Anson A. Shelly

Anson A. Shelly was born in 1839 in Pennsylvania.

Anson left Pennsylvania and was possibly the same Anson Shelley, 13 years old, and living with the Henry Shafer family in Byron, Kent County in 1850. In any case, by 1860 Anson was a probably working as a farmer (or farm laborer) and living at William Dunham’s boarding house in Brooks, Newaygo County.

He was 22 years old and probably still living in Newaygo County when he enlisted in Company H on May 13, 1861. (Company H, formerly the “Muskegon Rangers,” was made up largely of men from the vicinity of Muskegon and Newaygo counties.) He was probably wounded on August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run. If so, he eventually recovered, returned to duty and on January 17, 1863, he enlisted in (or was transferred to) Battery K, Third United States artillery at Camp Pitcher, Virginia. He was reportedly wounded on July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Anson was discharged, presumably for disability, on May 13, 1864 at Fort Trumbull, Connecticut. (It is possible that he had been sent north to a hospital in Connecticut to recover from his wounds and very likely met his future wife, Anna, since they settled in New London, which is not far from Fort Trumbull.)

It is not known if Anson returned to Michigan after his discharge from the army. He was married to Connecticut native Annie (b. 1844) and they had at least two children: Annie (b. 1865) and Eva (b. 1873).

They were reportedly living in Connecticut in 1865, and it appears that by 1870 Anson was working as a nail maker and living with his wife and daughter in New London, Connecticut. They were still living in Connecticut in 1873, but by 1880 Anson was working as a lawyer and living with his wife and two daughters in Yorkshire, Cattaraugus County, New York. He was still living in Yorkshire, New York in 1890.

It appears that he was married to a second wife, Hannah M.

In May of 1864 he applied for and received a pension (no. 31520).

Anson probably died in early 1896, possibly in New York.

In any case his widow was residing in New York in April of 1896 when she applied for a pension (no. 633121), but the certificate was never granted.