George W. Bracy - updated 05/06/2008

George W. Bracy was born in September of 1846, in Ohio, the son of Samuel (1825-1896) and Mary E. (Boyle, 1825-1897).

Vermont-born Samuel married Canadian-born Mary in Ohio in 1845 and they resided in Ohio for some years; in 1850 George was living with his parents in Cleveland’s Second Ward, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. By 1855 the family had settled in Michigan, and by 1860 Samuel had settled his wife and family in Raisin, Lenawee County where he worked as a blacksmith and George attended school with his younger siblings.

George stood 5’6” with hazel eyes, sandy or brown hair and a fair complexion and was 18 years old and possibly living in Muskegon, Muskegon County when he enlisted in Company F on February 8, 1864, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, crediting Muskegon County, and was mustered the same day. He was apparently stricken with mumps from March 12 to the 16th and with orchitis and intermittent fever from March 18 to the 23rd.

He soon recovered, however, and joined the Regiment on March 27, 1864, and was reportedly wounded in the hip at Spotsylvania Court House, on May 12, although cannot be confirmed for certain. He later claimed that in May of 1864 he “was disabled by an injury to the left side” as well as suffering from fever. In any case, he was subsequently hospitalized at Mansion House hospital in Alexandria, Virginia.

George was probably returned to duty and subsequently transferred to Company F, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864. He was absent sick from September 29, 1864, through June of 1865, and had apparently been transferred to the Fairfax Seminary hospital in the fall of 1864. He was reportedly “mustered out” on June 7, 1865, at Fairfax Seminary hospital, Virginia, but in fact he was probably discharged on that date for disability. Later he claimed that he had been ‘struck in the left side by the butt end of a confederate rifle,” and that he suffered.

After his discharge from the army, George returned to Michigan, settling in Macomb County, where he worked for many years as a blacksmith (a trade his father may have followed as well).

He was married to Ohio native Mary A. or Anna Mary West (b. 1850), in 1867 in Macomb County, and they had at least two children: Francis S. (b. 1869) and Herbert O. (b. 1872-1962). They were divorced in 1872.

They were living in Macomb County in 1869, and by 1870 George was working in a blacksmith’s shop and they were all living with the Chauncey West family in Mt. Clemens, Macomb County (Mary’s family).

By 1880 George was reported as divorced and living with his parents in Mt. Clemens where he was working as a blacksmith.

Sometime between 1880 and 1885 he married his second wife, Michigan native Eunice V. Hamilton (b. 1866), and they had at least three children: Myrton (b. 1885), Fred (b. 1887) and Nina or Nima (b. 1890).

By 1888 and 1891 he was living in Disco, Macomb County, in Shelby, Macomb County in 1894 and in Disco by 1898.

He was living in Macomb County in 1889 when he applied for and received a pension (no. 936288).

Sometime in the winter of 1902-03 George became seriously ill. On February 4, 1903, George’s attending physician, Dr. Alfred Yates of Washington, Macomb County, wrote the Pension Bureau that George was “utterly unable to leave his residence for the purpose of being examined for pension or for anything else.”

George was probably a widower when he died on April 5, 1903, probably in Michigan and was buried in Prestonville cemetery, Macomb County

Orlow J. Brackett

Orlow J. Brackett was born 1843 in Vermont, the son of Josiah (b. 1804) and Clarissa (b. 1802 in Vermont).

Orlow’s parents were probably married in Vermont sometime before 1837 when his older brother Albert was born. (Josiah was possibly living in Plattsburgh, Clinton County New York in 1830 and in Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County in 1840.) By 1850 Orlow (or Orlo) was living with his family in Morristown, Lamoille County, Vermont.

Orlow eventually left Vermont (possibly with an older brother who also served in a Michigan regiment) and moved westward, eventually settling in western Michigan. By 1860 he was a farm laborer working for and/or living with the Edwin Bradford family in Sparta, Kent County.

Orlow stood 5’6” with blue eyes, light hair and a light complexion, and was 18 years old and possibly still working as a laborer in Kent County when he enlisted in Company E on May 13, 1861. On June 15, 1862, Eli Hamblin, another member of the Third Michigan who also came from the vicinity of Sparta, wrote home to his parents: “There was a letter in the package for Edwin Bradford containing twenty-five dollars which makes out the sixty-five dollars Arlo [sic] Bracket sent that to Bradford. He is a young fellow that lived to Edwin Bradford’s father.”

He was reported absent sick from July of 1862 until he was discharged for epilepsy on October 28, 1862, at Baltimore, Maryland.

After his discharge from the army Orlow returned to Kent County and reentered the service in Company D, Tenth Michigan cavalry on August 31, 1863, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, crediting Hampton, Bay County, and was mustered September 18, probably at Grand Rapids where the regiment was organized between September 18 and November 18, 1863, when it was mustered into service. It left Michigan for Lexington, Kentucky on December 1, 1863, and participated in numerous operations, mostly in Kentucky and Tennessee throughout the winter of 1863-64. Most of its primary area of operations would eventually be in the vicinity of Strawberry Plains, Tennessee.

He allegedly deserted on February 8, 1864, at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, and returned on June 11. In November of 1864 he was on detached service in Kentucky, and in March of 1865 he was at Division headquarters.

Orlow was shot and killed by “bushwhackers” at Statesville, North Carolina on April 16, 1865, and presumably buried in Statesville.

No pension seems to be available.

William Charles Brace

William Charles Brace was born May 31, 1838 or May 1, 1839, in Bath, Steuben County, New York, the son of Charles (b. 1799) and Elizabeth (Kellogg, 1804-1841).

Charles was probably living in Bath, New York in 1830 and in 1840. In any case, William left New York and moved west, eventually settling in western Michigan sometime before the war broke out.

William stood 5’9” with blue eyes, black hair and a dark complexion and was 23 years old and possibly working as a printer and living in Grand Rapids when he enlisted in Company A on May 13, 1861. (Company A was made up largely of men from Grand Rapids, and many of whom had served in various local militia units before the war, specifically the Valley City Guards, or VCG, under the command of Captain Samuel Judd, who would also command Company A.)

It is quite possible that William spent little if any time with the company, however, and by September of 1861 he was reported on extra daily duty for the Brigade (reason unknown), and subsequently served with the Third Brigade Quartermaster from October of 1861 through May of 1862. In June he was still on detached service, and was reported as an orderly for Third Brigade commander, General Hiram Berry, from July through October, although he was also listed as absent sick from August 30 possibly through September or even October.

In October he was reported on detached duty apparently still serving with General Berry, and in November he was absent at Brigade headquarters, probably still serving as orderly. By January of 1863 he was a nurse in the Regimental hospital -- apparently he was being treated for primary syphillis -- and the following month he was working as a teamster in the Brigade wagon trains.

William reportedly suffered from “hypochondria” from April 18 to May 2, when he allegedly deserted while being transferred with the wounded to a hospital near Acquia Creek, Virginia; he apparently to Washington, quite possibly to a hospital there. In any case William was suffering from rheumatism and a spinal injury he received -- possibly from a fall off a horse -- at Chancellorsville, Virginia on May 3, 1863, when he was admitted probably sometime in early May to the Second Division hospital at the Baptist Church Branch in Alexandria, Virginia. He was absent sick from April 28, 1863, through May; and in June he was reported as a nurse in a hospital in Washington, DC.

He remained hospitalized, probably in Alexandria, until he was transferred to the Veterans’ Reserve Corps on July 16, 1863 by Special Order no. 315. (The VRC was made up of men who while ambulatory were generally incapable of performing regular military tasks due to having suffered debilitating wounds and/or diseases and were assigned to garrison the many supply depots, draft rendezvous, camps, forts, prisons, etc. scattered throughout the northern cities, thus freeing able-bodied men for regular military duty.) William was discharged as unfit for the VRC on April 1, 1864 from the VRC depot camp at Cliffburne Barracks, DC.

It is not known if William returned to Michigan after the war. He eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio, possibly as early as 1867, where he lived most of his life.

William was married to Susan E. Meeker (1843-1895), and they had at least one child, a son Charles William (b. 1871).

By 1880 he was operating a fish market and living with his wife and son and both his in-laws in Cleveland. By 1887 he was living in the “old Fulton market” area in Cleveland, Ohio, when he attended the annual reunion of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association (although he was not a member), and by 1897 he was living at 35 Fifth avenue in Cleveland. In 1909 he was residing at 10313 Euclid avenue in Cleveland, and by 1917 at 1781 Carlyon road in East Cleveland.

He was married a second time to Jane V. Sanford (1842-1925), on September 14, 1896, in Berea, Ohio (Jane had divorced her first husband Charles in 1888).

In 1897 William applied for and received pension no. 1012463, drawing $30.00 per month by 1917.

William died of a hemorrhage to his bladder as a result of septic uremia and possibly cancer of the prostate, at his home on Carlyon Road, at about 11:13 p.m. on December 27, 1917. The remains were handled by J. H. Brown & Sons, and he was buried in Lakeview cemetery, in Cleveland.

His widow received a pension (no. 852679). Jane was still residing at their Carlyon home in 1918 and when she died in 1925.

Hugh Boyd Jr.

Hugh Boyd Jr. was born February 23, 1840, in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, the son of Hugh Sr. (b. 1808) Ellen (b. 1810).

Hugh’s parents were probably married in Ireland. In any case sometime before 1840 they left Ireland and immigrated to America. By 1840 Hugh Sr. may have been living in Vermont. Hugh Sr. eventually took his family to Michigan and by 1850 they were living in the vicinity of Muskegon, near Lake Michigan, where Hugh Sr. worked as a laborer and Hugh Jr. attended school along with his siblings. By 1860 Hugh Jr. was working as a day laborer, probably with his brothers John and Alexander, and living with his mother in Muskegon, Muskegon County.

Hugh stood 5’6” with blue eyes, sandy hair and a light complexion and was 21 years old and probably still living in Muskegon when he joined the Muskegon Rangers in April as Third Corporal. The “Rangers” were a local militia company formed in Muskegon soon after the fall of Fort Sumter in April of 1861, and were reorganized into Company H of the Third Michigan infantry then forming at Cantonment Anderson in Grand Rapids. Hugh consequently enlisted as Third Corporal of Company H on May 13, 1861. He was reported as a deserter on November 26, 1861, along with George A. and George W. Bennett, also of Company H. Like the Bennetts, Hugh eventually returned to the regiment under the President’s proclamation of amnesty on April 7, 1863, at Camp Sickles, Maryland. He was mustered out on June 20, 1864, at Detroit.

After his discharge from the army Hugh returned to Muskegon and worked for many years as an engineer. On October 28, 1865, he married Victoria Campau (1844-1873) at the Congregational Church in Grand Haven, Ottawa County. (She was probably the sister of Adolph Campau who had served in Company B.) Victoria died in childbirth on February 28 or March 1, 1873; the child, a son Hugh, died three months later.

Hugh was admitted as a single man to the Michigan Soldiers’ Home on September 7, 1889 (no. 1085), and discharged at his own request on July 7, 1890.

Hugh was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association and in 1889 he applied for and received pension (no. 509,617), drawing $50 per month by 1922.

Hugh was admitted to the Northwestern Branch National Military Home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: the first time on January 17, 1891, some six months after his discharge from the Michigan Home, and then discharged on August 2, 1899, or just 12 days before his readmission to the Michigan Home on August 14, 1899. He was again discharged at his request on June 12, 1900. It is possible that one of Hugh’s brothers was residing in Wisconsin and that Hugh had gone to stay with him. It is also possible that Hugh found the National Military Home more attractive than the state-run Michigan Soldiers’ Home.

In any event, Hugh apparently returned to Wisconsin following his discharge from the Michigan Home in 1900 since he was reported to be living at 745 47th Avenue in West Allis, Wisconsin from around 1900 to 1904, and by 1911 he was supposedly living in the Milwaukee National Home. In 1920 he was boarding with the Virginia Roepke family in Milwaukee.

In fact, it is quite likely that he remained in Wisconsin until he died a widower of apoplexy and myocarditis at the Milwaukee National Home on June 11, 1922. He was buried in Wood National Cemetery, Milwaukee: section 24, grave no. 3.

Charles F. Bouton

Charles F. Bouton was born August 22, 1844, in Genesee County, New York, the son of Daniel S. (b. 1816) and Maria (b. 1820).

Both Massachusetts natives, Charles’ parents were probably married in Massachusetts but eventually settled in New York. The family moved westward from New York, eventually settling in Michigan where by 1860 Charles was working as a farm laborer and residing with his family in Crockery, Ottawa County.

Charles was 17 years old and probably still living with his family in 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 was detached as a teamster, probably in the Third Brigade wagon trains, from November through December of 1862, and was serving with the Third Brigade wagon train from January of 1863 through March. From February of 1864 through March he was reported on the Brigade commissary staff.

Charles was shot in the right forearm on May 5, 1864, during the Wilderness campaign. On May 11 Charles was admitted to Emory hospital in Washington, DC, for a gunshot wound to the lower third of the right forearm with the ball passing through and fracturing the ulna; he was discharged from the hospital on June 9, and mustered out June 10, 1864.

After his discharge from the army Charles eventually returned to Michigan, and by August of 1864 was working as a farmer in Nunica, Ottawa County.

He married his cousin Minerva E. Bouton (1845-1929) in Grand Haven, Ottawa County, on September 21, 1864, and they had at least three children: two died before being named, and a son Charles (b. 1866).

Charles’ parents were still residing in Nunica, Crockery Township in 1870 and 1880.

He may have been the same Charles Bouton who in 1878 purchased 136 acres of land through the Traverse City land office in northern Michigan. In any case, by 1894 Charles had moved north and was reportedly living in Escanaba, Fourth Ward, Delta County. (In 1910 their son Charles was living in Escanaba’s Seventh Ward; he may have been living in Los Angeles in 1920.)

Charles received pension no. 35823, drawing $19 per month in 1912, $25 per month by 1914, $30 per month by 1919 and $50 per month by 1922.

Charles and his wife eventually moved west and by 1920 Charles (listed as “Bowton”) was a resident at the National Military Home, Malibu Township, Los Angeles County, California. By the summer of 1922 they were residing in Sawtelle, Los Angeles County, California. (Charles Axtell, who had served in the Regimental Band also lived out his last years in Sawtelle. In fact, Sawtelle was where the Soldier’s Home hospital was located.) Charles apparently suffered a stroke, or perhaps was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease from about 1919 and was under the total care of his wife.

He died on November 22, 1922, at the Soldier’s Home hospital in Los Angeles and was buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery: plot 35 RK G/3.

His widow applied for and received a pension (no. 931856). She was living at 1417 Federal Avenue in Sawtelle, when she died in 1929.

Anton Bott

Anton Bott, also known as “Batt”, was born January 13, 1837 or 1838, in Germany, the son of Johann Valentine and Maria Margaretha (Balzer, b. 1811).

Johann may have been married previously to one Eva Schwab, and if so that was possibly in 1814 and he had seven children by that marriage, and another 12 children by Maria (Anton’s mother). In any case, sometime before 1863 Anton left Germany and immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in western Michigan.

According to Christof Ockert, who roomed with Anton before the war, Anton settled in Gaines Township, Kent County, before the war broke out and began “keeping company with Katharine Bissot and it was a matter of common knowledge in the community that he was to be married to Katharine . . . as soon as he returned from the war. . . .”

He stood 5’6” tall with hazel eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion and was a 26-year-old farmer possibly living in Grand Rapids, First Ward when he enlisted in Company C on December 27, 1863, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, and was mustered on January 6, 1864, at Grand Rapids. (Company C was made up largely of German and Dutch immigrants, many of whom lived on the west side of the Grand River in Grand Rapids. This company was the descendant of the old Grand Rapids Rifles, also known as the “German Rifles”, a prewar local militia company composed solely of German troopers.) He joined the Regiment on February 18 at Camp Bullock, Virginia, and was transferred to Company I, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864. He was absent sick, probably from chronic diarrhea, from July of 1864 through May of 1865, probably in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was discharged from Mower hospital in Philadelphia on June 7, 1865.

After his discharge from the army Anton eventually returned to western Michigan, probably to Grand Rapids. From about 1872 until his death in 1897 he resided at 37 Stocking Street in Grand Rapids, and for years he worked as a stone mason; he was probably a member of St. Mary’s Catholic church.

Anton married Katherine Bissot or Bissott (1847-1936), on April 5, 1866, in Grand Rapids, and they had at least seven children: Katharine (b. 1870), Henry (b. 1871), Albert (b. 1871), Frank J. (b. 1876), Anthony G. (b. 1880), Mary M. (b. 1881) and Caroline Anne (b. 1882). (She was quite possibly related to Henry Bissott, who would come to the U.S. in 1862, join the Third Michigan Infantry in 1864, and settle in Grand Rapids after the war.)

He was probably working as a laborer and living with his wife and one child in Jamestown, Ottawa County in 1870.

In 1889 he applied for and received a pension (no. 481993).

Anton died of stomach cancer at his home at 37 Stocking Street on Sunday, May 16, 1897, at 7:00 p.m., and the funeral service was held at 8:00 a.m on Thursday at St. Mary’s Church. He was buried in Mt. Calvary cemetery: section D lot 254.

His widow applied for and received a pension (no. 449288). She eventually remarried one Frank Hammerschmidt, in 1901, in Grand Rapids (he died the following year), and lived for a time on Jefferson Avenue. After Frank died Catharine returned to her old home at 435 (or 37) Stocking, where she was living in 1903 and in 1917.

Isaac J. Botruff

Isaac J. Botruff was born 1840 in Livingston, Columbia County, New York, the son of Adam (b. 1815) and Barbara (Hammer, b. 1818).

New York native Adam married Pennsylvania-born Barbara and settled in New York where they lived for some years and were possibly living in West Sparta, Livingston County in 1850. In any case the family moved from New York to Michigan between 1853 and 1854, settling in Algoma, Kent County, and by 1860 Isaac was a farm laborer working and living with his family in Algoma.

Isaac stood 5’11” with blue eyes, light hair and a dark complexion and was 21 years old and working as a shingle maker (or shoemaker), possibly still living in Algoma, when he enlisted in Company C on May 13, 1861. (His sister Elizabeth married Henry Magoon, of Company F.) He was present for duty through the end of 181, but sick in his quarters during January and February 1862, and from March 16 through April was absent sick in the hospital at Alexandria. He eventually returned to the Regiment and served as a pioneer from June through October of 1862. For reasons unknown he was absent during July and August of 1863, but had returned to the regiment by September and was present for duty through the fall of the year.

Isaac reenlisted on December 23, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Grand Rapids and was subsequently absent on veterans’ furlough in January of 1864, probably at the family home in Michigan. In any case, he returned from furlough by the end of January and was wounded by a gunshot in the right thigh during the Wilderness campaign of early May, 1864.

Isaac remained absent wounded, probably in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May through August and was transferred to Company I, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864. He returned to duty from Mower hospital in Philadelphia on September 19, 1864, although according to his G.A.R. records at some point he enlisted in the VRC. (The VRC was made up of men who while ambulatory were generally incapable of performing regular military tasks due to having suffered debilitating wounds and/or diseases and were assigned to garrison the many supply depots, draft rendezvous, camps, forts, prisons, etc. scattered throughout the northern cities, thus freeing able-bodied men for regular military duty.) Other records, however, report that he remained in the Fifth Michigan until he was mustered out of service on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

After the war Isaac returned to Michigan, and on August 1, 1865, married a widow (?) by the name of Melissa Helsel Morningstar (born in Ohio, 1845-1908), in Grand Rapids, and they had at least seven and possibly eight children: Mary (b. 1867), Florence (b. 1869) and possibly Frank (b. 1869), Dora (b. 1872), Nellie (b. 1874), Charlie (b. 1877), Elmore (b. 1880) and Frank S. (b. 1890).

By 1870 Isaac was working as a farmer living with his wife Melissa and two children in Algoma, Kent County; also living with them was a 6-year-old boy named Norman Morningstar. Isaac’s parents lived next door and living with them was a 22-year-old farm laborer named William Morningstar. By 1880 Isaac had moved to Nelson Township, possibly Sand Lake, where he was working as a laborer and living with his wife “Jane M.” (b. 1835 in Ohio) and six children. By 1883 he was living in Sand Lake and drawing $2.00 per month for a gunshot wound to the right thigh (pension no. 175,177, dated October of 1880). He was still living in Sand Lake in 1884 and working as a laborer.

He was still living in Sand Lake in 1887 when he attended the annual reunion of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association (although he was not a member of the Association). It is quite likely that he had moved to Grand Rapids by November 15, 1888 when he became a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Watson Post No. 395 in Grand Rapids, and listed his occupation as a laborer.

In 1889, Isaac was living at 741 South Division Street in Grand Rapids, working as a laborer, boarding along with his wife Melissa. The following year they were both living at 758 South Division and Isaac was working as a machinist for the Grand Rapids Planing Mill Co. (Curiously, however, the City Directory for 1890 lists “Miss Melissa Botruff”. In any case, Melissa is never mentioned again.) In 1891 and 1892 Isaac was still working as a machinist but apparently living alone at 103 Wallen, and in 1893 one Charles Botruff was boarding with Issac on Wallen Street. Isaac remained in Grand Rapids on Wallen Street until 1894 when he apparently moved to Heath Township in Allegan County, and quite possibly worked a small farm in Heath. He was suspended from the Watson GAR Post on November 7, 1895, (probably for failure to pay his dues).

Isaac was still residing in Allegan County when he died on January 1, 1898, in Heath and was buried in Riverside cemetery, Hamilton, Allegan County.

His wife received a widow’s pension (no. 478346). Melissa remained in Heath until her death in 1908.

Frederick P. Bossardett

Frederick P. Bossardett, also known as “Boppardett”, born in 1832, possibly in France.

Frederick apparently came to Kent County from Greenfield, (probably) Wayne County, sometime before the war. In fact, Frederick may have been the same Frederick “Bozardy”, age 28, who, in 1860, was working as a day laborer for the George Knight family in Walker, Kent County. (It is not too far away lived George and Susan Nardin, who were married in Kent County in 1857. Susan’s maiden name was Bosardis and she was born in France in 1836. In 1860 the only other Bosardis’ listed in the Michigan census records were living in Greenfield, Wayne County: 25-year-old James Bosardis, 67-year-old Peter Bosardis, his wife Mary, age 56, and their two children Charles, age 28 and Fredric (?), age 16, all born in France.)

Frederick was 29 years old and probably living in Kent County when he enlisted in Company F on May 13, 1861. He was reported on picket duty during the months of September and October, 1861, and again in January and February of 1862. He may have been wounded in one of his upper legs, and probably taken prisoner on or about July 1, 1862 at Malvern Hill, Virginia. He was soon paroled and sent to the hospital at City Point, Virginia, then transferred to a hospital in New York City where he arrived on July 29 aboard the steamer Commodore; at some point, he suffered the amputation of his wounded leg.

Sometime in August Frederick was hospitalized at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he died of his wounds on either September 1 or 2, 1862, and was buried in Philadelphia National Cemetery: section B, grave 332.

Almond D. and Baker Borden

Almon D. Borden was born 1836 in New York, the son of Baker and Hannah. (See Baker’s biographical sketch which follows below.)

Almon came to Michigan with his family in 1837, at the age of one year, settling first in Saline, Washtenaw County and in 1838 in Lodi, Washtenaw County. Baker moved the family to Lyons, Ionia County in 1841 and eventually settled in Grand Rapids, Kent County around 1848. By 1850 Almon was living with his family and attending school with his younger siblings in Grand Rapids.

Almon was living in Grand Rapids when he married Michigan native Ellen E. Robinson (1840-1860) on January 20, 1859.

By 1859-60 Almon was working with Baker as a carpenter on the east side of Turner Street between Bridge and First Streets on the west side of the Grand River in Grand Rapids, and in 1860 he was working as a carpenter and living with his wife Ellen in Grand Rapids’ Fifth Ward. (His wife’s parents were living in the Fourth Ward, next door to Wilson Jones who would also join the Third Michigan infantry and two doors from Baker Borden, Almon’s father.)

Almon was 25 years old and probably still living and working in Grand Rapids when he enlisted as First Lieutenant in Company K (Baker Borden was in fact Captain of Company B) on May 13, 1861. In July of 1862 Almon was absent with leave for 30 days, and apparently returned home to Michigan. He eventually rejoined the regiment and by October he had been promoted to Captain of Company K, commissioned as of August 26, 1862, replacing Captain Abram Whitney and then Captain Charles Lyon.

On May 30, 1863, Almon was court martialed for being absent from his post without proper authority during the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, on May 3, 1863.

Specifically, he was charged with “Conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline” in that he “did leave his company and Regiment on the morning of the 3rd day of May 1863, when the said company and Regiment, were in front of and expecting to be engaged with the enemy every moment, and did not return until about noon of the next day. This at or near Chancellorsville, Va. on or about the 3rd and 4th days of May 1863.” Second, he was charged with being “Absent without leave” in that he “did leave his company and Regiment without the consent or knowledge of his commanding officer, Col. Byron R. Pierce, and did remain absent nearly two days. All this while the Regiment was engaged with the enemy, at or near, Chancellorsville, Va., on or about the 3rd and 4th days of May 1863.” Borden pled not guilty to both charges and specifications.

The court martial was convened near Falmouth, Virginia, at the headquarters of the Second Brigade, First Division, Third Corps, Brigadier General J. H. Hobart Ward as president of the court which consisted of Colonels Samuel Hayman of the Thirty-seventh New York, Thomas Egan of the Fortieth New York, A. S. Leidy (?) of the Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania, Peter Sides of the Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania, Byron Pierce of the Third Michigan and Lieutenant Col. E. Burt of the Third Maine; Major W. C. Taylor of the Twentieth (?) Indiana was the Judge Advocate. Following the pleas, Lieutenant Andrew Nickerson of the Third Michigan was called as a witness for the prosecution:

Question by the Judge Advocate: State your name, rank, and the Regiment to which you belong. Answer: Andrew Nickerson, First Lieut. Third Mich. Vols. Question: Are you acquainted with the accused Capt. A. D. Borden, if yes, how long have you known him? Answer: I have known him since June 1861. Question: What do you know, if anything, of the accused leaving his company and Regiment on 3 May, 1863, while said Regiment was expecting to be engaged with the enemy Answer: I saw Capt. Borden on the morning of the 3rd May. I saw nothing more of him until the next day about 3 or 4 o'clock. Question: Who has command of his company during his absence? Answer: I have. I am Lieut. in his company. Question: Did he turn over his command to you when he left? Answer: He did not. Question: At what time did he return? Answer: It was my impression that it was the afternoon of the 4th of May.

Sergeant Reuben Tower of Company K, was then called as a witness for the prosecution:

Question: What do you know,if anything of Capt. Borden, on 3rd May 1863, leaving his company, when his Regiment was expecting to be engaged with the enemy? Answer: I know that he left. He was with the company on Saturday night when we went into a charge. When we came out we formed and went into rifle pits. He was with us then. I missed him on Sunday morning. He returned on Monday afternoon. Question: Who had command of his company during his absence? Answer: Lt. Nickerson.

Colonel Byron R. Pierce of the Third Michigan then called:

Question: State what you know of Capt. A. D. Borden leaving his command on 3rd May 1863, whether or not he left by your permission. Answer: He did not have my permission or consent to be absent. He first I saw of him was on Monday afternoon. I was commanding the Regiment at the time. Question by the Accused: Did I not join the Regiment before they changed their position on the morning of the 4th and took the second line of rifle pits? Answer: I can't remember of seeing him in the morning.

The Court then adjourned until the morning of May 23. When it was reconvened, Regimental Assistant Surgeon Walter B. Morrison was called for the defense:

Question by the Accused: Did you see me on Sunday morning May 3rd, if yes, what was said and done by me? Answer: I saw Capt. Borden on Sunday morning May 3rd. I saw him at a house in the open field, about one mile in rear of the Brigade. The Captain said he wanted some medicine. I told him to remain at the house and I would be back in a few minutes. That was the last I saw of the Captain until that afternoon. I next saw him down by a brick house near the hospital at that time he started back to join his Regiment. Question: Did you not tell me that I had better stay in the hospital until the next morning? Answer: Yes sir. That evening I told him so. Question: Did I not start in company with the Major for the Regiment, the next morning? Answer: I could not say.

Following a day of testimony the Court adjourned until the morning of May 23. After testimony was concluded, Borden then read a statement in his defense. He said that as he had been feeling unwell on the morning of May 3, and had gone searching for the Regimental surgeon.

On the morning of the 3rd, feeling unwell I thought best to see the Regimental Surgeon and learning that he was at a house near by I went over to consult him -- Supposing it to be but a short distance and not expecting to be absent more than fifteen or twenty minutes I neglected to ask permission to be absent. On arriving there I met Asst. Surgeon Morrison. Stated to him that I wished to see him. As he was mounted over his horse at the time [he] requested me to remain where I was -- that he was going away for a few minutes but would soon return -- About this time the rebels made the attack our troops commenced falling back and the Surgeon not returning I thought best to return to my Regiment. I was informed that they had marched past towards the large brick house (formerly Gen Hooker's head quarters) towards which I directed my steps. -- While stopping at this place I saw a portion of the Seventeenth Maine and Thirty-seventh NY Vols. Marching to the rear I inquired of one of the men for the Third Mich Vols. [and] he stated [that] they [were] ahead marching to the rear and I marched in company with them to the large field near the ford. Not finding my Regt. I started for the front. When within about one half mile of the front I met Asst. Surgeon Morrison again I stated to him the condition I was in -- He said he had established a hospital near by and that I had better remain there all night as the Major was there and I could return with him in the morning -- Which I did joining my Regt. about 7 o'clock a.m. on the morning of the 4th.

Upon examination by the accused, former Hospital Steward and now acting Assistant Surgeon Walter Morrison admitted that indeed Borden had been to see him that morning. Borden asked “Did you see me on Sunday morning May 3rd, if yes, what was said and done by me?” Morrison replied that he had in fact seen “Capt. Borden on Sunday morning May 3rd. I saw him at a house in the open field, about one mile in rear of the Brigade. The Captain said he wanted some medicine. I told him to remain at the house and I would be back in a few minutes. That was the last I saw of the Captain until that afternoon. I next saw him down by a brick house near the hospital at that time he started back to join his Regiment.” Borden then asked “Did you not tell me that I had better stay in the hospital until the next morning?” To which Morrison said yes. Borden asked Morrison if he did not see him leave with a Major for the Regiment, the following morning? Morrison said he could not say.

After deliberating the court found Borden guilty both charges and specifications and sentenced him to “forfeit all pay an allowances that are or may become due him, and that he be dismissed from the service of the United States.” He was cashiered on June 8.

On June 7, while the regiment was at Belle Plain, Virginia, David Northrup of Company B wrote to a former Company B soldier, Fred Stow discussing this incident.

You mention the report of the arrest of James [Bennett] and Almon Borden. It is too true. Their sentence is as you hear. Capt. Borden dismissed with pay [and] James cashiered, dismissed without pay. It is the opinion of all that it is unjustly hard on James. It ought to be reversed the two. Borden ought to go without pay. The charge against James was deserting his company before the enemy. He went in with us the night of the charge and was not seen till Monday morning. We all supposed him killed or taken prisoners. But Monday morning he made his appearance. He is with Al[mon Borden] in Washington at present. I do not know what they intend to do. Now do not tell anyone that I have written anything about it. It must be a severe blow to his father. I presume he will take it hard. James has been anxious, very, to get out of the service but I think at too great a sacrifice. I am very sorry and do not know hardly how to express my thoughts. I should rather have sacrificed my life than to have to have such a thing to think of. I would not let this be public even to his friends if they do not know it. You will see it in the Herald of June second or third. I do not remember which. I have not got through but must close for the want of more room.

After he left the army Almon eventually returned to Grand Rapids and from 1867-69 was probably working as a carpenter for Wheeler, Borden & co., and residing on the north side of Third Street between Turner and Lincoln Streets.

It appears that at some point after the war he married a New York native named Julia (b. 1847) and that by 1870 he was working as a sash maker and living with his second wife in Grand Rapids’ Fourth Ward. (Baker too was living in the Fourth Ward and also working as a sash maker.)

Almon was a member of the Old Settlers Association, and a witness at his father's wedding in 1872.

He apparently never applied for a pension.

While the reasons are obscure, at some point between 1872 and 1880 Almon was admitted to the State Asylum for the Insane in Kalamazoo, where he died of “general paralysis” on January 20, 1880. The body was reportedly returned to Grand Rapids, where the funeral service was held at the Second Street M.E. Church (also Baker Borden’s church) at 2:00 p.m. on January 21, conducted by the Rev. James W. Robinson, pastor. There was also a private service at the home at 1:30 for friends of the family. According to the Democrat, the funeral service was attended by members of the Old Settler’s association as well as several old Third veterans, and Borden’s remains were reportedly interred in Greenwood cemetery: section B, lot 45.

Baker Borden was born April 24, 1814, in New York State.

Both of Baker’s parents were reportedly born in New Jersey. In any case, Baker was married to New York native Hannah (1809-1872), and they had at least three children: Almon D. (1836-1880), Sophia (b. 1837-1851), Hellen Eliza (1841-1862) and Charles (b. 1846).

In 1835 Baker was still living in New York and serving as a sergeant in a New York state militia regiment; he was probably still living in New York in 1836 when his son Almon was born. Baker brought his family to Michigan settling in Saline, Washtenaw County in 1837, and soon afterwards moved to Lodi, Washtenaw County where in 1838 he organized a militia company of home guards “because,” wrote the Herald in 1899, “of the Fenian difficulties that were then disturbing the country. At the height of this excitement, many Michigan men were going to Canada to take an active part in the war that was raging. The company of which Capt. Borden was the commanding officer voted to cross the border and enter the active warfare then in progress. It was owing to arguments brought to bear by the Capt. that this rash [action] was given up and for this wise action taken at this crisis, Captain Borden received the personal thanks of the governor and other state officials.” He was still in Lodi the following year (1840).

In 1841 Baker moved to Lyons, Ionia County where he began working as a builder and contractor. Baker remained in Lyons for several years and in 1848 he brought his family came to Grand Rapids and was at that time reported to be the only architect and builder in the city. By 1850 Baker was working as a carpenter and living with his wife and children in Grand Rapids.

On July 12, 1855, Lucius Patterson organized a company of state militia, the Grand Rapids Artillery, with Borden serving as First Lieutenant, and in April of 1858 Borden replaced Patterson as Captain of the company; indeed he would continue to command the company until it was reorganized as Company B in the Third Michigan in April of 1861. In 1859-60 Baker was working as a carpenter with Almon (who was probably his son) on the east side of Turner between Bridge and First Streets, on the west side of the Grand River, and in 1860 he was a master carpenter living in Grand Rapids’ Fourth Ward.

Baker was 47 years old and still living on the west side when he enlisted as Captain of Company B (Almon joined Company K) on May 13, 1861. On July 29 he wrote to the Adjutant General of the United States Army, asking him “to accept the immediate and unconditional resignation of his commission as Captain in Co. B 3d Regt. Michigan Infantry and would ask for an honorable discharge from service under such commission on account of ill health of himself and family. I am troubled with a chronic hemorrhoidal disease which in all justice renders me unfit to do duty.” On the same day Regimental Assistant Surgeon Dr. Zenas E. Bliss certified that Borden was indeed “incapable of performing military duty from the fact of his having hemorrhoids . . . which has troubled him for fifteen years past, and which has been increased by recent exposure and fatigue resulting from the recent march to ‘Bull Run’ and the retreat.”

In fact, Borden resigned on account of hemorrhoids on July 30, 1861. He was replaced, George Miller of Company A, wrote home on Sunday, August 11, 1861, by First Lieutenant Fred Shriver of Company A. Miller noted simply that “Captain Borden . . . has gone back to the Rapids.”

Baker indeed returned home to Grand Rapids, where he was reported to have reentered the service as Captain in Company B, First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics at the organization of that unit on September 12, 1861, when the regiment was formally organized at Marshall, Calhoun County. On October 2, 1861, he wrote to Michigan Governor Austin Blair asking whether a commissioned officer who had previously been mustered into U.S. service and then resigned under honorable circumstances on account of disability could be reinstated as a commissioned officer in another Regiment. While Blair’s reply is not known, Baker was accepted into the Michigan E & M, and probably mustered in with the regiment on October 29, 1861.

The regiment left Michigan for Louisville, Kentucky on December 17 and was broken into at least three detachments almost immediately. Company B was probably on duty at Green River, Kentucky, building storehouses, fortifications, etc., until February of 1862 when it and the regiment advanced to Bowling Green, Kentucky and then advanced on to Nashville, Tennessee February 14-28. The regiment was Engaged in building railroad bridges at Franklin, Columbia, Murfreesboro, etc., till April.

He resigned on account of disability on February 23, 1862. “The men,” wrote Private Albert Graves of Company E on February 9, “regret his loss like that of a father for he is a model captain.” Private William Calkins of Company B wrote home that something besides a disability was involved. He told his wife that Borden “has resigned on the account of our being deceived and he is going to do what he can to have us mustered out.” Calkins was concerned over the issue of pay rates for volunteer engineers and he infers here that Borden resigned in large measure due to his unwillingness to tolerate the failure of the government to pay the engineers more money.

Others were not so convinced of Borden’s virtuous character as Graves and Calkins. Captain James Sligh, also of Grand Rapids and who commanded Company F of the E & M was apparently informed by his wife that upon arriving in Michigan Borden had been critical of Colonel William Innes, then commanding the E & M. “Col. Innes,” Sligh wrote home to his wife on March 29, “says that fear and nothing else was the cause of Captain Borden resigning as they were just to the point of moving forward to attack the enemy when he applied for his discharge and it has some little appearance to it when we remember his first resignation and the charge Col McConnell made against [him] at that time. And again if an officer has inadvertently enlisted men under a false idea, he should have honor enough to stick by them to the last and share their difficulties and danger and endeavor to get for them their rights and not leave them because he can resign and they cannot.” In Sligh’s estimation, Borden, who not only had shown the white feather had enlisted the company with promises of pay increases as engineers and then when such a raise failed to materialize simply resigned. Sligh’s reference to Colonel McConnell of the Old Third having made a charge against Borden is also curious, since no mention of this is found in the present record.

Whatever the circumstances, following his discharge from the Michigan E & M in 1862 Borden reportedly went to Kansas, “in the hope,” wrote the Herald in 1899, “of bettering his life and it so happened that he arrived in Lawrence on the night before the famous Quantrill raid in which almost every man in that town was slaughtered. Captain Borden escaped by the merest chance. He had fled to a cornfield in the rear of the hotel in which he was staying at the first alarm. He was seen and pursued by one of Quantrill's men who ordered him to halt. Borden turned about and faced the rebel and told him he was perfectly defenseless. The guerrilla was just about to shoot when Captain Borden made a Masonic sign which was recognized by the rebel who happened to be a fellow Mason. He not only spared his life but aided him to escape.”

Shortly after this incident (if in fact it took place) Baker returned to Grand Rapids where he lived the remainder of his life. From 1867-69 he was co-owner of Wheeler, Borden & Co., a sash and blind factory run on an eight-hour day schedule, on the site of the old Engine House no. 3 in Grand Rapids, and was living at 16 Turner Street. Although his business soon failed, Borden remained a firm advocate of the eight-hour workday for the rest of his life, and he continued in his trade for the rest of his life. By 1870 he and Hannah were living in the Fourth Ward where Baker worked as a sash-maker (he owned some $3000 worth of real estate and $7500 of personal effects), and his son (?) Almon was also working in the sash business and he too lived in the Fourth Ward.

Baker married his second wife, Mary A. Belknap (1827-1887) on November 6, 1872, in Grand Rapids (his son Almon and daughter-in-law Julia Borden were witnesses).

Baker was working as a mechanic in 1872, and in 1880 was listed as a builder and living on Turner Street with his wife and two step-sons in Grand Rapids. (Two doors away lived Henry Marvin who had also served in the Third Michigan.) He was working as a carpenter in 1890-91, a builder in 1892 and in 1894, was a wagon-maker for Belknap & Co. in 1895, as a wood-worker in 1896, a carpenter in 1897 and a wagon-maker in 1898, and from 1890 to his death in 1899 he lived at 20 Turner Street.

He married his third wife, Ellen Lucina Stockwell (b. 1843) on July 18, 1888. (She had been married before to one Edgar Borden in 1862. As far as is known there is no known connection between Baker and Edgar.)

Baker was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association, Grand Army of the Republic Champlin Post No. 29 in Grand Rapids and was the post chaplain at the time of his death. In 1890 he applied for and received a pension (no. 634957). Baker also belonged to the Old Settlers’ Association, the Old Residents’ Association and was elected an officer in the Doric Lodge F & A. M. number 342. Baker was also a founding member of the Second M.E. church (where Almon’s funeral service had been held).

Baker died of mitral disease of the heart on January 18, 1899, at his home at 20 Turner Street.

Borden’s funeral, held at the Second M.E. church at 2:00 p.m. on January 20, was “one of the largest . . . that has been held for some time in this city . . . and his friends turned out en masse to pay to his memory the last possible tribute of their respect”. Members from the Champlin post G.A.R as well as the Old Settlers’’ Association were in attendance, while George Judd, formerly of Company A, ordered all members of the Old Third to meet at Sweet’s hotel at 1:00 p.m. in order to attend the funeral as a body. Borden always took “an active part in all national and local matters,” wrote the Press, and “he was widely known, loved and honored by all who knew him.”

“One of the notable persons,” wrote the Herald, “who came out of the city to attend the funeral was the Rev. [Amos] Wakefield, the Methodist minister, who was the past of the first church established on the west side of the river, the church which was the predecessor of the present Second Street M.E. Church. . . . The Rev. Wakefield is located now in Middleville and has attained the ripe old age of 70 years.”

Services were conducted by Rev. Joseph McCarthy, pastor of the Second Street M.E. church, and took his text from second Corinthians, verse 1. It was reported that Rev. McCarthy confined his remarks “to a eulogy of the deceased, the speaker dwelling upon his record as a patriot, citizen and churchman.” A “quartet choir sang ‘Home of the Soul’, ‘Soon we'll Gather at the River, ‘It is well with my soul’. The casket was draped with a large American flag and was covered with a mass of roses and call lilies. The Old Third Inf. comrades of Mr. Borden contributed a wreath of beautiful yellow roses, and white roses were given by the neighbors of the deceased. . . . A large procession of relatives and friends followed the remains to Greenwood cem. Services at the grave were conducted under the auspices of the Doric lodge of Masons.”

Baker was buried in Greenwood cemetery: section B lot 45.

After Baker’s death Ellen struggled to make ends meet and eventually sought access to Baker’s pension, in addition to taking in boarders. John Wheeler, a former member of Company B and a lifelong resident of Grand Rapids, wrote in 1899 that he

had been personally acquainted with the late Baker Borden since . . . 1849 and with his present widow Ellen Borden since year 1888. I have been a near neighbor. I have met & seen them frequently. She has not remarried; she remains his widow. To the best of my knowledge and belief, she Ellen Borden has not sufficient income for her support only from her daily labor. That she has to pay $70 interest on the $1000 mortgage of her house and lot that her taxes are $14 per year, insurance about $15, water tax on or about $12 per year. That her income from the rents of her rooms when occupied (as at present) is on or about $19 to $21 per month. She has atr present one day boarder who pays her $2 per week.

The Special Commissioner for Pensions investigating Mrs. Borden’s case found otherwise to be the case. “This claimant,” he wrote in October of 1900,

is a strange woman. She has no friends and the relations of her late husband dislike her. She is said to have a very bad temper and I also heard that her mind was not just right. At times but to me she appeared to be a grasping, prudent stingy woman, she deliberately concealed the fact that she had the note of H. P. Belknap for $1000, and when I found out about it by Miss Nellie Borden and went back to her she at first tried to evade the matter. H. P. Belknap is entirely responsible financially and the note is good for its face. I am surprised that John Belknap did not tell me of this as he is a responsible businessman but he covered this up as will be seen by his attachments [to the report]. I saw the $1000 note he holds against Mrs. Borden’s property; the interest payments are all endorsed upon it but there is no credit on the principal. I am thoroughly satisfied now that all sources of income and property rights of claimant in this state are given herein but I think some urging should be made at her old home in New Hampshire as she may have some interests there covered up. [She did. See below.] The woman is thoroughly greedy. She got this city property deeded to her as a marriage settlement and I understand that she charged her husband board at $2 per week but5 they lived together until Mr. Borden died. He was a highly respectable man. . . .

Mr. Sims, the Special Commissioner, in concluding his report on this case, recommended that a thorough examination of Mrs. Borden property in New Hampshire be undertaken.
In fact, sometime in the fall of 1901 Ellen left Grand Rapids and returned to New Hampshire. In response to a request from the federal government to explain whether she ever drew a pension from her first husband, Edgar Borden who had served in a New Hampshire regiment, Ellen wrote on that she “felt obliged to break up housekeeping [in Grand Rapids] and come east . . . to visit my relatives, in order to save expenses, and put my building [presumably in Newport, New Hampshire] in repair so as to keep my tenants.”

His widow eventually received a pension (no. 547424).

Levi M. Booth

Levi M. Booth was born 1841 in Michigan, the son of Norman S. (1807-1881) and Lorinda (Holmes).

Norman, who had been born in Massachusetts, was married to Lorinda, and they settled for a time in New York (where their daughter Julia was born in 1829). Norman left New York and moved westward, eventually settling in Michigan sometime before 1834 when his oldest son Manville was born. In 1842 he married a New York native named Sarah Reed (1824-1883) and by 1850 Norman was working as a merchant and living with Sarah in Bellevue, Eaton County where Levi and his older brother attended school. Norman was also a lawyer and for some years operated a general store in Bellevue. (James and Merrick Reed lived next door with their family; and both of the Reed boys would join the Old Third; one suspects that Sarah was related to the Reed family in Bellevue.)

By 1860 Levi was a clerk working in his father’s store in Bellevue and living with his family.

Levi stood 6’0’’ with black eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion and was 18 years old and still living in Eaton County, probably with his family, when he enlisted in the Regimental Band on June 10, 1861. He was reported sick in the hospital at Annapolis, Maryland, in July of 1862, and in fact was a patient at the U.S. General Hospital in Annapolis suffering from an injury or wound of the hand. He was discharged as a member of the Band on August 13, 1862, probably at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia, presumably as a consequence of the abolishment of regimental bands in the Army of the Potomac.

After his discharge Levi returned to Michigan where he married New York native Jeanette or Genette (d. 1869), on July 5, 1863, in Bellevue, and they had at least two children: John (b. 1867) and Addis or Addie (1869-72).

Levi was probably still living in Bellevue when he reentered the service in Company H, Eleventh Michigan cavalry on October 24, 1863, at Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County for 3 years, crediting Bellevue, and was mustered on November 7 at Kalamazoo. The regiment was organized at Kalamazoo and Detroit between October 7 and December 10, 1863. It moved to Lexington, Kentucky December 10-22 and remained on duty there until April 28 when it commenced operations in eastern and then southern Kentucky through the summer in Tennessee by late fall of 1864 and southwestern Virginia by early 1865.

In March of 1864 he was serving with the Regimental Band, and was on detached service in Louisa, Kentucky from June through December of 1864.

Levi was transferred to the United States Colored Cavalry (or Troops) in the summer of 1864, and if so was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on July 15, 1864, in the U.S.C.C., although by January of 1865 he was allegedly serving with the U.S.C.T. as of November 1, 1864, through June of 1865.

He was transferred to a new organization of U.S.C.C. in July of 1865, probably on July 20, 1865, to Company B, Eighth U.S.C.C., and was supposed to be organizing Colored Troops in Kentucky. (Curiously he is also listed as having been transferred to Company B, Eighth Michigan cavalry on July 2, 1865.) According to the War Department “Having tendered his resignation for personal reasons, he was honorably discharged by S. O. [special order] no. 494 of September 14, 1865 from this office. The commanding Officer of his regiment states, in an endorsement on his resignation that ‘This officer is totally incompetent and has no interest in the service’. The Commanding general Department of Kentucky referred the resignation to an Examining Board which found him ‘Ignorant and inefficient’ and recommended his muster out of service.”

After the war Levi returned to his home in Bellevue, and was probably residing in or near Bellevue in 1867 when the Charlotte Republican reported that a Levi Booth played shortstop for the Bellevue “Defiance” baseball club (his brother Lyman was catcher and another brother George played first base) during a recent game between the Charlotte “Prairies” and Bellevue “Defiance”.

Levi was possibly living in Kalamo, Eaton County in September of 1867 when his son John was born, but he was associated with the Battle Creek Band by 1868, at least according to Theron Mason who boarded with Levi for some four or five months that year in Battle Creek, Calhoun County.

By 1870 Levi was apparently living alone at a hotel in Battle Creek’s Second Ward, Calhoun County, where he was employed as a leader of a brass band. (The census record for that year makes no mention of either child living with him. In any case, it was reported that John had been sent to live with Levi’s family in Bellevue, although when this occurred is unclear nor is it known why he was sent away. Moreover, the 1870 census for Bellevue does not list either child living with Norman and Sarah.)

Levi had possibly returned to his family home in Bellevue by the time he married his second wife Michigan native Estelle or Estella Harris (b. 1849) on March 27, 1871, in Battle Creek.

By 1880 he was working as a musician and living with his wife Estella in Battle Creek’s Third Ward. Indeed, according to another musician, William Brock, they both worked with the Battle Creek brass band for some 12 years or so.

In 1879 Levi applied for and received a pension (no. 332,875).

Levi died on April 22, 1882, possibly in Battle Creek, and if so was presumably buried there.

In 1883 Estella was living in Battle Creek when she applied for and received a (no. 224,288). She remarried in 1887 to George Bannerman in Battle Creek and in 1889 a minor’s pension application was filed on behalf of his son John.

John O. Booth

John O. Booth was born March 2, 1840, in Fremont, Lake County, Illinois, stepson of Charles Darling and son of Amanda (Tucker, b. 1808).

Vermont native Amanda was married to a New Hampshire native by the name of Booth, probably in Vermont, sometime before 1833 when their daughter Helen was born in Vermont. By 1838 the family had moved to Illinois, and Amanda remarried Vermonter Charles Darling (1813-1872) in 1842 in Fremont, Illinois. (It is not known what became of her first husband.) By 1850 John and his siblings were living with his mother and stepfather on a farm and attending school in Fremont, Illinois.

In any case, at some point before the war John left Illinois and made his way northward into Michigan and the lumbering industry, eventually settling in Muskegon or Newaygo County.

John stood 5’11” with blue eyes, light hair and a light complexion, and was a 20-year-old lumberman, living in Bridgton, Newaygo County when he enlisted in Company K on April 25, 1861. He was sick in the hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, or perhaps in a hospital just northeast of the Capitol, from about August 23, 1862, until September 15 when he was apparently transferred to a hospital at Fort McHenry, Maryland, where he remained until he was discharged for chronic diarrhea and hepatitis on November 21, 1862.

After his discharge John returned to his home in Fremont, Illinois where he lived until about 1864; he may also have resided for a time in Libertyville, Illinois.

John married his first wife Jane A. Noble (1842-1909), on November 24, 1869, in Rock Island, Illinois, and they had at least five children: Georgia (b. 1870), John M. (b. 1872), Lemuel E. (b. 1876), James F. (b. 1878) and David E. (b. 1881).

John and his family left Illinois and moved west. From around 1864 (or perhaps as late as 1869) until about 1878 he lived in Buffalo, Scott County, Iowa, before settling in Orleans, Harlan County, Nebraska. By 1880 John was working as a farmer and living with his wife and children in Fairfield, Harlan County. John was still living in Orleans, Nebraska in 1893. He remained in Harlan County until about November of 1910 when he moved to Des Moines, Iowa. (This was shortly after the death of his first wife and he may have moved to Iowa to live with one of his children.)

John was still living in Des Moines in June of 1912, and by March of 1915 he was residing at 1403 W. Grand Avenue. For many years he worked as a farmer, lumberman and coal dealer.

He married his second wife Alice E. Wade, a widow of Harris H. Wade (d. 1899), on October 10, 1914, at Valley Junction, Iowa.

Soon afterwards he moved to Omaha, Nebraska where he resided until sometime in early 1925 when he became a resident of the Soldier’s and Sailor’s Home in Burkett Station, Hall County, Nebraska.

Apparently Alice either died or left him since he was reported to be living alone by 1925.

In June of 1925 one Mary M. Royce, who operated a boarding house in Douglas County, Nebraska, testified under oath that since sometime around the first of March, 1925, John, who had boarded with her, “has suffered a loss of his mental faculties, resulting in periods in which mind is a complete blank. At such times he wanders off without knowing where he is going or having any definite purpose; that he is very weak physically and is apt to meet with an accident or injury or suffer from exhaustion at one of these times.”

Mary Royce further claimed that this occurred the first time about March 15 and that since that time she “has kept a very close watch” of John “and on numerous occasions he has started off again” and she had “to get him and lead him home and watch him until he” regained” the use of his faculties.” She also stated “that these lapses are becoming more frequent and as a consequence at the present time” she “or some member of the family must be in constant attendance upon him; that in addition to said mental trouble he has become very feeble and weak and is not able to look after himself and that somebody must feed, clothe and care for him.”

As a consequence, on August 22, 1925, John, who was then a resident in the Soldier’s and Sailor’s Home in Nebraska, was placed under the guardianship of his youngest son David E., who was then residing in Red Willow County, Nebraska.

By September of 1925, John was drawing $72.00 per month, for pension no. 582,603.

While on furlough from the Soldier’s Home, John died on September 18, 1925, in Buckeye (?), Colorado or Omaha, Nebraska.

Henry W. Booth

Henry W. Booth was born October 7, 1839, in Marion, Wayne County, New York, the son of William and Anna or Ann (Brown, b. 1804).

Sometime before 1854 Henry’s parents moved the family from New York, and headed west, eventually settling in western Michigan.

On October 6, 1854, when he was 14 years old, Henry arrived in Lowell, Kent County, Michigan, along with his brother, E. J. Booth (possibly John Booth), having traveled from Chicago, first across Lake Michigan. As Henry described it many years later, once they arrived in Michigan they then went “by rail to Kalamazoo, by stage to Grand Rapids, and from the latter place to Lowell by team with his brother, . . . who with Loren Chapin was running a general store in the west L of the Hooker house where the Ford hardware is now located.”

Henry further recalled “that 14 old fashioned thorough-brace stage coaches loaded inside and out left Kalamazoo for Grand Rapids that day, with 4 horses to each coach. The plank road between was half built and the balance of the road was mostly bad, in one section of 4 miles everybody walked.”

When asked about the businesses of Lowell at that time Henry replied there was

Toussaint Campau, familiarly known as ‘Two-Cent’ Campau who sold dry goods, groceries and notions in the “Checkered Front” located at about east end of the present auto body factory. William Cobmoosa, an Indian, had a little store just west of the Checkered Front, trading mostly with the Indians. About the place where Hoffman's boat landing is now, Orson Peck had a general store at the steamboat landing on Grand River. Where Geo. M. Winegar's residence stands was a small 1-story shoe shop run by Isaac White and father, father and grandfather of our Frank N. White. Where the Lowell State Bank is, Stephen Denny had a blacksmith shop. Moses Coates had another blacksmith shop a block east and a block north. Charles Smith had a wagon shop a block north of Main Street. Loren Chapin was running a grist mill in the upright portion of the present East side mill, afterwards conducted by Chapin, Booth and Talford. A sawmill stood where the Lowell Cutter factory is, run by water power and a Mr. Jackson, father of Albert, made a record cut of 250 feet of oak lumber in 1 day. A Mr. Wilcox had a hotel on the corner now occupied by the City Hall, but soon sold to Cook & McNair. Azra King had another hotel where the Reed block now stands. These were known as the American house and the Lowell hotel. On the west side were the Snell schoolhouse, a barn and the log school house. On the east side of the Flat River, near the present Oakwood cemetery, was the Ottawa Indian village of about 300 souls.

By 1860 Henry was still living in Lowell and working as a common laborer and/or living with his mother Ann (she was listed head of the household) in Lowell.

Henry stood 5’9” with gray eyes, black hair and dark complexion and was 21 years old and was working as a farmer and probably living in Lowell when he enlisted as a Drummer in Company D on May 13, 1861. (Company D was composed in large part of men who came from western Ionia County, and a few from the far eastern side of Kent County, and Eaton County.) It is quite possible that Henry, who had contracted measles and suffered from chronic diarrhea while the regiment was forming at Cantonment Anderson in Grand Rapids, and before the regiment left Grand Rapids on June 13, 1861, was left behind along with three dozen or so other troopers. He apparently recovered sufficiently and if he was left behind, soon rejoined the regiment at its first camp, near Chain Bridge along the Potomac at Georgetown Heights. Henry was treated at the regimental hospital at Chain Bridge for dysentery and the effects of measles.

But sometime in spring or early summer of 1862, while the regiment was on the march to Richmond, Henry contracted rheumatism reportedly from exposure. Shortly afterwards he was reported as a hospital attendant in July of 1862, but according to Henry he “was with the regimental hospital a large portion of the time.”

Henry reenlisted as a Musician on December 23, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Lowell. He was absent on veterans’ furlough in January of 1864 and probably returned to the Regiment on or about the first of February. he was subsequently reported on detached service as a nurse in the Division hospital.

Henry was still on detached service as a nurse when he was transferred to Company A, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864, and he remained detached to the Division hospital through July of 1864. He was promoted to Hospital Steward on July 13, 1864, and on September 13 was transferred to the non-commissioned staff, and on furlough in January of 1865. He was mustered out on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

After the war Henry returned to Lowell.

He married New York native Mary A. Grindell (1847-1904) on March 29, 1866, and they had at least eight children: William (b. 1867), Catherine (Underhill, 1868-1900), Capstrotia (b. 1869), Mrs. Worthy Willard, a boy who died in infancy, another son who died of diphtheria at the age of 5, and another son Charles W. (b. 1873-1905), Ada B. (b. 1879).

In 1870 Henry was living with his wife and two children and working as a farmer in Lowell, and for a time operated a planning mill. According to one report, he had been injured slightly three times during the war “only to get a crippled hand on a saw while running a planning mill for a few months after the war.” Henry also worked as a collecting agent.

He also continued to suffer from the effects of the chronic diarrhea he had contracted while in the army. he stated some years after the war that for several weeks in the summer of 1866 he was confined to his bed as a result of severe stomach problems, and the had been under the regular care of Drs Peck and McDaniel, apparently Lowell physicians. By 1880 Henry was working as a collecting agent and living with his wife and children Kittie L., Charles and Ada, in Lowell. By 1898 he was living in Fallassburg, Kent County, near Lowell.

Except for two years that he lived in Vergennes, Kent County, and his service in the military, Henry lived virtually all his life in Lowell.

Shortly after his wife died in 1904 Henry went to live with his daughter Worthy and her family who also lived in Lowell; he was still living in Lowell in 1914.

In 1889 Henry applied for and received a pension (no. 495218), drawing $30 per month by 1916; he was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association, and Grand Army of the Republic Post No. 87 in Lowell.

One observer reported in October of 1916 that although he had recently turned 75 years old, Henry “is still quite active for a man of his years and is a familiar figure about town, cordially greeting his old friends daily. He has richly earned the peace and comfort of his journey to the setting sun. May his cup of joy be full and overflowing to the end.”

Henry was a widower when he died of “natural causes” at his home in Lowell on Sunday, December 3, 1916, and the funeral was held at the residence on December 6, under the auspices of the Masonic fraternity. The Lowell Ledger wrote that “Mr. Booth was a man of good mental attainments and business judgment and his advice was frequently sought by many of his friends and as freely given. While Mr. Booth had his faults, he was a faithful friend and a pleasant acquaintance; and all of those who have known him, except those who themselves are perfect, will remember him kindly.”

Henry was buried in Oakwood cemetery, Lowell.

Alva Bonney

Alva or Alvah Bonney, also known as “Bonna” or “Bonner”, was born 1841 in Pennsylvania, the son of Walter (b. 1793) and Chloe (1796-1854).

Massachusetts natives Walter and Chloe were married on September 26, 1812, in Chesterfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts, and by 1832 the family had settled in New York where they resided for some years. Between 1836 and 1841 the family moved to Pennsylvania -- probably living in Conneaut, Crawford County in 1840 -- and then on to Michigan. By 1850 Walter had settled his family in Newaygo County, Michigan, where Alva attended school with his older siblings. Walter remarried, probably to Lydia Anna (b. 1817), on January 1, 1855. By 1860 Alva was working probably as a farm laborer and living with his family in Big Prairie, Newaygo County.

Alva was 20 years old and probably still living in Newaygo County (probably with his family in Croton) when he enlisted with the consent of the Justice of the Peace in Company K on May 13, 1861. According to two other members of Company K, Alva was taken sick with measles while the regiment was in camp in Grand Rapids, but had sufficiently recovered his health to accompany the regiment when it left for Washington, DC, on June 13.

On July 16, just before the regiment was to leave its quarters at Chain Bridge overlooking the Potomac from Georgetown Heights, Alva wrote home to his parents, “We have not left here yet as I wrote to you the other day but we have orders to leave at 3 o’clock and it is nearly 3 now and we have about completed our arrangements to leave.” Still, he wanted them to know even in his haste that the regiment had just received its pay “and I have sent ten dollars to the Rapids [Grand Rapids] so you can get it you can” get it there. he also wanted them to “Write soon and tell me all the news.”

Indeed, the regiment left its quarters that very day and marched into Virginia, heading for Manassas Junction.

Alva remained on duty with the regiment through the summer. He wrote home in September that

I am well and enjoying myself. I received a letter from you not long since and was glad to hear that you was well. You wrote that you wanted me to come home and I should have done so if I could but I am bound to stay by the papers until the war is over. We are held as much as we would be if we were regulars and our captain would hardly want to lose one more of his men. There has several of them left this regiment and three have deserted from our Co. Some have been discharged by sickness and one of the toughest men we had died last week so that out of 101 men we have only 80 left and the most of the Co have suffered more than ours. We received our pay yesterday and I have sent you a twenty dollar gold piece. The captain’s father is here he is going to carry it to the [Grand] Rapids. He starts Monday so that by the time you can send an order for it it will be there. Send an [express] order to [Grand Rapids] and you will get it. [Wallace W.] Dickinson [of Company K] has sent his to Whitney the same way so you can get him to get yours. I should have sent it to Whitney if I had known that Dickinson was going to send his. Now father I want you to use the money and not work so hard. Hire someone to help you and provide for the wants of the family. You wrote that our friends . . . was all well. I hardly know whether I have any friends there or not for with the exception those that write to me can’t think that I have any human feelings for they write such letters as I never read before in my life. When I get their letter it makes me mad and when I get over that I have to cry and I shall answer no more letters of this kind. . . I don’t want any one to write as if I was never going home for I am when the war is over but they can’t bear the thought of seeing me happy one moment so they keep harping about something or other all the time. Guess they will catch it when I come back. But enough of this. The army stand[s] the same as they did when I wrote last. It is reported that many of the Secessionists are leaving for home and it is thought to be true but I think that it only a story although one of the Miss. regt did smash their muskets and leave not long ago and they had all better do the same thing for we have got them nearly surrounded and when we do begin they will have no place to run out and their reinforcements will be eaten up. But I must stop writing for I have this sheet nearly full. Keep up your courage and get along the best you can and if I ever come back I will stay with you. Write soon. Kiss sis for me, my love to all, . . . I heard that Nathan . . . has got home, is it so [?]

At some point, possibly soon after he wrote home in September, Alva became ill, and remained sick for some time. He eventually recovered and was even well enough to be posted to picket duty in late November when he wrote home on the 23rd,

After a long delay I now sit down to write to you. I wanted to send you some money when I wrote and we did not get our pay as soon as we expected for the papers was wrong or something was the matter and it has been a long time but we have got it at last and I send you 15 dollars in treasury notes. I could not send any more for I had to me a paid of boots and a pair of gloves and that took 5.50 so you can see that is all I can spare this time. I cannot get any chance to send it by express so I shall have to trust it by the mail. I know you will want it soon for it is pretty near tax-time and taxes must be very high this year. I have been sick a long time but have got well again. I should have applied for my discharge but they have taken our captain away from us and put in [as] Major [of the regiment] but this is no more than I expected for he is too much of a military man to rank as captain. They have put a mean dirty coward over us by the name of Lyon. He is at the Rapids recruiting for the Co and he had best stay there if he wants to keep out of hot water for the whole Co was mad at him before he was put in as capt so this trouble has kept me from doing anything about it and I have got well. I think I shall try to stay for it is my opinion that the war will not last long. I haven’t any news to write. Everything is quiet here and we don’t see a rebel once in a month. Our tickets [pickets?] are in advance of us 10 miles and we have good times. . . . I came off [picket duty] last night after a tour of two days and nights. I should like to be at home Christmas and New Year’s but should like to see this trouble settled first and I think it will be before long but I must close for this time for I have got to write to Stella Eldred today and as I have not slept much for three nights past I don’t feel much like writing. My love to All Alva Bonney.

By early 1862, Alva was still serving with the regiment when he wrote home to express his concern over his father’s welfare.

I now take my pen in hand to write you a few lines and send you some money. We have received our pay and I do not forget you and can send 15 dollars in treasury notes to you they are as good as gold any where so I will send them in stead of gold Father I want you to use it for your own benefit and make yourself comfortable. I have just received a letter from E. he seems to be in trouble about his land but I have forgotten all about it so that I can’t tell him any thing about it and in fact I have enough trouble my head about without that but if I could help him I would but I think that if I take care of you and send money to help you along I am doing pretty well. I can send 15 dollars this time and perhaps more next time. I received a letter from you not long ago and answered it. I received a letter from Amos C. not a great while ago he was well then. I want you to write as soon as you get this and tell me whether it went safe for I shall feel anxious until I hear from it. Give my best respects to Alfred and all inquiring friends and write often.

Alva was present for duty until about June 18 or 19 when he was taken sick. According to Dickinson and Carpenter, they helped Alva into the carriage which took him to the field hospital and apparently suffered from an attack of fever. Carpenter. About three or four days later Carpenter along with George French, also of Company K, went to th4 hospital to check on Alva’s condition. and when they arrived they “found him dead [and] that they inquired of the person in attendance at what hour he had died upon which they were informed that he was alone at the time he died, that they immediately buried him. . . Indeed, Alva was reported sick in Berry’s Third Brigade (the Old Third’s Brigade) hospital at Mrs. Allen’s farm (possibly near White’s Tavern, Virginia, along the Charles City road), suffering from a bad fracture.

In fact, Alva died of pneumonia at either at Savage Station, or Fair Oaks, Virginia, on June 22, 1862, and was possibly buried among the unknowns in Glendale National Cemetery.

In 1867 Alva’s father applied for and received a dependent’s pension (no. 145212).

Jesse Lamson and Mortimer Jay Bonner

Jesse Lamson Bonner was born November 27, 1839, in Branch County, Michigan, the son of Ira (1812-1875) and Mary Louise (Lamson, 1816-1884).

New York natives Ira and Mary were married in 1832 in Coldwater, Branch County, Michigan and by 1834 had settled in Ovid, Clinton County where they lived for some years. Between 1844 and 1846 they moved back to Branch County, settling in Kinderhook where by 1850 the family was living on a farm and where Jesse attended school with his siblings including his younger brother Mortimer who would also enlist in the Third Michigan. Around 1851 Ira settled his family in Casnovia, Muskegon County. By 1860 Jesse, or Lamson as he was known, was working as a laborer and living with his family in Casnovia.

Lamson stood 6’0” with gray eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion and was 22 years old and working as a” jobber” still living in Casnovia, probably with his family, when he enlisted with his younger brother Mortimer in Company F on May 13, 1861, giving his residence as Muskegon County. Lamson was reported sick in the hospital in August of 1862, and again from November through December of 1862. He may have been wounded during the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia on May 3, 1863, but in any case, he was again reported absent sick in the hospital in September of 1863. Lamson apparently recovered, however, and reenlisted on December 23, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, along with his brother Mortimer, crediting Vergennes Township, Kent County. Lamson presumably returned to his family home in Casnovia during his thirty days’ veterans’ furlough in January of 1864 and probably returned to the Regiment on or about the first of February.

Lamson was killed in action on May 6, 1864, at the battle of the Wilderness, Virginia, and buried in Fredericksburg National Cemetery: grave no. 3934.

No pension seems to be available.

The Grand Army of the Republic Lamson Bonner Post No. 306 of Casnovia was named in his honor.

Mortimer Jay Bonner was born April 14, 1841, in Branch County, Michigan, the son of Ira (1812-1875) and Mary Louise (Lamson, 1816-1884).

New York natives Ira and Mary were married in 1832 in Coldwater, Branch County, Michigan and by 1834 had settled in Ovid, Clinton County where they lived for some years. Between 1844 and 1846 they moved back to Branch County, settling in Kinderhook where by 1850 the family was living on a farm and where Mortimer attended school with his siblings including his older brother Jesse L. who would also enlist in the Third Michigan. Around 1851 Ira settled his family in Casnovia, Muskegon County, Muskegon County, and by 1860 Mortimer was working as a farm hand and living with his family in Casnovia.

Mortimer stood 5’8” with gray eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion. and was 20 years old and probably still living at home in Casnovia when he enlisted with his older brother Lamson in Company F on May 13, 1861. Mortimer was treated for general debility from March 16 to April 4, 1862, for intermittent neuralgia from February 4 to the 10th, 1863, for intermittent fever from March 12-14, for dysentery from September 10-14, and again from September 21 to october 1. He was a recipient of the Kearny Cross for his participation in the battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, and that same month he was detached as a guard in Cook’s hospital, Washington, DC (or New York City).

Mortimer eventually returned to the Regiment and reenlisted on December 23, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, along with his brother Lamson, crediting Grattan, Kent County (Lamson credited his reenlistment to Vergennes, Kent County). He was presumably absent on thirty-day veteran’s furlough in January of 1864, probably at his family home in Casnovia, and probably returned to the regiment around the first of February.

He was severely wounded in the right shoulder during the battle of Spotsylvania, Virginia, on May 12, 1864, and subsequently hospitalized. “A buckshot entered behind the right shoulder joint passed the capsule of the joint and emerged in front.” He was still absent wounded when he was transferred as a Sergeant to Company F, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864, and he remained absent until August. He was furloughed from the hospital from June 30 for 30 days and returned to the hospital July 9. He was subsequently transferred on August 16, although the details remain unclear.

It is possible that he returned to duty and was wounded a second time, at Petersburg, Virginia. In any case, he was mustered out as a Corporal on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

After the war Mortimer returned to Casnovia.

He married Josephine A. Russell (1849-1918) on September 3, 1865, in Grand Rapids, Kent County, and they had at least three children: Sherman M. (b. 1866), Elsie L. (b. 1868) and Walter A. (b. 1872).

After his marriage Mortimer settled into farming for his father in Casnovia, as he had done before the war, and probably lived the rest of his life in Casnovia working as a farmer. In 1870 he and his family were living with his parents in Casnovia, and by 1880 Mortimer was working a farm and living with his wife and children in Casnovia; also living with them was Mortimer’s brother Walter.

He was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association, as well as a charter member of Grand Army of the Republic Lamson Bonner Post No. 306 in Casnovia. In 1879 he applied for and received pension (no. 164571), drawing $12 per month by 1911; he was also a member of the Tyrone Grange in Casnovia, and for some years served as Steward.

Mortimer died of a “dilated heart” at his home in Casnovia village on January 16, 1911, and was buried in Casnovia cemetery: no. 81.

His widow was still living in Michigan when she applied for and received a pension (no. 718225).

Peter A. Bogardus

Peter A. Bogardus was born 1835 in New York.

There was a Peter Bogardus living in Pittsfield, Washtenaw County, Michigan in 1840. In 1850 there was a 17-year-old New York-born farm laborer named Peter “Bogart” living with and/or working for Henry Miller in Salem, Washtenaw County, Michigan.

In any case, Peter eventually left New York and moved westward, settling in Michigan sometime before 1850 and in Grand Rapids, Kent County before 1859. Peter was living in Kalamazoo, Michigan, when he married Michigan native Matilda (1835-1919) on May 24, 1854, in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, and they had at least four children: Edward S. (d. 1864), Robert A. (b. 1850), Isadore (b. 1859) and Jessie M. (b. 1862).

Soon after arriving in Grand Rapids Peter became a volunteer fireman for “Alert” company No. 1, and on January 5, 1859, was elected secretary and treasurer for the company. That same year he also joined the Valley City Guard, one of three militia companies which formed in Grand Rapids before the war, and in March of 1860 he was elected Fourth Corporal of the company. Peter would remain active in the VCG until the company was enrolled as the nucleus of Company A into the Third Michigan in the spring of 1861.

In addition to being a fireman and a member of the volunteer militia before the war, Peter also worked as a ward constable, probably in the Third Ward (where he resided). On the evening of December 28, 1859, it was reported that Peter had just returned “from the north woods, bringing with him two prisoners whose names are James Mapes and Henry Ansenor. They are charged with stealing lumber sleds and a variety of useful farming implements from J. M. Lane of Solon.”

By 1859-60 Peter was reported to be residing on the west side of Jefferson Street between Maple and Elm Streets, and in 1860 he was still working as a constable and living with his wife and children in Grand Rapids’ Third Ward; also residing with them was one Joanna Walling, a 19-year-old domestic from the Netherlands.

When the Third Michigan infantry was organized in Grand Rapids in late April of 1861, the staff of the new regiment relied heavily on the prewar local militia companies to provide officers for the first new companies then being formed at the old fairgrounds located along the old Kalamazoo Plank Road (present-day Division Street) just about two miles south of the city. For example, Byron Pierce who had served as captain of the Valley City Guard was appointed to command Company K while another captain of the VCG, Samuel Judd, was appointed to head up Company A.

Indeed, the command structure of Company A filled quickly, and several former VCG officers and noncommissioned officers found commanding billets in other companies. Fred Worden, at one time a Lieutenant in the VCG, became First Lieutenant of Company F, under the command of Captain John J. Dennis, and Peter Bogardus was 26 years old when he enlisted as Second Lieutenant in Company F on May 13, 1861.

Shortly after the regiment arrived in Washington on June 16, 1861, Peter was presented a sword by members of his company. On June 30, “ as Captain B. R. Pierce of Company K, was forming his company for dress parade, Sergeant Dickinson stepped forward, and in behalf of the company, presented to the Captain an elegant dress sword. . . . At the same time company F, through Sergeant [Abram] Martindale, presented their Lieutenant, Peter A. Bogardus, with a handsome regulation sword and belt, costing 22 dollars. Both presentations were accompanied by neat speeches, and responded to in appropriate and feeling terms. The fortunate recipients of these favors were taken completely by surprise, as they had received no intimation of the affair until the time of presentation.”

Dan Crotty of Company F wrote after the war that shortly after the battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, a detail from the Third Michigan was formed “to guard the tools that are used for building forts and other duty. There are 20 of us on the detail, commanded by Lieutenant Bogardus, . . .” Indeed, Frank Siverd of Company G, wrote home on September 8, 1861, that “At Fort Pennsylvania is a small detachment of the 3d Michigan under command of Lieutenant Bogardus of Co. D, this officer is highly complimented by the engineer corps for the efficiency with which he discharges his duty at his post.” (Crotty noted that the fort was located on a bluff overlooking a valley below.)

Peter was promoted to and commissioned First Lieutenant on August 11, 1861, but in late September suffered a fall from his horse which apparently incapacitated him for some time. On October 17, 1861, he wrote to General McClellan seeking a 20-day furlough. “I have the honor,” he wrote, “to inform you that some three weeks since I received an injury of my right ankle, by being thrown from my horse, near Fort Scott, Va while on duty, being at that time Lieutenant in command of the guard of that post which injury up to several days since has confined me to my quarters, and as the surgeon informs me, that it will yet be at least four weeks before I shall be able to resume my duties.”

In fact, Peter never did “resume his duties” and resigned his commission on December 26, 1861, presumably as a consequence of his injury in October.

After he left the army Peter returned to Michigan, probably to Grand Rapids. In any case, he was in Saginaw when he died on April 24, 1863, and his body was returned to Grand Rapids. The funeral was held at the home of Deacon Robert Davidson, on LaGrave Street, and conducted under the auspices of the Masonic fraternity. Peter was buried in Fulton cemetery: block 7, no. 23.

By 1880 Matilda was living in Grand Rapids’ Third Ward; also living with her was her youngest daughter, Jessie. In 1892 his widow was still living in Michigan when she applied for and received a pension (no. 470820). By 1896 she was living at 27 Lagrave Street in Grand Rapids, and in 1916 at 1214 Terrace Ave., N.E., Grand Rapids.

George and William C. Bodendorfer

George Bodendorfer was born 1826 in Marck Garbach, Bavaria, Germany.

George may have immigrated to the United States as early as 1849, and probably settled in Wisconsin by 1849 when his daughter was born. (His younger brother William reportedly also settled in Wisconsin sometime around 1849.) In 1850 George was working as a farmer and living with his first wife, German-born Barbara (b. 1826) and their daughter Anna (b. 1849) in Theresa, Dodge County, Wisconsin.

In any case, he reportedly married his second (?) wife, Martha Elizabeth Hoffmann or Mohr (b. 1835), on November 4, 1856, in Muskegon, Muskegon County, Michigan; they had at least one child: Emma (1858-1934). (Elizabeth “Hoffman” may have been the sister of Anna Hoffman who would marry George’s younger brother William who also served in the Old Third.)

They were living in Michigan when Emma was born (probably in Muskegon) and by 1860 George was working as a mill hand and Elizabeth was employed as a cook and they were living at Nicholas Kemp’s boarding house in Muskegon, Muskegon County, Michigan (so was George’s younger brother William). Also staying at the same boarding house, and indeed listed as right next to George were the “Bail” brothers, August and Fidele. Fidele too would join the Old Third.

George stood 5’8” with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion and was a 35-year-old blacksmith living in Muskegon, Muskegon County when he enlisted in Company C on May 23, 1861; his brother William would enlist in Company I in 1864. (Curiously, George did not join the “Muskegon Rangers”, which formed in Muskegon in late April of 1861 and which would join the Old Third as Company H. On the other hand, Company C was made up largely of German and Dutch immigrants, many of whom lived on the west side of the Grand River in Grand Rapids. This company was the descendant of the old Grand Rapids Rifles, also known as the “German Rifles”, a prewar local militia company composed solely of German troopers.)
George was reported as a deserter on July 24, 1861, at Arlington, Virginia, two days following the Union retreat from Bull Run, and returned to the Regiment a week later on July 31, 1861, at Hunter’s Farm, Virginia. (Like many others he had probably become separated from the regiment during the federal withdrawal to Washington.)

According to Sharon Miller, chronicler of Muskegon County civil war veterans, George had consistently failed to provide for his wife and child while in the army and Elizabeth consequently sought County relief assistance in 1862 and again in 1863. They were divorced on December 26, 1864. (Elizabeth or rather Martha apparently remarried one Philip Schnorbach in Muskegon in November of 1865.)

George was discharged for chronic rheumatism on January 10, 1863, at Camp Pitcher, Virginia, and he returned to Muskegon where he reentered the service in Company A, Tenth Michigan cavalry on September 15, 1863, for 3 years, and was mustered on October 2, 1863, probably at Grand Rapids where the regiment was organized between September 18 and November 18, 1863, when it was mustered into service. It left Michigan for Lexington, Kentucky on December 1, 1863, and participated in numerous operations, mostly in Kentucky and Tennessee throughout the winter of 1863-64. Most of its primary area of operations would eventually be in the vicinity of Strawberry Plains, Tennessee. He was serving with the company when he was ruptured when his horse fell on him at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, on December 25, 1863, and was subsequently treated in the regimental hospital. He was on detached service at the dismounted camp, Knoxville, Tennessee, from March through May of 1865, and was mustered out on November 11, 1865, at Memphis, Tennessee.

After the war George returned to Michigan and eventually settled in Vestaburg, Montcalm County, where he worked as a laborer. He was working as a laborer for a lumberman named William Stacy in Pine Township, Montcalm County in 1880, and living in Vestaburg by 1886 when he applied for a pension (no. 532,690, drawing $12.00 per month by 1891). He eventually settled in Grand Rapids, where he was living in 1888 and 1890, and for some years worked as a fireman.

George listed no next of kin when he was admitted as a widower to the Michigan Soldiers’ Home on March 10, 1887 (no. 538). (In fact his daughter Emma and her husband were living in Muskegon.)

George died of uremic fever, bronchitis and general debility at the Home on March 29, 1891, and was buried in the Home cemetery: section 3 row 8 grave no. 3; see photo G-9.

William C. Bodendorfer was born March 14, 1835, in Neustadt, Bavaria, Germany.

William came to the United States in 1849, eventually settling on a farm in Wisconsin, and settled in Muskegon in 1853. (His older brother George and his wife were living in Theresa, Wisconsin in 1850.) By 1860 he was working as a mill hand and fireman in Muskegon, Muskegon County, Michigan, and residing at Nicholas Kemp’s boarding house in Muskegon (as was his older brother George who would also join the Old Third). Also staying at the same boarding house, and indeed listed as right next to George were the “Bail” brothers, August and Fidele. Fidele too would join the Old Third (Curiously in 1860 there was one William Bodendofer, mill hand and fireman living and/or working with a sawyer named McCallum and his family in Muskegon, along with another mill hand, Sam Murray. Sam too would join Company H in 1861.)

William stood 5’6” with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion, and was 28 years old when he enlisted in Company I on February 19, 1864, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, crediting Muskegon, and was mustered the same day. (His brother George had enlisted in Company C in 1861.) William joined the Regiment on February 10 at Camp Bullock, Virginia, and was transferred to Company I, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864. He was reported as a Corporal on January 1, 1865, and mustered out of service on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana. (He claimed in later years that he contracted rheumatism on the Ohio River in June of 1865, probably while the regiment was being transferred to Jeffersonville. He further alleged that he was treated for the disease at a hospital near Louisville, Kentucky.)

After the war William returned to Muskegon where he worked for a while as a grocer and as a laborer.

On May 14, 1869, he married Bavarian native Anna Hoffman (1850-1911), and they had at least four children: William Andrew (1870-1940), Frederick Anthony (1872-1940), Anna (1874-1936) and John (1879-1928). (Anna was possibly the sister of George Bodendorfer’s first wife Elizabeth. In any case she reportedly immigrated to the US in 1868.)

By William opened his first saloon business on Western avenue in Muskegon in 1870, and by 1873 William was operating a saloon on the corner of Pine and Center Streets, and in 1874 it was reported that he opened a saloon at 112 Western avenue “next to Blake’s grocery, where he will supply the public with Blatz’s celebrated Milwaukee beer, the use of which has been proven to be an exemption from all the ills that flesh is heir to. For further particulars apply to Bill.”

By 1879 he had moved his business to 47 Western avenue where he included 15 pool tables in his saloon. By 1880 William was working as a grocer and living with his wife and children in Muskegon’s Second Ward. He sold his Western avenue saloon business in the summer of 1883.

He was a member of the local Germania Lodge and Muskegon Lodge, I.O.O.F., and he became a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association in 1877, and joined the Grand Army of the Republic Kearny Post No. 7 of Muskegon in 1880.

William became chronically ill around 1881, apparently suffering from “rheumatism” of the joints, and and was living in Muskegon when he applied for a pension in March of 1883 (application no. 474,987). However, after being examined by a Pension Bureau physician, his claim was rejected on the grounds that his disability had in fact arisen since his discharge from the army.

After leaving a lodge meeting on Tuesday, November 6, 1883, he fell down a flight of stairs which resulted in his death from apoplexy in Muskegon on November 7. According to the local newspaper:

William Bodendorfer attended the meeting of the Germania Lodge of Odd Fellows at their hall in the Gustin Block Tuesday evening, and at the close of the meeting he started for home in company with some of his brethren. On reaching the stairway he stumbled and fell down stairs, and was badly injured, and the fact of his being a large, heavy man, made the fall a serious one. He was assisted home, but all day yesterday he suffered considerably, and showed symptoms of internal injuries. Last evening he died, to the great surprise of all his friends. He was able to be around at 6 o’clock last evening, but died suddenly at 6:30.

Funeral services were conducted by Rev. W. T. Whitmarsh, and William was buried at Oakwood cemetery: section 2 lot no. 21.

After William’s death Anna married another former member of the Old Third, William’s friend George Schwegler who had divorced his first wife.