Civil War
Enlisted June 4, 1862, Athens Ohio, 87th Ohio Inf., discharged Oct 1, 1862.
Enlisted Jul 9, 1863, discharged March 12, 1864
Enlisted Mar 13, 1864, discharged Aug 18, 1865
personal history in soldiers home record
age 71, born Ohio, 5' 8", ruddy complexion, blue eyes, gray hair, protestant, fasrmer, widowed. last discharge July 22, 1921.
Lawrence Kansas Newspaper
July 15, 1892Early this morning Mrs. L.A.B. Steele, wife of Judge L. S. Steele, died at the family home on Adams street after a long illness. Mrs. Steele has been an invalid for the last fifteen years and in that time has been out very little, but she has only been confined to her bed for the last thirteen weeks. Her last illness was such that she was failing every day, and her family and friends saw that death was but a question of time. She has been very weak since the first of this week, and relatives were summoned from away, and were here at the time of her death.
Mrs. Steele was born on October 7, 1832 at Wilkesville, Ohio. In her youth she received a liberal education in schools near home. In 1863 she came to Kansas and went to Marysville where she lived with her sister, who accompanied her. She taught school there, and in the next year came to Lawrence, where she was joined by the rest of her folks. Her father, Abram Blakeley, founded the new school Presbyterian church which built the stone church building on the ground where the high school now stands. Mrs. Steele's brothers, Charles and John Blakeley, enlisted in a New York regiment for the war and on May 30, 1865, Charles died at home from sickness incurred in service, and on June 1, John was killed in the battle of Cold Harbor. Mrs. Steele's father died in December of the same year, while he was in the east getting funds for his new church here. Mrs. Steele then taught school for a while in the old brick building next to the Quincy school and had for her pupils many of the well known residents of the city.
She was married February 6, 1866 to Judge L. S. Steele, and since then with the exception of a few years that the family lived at Clinton, Lawrence has been the family home. There are four sons, all of whom are at home: Charles A., John M., James L., Horace E.; besides these Mrs. Steele has two sisters and a brother: Mrs. C. S. Ogilvy, of Topeka; Mrs. Zimmerman and Dr. S. H. Blakeley, of Troy.
Mrs. Steele was an authoress of more than average merit, and three books have been published, besides a long serial story. Many shorter contributions appeared before and after marriage in the Ladies Home Journal and other secular and family papers. Her best known work was "Rev. Adonijah and His Wife's Relations." Just three weeks before her last illness she completed another book which is now in the hands of Dillingham Bros. for publication.
Mrs. Steele was an active church worker and took a deep interest in the welfare of the First Presbyterian church of which she was a member, desiring to aid in all its lines of service. She was also active as long as able in local educational and literary work of different lines.
The Emporia Gazette
March 27, 1917Mrs. Mattie Eskridge Steele died last night at midnight, at her home in Los Angeles, Calif. News of her death had been expected for several days, and the messages telling of it were received today noon by John Eskridge and Kittie Whitley.
Mrs. Steele was born in Emporia about fifty years ago, and was the daughter of the late C. V. Eskridge and Mrs. Eskridge. S
he was educated in the public schools and in the Normal School, and was a valuable assistant to her father in the office of the Emporia Republican for years. She was a woman of many scholarly attainments and literary life of the town.
She was married a dozen years ago to John Steele, who survives her. Her mother, Mrs. Mary Eskridge, lives in Los Angeles, as do also her brother, Ed Eskridge, and her sister, Mrs. William Hunt. John Eskridge, of Emporia, is her uncle, and Mrs. R. B. Evans, also of Emporia, is her aunt. The Steeles and Eskridges moved to California several years ago.