Submitted by
Loyd Bishop

COL S. M. ZENT DEAD.

Colonel Samuel M. Zent, formerly a resident of this city, fell dead in his door yard, at Roanoke, Indiana, on Wednesday morning, March 17, 1897, aside from rheumatism, from which he was a severe sufferer at times, he had been in good health. Col. Zent, while a resident of this city made many warm personal friends, who sincerely regret this sudden ending of a well-spent life. While a resident of Blackwell he built a comfortable residence for himself and wife, and a shop on Main St., which he stocked with all the modern tools of his profession, which he still owned at the time of his death. From the Roanoke Herald we clip the following:
“Samuel M. Zent was born in Ohio and was about sixty-two years old. He was at Fort Wayne when the call for volunteers was made and he was the first man to report at the recruiting office and his name headed the first list of volunteer men organized in Allen County. He was a member of the 13th Regiment, starting out as a private, but his wonderful bravery, extraordinary intelligence and thrilling heroism soon led to his promotion to various ranks until the commission of Colonel was reached, which was immediately after the terrible engagement at Fort Fisher, where the fight was hand to hand form. 10 o’clock in the morning until 2 in the afternoon. It was in this battle that a bullet passed through his hat and grazed his scalp. Among the hard war campaigns he passed through was the awful engagement at Cold Harbor, which he frequently eluded; to while reviewing hairbreadth escapes in army life. He often said that while history gave the time longer, he believed the hottest of the fight only lasted twenty minutes, during which time 10,000 men fell. There were many privations and hardships he could recount while with the Army of the Potomac, and while he seldom alluded to war topics, voluntarily, he never refused to speak most entertainingly on the subject when solicited to do so. * * * He leaves a wife and two grown sons, John and Henry Zent. An only daughter, Eva, died in Ohio sometime ago. Brothers and sisters of the deceased are Jacob, John, Peter, Henry and Frank Zent, Mrs. Sarah John and Mrs. Lizaie Dinlus:”