Glyndon Family History & Genealogy

William loved the outdoors and had worked, hunted, and trapped throughout his life, roaming to the West and the North. He even served as a member of the Seventh Ohio sharpshooters in the Civil War. Then he was (wrongfully, in the eyes of many) convicted of the murder of Wipka Martens in September of 1877. On April 12, 1878, he was sent to prison -when he was only 39 years of age. His sentence for first degree murder was for the term of his natural life. According to an article in The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) on May 6 1909 - see William Glyndon Pardon - Newspaper Article - William had strenuously denied that he had killed Wipka and his character and background supported his claim. Only one man testified against him, saying that he had seen Glyndon in the proximity of Wipka prior to her murder. Many thought the witness was actually the murderer. However, the witness was a permanent resident, with money and status, and the court believed his testimony. Even the victim's stepfather was considered a viable suspect, as a short time after the murder the victim's mother confessed to a friend that her husband had done a terrible thing, but he would kill her if she talked about it. There was also strong prejudice in the community against the Irish. Previously, 3 Irish men had been found guilty of killing a German resident. Wipka had German heritage, and William Irish heritage. This prejudice also influenced the outcome of William's trial. The community even tried to lynch William previous to his trial, stopped only by local lawmen. William was convicted on, as they said at the time, "purely circumstantial evidence." Entering prison in 1878, he was pardoned in 1909 by then Governor Carroll on the request of the Iowa parole board. When Wiliam Glyndon was 41, he was living in Fort Madison, Iowa, a Iowa State Penitentiary. He was a laborer in prison. The only physical aftereffect of his decades long time in prison was a loss of hearing, diagnosed as catarrh at the time. When William was 70, after he was released from prison, he was living in Muscatine Ward 2, Iowa on Sowa Avenue and was a boarder in a lodging house. At that time, he was a laborer in a railroad "round house." William died a few short years later, finally a free man.