Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Francis M. and Horace S. Forman

Francis M. Forman, also known as “Foreman,” was born 1843 in Hillsdale County, Michigan, the son of William Gardner (1804-1862) and Abigail (Crow, b. 1808).

William emigrated from England and met and married New York native Abigail sometime before 1833, probably in New York. In any case, they resided in New York for some years but between 1835 and 1839 settled in Michigan. By 1843 the family had moved to Hillsdale County and by 1847 were living on a farm in Cambria Township. Indeed, by 1850 Francis and his older brother Horace and their siblings were attending school in Cambria and living on the family farm. William eventually moved to Smyrna, Ionia County where he died in 1862.

Francis stood 5’10” with gray eyes, light hair and a dark complexion, and was an 18-year-old farmer living in Otisco, Ionia County. when he enlisted in Company E with his older brother Horace, on February 22, 1862, at Saranac, Ionia County for 3 years, crediting Otisco, and was mustered on March 13. (Company E was composed in large part by men from Clinton and Ingham counties, as well as parts of Ionia County.) He was taken prisoner on May 31 near the Chickahominy River and confined at Richmond, Virginia, then sent to the prison in Salisbury, North Carolina on June 3 and paroled at Aiken’s Landing, Virginia on September 13, 1862.

Francis returned to the Regiment on September 28, 1862, at Upton’s Hill, Virginia, and was wounded slightly in the abdomen on May 3, 1863, at the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. That same month he was employed in the Brigade bakery. And according to Andrew Kilpatrick, also of Company E, Francis was a Private on duty with the regiment in late May of 1863. Francis was shot in the left leg on July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and was absent wounded through July, probably in Philadelphia. By September he was under arrest, reason(s) unknown, but was soon afterwards reported missing in action. He returned to the Regiment at Warrenton, Virginia, on November 12.

Francis reenlisted on February 26, 1864, near Culpeper, Virginia, was mustered on February 29, and absent on 30 days’ veterans’ furlough, probably having returned to his home in Michigan. He presumably returned to the Regiment around the first of April when he was reported absent sick, and he was still absent sick when he was transferred to Company E, Fifth Michigan infantry in June of 1864. He was mustered out on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

After the war Francis eventually returned to Michigan where he attended medical schoo

He married Canadian native Isabell (b. 1850) and they had at least three daughters: Frances (b. 1875), Pearl (1876) and Lois (b. 1879).

By 1876 Francis and his family were living in Fife Lake, Grand Traverse County when their daughter Pearl (18 days old) died. Francis was also listed as a practicing physician in Walton, Mecosta County. By 1880 he was working as a physician and living with his wife Isabell and their two children in Fife Lake, Grand Traverse County.

Whilel it is unclear what became of Isabell, sometime after 1880 Francis married his second wife Honor K. (1851-1926).

He eventually returned to Ionia County, and was living in Belding, Ionia County in 1909 and 1911.

In 1880 he applied for and received a pension (no. 460633).

In 1884 he submitted the following poem about the battle of Spotsylvania in mid-May of 1864, to The Veteran, a G.A.R. publication:

None but the soldier knew
Just how the bullets flew:
None knew as well
How was good fighting done, --
How fields of blood were won
None else can tell.

Death on the right of us,
Death on the left of us,
Death all around;
Charge, came the order stern,
Charge, as though death you spurn,
Carry their ground.

Over the abatis,
Up to their batteries;
Charge with a yell,
Never a look to the rear,
But with a hearty cheer,
Mindless who fell.

Then came surrender quick,
Or by our points be pricked,
Else quickly run;
Shot in their flight were they,
Killed as they stood at bay,
Shot by our guns.

Next came the miseries
Death brought to families,
Always to part;
War is a senseless thing,
Death a relentless sting
Down in the heart.

He was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association.

Francis died on May 26, 1913, in Belding, and was buried in Smyrna cemetery.

In 1913 his widow Honor applied for and received a pension (no. 835648).

Horace S. Forman, also known as “Foreman,” was born 1841 in Fairfield, Lenawee County, Michigan, the son of William Gardner (1804-1862) and Abigail (Crow, b. 1808).

William emigrated from England and met and married New York native Abigail sometime before 1833, probably in New York. In any case, they resided in New York for some years but between 1835 and 1839 settled in Michigan. By 1843 the family had moved to Hillsdale County and by 1847 were living on a farm in Cambria Township. Indeed, by 1850 Francis and his older brother Horace and their siblings were attending school in Cambria and living on the family farm. William eventually moved to Smyrna, Ionia County where he died in 1862.

Horace stood 5’8’’ with hazel eyes, brown hair and a light complexion, and was a 21-year-old carpenter living in Smyrna, Ionia County when he enlisted in Company E with his younger brother Francis, on February 28, 1862, at Saranac for 3 years, and was mustered on March 12. (Company E was composed in large part by men from Clinton and Ingham counties, as well as parts of Ionia County.) He was struck with fever sometime in April and hospitalized on April 22, 1862, at Yorktown, Virginia. By July 17 he was in Stewart’s Mansion hospital in Baltimore, convalescing from fever, and indeed he remained at Stewart’s Mansion until he was discharged for consumption on August 26, 1862.

Horace returned to Ionia County after his discharge from the army.

He married New York native Eliza Currie (1848-1914), on September 15, 1862, at Ionia, Ionia County, and they had at least three children: Mary (1864-1909), Willie (1867-1903) and Grace (b. 1881).

Horace was probably still living in Ionia County when he reentered the service in Company F, First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics on August 29, 1864, at Grand Rapids for 1 year and was mustered the same day, crediting Otisco, Ionia County. He joined the Regiment on September 4 at Tilton, Georgia.

The Regiment was ordered to Atlanta, Georgia on September 25 (and old members were mustered out October 31, 1864),and remained on duty at Atlanta from September 28 to November 15; and participated in the March to the sea destroying railroad track, bridges and repairing and making roads November 15-December 10; in the siege of Savannah December 10-21, in the Carolina Campaign January to April, 1865; in the advance on Raleigh April 10-14, and occupation of Raleigh April 14; in the surrender of Johnston and his army. The regiment then marched to Washington, D. C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 20, and was in the Grand Review on May 24. The regiment was then ordered to Louisville, Kentucky on June 6. Horace was discharged on June 6, 1865, at Washington, DC.

Horace again returned to Michigan and by 1870 he was working as a farmer and living with his wife and children in Easton, Orleans Township, Ionia County. He was working as a farmer and living in Otisco with his wife and two children in 1880, living in Belding, Otisco Township, Ionia County in 1890 and in 1894, and in Smyrna when he attended both the 1910 and 1920 E & M Association reunions.

He was living in Belding when he married his second wife, three-time widow Alta Hanks, on February 24, 1915. (She had been married to Herbert Hoadley, William Standin and Francis Worther.)

He may have been a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association. (In 1912 one D. M. Forman was reported as a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association.)

In 1889 he applied for and received a pension (no. 822592).

Horace died on October 8, 1917, in Belding and was buried in Smyrna cemetery, Otisco Township: lot 186.

No comments: