with depleted systems and vague and
undefined physical ailments. He is
enthusiastic in his praise of it as he has a right to
be, having demonstrated its
efficacy in a most signal manner in his own case.
Mr.
Work has been engaged in the butcher's
business continuously since settling
here, now twenty years ago, the first ten years being spent as an
employee of another, the last ten years for himself. He has met with reasonably
fair success, being now in the posession of two of three essential elements of all lasting happiness, health and remunerative employment.
As already noted, Mr. Work married in 1865. He was then
residing in Winnebago county, Ill., and the
lady whom he took to share his life's fortunes at that uncertain period was Miss Lodemia
Weideman of that county, formerly from New York
State where she was born, being a daughter of William Weideman
of German extraction. To
Mr. and Mrs. Work have been born a family of
four children, three of whom are now living and are grown.
The eldest is a daughter, Winnifred E., now
wife of Clarence Parrott of Butte City, Mont. The next two— William, now also married, and Ralph R., unmarried—both remain with their father, being associated with him in business and veritable
chips off the old block, each weighing
about two hundred pounds and the pictures of health and good humor. Mr.
and Mrs. Work lost their youngest child in infancy.
Being an old soldier, Mr. Work naturally takes much interest
in all matters affecting his old
comrades, being a zealous member of
the local post of the Grand Army of
the Republic and an enthusiastic advocate of all measures looking to the
relief of old soldiers, their widows
and orphans. In politics he is a republican and gives to the support of his party's ticket his weight and influence
and an amount of personal exertion proportioned to the exigency of the
situation. He is a member of the Iowa Legion of Honor, the Ancient Order of the
United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America, taking an active interest in
these several organizations and contributing liberally to their broad charities
and benevolent purposes.
Back
to Biographies
Back to Main Page
Back to Iowa AHGP
Back to AHGP