Monday, March 31, 2008

George B. Clark

George B. Clark was born May 4, 1840, in Grass Lake, Jackson County, Michigan, the son of Beaumont Jr. (b. 1810) and Melissa (b. 1811).

Connecticut native Beaumont Jr. married Vermont-born Melissa and settled in Michigan by 1835 when their daughter Augusta was born. By 1850 George was attending school with three of his siblings and living with his family on a farm in Grass Lake, Jackson County. By 1860 George was a day laborer or sawyer living in Oakfield, Kent County. Three of his younger siblings were living with the Farmer (?) family in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County in 1860.

George stood 5’7” with dark eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion, and was 22 years old and possibly living in Greenville, Montcalm County, when he enlisted in Company D on May 13, 1861. George may have been related to Hiel Clark of Ionia County, who also enlisted in Company D. (Company D was composed in large part of men who came from western Ionia County and Eaton County.)

In August of 1862 George was reported absent sick in the hospital, and from October of 1863 through November was absent sick in the hospital in Alexandria, Virginia. He was hospitalized in Washington, DC in December of 1863, but apparently rejoined the Regiment and was wounded in the hand sometime in early May of 1864, following which he was reportedly hospitalized and was mustered out of service on June 20, 1864.

He eventually returned to western Michigan where he reentered the service as a Private in Unassigned, Fifth Michigan infantry on March 4, 1865 at Grand Rapids for one year, crediting Campbell, Ionia County, and was discharged on May 6, 1865 by order of the War Department, at Jackson, Jackson County.

(It is unclear why he was discharged. Curiously, the Third was consolidated with the Fifth Michigan Infantry in June of 1864 when the regiment was officially mustered out of service.)

George returned to Michigan after the war. He may have returned to Montcalm County or perhaps he was living in Rockford, Kent County by 1865.

He was possibly living in Rockford, Kent County when he married Michigan native Harriet “Hattie” A. Calkins (b. 1848), on September 25, 1865, in Greenville, Montcalm County, and they had at least three children: Mary (b. 1868), Harry (b. 1869) Rose B. (b. 1879).

By 1870 George was working as a wagon maker and living with his wife and two children in Stanton, Montcalm County; next door lived two young men named Calkins, presumably Hattie’s brothers. By 1880 George was working as a farmer and living with his wife and their daughter Rosa in Maple Valley, Montcalm County; next door lived James and Mary Calkins, presumably Harriet’s parents. Besides Montcalm County, Michigan, George lived in Rockford, Kent County, Michigan, in Winton, Minnesota in 1897, in Ely, Minnesota, in DeLemere, North Dakota and Newark, Marshall County, South Dakota.

George eventually settled in Marshall County, South Dakota, probably sometime around 1900. In any case, he was a widower and living in Newark, Marshall County, South Dakota when he was admitted to the South Dakota State soldier’s Home in Hot springs, South Dakota, on September 20, 1910. He resided off and on in the Soldiers’ Home in South Dakota for the remainder of his life. He was on furlough from the Home in 1913, 1916 and 1919. By 1920 he was listed as a resident in the South Dakota state soldiers’ home in Hot Springs, South Dakota.

In 1884 he applied for and received a pension (no. 962,128), drawing $15.00 per month by 1910 and eventually increased to $30.00 per month . George was reported as a Protestant.

George died of a hemorrhage of the bladder on August 26, 1927, at the state soldier’s home in Hot Springs, South Dakota, and was buried Hot Springs, South Dakota: in row 17, grave 36.

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