Thursday, June 05, 2008

Judah Benjamin Dake

Judah Benjamin Dake was born October 9, 1828, in Rushford, Allegany County, New York, the son of Benjamin (1781-1865) and Mary Polly (Colby, b. 1788).

Vermonter Benjamin married New Hampshire-born Mary in 1808 and they settled in Vermont before eventually moving to Allegany County, New York. Sometime in the 1840s Judah left New York State with his family and moved west, eventually settling in Barry County, Michigan.

On July 4, 1850 Judah married New York native Lucy Jane Gibbs (b. 1834) in Ovid, Shiawassee County and they had at least three children: Florence G. (b. 1851), Francis A. (b. 1859) and Gertrude (1862-1869).

Judah and his wife lived briefly in Barry County but eventually moved to Newaygo County, and by 1856 Judah had settled in Denver Township. They might have returned briefly to Barry County in 1859 when their son Francis was born. In any case, by 1860 Judah was living with his wife and children and working a farm in Dayton, Newaygo County (his father Benjamin lived with him as well). In December of 1860 he acquired 80 acres of land through the land office in Ionia County, Michigan.

Judah stood 5’8” with blue eyes, red hair and a light complexion and was a 32-year-old farmer possibly living in Dayton when he enlisted in Company K on March 12, 1862, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, crediting Dayton, and was mustered on March 17. Although he was reported sick in the hospital in August of 1862, he eventually returned to duty and reenlisted on March 17, 1864, at Dayton, and was mustered on March 21 near Culpeper, Virginia. Judah was absent on veterans’ furlough in April and May of 1864 and probably returned to the Regiment sometime in May.

Judah was transferred to Company I, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864, and was reported on detached service from July through August. He was absent sick in September and October, by December was listed as serving with the medical department. He allegedly deserted from Satterlee hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 15, 1864, but was still carried in the Quartermaster department in January of 1865. Apparently he returned from “desertion” and by February was a provost guard at City Point, Virginia, and absent sick in April. Judah was mustered out of service on July 5, 1865 at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

After his discharge from the army Judah returned to his home in Newaygo County. By 1870 he was working as a farmer (he owned some $2000 worth of real estate) and living with his wife and two children in Denver, Newaygo County (his daughter Florence was working as a domestic). By 1880 Judah was a widower suffering from neuralgia and living with his son Francis on a farm in Maple Creek, Furnas County, Nebraska.

Judah applied for a pension (no. 358272), but the certificate was never granted.

Judah apparently returned to Michigan where he died on February 28, 1882, in Sheridan, Newaygo County and was buried in Bull cemetery, Newaygo County.

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