Mrs. Ida R. Gambrell, P. O., Arrow Rock. Was the youngest of the twelve children of Judge Bernis Brown, and was born in Saline county, November 27, 1837, and was educated at McPherson Female College, Lexington, Missouri. Her mother died when she was quite young, and she was living with her sister in Lexington at that time. She was also two years at the Tracy College, in Booneville. Soon after returning home from school, she was married, July 26, 1855, to W. J. Gambrell, a native of Virginia. He came when quite young to St. Louis, and then moved to Kansas City, where he was living at the time he was married. He was in the commission business. They lived in Kansas City until 1863, when they moved to St. Louis, where he purchased an interest in the steamboat Sultana, running from St. Louis to New Orleans, and was her captain. April 27, 1865, while loaded with 2,000 Federal soldiers, taken on at Vicksburg, and about 200 passengers and crew, the Sultana burst one of her boilers, a few miles above Memphis, took fire and burned to the water’s edge. In this disaster, over 1,500 persons perished, and among them Captain Gambrell. His body was never recovered. Mrs. Gambrell then returned to Saline county to the farm, on which she now lives. She has three children: William J., Rowena, and Lillie.
