My Genealogy Hound

WARREN H. ICKIS.
Warren Hamilton Ickis was born at Afton, Iowa, December 11, 1870. He was the son of Alonzo Ferdinand Ickis and Ella Pott Ickis, who were among the early settlers of Union county. He was reared on his father’s farm near Creston, attending the district school and later the Creston high school, from which he was graduated in June, 1887. He won the year’s scholarship from Tabor College, Tabor, Iowa, and entered that college in the fall of 1887. He completed his course at Tabor in 1891. After a summer spent at home he entered the law office of P. C. Winter in Creston and began his law studies. He completed his two years’ course in the law department of the Iowa State University, receiving his degree in 1894. That same year he began the practice of law in Creston and continued until he enlisted in the Spanish-American war in 1898.

Mr. Ickis left Creston as captain of Company G, April, 1898, and served in the Fifty-first Iowa in the Philippines until the close of the war. When the Fifty-first returned to the United States, Captain Ickis remained in the islands and was commissioned by President McKinley on recommendation of General Otis, as captain in the Thirty-sixth Veteran Volunteer Regiment organized in the Philippines. Captain Ickis served with the Thirty-sixth till it was mustered out. His record as a soldier is one of which Union county is proud, for he served his country well and was an honor to his state. In June. 1901, Captain Ickis was appointed judge of the court of first instance, thirteenth district with headquarters at Zamboanga, Mindanao, Philippine Islands.

On May 16, 1901, Warren Ickis was married to Miss Clara Stanchfield, of Creston. His bride made the long journey across the continent and the Pacific ocean alone, meeting Judge Ickis in Manila, where they were united in marriage. Judge Ickis held two sessions of court each year at six different towns on the island of Mindanao. On these trips made by water on inter-island steamboats or Chinese merchant boats, he was accompanied by his wife as well as his clerk and fiscal prosecuting attorney. On December 27, 1902, a daughter, Katherine Louise Ickis, was born to Judge and Mrs. Ickis, at their home in Zamboanga.

In May, 1903, a leave of absence of four months was granted the judge, and he and his family returned to Creston for a visit. They spent a month in China and Japan, and arrived in Creston in July. After a happy reunion with old friends, he returned to his duties in the islands, but on account of ill health, Mrs. Ickis and little daughter remained with her people in Creston for a year, when they also returned in December, 1904.

During 1904 Judge Ickis was twice promoted and transferred to headquarters at Iligan, Mindanao. On June 8, 1905, he was taken suddenly ill and was taken to a military hospital, where he received every service that was possible. Acute brights disease terminating in septicemia caused his death June 26. He was given a military funeral, and his body rested in the islands until the following year when his brother accompanied the remains home to Creston. Here he was buried in Graceland cemetery. The different orders to which he belonged acted as escorts, Masons, Odd Fellows and Sons of Veterans, as well as a detail from Company I, Iowa National Guards, many of the latter having served with Captain Ickis in the Philippines.

Combined with his brilliant record as a scholar, soldier and judge, his career was marked by strong religious principles and a sterling Christian character. For some years he was a member of Pilgrim church near his early home in Highland township, and at the time of his death he with his wife held membership with the First Congregational church of Creston. His memory lives in the hearts of innumerable friends.