author
R. I. (Return Ira) Holcombe
1845–1916
Best known as a regional historian and editor, this late-19th- and early-20th-century writer helped preserve the story of Missouri and Minnesota in detailed local histories. His work has remained useful for readers interested in frontier life, county history, and the people who shaped the Upper Midwest.
1 Audiobook
An account of the battle of Wilson's Creek, or Oak Hills, fought between the Union troops, commanded by Gen. N. Lyon and the Southern, or Confederate troops, under command of Gens. McCulloch and Price, on Saturday, August 10, 1861, in Greene county, Missouri
by R. I. (Return Ira) Holcombe, Thomas W. Adams
About the author
Born on February 24, 1845, in Huntington Township, Gallia County, Ohio, he was originally named Robert Ira Holcombe but later adopted the name Return, reviving an older family name. His family moved to Missouri when he was a child, and he went on to build a career as an author, editor, librarian, and historian.
Holcombe is closely associated with substantial local and regional histories, including works on Greene County, Missouri, Minneapolis and Hennepin County, and Polk County, Minnesota. He also wrote about the Battle of Wilson's Creek, showing a lasting interest in Civil War and frontier-era history.
Modern library, archive, and public-domain records remember him as an industrious compiler of historical material whose books gathered documents, biographies, and community memory into lasting reference works. He died in 1916, leaving behind a body of writing that still serves genealogists, local-history readers, and researchers.