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biography from Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
BENJAMIN CRUZEN, of Madison Township, was born in Greene County, Ohio, April 24, 1845. He is a son of Hervey and Asenath (Walthall) Cruzen, who were married in 1832. The former was a native of Greene County, Ohio, born Jan. 29, 1801, and the latter was a native of Virginia, born in 1815. She died Nov. 29, 1859, and her husband July 28, 1886. Hervey Cruzen, father of the subject of this sketch, came to this county March 8, 1849, and at his death was residing upon the farm first purchased by him upon coming into this county. He was a man closely and honorably identified with the best development of its growth. From the date of his residence here, down to the hour of his decease, he was known as a man whose whole life was imbued with rigid, old-fashioned, honest work and ways. In his immediate neighborhood, no man was more easily prompted to do a kind act, or to heed the demands that pioneer life or later days could make. Of the children born to him, all are living, and are honored residents of this State. The latter years of his life were not blest with vigorous health, and he suffered much, yet he did not give up the struggle, and was seemingly as bright and hopeful as in his younger days, yet he fell at the ripe age of seventy-six years, as the ripened grain falls before the sickle of the reaper, and was followed to his last resting-place, in the Pomeroy Cemetery, west of this city, by a large concourse of friends, and was laid away to his peaceful rest, according to the beautiful ritual of the Masonic fraternity, of which he was an honored member. The subject of this sketch came to Iowa with his parents, and remained upon the home farm until he was seventeen years of age, when the war began, and he left the plow in the furrow, enlisting in Co. E, 33d Iowa Vol. Inf., and served his country faithfully for three years. With his regiment he participated in many of the important engagemonts in the Mississippi Valley, and for nine months and twenty-five days of his enlistment was confined in a loathsome rebel prision in the South. After his discharge from the service, at the expiration of his term of enlistment, Mr. Cruzen returned to his home in this county, and Oct. 12, 1866, was married to Miss Harriet M. Lamborn, a native of Knox County, Ohio, who was born March 6, 1850. By this union there have been four children: Marion, who is a member of Camp Rice Sons of Veterans, and resides in Nebraska; Cora, John L. and Carlton reside at home. Mr. Cruzen is a member of Phil Kearney Post, G. A. R.; politically he is a Republican. Himself and wife are members of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mr. Cruzen is an upright, honorable citizen, and a man of the strictest integrity, and enjoys in an unusual degree the full confidence and esteem of a large circle of friends and aequantanees.
Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy