Sunday, August 31, 2008

Squire H. Ferris

Squire H. Ferris was born 1817 in Orange County, New York.

In 1820 there was a Gideon “Farris” living in Greenfield, Orange County, New York, and a Sarah “Farris” living in Cornwall, Orange County, New York. By 1830 one Elijah Ferris was living in Newburgh, Orange County, New York. That same year Augustus Ferris was living in Ira, Cayuga County, New York. Squire may in fact be related to New York native Thatcher Ferris (b. 1786) who settled in Ira, Cayuga County, New York, around 1804 and lived most of his life in Ira.

We do know that "Squire H." married New York native Jane (b. 1817), presumably in New York, and they had at least three children: Henry (b. 1838), Lucilla (b. 1839) and Gilbert (b. 1846).

By 1840 Squire was living in Ira, Cayuga County, New York, and in 1850 he was working as a shoemaker and living with his wife and three children in Ira. Sometime after 1856 Squire took his family and moved westward, eventually settling in Michigan. By 1860 he was working as a shoemaker and living with his wife and two children in Campbell, Ionia County.

He stood 5’10” with gray eyes, light hair and a light complexion, and was a 45-year-old shoemaker and farmer possibly living in Campbell, Ionia County when he enlisted in Company C on February 14, 1862, at Saranac, Ionia County for 3 years, and was mustered the same day. He injured his the left arm and wrist sometime in 1862, possibly at Second Bull Run on August 29, 1862, and was admitted to Judiciary Square hospital in Washington, DC. He was discharged on December 6, 1862, at Judiciary Square hospital for “loss of left arm by amputation.”

In 1862 Squire applied for and received a pension (no. 10663).

In 1870 Henry Ferris was living in Fairfield, Shiawassee County; also living with him was his mother Jane and a basket-maker named Maquis Ferris (b. 1846 in New York). In 1880 Gilbert Ferris was a single man working as a mechanic in Campbell, Ionia County and Jane was listed as a widow living in Owosso, Shiawassee County.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

James M. Ferris

James M. Ferris was born 1838 in Oakland, Oakland County, Michigan, the son of Morgan (b. 1806) and Catharine (Wycoff, b. 1802).

Morgan and Catharine were born native New Yorkers and were probably married in New York sometime before 1832. (Morgan may have been living in Roxbury, Delaware County, New York in 1830.) In any case they resided in New York for some years before emigrating to Michigan. By 1840 Morgan was living in Southfield, Oakland County. By 1850 James was living with his family in Southfield, Oakland County, where his father worked a farm. By 1860 James was a student living with his family and working as a foundryman, probably for his father who was operating an iron foundry in Lyons, Ionia County.

James stood 5’10” with gray eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion, and was 23 years old and probably still living and working in Ionia County when he enlisted as Second Sergeant in Company E on May 13, 1861. (Company E was composed in large part by men from Clinton and Ingham counties, as well as parts of Ionia County.) He was acting Sergeant Major in August of 1862, and from September 11, 1862, through April of 1863, he was in Michigan on detached service, recruiting for the Regiment. By the end of May he was back on duty with the regiment in Virginia, and he reenlisted on December 24, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Byron, Kent County. James was probably absent at his family’s home in Michigan on veteran’s furlough in January. Curiously, he was reported as having been reduced to the ranks on January 31, 1864, offense(s) unknown.

In any case, he probably returned to the Regiment on or about the first of February of 1864.

On June 1 or 2, 1864, James was taken prisoner at Cold Harbor (or Gaines’ Mills), Virginia, and confined in Andersonville prison, Georgia for a period of about 10 months (until about February of 1865). He was transferred as prisoner-of-war and, curiously, listed as a Sergeant to Company E, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864. Following his release in March of 1865 he was sent to the United States general hospital, Division No. 1 in Annapolis, Maryland, on March 7, 1865, and was subsequently transferred to Camp Chase, Ohio on April 23. He was mustered out as a Sergeant on July 6, 1865 at Detroit.

It is not known if James ever returned to Michigan.

He was married and had at least one child, a daughter Effale. He claimed in 1898 that his wife died in 1894.

He was probably living in New York when he was admitted to a National Military Home, probably the Southern Branch (?). On January 16, 1896, James was admitted to the National Military Home in San Francisco; he was still living there in 1898. By 1899, however, he was living at the National Military Home in Danville, Vermillion County, Illinois.

In 1876 he applied for and received a pension (no. 362796).

According to his daughter James died on June 16, 1901, in the National Military Home at Danville, Illinois, but there doesn't appear to be any record of his burial in Danville.

Friday, August 29, 2008

John D. Felton Jr.

John D. Felton Jr. was born August 5, 1839, in Summit County, Ohio, the son of John D. Sr. (1797-1851) and Lucinda (1800-1869).

John D. Sr. left Ohio and brought his family to Michigan, and they eventually settled in the Wayland area, Allegan County. By 1860 John was working as a farm laborer and living with his younger sister Harriet (b. 1844) and mother who was a farmer in Leighton, Allegan.

John stood 5’6” with hazel eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion, and was a 23-year-old farmer possibly living in Leighton, Allegan County when he enlisted in Company K on August 18, 1862 at Grand Rapids for 3 years, crediting Leighton. He joined the Regiment on September 8, 1862, and was absent sick in June of 1863, probably in a hospital in Washington, DC. By October of 1863 he was reported to be recovering from pneumonia in Chestnut Hill (Mower) hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On October 24 he applied for a furlough to visit his home in Allegan County, since he found it necessary “to attend to some business affairs that demand my immediate attention and presence,” and his request was approved in late December. He remained absent sick in the hospital through March of 1864. John eventually recovered his health and rejoined the Regiment.

He was killed in action on May 6, 1864, at the Wilderness, Virginia. His body was reportedly returned to Allegan County and he was buried in Hill cemetery, Wayland Township.

In 1864 his mother applied for and received a dependent’s pension (no. 44963).

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Joseph C. Feheley

Joseph C. Feheley, also known as “Fisherley,” was born January 12, 1830, probably in Ontario County, New York.

Joseph’s family eventually left New York and probably settled in Michigan sometime before 1840. By 1850 Joseph and his younger sister (?) Michigan native Sarah (b. 1838) were living with the Thomas and Ann Coleman family in division 10, Berrien County. Sometime before 1862 Joseph left New York and moved west, eventually settling in Ionia County, Michigan.

He stood 5’4” with blue eyes, light hair and a light complexion, and was a 34-year-old farmer living in Campbell, Ionia County when he enlisted in Company C on either January 10 or February 10, 1862, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, crediting Campbell, and was mustered the same day. (According to his military service record, he was the same man as “Joseph Fisherley” who enlisted in Unassigned at the age of 32 on February 10, 1862 at Saranac, Ionia County for 3 years.) He was serving as a pioneer, probably detached to the Brigade, from July of 1862 through October of 1862, and he reenlisted on February 29, 1864, at Camp Bullock, Virginia. He was subsequently furloughed for 30 days, probably during the month of March, and possibly returned to Michigan during that time. In any case, he returned to duty around the first of April and was at Brigade headquarters, probably as a pioneer, from April of 1864 through May.

Joseph was probably still on detached service when he was transferred to Company I, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864, and was reported detached from July through September. In October he was employed as a nurse at the hospital in City Point, Virginia, and in December of 1864 and January of 1865 he was working in the Quartermaster department, probably still detached as a nurse. In February he was reported absent sick, and on March 11, 1865, he was admitted to a hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, suffering from dropsy. He remained hospitalized until being mustered out on July 5, 1865 at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

After the war Joseph returned to Michigan where he worked most of his life as a farmer.

He married Ohio native Julia E. (1836-1901) and they had at least one child, a son Archibald (b. 1866)

By 1870 Joseph was working as a farmer and living with his wife and son in Campbell, Ionia County. And by 1880 Joseph was still working as a farmer and living with his wife and son in Campbell; also living with them were a nephew and niece. He eventually settled in Freeport, Barry County, where he was living in 1882 and 1885, and in Carlton Township, Barry County in 1890. In fact Joseph probably lived the remainder of his life in the Freeport-Carlton area.

He was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association, and in 1885 became a charter member of Grand Army of the Republic Joel Woolcott Post No. 334 in Freeport.
In 1887 he applied for and received a pension (no. 381788).

Joseph died September 14, 1884, presumably in Freeport or Carlton and was buried in Freeport cemetery.

His widow applied for and received a pension (no. 428090).

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Vincent W. Farr - updated January 21, 2013

Vincent W. Farr was born in January 28, 1840, in Carthage, Wilna Township, Jefferson County, New York, the son of Charles and Catherine.

According to family historian Kenn Farr, Vincent’s parents died on the same day in 1844 and he went to live with his Uncle John Jr. Farr (b. 1818), Charles’ younger brother, and his wife Clarissa (b. 1817), probably in Wilna, New York, where they were all still living in 1850. Sometime between 1850 and 1860 the family left New York and moved to Michigan and it quite likely that Vincent accompanied them. By 1860 Vincent was working for and/or living with the Lewis Phillips family on a farm in Nelson, Kent County; John and Clarissa and their children were also living in Nelson in 1860 as well. 

Vincent stood 5’11” with brown eyes and hair and a dark complexion, and was 22 or 32 years old and working as a lumberman when he enlisted in Company F on May 13, 1861. In August of 1862 he was reported absent sick in the hospital, and indeed he remained hospitalized until he was discharged for consumption and “complete aphonia,” on November 18, 1862, at Fort Lyon, Virginia.

It is not known if Vincent ever returned to Michigan after he left the army; we do know that he eventually returned to his former home in Carthage, New York.

Vincent married New York native Julia Butts (1843-1903) on January 9, 1863, in Carthage, New York, and they had at least four children: Harriet (b. 1865), George W. (1867-1877), Elizabeth “Libby” (b. 1870-1877) and Franklin Adam (b. 1881).

Vincent and his family were living in New York in 1865. (John and Clarissa and their children were still living in Nelson, Michigan in 1870.) By 1880 Vincent was working as a farmer and living with his wife and daughter Harriet in Wilna Township, Jefferson County, New York, and Vincent was still living in Wilna with his wife and their son Franklin Adam in 1900. His wife died in Wilna in 1903. By July of 1915 Vincent was living in Brownville, Jefferson County, New York.

He applied for and received a pension (no. 391269).

Vincent was a widower when died in 1920, presumably in Wilna and was buried alongside his wife Julia and two of their children, George and Elizabeth, in Pierce Cemetery in Wilna.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Aaron F. Farr - updated 16 August 2016

Aaron F. Farr was born around 1832, in Niagara, Ontario, Canada, probably the son of Canadians John (1805) and Mary (1804).

In 1851 Aaron was working as a sawyer, probably for his father who was a lumberman, and living with his family in Houghton, Norfolk County, Ontario. He eventually left Canada and moved to western Michigan. By 1860 he was probably working as a mill laborer and living with the Adams family in Tallmadge, Ottawa County.

Aaron stood 5’6” with blue eyes, light hair and a light complexion, and was 25 years old and possibly living in Tallmadge, Ottawa County when he enlisted in Company B on May 13, 1861. He was present for duty from January of 1862 through April, and absent sick at the hospital in Yorktown, Virginia on April 1, 1862 suffering from “piles” (hemorrhoids). He was eventually treated at Judiciary Square hospital in Washington, DC, and reported absent sick in the hospital at the corner of 6th and D Streets and in the 8th Street hospital in Washington, DC, from June 3, 1862, through July and August. According to one source, he was wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia, on May 31, 1862, and put aboard the Elm City at White House Landing, Virginia, and transferred to the hospital in Washington, DC, where he arrived on June 5 or 6.

Aaron was dropped from the company rolls on September 21, 1862, in compliance with G.O. no. 92 (regarding deserters), for having allegedly deserted on September 21, 1862, at Upton’s Hill, Virginia. Although he was probably in the hospital in September, his military service record notes that the “charge of desertion not to be removed and [that he be given] no honorable discharge.” Apparently there was no record of his having been absent sick or wounded at the time he was reported as a deserter. Of course, he may have deserted from the hospital, although there is no record confirming one way or the other.

After his discharge from the army Aaron probably returned to Ontario, Canada.

In June of 1888 he was apparently back in Michigan living in Waters, Otsego County when he applied for a pension (application no. 660,904). His application was rejected, however, “on the grounds that the claimant deserted and never returned to his command and for the reason that an application for removal of charge of desertion and for an honorable discharge in the case has been denied.”

Two months later, in August of 1888, Aaron was back in Houghton, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada, suffering, he claimed in a letter to the pension commissioner, from piles so bad that he had had to quit work as a laborer and leave Otsego.

Aaron died of kidney and bladder disease on September 15, 1889 in Norfolk, Ontario, Canada.

Monday, August 25, 2008

George Francis, Henry Spencer and Wilson David Fargo

George Francis Fargo was born December 7, 1843, in Wyoming County, New York, the son of the son of David Mason (1815-1881) and Sarah Ann (Wilson, b. 1837?).

New York natives David and Sarah were married, probably in New York, and by 1846 David had settled his family on a farm in Warsaw, Wyoming County, New York. They were living in Warsaw in 1850 when George attended school with his older siblings including his brother Henry who would also enlist in the Third Michigan. The family eventually left New York and moved westward, settling in Ionia County, Michigan.

In 1860 there was one George S. Fargo living in Warsaw, Wyoming County, New York. In any case, George F. left New York and moved west, eventually settling in western Michigan. In late 1863 George’s older brother Wilson, who had joined the Third Michigan infantry regimental band in 1861, wrote home to warn George about the upcoming draft. On December 10, from Saranac, Ionia County, Wilson wrote:

Brother George,

I received your letter but have until now neglected to answer you – and now I have something of importance to communicate to you about the draft. There has been a list of the names of all that are liable to draft printed & posted up for public exhibition and it is ordered that if any are in the town liable to draft whose name does not appear on the list shall be reported to the provost martial. Now then your name is not down & will not be if you keep away from here. Consequently you had better keep away from here till after the draft takes place which is the 5th of Jany. Then you will be all right. But if you must -- deny your age and claim to be 19 this December. I would like to have you come home, would all be glad to see you but the safe way is the best way. Father is quite sick but I think he will be about again soon. All the rest are very well. Write us soon. No more this time. Yours very truly W. D. Fargo

PS since writing the above Juel [?] tells me that Father is not quite as well tonight. You had better come out of the woods near the RR when you come home at anytime we should want you. But keep us posted of your whereabouts.

Friday morning Dec. 11. Father is better this morning so he will get along soon. Let us hear from you at once. W. D. Fargo.

George did avoid the draft – he enlisted.

George stood 5’5” with gray eyes, brown hair and a light complexion, and was a 20-year-old farmer possibly living in Odessa, Ionia County when he enlisted with his younger brother Henry in Company D on February 9, 1864, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, crediting Odessa, and was mustered the same day. Their older brother Wilson had enlisted in the Regimental Band in 1861.) (Company D was composed in large part of men who came from western Ionia County and Eaton County.) Soon after arriving in Virginia George wrote home to his parents from Alexandria. On February 26 he wrote:

We are here in ole Washington . . . we are in the barracks expect to go [to] the Regt today but don’t know for certain. It won’t be long anyway.

The rebels are deserting like the mischief. 20 came here Tuesday and 12 Wednesday. The general opinion here is that the rebellion will not last long. They desert so fast and tell such pitiful stories about their condition. They look ragged and [worn] out. They must give out soon and I hope so. I like it first rate as far as I have got. It is time [to] close. All well [and] tough as snakes. We have a guard to go with us to shit to see if we don’t fall in the shithole and get drowned. . . .You need not write until you hear from us again. Yours in health. George S. Fargo.

And the following day he wrote again to his family from a camp near Brandy Station, Virginia:

Dear Parents, Brother & sister

I write in haste to let you know that we are here under marching orders. We are to cross the Rapidan [river] tomorrow [and] march about 6 miles. The 6th . . . left here today and we are to support them. I am in the 3rd troop [?] we got here today about noon and about 4 o’clock Henry was taken sick but don’t know what ails him. He is not much sick but I don’t think he will be able to go with the Regt tomorrow. He has been exposed to the measles on the road and I would not [be surprised] if he was coming down with them. I don’t feel the best that [I] ever was I tell you. It is a long road from Grand Rapids to Washington. The rest of the boys feel pretty much played out as well as ourselves.

Henry may feel better in the morning. Munson Granger had the measles the next day after he got here and is around again. Don’t go to worrying about him or me either for we will be taken good care of.

We may not get into any fight tomorrow [and will] see some skirmishing if nothing more. The rebs are deserting. . . . It is getting late and I [have to] stop to write any more tonight. Yours in haste, George F. Fargo

George joined the Regiment on March 6 at Camp Bullock, Virginia, but was sent to the Regimental hospital on March 12 where he remained until he died of measles on March 15, 1864, at Camp Bullock. He was presumably buried near Alexandria, Virginia.

His brother Henry would eventually join the regiment in camp. On April 17 Henry wrote to his parents to tell them “You spoke of my expressing George’s things home and I told [?] Wilson [?] that I could send them the first of the week but the Col. Says that every box is opened at Baltimore and no army clothing will be allowed to be sent through so you see I cannot send them but there is George’s vest and shirt and several of his little trinkets.”

In 1881 his mother Sarah applied for and received a dependent’s pension (no. 214,623). She was living in Lansing, Ingham County when she died in 1889.

Henry Spencer Fargo was born April 29, 1846, in Warsaw, Wyoming County, New York, the son of David Mason (1815-1881) and Sarah Ann (Wilson, b. 1837?).

New York natives David and Sarah were married, probably in New York, and by 1846 David had settled his family on a farm in Warsaw, Wyoming County, New York. They were living in Warsaw in 1850 when Henry attended school with his older siblings including his brother George who would also enlist in the Third Michigan. The family eventually left New York and moved westward, settling in Ionia County, Michigan.

Henry stood 5’6” with black eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion, and was an 18-year-old farmer living in Boston or Odessa, Ionia County when he enlisted with his older brother George in Company D, on February 9, 1864, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, crediting Odessa, and mustered the same day. (Their older brother Wilson had enlisted in the Regimental Band in 1861.) (Company D was composed in large part of men who came from western Ionia County and Eaton County.)

Henry and his brother George arrived in Virginia in late February. On February 27 George wrote home to their parents and informed them that “we got here today about noon and about 4 o’clock Henry was taken sick but don’t know what ails him. He is not much sick but I don’t think he will be able to go with the Regt tomorrow. He has been exposed to the measles on the road and I would not [be surprised] if he was coming down with them.” He also acknowledged that he was feeling well either. In fact George, who never joined the regiment in camp, would die of measles on March 12.

Henry joined the Regiment on March 6 at Camp Bullock, Virginia, and was in camp with the regiment on April 17 when he wrote home to his “Dear father,”

I received your kind letter last night communicating to me such advice that I could receive in no other way . . . and now Father I am resolved to live a different life than I have heretofore. I have been having the ague some but am better now. Father you say that Uncle _____ is coming home from California and you think of going back with him. You want to know what I think of it? Well father if you think it would be a benefit to your health and you can get into business when you get them and not have to work . . . I don’t know but I would go but if you have got to there and go to farming and support your family I would not go for it will cost you so much to get there that you would have nothing to commence with when you got there. If I was out of the army so that I could go with you I should not care so much about it. You spoke of my expressing George’s things home and I told [?] Wilson [?] that I could send them the first of the week but the Col. Says that every box is opened at Baltimore and no army clothing will be allowed to be sent through so you see I cannot send them but there is George’s vest and shirt and several of his little trinkets. I will put them into a little box and send them home. Father you say that Emma’s health is very poor and seem to think she is not long for this world. . . . [S]oon the spring campaign will open and then I am to meet the enemy . . . .Yes father I shall send every cent home I can get except enough to buy my writing papers & envelopes. I will send you four dollars today I think I will risk that much in a letter today. I have sold my watch for ten dollars and I will send you five . . . . I have no more to write so I will close. Good by father. . . .

And on April 19 he wrote home from camp near Brandy Station, to his “Dear parents and friends,”

Today is Monday and I am alone.. Have just finished my washing & am now cooking some beans. . . . The weather here is very warm and pleasant & has been so for several days. I looked for a letter from home night before last . . . I wrote a letter to Harrison the other day but as yet have got no answer from him. Father, do you hear anything more about going to Cal. . . ? How does all off of the horses get along now? Are they getting fat. . ? Do you keep Old Bill yet or have you parted with him?

Father I sent you five dollars in a letter the other day. Have you got it or not? If you have write me about it so I shall know that it got through all right. I have heard that E. B. Bigelow is taken prisoner and they have sent him to Georgia. If that is true he is safe for three years or during the war as well as myself. Stephen Thompson is home sick with the measles. Amelia said in her letter that Emma Brown was there and said she would write to me of she had my address [?] Just tell her I should like very much to get a letter from her. I am always ready to answer a letter as soon as I get one. I have no news to write – we expect to move before long but don’t know how soon. You must all write soon. Give my love to all who may inquire after me. As I have no more to write this time I will close. Hoping to here from you soon. Good by. I am H. S. Fargo

Henry was transferred to Company A, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864, but soon after was taken sick. He was sent from White House Landing, Virginia and admitted on June 15 to Mt. Pleasant hospital in Washington, DC, suffering from chronic diarrhea. From a location on 14th Street, Washington, DC, he wrote home on June 30, 1864, to his older brother Wilson,

Dear brother Wilson,

Once more I sit down to write you a few lines to inform you that I sent by express yesterday forty dollars that being what I can spare this time. I sent it by the Adams Express because I could not the American Express. The agent told me that they make connections with the American Express co. at Pittsburg PA. If that is the case there will be no trouble. I have got . . . the money which I shall keep [it until I] hear from you & if you want me to send you the rest you can write me. I don’t get any letters from you yet but you must write me when you get the money. Now Wils if father wants any money let him have it & you know it becomes a duty as well as a privilege for me to help him all we can if there is any more than he wants you can use it. I shall send my money all home & when there is any more than you fellows know what to do with just see what you can do for me. . . We don’t have anything to do . . . sit down in a chair under some birch trees . . . Ff [?] was here this morning I would give you some ripe apples. We have some that are very nice. I [think I can] get a furlough but the [for the moment] I am [not] interested. I have got a good place & if I leave it I should lose it & when I get back I would have to go to the front. But if I stay here now I shall have a good place all summer. So you see I don’t want to leave here now if nothing happens I will try for a furlough next winter. I have no more to write this time so I will close. So good by for this time. I remain as ever yours truly, Henry S. Fargo

On July 27 Henry was still in Washington when he wrote home to his “dear parents and friends,”

As I have a little time this afternoon I will write a few lines to you. I got a letter from Mother . . . last night and was very glad to hear you are all well. I am quite well today & have written one letter before today. I have some pictures representing some of the battles in which I have been present. You will see that two of the pictures represent the same battle, namely the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. You will see the picture of Hancock’s Division charging the rebel battery. Never did I see such cutting and slashing as was done over those rifle pits. The johnnies fought hard for those cannon that we captured from them. One man of the 3rd Mich was first to turn the rebel cannon upon them.

There is also a little box, which I will send along. The comb is one that George gave me & I have carried it all through the campaign. This is the reason I don’t want to lose it for I will send it home. The little knife I suppose Franklin will claim. I have not much to send the children this time. The little battle I suppose if you have a young lady she will be entitled to that, The gloves I have put in to fill up the box. . .

Henry was discharged on either November 29, 1864 at Mt. Pleasant or on December 1 or 2, 1864, at Finley hospital, Washington, DC, “by reason of being a minor.”

Henry returned to his home in Michigan after he left the army.

He married Michigan native Gertrude E. Perry (b. 1849) on November 22, 1866, in Saranac, Ionia County, and they had at least two children: Eva (b. 1872), Wyona (b. 1878) and Stella (b. 1883).

Henry remained in Michigan until about 1869 when he moved to Kansas. By 1870 Henry was working as an auctioneer and living with his wife (he owned some $1400 worth of real estate)) with the Perry family in East W. Paola, Miami County, Kansas (his father and mother were also living in East W. Paola that year). By 1880 he was working as a stock breeder and living with his wife and children in Paola’s Third Ward, Kansas; two doors away lived Wilson Fargo and his family. Their father lived in Paola in 1880 as well. In about 1888 he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and was apparently living in Missouri by 1889 when he applied for and received a pension (no. 625,204). In 1892 Henry moved to Indiana, where he worked as a lawyer and was living in Hartford city, Blackford County in 1908. He remained in Indiana until about 1909 when he moved to Portland, Multnonah County, Oregon. He still living in Portland in 1912.

Henry was probably living in Portland, Oregon, where he died on June 3, 1917, and was presumably buried in Portland.

His widow was living at 772 E. 26th Street North in Portland, Oregon in late June of 1917 when she applied for and received a pension (no. 836868).

Wilson David Fargo was born in February 10, 1838, in New York, the son of David Mason (1815-1881) and Sarah Ann (Wilson, b. 1819)

New York natives David and Sarah were married, probably in New York, and by 1846 when their son Henry was born David had settled his family on a farm in Warsaw, Wyoming County, New York. They were living in Warsaw in 1850. The family eventually left New York and moved westward, settling in Ionia County, Michigan. Wilson was 22 years old and possibly living in Kent County when he enlisted in the Regimental Band on June 10, 1861. (His younger brothers George and Henry would both enlist in 1864 in Company D.)

Wilson was discharged on February 28, 1862 at Camp Michigan, Virginia, “as a member of the Band and not as a Musician.” He apparently returned to Michigan, probably to Ionia County, after his discharge. In any case, he was in Saranac, Ionia County, when he wrote on the evening of Thursday, December 10, 1863, to his younger brother George who was in hiding someone nearby.

Brother George,

I received your letter but have until now neglected to answer you – and now I have something of importance to communicate to you about the draft. There has been a list of the names of all that are liable to draft printed & posted up for public exhibition and it is ordered that if any are in the town liable to draft whose name does not appear on the list shall be reported to the provost martial. Now then your name is not down & will not be if you keep away from here. Consequently you had better keep away from here till after the draft takes place which is the 5th of Jany. Then you will be all right. But if you must deny, your age and claim to be 19 this December. I would like to have you come home, would all be glad to see you but the safe way is the best way. Father is quite sick but I think he will be about again soon. All the rest are very well. Write us soon. No more this time. Yours very truly W. D. Fargo

PS since writing the above . . . Father is not quite as well tonight. You had better come out of the woods near the RR when you come home at anytime. . . . But keep us posted of your whereabouts.

Friday morning Dec. 11. Father is better this morning so he will get along soon. Let us hear from you at once. W. D. Fargo.

Wilson was probably still living in Michigan when he married to Mahala (b. 1842) and they had at least two children: Firman (b. 1866) and Henry (b. 1872).

In 1870 his father David was working as a laborer (he owned $1000 worth of real estate) and living with Sarah and two children in East W. Paola, Miami County, Kansas; Henry and his wife also lived in East W. Paola, Kansas.

By 1880 Wilson was working as a real estate agent and living with his wife and children in Paola, Miami County, Kansas, just two doors from Henry Fargo and his family. Their father was also living in Paola in 1880. By 1886 Wilson was living in Anamosa, Iowa.

In 1903 he applied for and received a pension (no. 1089576).

Wilson died on August 14, 1912, in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was presumably buried there. In 1912 his widow applied for and received a pension (no. 752651).

Friday, August 22, 2008

Julius Carl Faenger

Julius Carl Faenger, also known as “Finger,” “Fonger,” “Fanger” or “Faehger,” was born November 23, 1826 in Berlin, Prussia.

Julius’ parents were both born in Prussia. In any case, Julius eventually left Prussia and immigrated to the United States, possibly around 1856, and eventually settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1857.

He married Neu Darmstadt native Margaret or Margarette Schaefer (1830-1907), on March 11, 1858, at the First German Evangelical Lutheran church of Immanuel in Grand Rapids.

The following year, in October of 1859 he joined the Grand Rapids Rifles, commanded by Captain Chris. Kusterer. (The GRR or “German Rifles” would serve as the nucleus for Company C of the Third Michigan infantry.) By 1860 Julius was working as a currier and living with his wife in Grand Rapids’ Second Ward.

Julius was 34 years old and still residing in Grand Rapids when he enlisted as First Sergeant in Company C on May 13, 1861. Julius was promoted to Second Lieutenant of Company E on October 26, 1862, at Edward’s Ferry, Maryland, commissioned as of April 26, replacing Lieutenant Byron Hess. Julius was transferred back to Company C by Regimental order No. 6 in January of 1863, and was on a leave of absence granted from Third Corps headquarters beginning March 22, 1863; he remained absent through April of 1863.

Julius eventually returned to the regiment and was shot by a minie ball in the left elbow on November 20, 1863, at Mine Run, Virginia. He was admitted from the Regimental hospital on December 4 to Third Division hospital at Alexandria, Virginia, with a “gunshot wound of left elbow joint with fracture of radius.” According to hospital records, his “arm remained swollen & painful for some time. Poultices were applied giving much relief. Afterwards cold water dressings were applied & passive motion made as soon as expedient, but considerable stiffness of the joint resulted notwithstanding.” By the first of February 1864, his wounds were “entirely healed up,” and he was given a furlough for 30 days from February 8, 1864. Julius probably returned home to Grand Rapids. In any case, he returned to the hospital in Alexandria on March 9, and remained hospitalized until he was transferred to a hospital in Washington, DC, on April 27. He resigned his commission on May 28, 1864, at Washington, DC, on account of his wounds.

After his discharge Julius returned to Grand Rapids where he spent the remainder of his life. In 1865-66 he was keeping a saloon at no. 76 Canal Street, and in 1868-69 he was living on the north side of Coldbrook, near the railroad. In 1870 he was working as a laborer (and owned $8000 in real estate) and living with his wife in Grand Rapids’ Second Ward, and by 1880 he was working as a carpenter and living with his wife in the Fourth Ward. He was living in Grand Rapids at 288 Ottawa Street in the Fourth Ward in 1888, 1889, in 1890 and 1894.

Julius was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association as well as Grand Army of the Republic Custer Post No. 5 in Grand Rapids, and a member of the German Lutheran (now Immanuel Lutheran) church at the corner of Division and Michigan Streets. He received pension no. 42,851, drawing $11.25 per month in 1883 for a wounded left arm, and provided affidavits in the pension applications of former Third Michigan soldier Mathias Baeker and the widow of Jacob Stegg, former Band-member of the Old Third. He was also a member of the German Veterans’ Association.

On September 16, 1890, the Grand Rapids Democrat reported that

A score or so of German veterans of the late war met in the reading room of the Bridge Street House last evening for the purpose of making arrangements for a turn out on German day, October 6. Julius Fenger acted as chairman of the meeting and Julius Caesar as secretary. The following were appointed a general committee of arrangements: August Schmidt [formerly in Company C], Henry Schnabel, Julius Rathman, Julius Fenger [formerly of Company C], Ely Koehler, A. Rash, Frank Muhlenberg [formerly in Company C], Gustav Landau, Julius Caesar. Ward committees will also be appointed. The intention is to take part in the parade on German day. None but actual veterans of the war of the rebellion and native Germans will be permitted to take part in the parade, and these will be provided with special badges and will march under the United States flag. This is intended as an emphatic declaration of loyalty and patriotism of German citizens. There are about 200 German vets in the city. Veterans from out of town will also be invited to participate. The headquarters of the German Brigade will be at the Bridge Street House. Another meeting will be held next Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock at Arbeiter Hall to further perfect arrangements.

On Wednesday June 22, 1904, Julius died of septic uremia at his home at 288 Ottawa Street in Grand Rapids. The funeral services were held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday June 25, at his home (by Stein & Alt undertakers), and at 2:00 p.m. at the German Lutheran church. He was buried in Oak Hill cemetery: section D lot no. 95.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Joseph Evered

Joseph Evered was born 1843 in Monroe, Orange County, New York.

Sometime probably in the late 1850s Joseph left New York and moved west, eventually settling in western Michigan. By 1860 he was employed as a jeweler’s apprentice to Heinz Brinsmaid in Grand Rapids’ Fifth Ward.

Joseph stood 5’5” with gray eyes, brown hair and a light complexion, and was 18 years old and residing in Grand Rapids when he enlisted with the consent of the Justice of the Peace in Company A on May 13, 1861. George Miller, also of Company A and a tentmate in the winter of 1861-62, described Evered as “a pretty good fellow but being stubborn in his opinion.” He was a witness for the prosecution in the court martial of Henry Parker who was absent without leave from the regiment during the battle of Chancellorsville.

According to Captain Dan Root, then commanding Company A, during the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, on May 3, 1863, Joseph was a Sergeant in Company A. Root credited Joseph with capturing three rebels single-handedly.

Joseph was present on duty with the company on July 3, 1863, when the Regiment participated in the last day battle of Gettysburg. Dan Crotty of Company F wrote some years after the war that Evered, along with two other members of the Third infantry, carried confederate General Kemper off the field immediately after the failure of Pickett’s assault on cemetery ridge on the last day of the battle of Gettysburg.

Joseph reenlisted on December 24, 1863 at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Grand Rapids, was presumably absent on veteran’s furlough, probably in Michigan, in January of 1864 and probably returned to the Regiment on or about the first of February when he was reported absent sick. By April he was in the hospital and he was probably still absent sick when he was transferred to Company A, Fifth Michigan infantry as a Sergeant upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864. He remained absent sick until October when he was transferred as a First Sergeant to the One hundredth company, Second Battalion, Veterans’ Reserve Corps at Alexandria, Virginia. He was discharged on August 4, 1865 at Alexandria.

Following his discharge from the army Joseph returned to Grand Rapids and by 1868-69 had gone into partnership with his former employer, forming “Brinsmaid & Evered”, watch-makers and jewelers, located at 29 Monroe Street, and boarding at the Rathbun House. In 1870 He was still boarding at the Rathbun House in Grand Rapids’ First Ward, and was apparently still living and working as a jeweler in Grand Rapids in 1872, although the Democrat of March 2, 1876, reported that Evered “has left the city for the sunny south.” Whether permanently or on vacation is unclear.

He was married to New York native Alma S (b. 1851) and they had at least two children: Susan (b. 1872) and Charles K. (b 1876.). (This was most likely Alma Brinsmaid, daughter of retired jeweler Henry Brinsmaid. She was living with her family in Grand Rapids’ Third Ward in 1870.)

Joseph was living in Michigan in 1872 and 1876, but by 1880 Joseph was working as a watchmaker and living with his wife and two children in Camden, Camden County, New Jersey.

Around 1892 he was married his second wife, Pennsylvania native Annie R. and they had at least three children: one unknown, Carl R. (b. 1894), and Frederick (b. 1901).

From 1887 until at least 1891 Joseph was working as a showcase-maker at 1711 Broadway in Camden, New Jersey.

By 1910 Joseph was working as a paper carrier (he listed his place of birth and that of his parents as New Jersey) and living with his second wife and two sons in Camden’s Eighth Ward, New Jersey.

He was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association and was still living in New Jersey in 1906 when he applied for and received a pension (no. 1120068).

Joseph died on March 12, 1911, in Camden, New Jersey, and was buried in Evergreen cemetery, Camden, New Jersey.

His widow Annie applied for and received a pension (no. 832501). Subsequently a pension was filed on behalf of at least one minor child and granted (no. 727205).

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Anna Etheridge - updated 11/27/2016

NOTE: Ray Mullins has done an incredible job of researching Annie's life and he has kindly put all of his work online, which includes links to documents, records, etc.: 

https://annieetheridgeblog.wordpress.com 

Many errors made in subsequent attempts, including mine, have been corrected so by all means turn to Ray for the final word.

Annie Etheridge, also known as “Ethridge,” and “Lorinda Blair,” was born May 3, 1839, probably in Michigan.

Her father was reportedly born in New York and her mother in Massachusetts. Although she was never an official member of the Third Michigan infantry, “Michigan Annie” or “Gentle Annie”as she was often called, played a vital role in the history of several Michigan Regiments, including the Third infantry.

Her maiden name was reportedly Lorinda A. Blair, and while she was occasionally mentioned in studies on women in the Civil War or in personal accounts of the war, the details of her life, who she was or where she was from are far from certain. Aside from her known record during the war and to some extent afterwards, little is known of her personal history. In 1863 she was described as of Dutch descent, about five feet three inches tall, with a fair complexion, brown hair and a “vigorous constitution, and decidedly good looking.”

She may have been born in Wisconsin the daughter of “a man of considerable property and her girlhood was passed in ease and luxury; but as she drew near the age of womanhood, he met with misfortunes by which he lost nearly all he had possessed, and returned to her former home in Michigan.” She was probably married at least twice before the war, and certainly once after the war: first to a David Kellogg, second to a James Etheridge, and finally to Charles E. Hooks on March 1, 1870.

Other accounts report that she was born in Detroit and, according to one source, “her father was once a man of wealth, and her early youth was passed in the lap of luxury, with no wish ungratified, and no want uncared for. But misfortune came and swept away his property, and, broken in fortune and depressed in spirit, he removed to Minnesota, where he died leaving our heroine, at the age of 12 years, in comparative poverty and want.

George Axtell, a former member of the Fifth Michigan infantry, claimed that she was “born in Detroit [and] married to Mr. Etheridge and early in the war, like many another wife, she went with him to the front, he being a member of the 2d Mich. After his death she remained with the brigade, doing what she could to alleviate the sufferings of the soldiers and finally became closely associated with the 5th Mich., with which regiment she claimed membership, although aiding the sick and wounded of other commands when opportunity offered.” And Third Michigan soldier Warren Wilkinson also confirmed that she was Mrs. Etheridge, at least in 1863.

L. P. Brockett claims that when her father left Wisconsin to return to Michigan Anna remained behind because she was married, but that while visiting her father in Detroit when the war broke out, she joined the Second Michigan when they left for Washington “to fulfill the role of daughter of the Regiment, in attending to its sick and wounded.” And a contemporary account wrote that “On the breaking out of the rebellion, she was visiting her friends in” Detroit and “Colonel Richardson was then engaged in raising the Second Michigan volunteers, and she and nineteen other females volunteered to accompany the regiment as nurses. Every other has returned home or been discharged, but she has accompanied the regiment through all its fortunes, and declares her determination to remain with it during its entire term of service.”

According to Bruce Catton, however, “Annie had gone to war with the Third Michigan as a laundress. When the Regiment first left Washington to go to the front, the other laundresses went home, but she stuck with the Regiment, sharing its marches and its bivouacs. It is recorded that she was ‘a young and remarkably attractive girl,’ that she was ‘modest, quiet, and industrious’, and that any soldier who dared utter a disrespectful word to her or about her had to fight the entire Third Michigan.”

The author of Michigan Women, on the contrary, claims that Anna “became the cook for the officers’ mess at Brigade headquarters” when she first left for Washington. According to the study Michigan Women in the Civil War, sometime in late winter 1861 or

early in the spring of 1862 Anna left the army temporarily, excluded perhaps by the same order which sent many of the Regimental woman from their places at the beginning of the Peninsular campaign of that year. However, she immediately found a place for herself in the Hospital Transport service operated by the U. S. Sanitary Commission. There she was assigned to the hospital boat, Knickerbocker, with Amy Bradley, another Regimental woman and formerly with the First Maine Infantry. They were in charge of the second deck of the boat and labored mightily to have it clean and ready for the sick and wounded who were brought down from the front twice a day in trains. the men came in bad shape, often untended from the time of their fall on the field. They were brought on board as rapidly as possible and laid in all the cabins and on the decks so thickly that it was difficult to work among them. It was the duty of the women matrons to wash their faces and feed them as quickly as possible while the surgeons and male nurses looked after their wounds. As soon as the boat was filled to its capacity of 450 men and the pitiful cargo had been made as comfortable as possible, the boat sailed for Washington, Baltimore, or even New York and the great hospitals. It would return again and again for more passengers. Miss Bradley and Annie also made three trips on a truce boat sent to receive the wounded who had fallen into the hands of the enemy. They worked on other boats, the Louisiana and the Daniel Webster, all hospital transports.

It seems fairly certain that by mid-July of 1861 she was firmly established in some capacity with the four Michigan Regiments encamped near Washington. She was under fire during the action at Blackburn’s Ford on July 18 and at the fiasco at Bull Run on Sunday, July 21, where, according to Brockett “she manifested the same courage and presence of mind which characterized her in all her subsequent career in the army.” According to one source, when the Third Regiment “went into the fighting line,” Anna “filled her saddle-bags with lint and bandages, stuck a pair of pistols in her belt, mounted her horse and galloped to the front. She was usually attended by the surgeon's orderly, who carried the medicine chest, but though they went out together, they as often became separated in the confusion of the battle.”

Margaret Leach and Brockett both described her as a “daughter of the Second Michigan” and Anna, although not carrying a musket, was reportedly armed with “two pistols in her holsters, but seldom or ever used them.”

Although the Detroit papers make no mention of the pistols, the Advertiser and Tribune reported in early 1863 that Annie “has for her use a horse, furnished with side-saddle, saddle-bags, etc. At the commencement of a battle, she fills her saddle bags with lint and bandages, mounts her horse, and gallops to the front, passes under fire, and, regardless of shot and shell, engages in the work of stanching and binding up the wounds of our soldiers.” It was also reported that “when not actively engaged on the battlefield or in the hospital, she superintends the cooking at the headquarters of the brigade. When the brigade moves, she mounts her horse and marches with the ambulances and surgeons, administering to the wants of the sick and wounded, and at the bivouac she wraps herself in her blanket, and sleeps upon the ground with all the hardihood of a true soldier.”

It was also noted that

Her dress, on entering battle, is a riding dress, so arranged as to be looped up when she dismounts. Her demeanor is perfectly modest, quiet and retiring, and her habits and conduct are correct and exemplary; yet, on the battlefield she seems to be alone possessed and animated with a desire to be effective in saving the lives of the wounded soldiers. No vulgar word was ever known to be uttered by her, and she is held in the highest veneration and esteem by the soldiers, as an angel of mercy. She is, indeed the idol of the brigade, every man of which would submit to almost any sacrifice in her behalf. She takes the deepest interest in the result of this contest, eagerly reading all the papers to which she can obtain access, and keeping thoroughly posted as to the progress of the war. She says she feels as if she stood alone in the world, as it were, and desires to do good. She knows that she is the instrument of saving many lives and alleviating much suffering in her present position, and feels it her duty to continue in so doing.

On August 1, 1862, Annie went back to the Michigan Regiments when they returned from the Peninsula, and was at the Second Battle of Bull Run, on August 29. It was reported that early on in the action “she was on a portion of the battle-field which had been warmly contested, where there was a rocky ledge, under shelter of which, some of the wounded had crawled. Annie lingered behind the troops, as they changed position, assisted several poor helpless fellows to this cover and dressed their wounds.”

One of these was a soldier of the Seventh New York Infantry, “a noble looking boy to whose parched lips she had held the cooling draught, and had bound up his wound, receiving in return a look of unutterable gratitude from his bright blue eyes, and his faintly murmured ‘God's blessing on you’, when a shot from the rebel battery tore him to pieces under her very hands. She discovered at the same moment that the rebels were near, and almost upon her, and she was forced to follow in the direction taken by her Regiment [Second]. On another portion of that bloody field, Annie was kneeling by the side of another soldier binding up his wounds, when hearing a gruff voice above her, she looked up and to her astonishment saw General Kearny checking his horse beside her. He said, “That is right; I am glad to see you helping these poor fellows, and when this is over, I will have you made a Regimental sergeant.”

Bruce Catton wrote in Glory Road that General Kearny “more or less adopted her into the Division, providing her with a horse and saddle and a Sergeant's pay and detailing her officially as cook for the officer's mess.” Brockett, however, points out that Kearny was killed two days after this incident at Chantilly and Anna never officially received the appointment.

Anna was at Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863, when the Third Michigan

were in such extreme peril, in consequence of the panic by which the Eleventh Corps were broken up, one company of the Third Michigan, and one of the sharp-shooters were detailed as skirmishers. Annie, although advised to remain in the rear accompanied them, taking the lead; meeting her colonel however he told her to go back. as the enemy was very near, and he was every moment expecting an attack. Very loth to fall back, she turned and rode along the front of a line of shallow trenches filled with our men; she called to them, ‘Boys, do your duty and whip the rebels.’ The men rose and cheered her, shouting ‘Hurrah for Annie’, ‘Bully for you.” This revealed their position to the rebels, who immediately fired a volley in the direction of the cheering; Annie rode to the rear of the line, then turned to see the result; as she did so, an officer pushed his horse between her and a large tree by which she was waiting, thus sheltering himself behind her. She looked round at him with surprise, when a second volley was fired, and a Minie ball whizzing by her, entered the officer’s body, and he fell a corpse, against her and then to the ground. At the same moment anther ball grazed her hand, (the only wound she received during the war), pierced her dress, the skirt of which she was holding, and slightly wounded her horse. Frightened by the pain, he set off on a run through a dense wood, winding in and out among the trees so rapidly that Annie feared being torn from her saddle by the branches, or having her brains dashed out by violent contact with the trunks. She raised her self upon the saddle, and crouching on her knees clung to the pommel. The frightened animal as he emerged from the woods plunged into the midst of the Eleventh Corps, when his course was soon checked.

In Glory Road, Bruce Catton tells of yet another incident involving Anna at Chancellorsville.

Out in the open men fought in a blinding fog, and as they fought, in a clearing by the turnpike there appeared in the front lines a young woman, one of the characters of the III Corps, gentle, respected Annie Etheridge, who wore a black riding habit with a Sergeant's chevrons band who had been part of the army since the early days of the war. This morning, in the hottest of the fighting, Annie came riding forward with a snack of hardtack and a dozen canteens of hot coffee, and she trotted brightly up to a busy general and his staff and offered refreshments. The officers tried to shoo her back to safety, but she refused to budge until each one had had something to eat and drink. The Rebel bombardment was at its worst, and three horses in this mounted group were smashed by solid shot while she was about this business, but an admiring Pennsylvania soldier who watched it all wrote that ‘she never flinched or betrayed the slightest emotion of fear’. A bit later she appeared from nowhere beside an all but disabled Union battery which had lost all of its horses, several caissons, and a good many men. The gunners were about to abandon their pieces, but Annie talked them out of it. She smiled at them and cried, ‘That's right, boys -- now you've got the range, keep it up and you'll soon silence those guns’. The men raised a little cheer, made her go to the rear, and returned to the service of their guns. One sweaty cannoneer remarked that all the officers in the army could not have had as much influence with them just then as ‘that brave little Sergeant in petticoats’.

For her participation in the battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863, General David Birney, who had succeeded General Phil Kearny as Division commander, awarded Anna the Kearny Cross, a medal struck just for and awarded to many of the men who fought at Chancellorsville. She was also mentioned in the Official Records for her participation in the action at Chancellorsville.

According to Michigan Women, when the Second Michigan was transferred to Tennessee, Anna transferred her allegiance to the Third Michigan, ostensibly in order to remain in the eastern theater. She was therefore present with the Regiment during the battle at Gettysburg. In his massive study of the second day at Gettysburg, Harry Pfanz writes that Anna served in the field tending to the wounded at Gettysburg. As Cross’ Brigade of Irishmen were heading for the Wheatfield on July 2, “They headed southeasterly down the front of the slope of the ridge and through the open fields in the general direction of the Trostle buildings. Somewhere near the farmyard they splashed through the upper reaches of Plum Run and saw Annie Etheridge, a Third Corps nurse ride by.”

She went with the Third Michigan when it was assigned briefly to Troy, New York in late summer of 1863, to serve as protection during the upcoming draft in that city. Dan Crotty, a member of Company F, wrote some years after the war, that Anna became quite popular with the people in Troy. “Annie's tent,” he wrote, “is besieged with visitors. People come from far in the rural district to get a sight of the great heroine of so many campaigns and battles. We do not blame them much, for, indeed, she is a curiosity, as she is one woman in a million who would leave a home of luxury and cast her lot with the soldiers in the field, who are all proud of her, and any man in the Regiment would die in her defense, should any one cast a reproach on her fair name and character. All believe her to be one of the truest of women.

According to the Troy Daily Times of August 31, writing under the headline “Daughter of the Regiment”,

In the ranks of the Third Michigan volunteers there is a most agreeable exception to the bronzed face, and stalwart forms of which the regiment is composed. The refining influence of woman’s presence mingles with the panoply of war, and a lady -- a true lady -- is enrolled under the banners of the Third. Mrs. [?] Annie Etheridge is the lady who discharges the honorable duties that entitle here to the name ‘daughter of the regiment.’ She has accompanied it ever since its organization -- sharing the hardships of two years’ campaigning and the dangers of the battlefield with this fighting body. On several occasions bullets have passed through the folds of her dress, as she moved on an errand of mercy amid the scenes of Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and the Seven Days Conflict. Mrs. Etheridge is a lady of refined manners, pleasing personal appearance and rare adaptation to the duties which she has assumed. Her husband was a soldiers, and she became associated with the army two years ago -- enlisting in May 1861 and regularly receiving pay since that time. Her services as a nurse has [sic] been invaluable, and her influence upon the regiment have been most salutary. Numerous compliments have been paid her by those in authority, including Vice President Hamlin, and many encomiums have been passed by the public press upon her services and example. The soldiers would die for her, and she is deservedly the idol of this noble regiment. Mrs. Etheridge is not one of the women who believe that “While our nations sons are fighting, We can only pray.” It is her mission to be useful in her sphere and to contribute towards the final and fast-approaching victory of the Union cause. We are glad to know that Mrs. Etheridge has been tendered the hospitalities of many of our leading citizens and their families during her stay in Troy. All honor to the “daughter of the regiment.”

Hospital Steward Warren Wilkinson wrote from the Third Michigan’s camp near Culpepper, Virginia, in late September of 1863 that “Mrs. Etheridge is with us and is in the enjoyment of good health. She seems to feel much more at home in the camp than she did in the city of Troy, and I presume that when our regiment is disbanded she will enlist in the veteran corps. “

Anna was still with the Regiment the following year when it entered into the Wilderness and Spotsylvania campaigns in Virginia. At the battle of Spotsylvania on May 12, writes, Brockett, she met up with a number of soldiers retreating from the field and she “shamed them into doing their duty, by offering to lead them back into the fight, which she dud under a heavy fire from the enemy.” And when the Second Corps (to which the Third Michigan was now attached) attacked the enemy at Deep Bottom, Virginia on June 1 or 2, she became separated from the surgeon’s orderly who usually rode with her and she found herself near the enemy lines. Rebel skirmishers soon appeared to her immediate front, but did not open fire as they did not want to give the alarm, and Anna escaped unscathed.

When the Third Michigan was mustered out of service on June 10, 1864, those men of the Third who had reenlisted were consolidated into the Fifth Michigan, and Anna moved right along with them. In fact, Dan Crotty described a particular incident involving Anna during the campaign in Virginia in 1864. He wrote that she “has remained with the colors, but this time we are up too close to the front line, and unless we get back we may be captured. So we have to do some tall walking to get out of the swamp we have got into. Anna falls back with us in good order, but her dress is a little torn by the brush. One of our boys is borne back wounded, our heroine dresses up his wound. The balls fall thick and fast around her, but she fears them not, and performs her task as coolly as if she was in camp and out of danger. I need not mention this one instance, hundreds of the same kind could be related to her. She is still with us through thick and thin for the last three years.”

Crotty added that toward the end of September of 1864, “General Grant issues an order that all women in the army have to get back, and Anna for the first time has to leave her Regiment. A petition is sent to the commander to have her stay, but no use, she must get back and she bids us good-bye and goes to City Point [Virginia]. We hear from her, however, often, by receiving lots of good things sent to us by her, such as potatoes, onions, and all kinds of vegetables she can obtain.” In fact, it was on or about July 14, 1864, that General Grant ordered all women to be excluded from the camps. The officers of the Third Corps united in petitioning Grant to make an exception in Anna’s case, but this was denied and she went to the supply base at City Point, Virginia. She continued her work of serving the soldiers from City Point.

Curiously, however, Brockett reports that Anna was back “in the saddle again”, as it were by late 1864. On October 27 in one of the numerous actions near Hatcher’s Run and Boydton Plank road, Virginia, “a portion of the Third Division of the Second Corps, was nearly surrounded by the enemy, in what the soldiers called the ‘Bull ring’. The Regiment to which Annie was attached [Fifth Michigan] was sorely pressed, the balls flying thick and fast, so that the surgeon advised her to accompany him to safer quarters; but she lingered, watching for an opportunity to render assistance. A little drummer boy stopped to speak to her, when a ball struck him, and he fell against her, and then to the ground, dead. This so startled her, that she ran towards the line of battle. But to her surprise, she found that the enemy had occupied every part of the ground held a few moments before by Union troops. She did not pause, however, but dashed through their line unhurt, though several of the chivalry fired at her.”

She was mentioned in the Detroit newspapers and Dan Crotty wrote at some length about her heroism under fire; “the heroine and daughter of our Regiment”, as he described her. “The world never produced but very few such women, for she is along with us through storm and sunshine, in the heat of the battle caring for the wounded, and in the camp looking after the poor sick soldier, and to have a smile and a cheering word for every one who comes her way. Every soldier is alike to her. She is with us to administer to all our little wants, which are not few. To praise her would not be enough, but suffice to say, that as long as one of the old Third shall live, she will always be held in the greatest esteem, and remembered with kindly feelings for her goodness and virtue.”

Dan Crotty probably spoke for many of his old comrades when he wrote about a Sunday in early March of 1865. One could see “Annie in her best dress, sitting on the ground with her own boys listening to the man of God [a Mr. Pritchard]. . . . Annie, you, I hope, will get your reward in heaven when your campaigns and battles in this life are ended. For no one on this earth can recompense you for the good you have done in your four years' service for the boys in blue, in the heat of battle, on the wearied marches, and in the hospitals and camps. May your path through this life be strewn with roses, and may you rest on the laurels you have so dearly won, is the prayer of thousands who have been benefited by your timely presence.”

And, in July of 1865, writes Crotty, “Noble Anna is with us to the last, and her brave womanly spirit brakes [sic] down, and scalding tears trickle down her beautiful bronze face as each of the boys and comrades bid her good-bye. Good-bye noble, heroic and self-sacrificing Anna. May your path through life be the reverse of your four years' hardships, strewn with flowers the most delicious, and when your campaigns and battles with this struggling world shall end, may you meet in Heaven with those whose burdens you have sought to lighten in the hard life of the soldiers' experiences.”

It wasn’t only the soldiers who thought highly of Anna, some of her peers did too. The Detroit Free Press of June 9, 1864, reported the observations of Mrs. Jessie Hinsdill who served as a nurse during the war, apparently with the Second Michigan. Mrs. Hinsdill “speaks in glowing terms of her co-laborer, Miss Anna Etheridge, of this state, who has already become famous in the discharge of her angelic duties as hospital nurse. Her name will be cherished and remembered by many a suffering soldier to the latest hour of their lives.” She had her detractors, however, and one of them was Dorothea Dix, a champion of women in nursing during the war. Dix thought Annie was everything a woman nurse should not be: small, young and attractive, but all this seemed only to add to the respect she was given by the soldiers.

After the war “she felt the necessity”, wrote Brockett, “of engaging in some employment, by which she could maintain herself and her aged father, and accepted an appointment in” the Treasury department, “where she labors assiduously for twelve hours daily. But her army experiences have not robbed her of that charming modesty an diffidence of demeanor, which are so attractive in a woman, or made her boastful of her adventures. To these she seldom alludes, and never in such a way to indicate that he thinks of herself in the least as a heroine.”

In 1870 she married Charles E. Hooks, a one-armed veteran of the 7th Connecticut Infantry war. She was referred to as “the Florence Nightingale of the Regiment” during the proceedings of the Second annual reunion of the Old Third Infantry Association in December of 1872, and in 1883 she was made an honorary member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association and given “Three cheers and a tiger” for the lady “who acted as a nurse for the Regiment all through the war. . . .”

In 1886 Senator Thomas Palmer introduced a bill into Congress to allow Annie a pension of $50 per month, and it was approved on February 9, 1887 (no. 352510 under the name of Anna Hooks), though it was reduced to only $25 per month. In 1891 she marched with the Regiment at the Grand Army of the Republic encampment and parade in Detroit, and in 1892 during the association business meeting “a deserved tribute” was paid to Anna by Henry Patterson, formerly of Company G.

Annie died at Providence Hospital in Washington, DC, on January 23, 1913, she was buried in Arlington Cemetery, section 15, next to her husband Charles Hooks.

On June 24, 1915, the Grand Rapids Herald reported that

To commemorate the memory of Anna Etheridge Hooks, late of Washington DC, but formerly of Michigan, who went to the front with three Michigan Regiments during the Civil War and gave valuable assistance in first aid members of the old Third Michigan infantry, in annual convention at the Morton house yesterday, took the first steps to have a statue erected on the capitol grounds at Lansing. Mrs. Hooks was known as the daughter of the ‘Old Third’. She went with the Second, Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments and, according to the old veterans, was often on the firing line giving what aid she could to the wounded and dying. The veterans now propose to ask the next legislature for a sufficiently large appropriation to erect a statue that will commemorate the heroic deeds of the woman in years to come.

The statue was never made.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

William C. Estes

William C. Estes was born 1836 in New York, the son of Andrew P. (b. 1805) and Sarah (b. 1810)

William’s parents were both born in New York but by 1828 were living in Pennsylvania. The family moved from Pennsylvania to New York between 1833 and 1836, and then on to Michigan sometime between 1842 and 1844. By 1850 William was attending school with three of his younger siblings and living with his family in Danby, Ionia County. By 1860 William was working as a farm hand and living with his family in Danby, Ionia County, where his father owned a substantial farm.

William was 24 years old and residing in Ionia County when he enlisted in Company B on May 13, 1861. He was killed in action on May 31, 1862, at Fair Oaks, Virginia. He was presumably buried among the unknown soldiers in Seven Pines National Cemetery.

In October of 1863 John E. Smith, of Portland, Ionia County, was listed as guardian for two of William’s minor sisters: Arvilla age 15 and Celia age 13. In August of 1864 he applied on their behalf for orphan sister’s pension (application no. 59778). He never followed up the application which was eventually rejected as abandoned.

Monday, August 18, 2008

David Emmons

David Emmons was born 1841 in Livingston, Berrien County, Michigan, the son of Uriah (b. 1814) and Elizabeth or Eliza Ann (b. 1822).

Canadian-born Uriah married Ohio native Elizabeth in 1840, possibly in Canada or perhaps in Michigan. In any case, the family came from Ontario, Canada to Michigan sometime before 1841 when one Uriah Emmons bought 40 acres of land at the Ionia land office), and by 1850 David was attending school and living with his family in Grattan, Kent County. In 1860 David was attending school with his siblings and living with his family in Grattan (his father owned $1500 worth of real estate); also living with them and working as a farm laborer was Charles Eddy who would also enlist in Company K.

David stood 5’6” with black eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion and was 20 years old and possibly living in Grand Rapids when he enlisted in Company K on May 13, 1861, probably along with Charles Eddy. (It is also possible that in 1865 his sister Henrietta married Peter Myers, who had been a member of Company C.)

In July of 1863 David was reported as a “servant” to Lieutenant Andrew Nickerson of Company K. David reenlisted on December 24, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Alpine, Kent County, was presumably absent on veteran’s furlough, probably in Michigan, in January of 1864 and he probably returned to the Regiment on or about the first of February. He was transferred to Company F, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864, and reported as an orderly at Brigade headquarters from November of 1864 through May of 1865. In June he was a provost guard probably at Brigade headquarters, and was mustered out of service on July 5, 1865 at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

David eventually returned to Michigan after the war.

He was married to Michigan native Medora (b. 1847), and they had at least three children: Lena (b. 1866), Minnie (b. 1868), Lottie (b. 1870) and Clarence (b. 1879).

By 1870 David was working as a dry goods merchant and living with his wife and children in Oakfield, Kent County. By 1880 David was working as a druggist and living with his wife and two children in Wexford, Wexford County. He was living in Sherman, Wexford County in 1879, 1888 and 1890, and in Dorr, Allegan County in 1894.

In about 1901 David married his second wife Michigan native Ada (b. 1872).

In 1884 he applied for and received a pension (no. 491373). He was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association.

David died on September 1, 1913, in Battle Creek, Calhoun County.

His widow Ada was living in Michigan in June of 1914 when she applied for and received a pension (no. 779574). In 1920 Ada was working as a dressmaker and boarding with the George Campbell family in Battle Creek, Calhoun County.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Miner J. Emlaw

Miner J. Emlaw, also known as “Emlan”, was born July 16, 1839 in Malone, Franklin County, New York, the son of Michael (b. 1801) and Wealthy (Maxfield, 1795-1873).

New York native Michael, a cooper born on the shores of Lake Champlain and Vermont-born Wealthy were married, possibly in Vermont where they were probably living when their son Andrew was born in 1829. Michael was living in Malone in 1840. Miner’s older brother Andrew (1829-1914) came to Michigan around 1849, but in 1850 Miner was attending school and living with his parents in Malone, Franklin County, New York, where his father was working as a laborer. Miner eventually left the family home and came to west Ottawa County in 1853, probably joining his brother.

By 1860 Miner was working as a millwright and living with his brother Andrew -- who was also a millwright -- and Andrew’s wife and they were all living with the Humphrey family in Spring Lake, Ottawa County. They lived next door to the Brittain family; their son Charles as well as a farm laborer named Jerry Richardson would both also join Company H.

Miner stood 5’11’ with blue eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion and was 23 years old and possibly residing in Muskegon County when he enlisted in Company H on May 13, 1861, crediting Muskegon County. (Company H, formerly the “Muskegon Rangers”, was made up largely of men from the vicinity of Muskegon and Newaygo counties.) Miner was wounded on May 31, 1862, at Fair Oaks, Virginia, and during July and August of 1862 he was reported absent wounded in a hospital, probably in the U.S. General hospital in Annapolis, Maryland, where his left arm was amputated as a result of his wounds. He was discharged on September 9, 1862.

Miner reentered the service in One hundred thirty-seventh company Second Battalion, Veterans’ Reserve Corps (also known as the “Invalid Corps”), and if so was discharged in June of 1865.

In 1862 Miner applied for and received a pension (no. 10214).

In any case, Miner eventually returned to western Michigan and was living in Tallmadge, Ottawa County by 1878 when he was hurt in a railroad accident in Grand Rapids at about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 23. According to one newspaper report, Miner, John Hogan and Hogan’s wife, along with a young man were in a two-horse wagon on their way home

When on Butterworth Avenue, within a few rods of the track of the Lake Shore and Michigan railroad, the young man saw a locomotive backing up toward the depot and told Mr. Hogan he had better stop and he, the driver of the team, not heeding the warning of the youth or the alarm bell of the locomotive accompanied by the steam whistle kept on thinking doubtlessly to cross the track in advance of the locomotive. The young man jumped out of the wagon and the others kept on until the team was struck by the engine tender and the horses knocked over, and the wagon over-turned. One of the animals were [sic] killed outright and the other escaped uninjured. All three persons in the wagon were rendered insensible for a short time by the shock. Mr. Hogan was badly cut and bruised about the head, and the other two escaped with no serious injury. Mrs. Hogan was unable to move around much on Saturday and yesterday from soreness by the fearful jar and fall, and Emlaw was considerably bruised on his head and person.

Miner eventually recovered from his injuries and by 1880 he was listed as single and working as a lumber scaler and living with the Luman Van Dreezer family in Grand Haven’s Third Ward, Ottawa County.

He married his first wife, Anna Vanclikto (1861-1886) on November 11, 1882, probably in Grand Haven, where he lived much of his life, and they had at least one child: Frank J. (1884-1953).

He was living in Grand Haven in 1883 when he received pension no. 10,214, drawing $24.00 per month for loss of his left arm.

Miner was still living in Grand Haven in 1887 when he married his second wife, Elizabeth Uithaven Westenberg (1863-1951) on March 22, 1887; and they had one child: Mabel (d. 1967). (It seems Eliabeth, or “Lizzie”, also had had a daughter in 1885, Jane or Jennie L., who would eventually marry one George Swart of Grand Haven.)

He was still living in Grand Haven in 1888 and indeed spent much of his life in the Grand Haven vicinity.

By 1890 he was residing in Muskegon when he became a member of Grand Army of the Republic Kearny Post No. 7 in Muskegon, transferring from Weatherwax Post No. 75 in Grand Haven. “He was,” noted one source, “a faithful member of the Grand Army post and has held a number of offices at the disposal of his comrades.”

By 1894, however, Miner was back in Grand Haven’s Fourth Ward, and in 1897 he was working in Grand Haven as a talleyman, and living in the Fourth Ward in 1907. He also worked for some years as a lumber inspector. Miner also served as a member of the village common council, a position he was holding when he was taken seriously ill in the spring of 1910, “but realizing that he could never recover his health sufficiently to attend to the duties of the office, he resigned.”

Miner died on May 17, 1910, at Hackley hospital in Muskegon, where he had been a patient for three weeks, and the funeral was held at Grand Haven .

According to the Grand Haven Tribune, Miner had been “taken ill this winter with severe bronchial trouble and seemed unable to regain his usual health after the attack. He moved to Tony Boet’s residence on Washington Avenue [in Grand Haven] during the fall intending to spend the winter there, because it was nearer downtown than his own residence in the fourth ward. His fatal illness came upon him at his temporary residence but he recovered sufficiently to be taken to his own home several weeks” before his death.

About two weeks ago he was taken to Hackley hospital in Muskegon in the hope that the treatment there might benefit him. All efforts to help him were unavailing and he passed away last night [May 16?]. This morning relatives and friends who were not with him yesterday went over to Muskegon and the remains were brought to Grand Haven at 4:30 today and taken to the home in the fourth ward.

“In life,” reported the Tribune, "he was a good comrade and a true friend, a man honest and unswerving in his purpose, and on whose friendship was a possession of real value.”
He was buried in Lake Forest cemetery, Grand Haven.

In June of 1910 his widow applied for and received a pension (no. 709711).