Andrew and Martin Barber

Andrew Barber was born in 1840 in New York, the son of Robert (b. 1802) and Esther (b. 1808).

Robert was born in Ireland and Esther was born in Scotland. They eventually immigrated to the United States, and settled in New York state probably sometime in the late 1830s. By 1850 Andrew was living with Betsey Smith’s family in Verona, Oneida County, New York, just two houses from his parents. After spending some years in New York Robert moved his family westward and eventually moved to Michigan. By 1860 Andrew was working as a farm laborer and living with his family in Lowell, Kent County, Michigan. (Next door lived George C. Post who would also enlist in the Third Michigan.)

Andrew was 21 years old and living in Ionia County or in Lowell when he enlisted in Company D, on May 13, 1861; his brother Martin and another relative, Samuel Barber would also enlist in Company D . (Company D was composed in large part of men who came from western Ionia County and Eaton County.) Andrew was wounded in one of his legs on August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run, and admitted to Armory Square hospital, Washington, DC on September 1.

Sometime during the month of September Andrew suffered the amputation of his wounded leg, and he was probably still at Armory Square hospital when he died of vulnus sclopeticum (wounds) on September 22, 1862. He was buried in the Military Asylum cemetery (Soldiers' Home National cemetery).

There appears to be no pension available.

In 1880 Robert and Esther were living in Lowell, Kent County, Michigan.

Martin Barber was born October 19, 1837, in Oneida County, New York.

His father Robert was born in Ireland and Esther was born in Scotland. They eventually immigrated to the United States, where they possibly met and married and settled in New York state probably sometime in the late 1830s. After spending some years in New York Robert moved his family westward and eventually moved to Michigan. By 1850 Martin was attending school and living with his family in Verona, Oneida County, New York. Robert eventually moved his family westward and settled in Lowell, Kent County, Michigan by 1860.

In any case Martin stood 5’8” with black eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion and was a 23-year-old farmer probably living in Ionia County when he enlisted in Company D on May 13, 1861, along with his brother Andrew and another possible relative Samuel Barber, who was also from Ionia County. (Company D was composed in large part of men who came from western Ionia County and Eaton County.)

Martin was admitted to the general hospital at Newport News, Virginia, near Fort Monroe, on May 17, 1862, suffering from general debility and was transferred on June 12, presumably back to his regiment.

He was sick in the hospital in July of 1862, but had rejoined the Regiment by August when he was wounded in the left leg on August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run, and subsequently hospitalized at Emory general hospital in Washington, DC. He remained in the hospital until he was discharged for hemorrhoids at Camp Convalescent, near Alexandria, Virginia, on February 16, 1863.

After his discharge Martin returned to Michigan and settled in Lowell, Kent County.

He was married to Michigan native Martha E. Severy (1841-1907) on December 15, 1864, at Sturgis, St. Joseph County, and they had at least two children: Anna B. (1868-1891) and Louisa C. (b. 1877).

It is possible that they had a third daughter, Lulu, who was reportedly “seduced” at the age of 15 in 1888. On February 19, 1888, the Grand Rapids Democrat reported that one Sylvester Davis, was charged “with the seduction of a 15-year-old girl at Lowell, and who escaped from a deputy sheriff while hunting for bondsmen, has not yet been found and Deputy Sheriff Hill, whom he gave the slip, has offered $50 reward for his capture. His bonds are fixed in the sum of $1,000. The girl in the case is Lulu Barber, adopted daughter of M. C. Barber. The penalty under the new state law for his offense is 15 years in the penitentiary, as the girl is under 16, the legal age of consent.”

By 1880 Martin was working as a farmer and still living in Lowell, with his wife and two daughters. (In 1880 Robert and Esther were also living in Lowell, Kent County.) He was residing in Lowell in 1894 and indeed lived most of the his life in Lowell.

In 1880 Martin applied for and received pension no. 236,324, drawing $30 per month by June of 1905.

Martin was visiting or living in Detroit when he died of chronic bowel disease at about 10:00 a.m. on August 22, 1905, probably at 16 Hecla Avenue. His body was returned to Lowell where it was interred in Oakwood cemetery: old section no. 206; the headstone reads “Forever with the Lord”.

His widow was living in Detroit in September of 1905. She applied for and received a pension ( no. 599,657)

Samuel B. Barber

Samuel B. Barber was born 1840 in Essex County, New York

In 1850 there was a 12-year-old Samuel Barber, born in New York, living with the William Morrison family in Essex, Essex County, New York. Samuel eventually left New York and moved westward, and probably settled in Ionia County, Michigan by the time the war had broken out.

Samuel stood 5’6” with gray eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion and was 21 years old and working as a farmer possibly living in Ionia County when he enlisted in Company D on May 13, 1861, with his relatives (?) Martin and Andrew Barber, both of whom were from Lowell, Kent County, just across the Ionia County line. (Company D was composed in large part of men who came from western Ionia County and Eaton County.)

He reenlisted on December 23, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Boston, Ionia County, was presumably absent on veteran’s furlough in January of 1864, possibly in Michigan, and probably returned to the Regiment on or about the first of February. He was transferred to Company A, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864.

On June 16, 1864, Samuel was shot while in the line of duty near Petersburg, Virginia. According to the testimony of Captain Daniel Converse, then commanding Company A, Fifth Michigan, Sam “was shot through the right arm above the elbow by a musket ball” cutting “the cords of his arms.” He reportedly entered Satterlee hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 25, 1864, with a wounded arm, and subsequently gangrene set in, causing a considerable loss of tissue. Nevertheless, he was returned to duty on January 29, 1865, and mustered out July 5, 1865, near Jeffersonville, Indiana.

After the war Samuel returned to Michigan, and eventually settled back in Ionia County.

He was married to New York native Mary J. (b. 1846) and they had at least one child, a son Edgar O. (b. 1868). Samuel was living in Boston, Ionia County in 1866 when he applied for a pension (no. 65703), drawing $4.00 per month in 1866.

By 1870 Samuel was working as a farm laborer and he and his wife and child were living with the Wealthy Hueson or Hughson family in Boston, Ionia County. (One suspects that this may have been Mary’s family since there was also a 26-year-old farm laborer named Edgar Hueson living on the same farm, and he may have been Mary’s older brother.)

Samuel was probably living in South Boston, Ionia County, when he was killed accidentally on November 30, 1873. He was buried in South Boston cemetery.

Curiously, in 1880, there was one Samuel Barber, age 12, listed as the “adopted son” of the Benjamin Nusbaum family in Berlin (Saranac), Ionia County.

William Banner

William Banner, also known as “Bannen” or “Bonner”, was born in 1829.

In 1850 there was a William Bonner, born around 1822 in New York, working as a farmer and living with his wife Charlotte, age 23 also born in New York, and their one-year-old son Henry, born in Michigan, in Homer, Calhoun County.

According to one source William may have been living in Ottawa County before the war. In fact, in 1860 there was one William Bonner, age. 35, born in New York, working as a laborer and living with his wife (“Mrs. Bonner”), age 30, also born in New York, and their two-year-old son Charlie, born in Michigan, in Crockery, Ottawa County.

In any case, William was 32 years old and possibly living in Crockery, Ottawa County when he enlisted in Company I on May 13, 1861. (Company I was made up largely of men from Ottawa County, particularly from the eastern side of the County.)

He reportedly deserted on July 22, 1861, at Arlington, Virginia.

There is no further record, and no pension seems to be available.

Interestingly, however, in 1899 one William E. Bonner was living in Michigan when he applied for a pension (application no. 1216249), based on service in Company I (?), Thirty-third Michigan infantry. There were in fact only 30 regiments of Michigan infantry (numerically), although three (the 3rd, the 4th and the 11th) also had reorganized regiments as well. In any case, the certificate was never granted.

In 1880 there was one William Bonner, born c. 1824 in New Jersey, working as a farmer living with his wife Cordelia in Casnovia, Muskegon County. (It is possible that this William Bonner was related to the Bonner brothers who had both served in the Third Michigan Infantry and who were also from Casnovia.)

James Allen Ballard

James Allen Ballard was born 1832 in Milton, Chittenden County, Vermont, the son of Appleton (1809-1885) and Epiphene (Ellenwood, (1804-1888).

Appleton was born in either Hanover, New Hampshire or Hartford, Windsor County, Vermont, but while still a young boy his family moved to Vermont and as a young man worked as a shoemaker. In October of 1830 he married Nova Scotia-born Epiphene Ellenwood in Vermont, probably in Chittenden County. In 1836 the family moved west, eventually settling in Sparta, Ohio where they remained until about 1848 when they moved to Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan. By 1850 James was working as a farmer with his father and living with his family on a farm in Meridian, Ingham County. James Allen was one of ten children.

(According to one source: Sindenia A. married Dr. G. W. Topping, of DeWitt, Clinton County, Mich.; David E. became a pioneer settler of Kansas. After seeing that State through its troubulous times he enlisted early in the war and was made Quartermaster-General of his regiment. He has continued a citizen of Kansas, being twice elected to the Legislature. For some years he has resided at Ballard's Falls, Washington County, owning there a magnificent farm of eighteen hundred acres, besides valuable property at the County seat. He has a family of nine children; Henry D. also enlisted in 1861, in the Second Regiment, Michigan Sharpshooters, in which he did faithful service until disabled by a bullet wound in the shoulder, when he was transferred to hospital service until the close of the war. He is engaged in gardening near Oshkosh, Wis.; Eunice, who was possessed of an adventurous spirit and missionary zeal, for some years taught Government Indian schools at Sault St. Marie, and at Mt. Pleasant. At the latter place she married Albert Bowker. After removing to a farm in Oliver, Clinton County, she died leaving a young child; Alonzo, who went to the war at the age of seventeen, in the First Regiment of Michigan Sharpshooters, has also adopted Kansas for his home and is a successful merchant in Barnes, Washington County. Everett, the youngest son, is still a resident of the old home place in Lansing; Dr. [Anna] Ballard is the next in order of age; Sarah M. married William E. West, and is living at Lansing; Alice, the youngest of the family, after graduating from the Lansing High School, took a select course in Boston University, and while there married her cousin, W.O. Crosby, professor of geology in the Massachusetts School of Technology. Their home is a few miles out of Boston.)

Appleton eventually became a merchant in the Lansing area and in later years spent a considerable amount of time on vegetable gardening. He also platted his 40 acre parcel in the northeastern section of the city into city lots -- what would become known as Ballard’s addition.

In 1860 Appleton and his family were living on a farm in Lansing’s First Ward, and although James was not listed as living with his family by the time the war broke out he was probably still living and working in Lansing’s First Ward where he was employed as a shoemaker.

James stood 5’10” with blue eyes, auburn hair and complexion, and was 30 years old when he enlisted in Company G on August 15, 1862, at Detroit or Lansing, crediting Lansing’s First Ward, and was mustered at Detroit. (Company G, formerly the “Williams’ Rifles”, was made up predominantly of men from the Lansing area and vicinity.) He joined the Regiment on September 2, 1862, at Upton’s Hill, Virginia, and was absent sick in the general hospital from June 28, 1863, through September.

Whether on furlough to recover his health or for other reasons James apparently returned to Michigan when he married Sarah A. Pierce on September 7, 1863, in Lansing; they had no children. (She was probably the same Sarah A. Pierce, born around1829 in New York, living with the Jimmerson family in Lansing in 1860.)

He eventually rejoined the Regiment in Virginia but he may have not fully recovered his health and in February of 1864 he was detailed to Division headquarters, where he remained through March. He probably returned to the Regiment sometime before the spring campaign of 1864.

James died of sunstroke on May 5, 1864, at the Wilderness, Virginia.

According to the testimony of Dr. James Grove, who was Regimental Surgeon for the Third Michigan infantry from September of 1862 to June of 1864, Ballard “was on the sick list part of the time for a few months previous to his death, but not seriously ill and not supposed to be affected with any disease that permanently incapacitated him for military duty.” While Dr. Grove did not recall the specific details of Ballard’s case, “he believes it to have been nothing more than a debility caused by exposure and the lack of proper nourishment.” In any case, Grove reported that “the cause of [Ballard’s] death was unknown.”

According to Lieutenant J. R. Benson who was a member of Company G and eventually commanded the company after the consolidation of the Third and Michigan regiments in June of 1864, wrote that James “had been sick for several days and riding in an ambulance on [May 5] he was put out of the ambulance to make room for wounded men, and after walking about ten yards he fell down and expired soon after.” Benson further noted, however, that James “was not a sound man when he entered the service, and I do not think that he contracted the disease of which he died while in the service of the United States.”

Former Company G Lieutenant Joshua Benson wrote on January 12, 1865, that what happened was James “had been sick for several days and riding in an ambulance, on the day [he died] he was put out of the ambulance to make room for wounded men, and after walking about ten yards, he fell down and expired soon after. He was not a sound man when he entered the service, and I do not think that he contracted the disease while in the service. . . .” However, some years after the war, two other former members of Company G, Homer Thayer and Allen Shattuck, both claimed that James was of sound health upon entering the service, as did other individuals who knew Ballard before the war.

James was presumably buried among the unknown soldiers at the Wilderness.

In 1864 his widow applied for and received a pension (no. 112,883), drawing $8.00 per month in 1868. (She may have been the same Sarah Ballard, born c. 1826 in New York, who was working as a dressmaker and living alone in Lansing’s fourth Ward in 1870.)