Third Michigan Infantry Research Project

Joseph Evered

2008-08-21T07:13:00.001-04:00

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).

Anna Etheridge

2008-08-20T06:45:00.001-04:00

Anna Etheridge, also known as “Ethridge,” and “Lorinda Blair,” was born about 1845 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 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.

Anna died in Washington, DC, on June 23, 1915, and the next day, 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. She is presumably buried in Washington, DC.

William C. Estes

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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.

David Emmons

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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.

Miner J. Emlaw

2008-08-17T06:41:00.000-04:00

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).

John A. Ellsworth

2008-08-16T06:40:00.000-04:00

John A. Ellsworth was born around 1833 in Delaware or Delaware County, New York, possibly the nephew of Joseph (b. 1802) and Eliza (b. 1803).

New York native married Massachusetts-born Eliza probably sometime before 1832 when their son William was born in New York. By 1850 John was working as a laborer and living with Joseph and Eliza Ellsworth and their family in Harpersfield, Delaware County, New York. (John is noted at the end of the Ellsworth family listing, even though he is the oldest “child,” leading one to conclude that he was not a son but a relative, possibly a nephew.)

John left New York and moved west, eventually settling in western Michigan. By 1860 John was working as a “month hand” and/or living with the family of Jessie Ackerman, a farmer in Moorland, Muskegon County.

John stood 5’9” with blue eyes, dark hair and a sandy complexion, and was 26 years old and still living in Muskegon County when he enlisted in Company G on May 10, 1861, at Grand Rapids. (Interestingly, John did not join the local militia company, the “Muskegon Rangers, which formed in the city in April of 1861, and which would become in large part, Company H of the Third Michigan. Rather he enlisted in Company G, which was widely known as the Lansing Company since it was composed largely of men from the Lansing area.)

John was reported as a company cook during July and August of 1862, and was injured in the back on August 29, 1862, during the battle of Second Bull Run. He was subsequently reported absent sick in the hospital from October through November of 1862, and was discharged on March 22, 1863, at Camp Pitcher, Virginia for “ascites, resulting from a blow, in the lumbar region, received . . . from a sliver of rail producing lameness and hematuria and subsequent ascites.”

After his discharge from the army John returned to Michigan where he reentered the service in Company B, Twenty-eighth Michigan infantry, probably on September 15, 1864, at Hanover, Jackson County for 3 years, crediting Leoni, Jackson County, and was mustered at Marshall, Calhoun County where the regiment was organized. He was reported as having deserted four days later on September 19 at Marshall but was subsequently on duty at the Twenty-eighth’s headquarters at New Berne, North Carolina in November and December of 1865 through April of 1866. He was mustered out of service with the regiment on June 5, 1866, at New Berne.

It is not known if John returned to Michigan after the war, although he may have lived for a time in Muskegon. In any case, he eventually returned to his home in New York.

He was probably living in New York when he married New York native Amanda (b. 1830 or 1840) and they had at least five children: M. Elmon (b. 1867), Mary (b. 1868), Dora B. (b. 1871), George (b. 1872) and John (b. 1877), all of who were born in New York.

By 1880 John was working as a stage driver and living with his wife and children in Brookfield, Madison County, New York. In 1890 he was in New York, living in Leonardsville, Madison County; he was still in New York in 1891 when he applied for and received a pension (no. 919364). By 1900 John was working as a retail butcher and living with his wife and two sons George and John in Brookfield, Madison County, New York.

John reportedly died in New York in 1906. (Joseph, Eliza and their son Lewis are all buried in Brookfield Rural Cemetery no. 40, in Brookfield.)

His widow was living in New York in 1906 when she applied for and received a pension (no. 622365). She was living in Brookfield, Madison County, New York in 1910; her son George was still living with her.

Hiram G. Ellison

2008-08-15T05:42:00.000-04:00

Hiram G. Ellison was born 1843 in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, the son of Hiram P. (b. 1808) and Betsey (b. 1820).

Hiram (elder) was born in Massachusetts or Canada and married Vermont born Betsey sometime before 1837 when they were living in New York. The family resided in New York for some years but between 1843 and 1849 moved to Massachusetts and by 1850 were living in Lenox, Berkshire County, Massachusetts where Hiram worked as a sawyer. They eventually left Massachusetts and moved westward, settling in western Michigan. By 1860 Hiram (younger) was working as a gardener and living with his family in Grand Rapids’ Third Ward, where his father worked as a teamster and his mother as a domestic.

Hiram G. stood 5’8” with gray eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion, and was 18 years old and possibly living in Ionia County when he enlisted in Company D on May 13, 1861. (Company D was composed in large part of men who came from western Ionia County and Eaton County.) He was reported absent sick in the hospital, probably in Maryland, in July and August of 1862. He supposedly deserted on September 21, 1862, at Upton’s Hill, Virginia, but was in fact discharged for chronic rheumatism on September 20 at Fort McHenry, Maryland.

He reentered the service on February 12, 1864, in Company B, Second U.S. Sharpshooters, at Jackson, Michigan, and was mustered in on February 22. Hiram was transferred to Company B, Fifth Michigan infantry on February 18, 1865, and was discharged, possibly for disability, on June 21, 1865, at Chester, Pennsylvania. (There was also one Hiram Ellison who served in the Twenty-seventh Michigan infantry, another unit which produced sharpshooters.)

At some point after the war Hiram returned to Michigan. His father, who may have remarried Massachusetts native Sylvia (b. 1832) was living on a farm in Campbell, Ionia County in 1870. Hiram (elder) was apparently married to one Catharine and living in Campbell, Ionia County in 1880. Hiram (younger) may have been living in Lowell, Kent County in 1890 and was living in Michigan by 1891 when he applied for and received a pension.

George Ellis

2008-08-14T07:45:00.000-04:00

George Ellis was born 1839 in England.

George left England in the late 1850s and immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in central Michigan. By 1860 George was working as a day laborer and living at the Butterfield Hotel in Lansing’s First Ward. In early 1861 he was probably still residing in Lansing when he was reported as a member of the Lansing militia company called the “Williams’ Rifles”, whose members would serve as the nucleus of Company G.

George was 22 years old and still living in Lansing when he enlisted as Third Sergeant in Company G on May 10, 1861; he may have been related to Eugene Ellis. By June of 1862 George was Orderly Sergeant for the company, and he was shot in the hip on August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run. On September 2 Homer Thayer of Company G wrote that Ellis had been wounded in the hip and Thayer thought it “probably mortal.”

In fact, George died as a result of his wounds on September 2, at Washington, DC, and was buried on September 3 in the Military Asylum cemetery (Soldier's Home National cemetery), section C no. 3255 (see photo G-640).

No pension seems to be available.

Eugene Porter Ellis

2008-08-13T07:42:00.001-04:00

Eugene Porter Ellis was born 1841 in Boston, Erie County, New York, the son of Amos P. (b. 1815) and Elizabeth (b. 1840)

New York-born Amos and Elizabeth were probably married in New York sometime before 1831 and by 1840 Amos was reportedly living in Concord, Erie County, New York. By 1850 Eugene was attending school with his siblings and living on the family farm in Concord, New York. By 1860 Amos was still attending school with his siblings and living with his family in Concord.

Eugene stood 5’7” with gray eyes, auburn hair and a light complexion, and was a 20-year-old farmer who had probably just arrived in Lansing from New York when he enlisted with the consent of the Justice of the Peace in Company G on May 10, 1861; he may have been related to George Ellis. (Company G, formerly the “Williams’ Rifles”, was made up predominantly of men from the Lansing area.)

In any case, Eugene was discharged for polyps in the left ear which had caused deafness, on August 30, 1861, at Arlington, Virginia, although Eugene had in fact already left the regiment by the first of August. Frank Siverd of Company G, wrote on August 7 that Ellis had been discharged and sent home.

Eugene returned to Michigan and lived variously in Manistee County and other parts of the state, working as a carpenter.

He was married to Michigan native Myra Conover (b. 1850), probably in Manistee, and they had at least one child: Arthur (b. 1865).

By 1870 Eugene was working as a carpenter and living with his wife and son in Lyon, Oakland County, Michigan. Eugene returned to New York and by April of 1876 was living in Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York, and it appears he and Myra were divorced. (By 1880 there was Myra was listed as divorced and living with her father Samuel Conover in Manistee, Manistee County.)

Curiously there was an Arthur W. Ellis, born in 1865 in Michigan, living with the Hiram Curran family in Concord, New York in 1880. Amos, Eugene’s father was still living in Concord in 1880 as well. By 1880 Eugene and Myra were back together and living as husband and wife on Merchant Street south in Emporia, Lyon County, Kansas.

In April of 1876 Eugene applied for a pension (no. 217746) but it was rejected in 1884 “in view of the fact that the records show that his entire military service was but 49 days and that for thirty days prior to his discharge he is shown to have been unfit for military duty.” The application was eventually abandoned since Eugene was already dead by the time it was rejected.

Eugene was struck and killed by a train near St. Louis, Missouri, on April 1, 1881. According to the coroner’s report,

He was found in the tunnel about half a block beyond the entrance, was identified by Daniel Evan, for whom he worked, as carpenter at Crystal City from where he left the day previous at 11:30 a.m., arriving at Union depot about 2 p.m. He arrived safely, but how he got back in the tunnel is a mystery; that he was very hard of hearing, and had about $4.00 in money on his person, was buried at potter’s field.

According to his obituary,

The terribly mangled and lifeless body of a man was found in the tunnel this morning. It evidently had been run over by two or three trains, as the remains were scattered along the track for some distance. From papers found on the body the man’s name is supposed to be Eugene P. Ellis, a carpenter whose family resides at Emporia, Kansas. The writer called at the rooms of Mrs. Ellis in the new Thomas block, on Commercial Street, this morning, and in an interview with that lady learned that her husband, who was interested in an invention for which he expected a patent in a few weeks, had gone to Silver City some six weeks ago, where she supposed he still was until informed of the terrible intelligence contain in the Commonwealth of yesterday morning. She subsequently learned, however, that James Conwell, of this city, who was interested with Mr. Ellis in his patent had recently received a note from the latter announcing his intention to go to St. Louis, this confirming the report of his shocking death. The deceased was about thirty-eight years of age and somewhat deaf, which may account for the fact of his being overtaken by the train, which killed him. He was a most excellent citizen, and the news of his tragic taking off has cast a gloom over the community where he was so well and favorably known. As his wife, who comprises his family has received no intelligence aside from what the public prints contain, it is not known whether his body has been forwarded to Emporia or buried at St. Louis. It was the desire of Mrs. Ellis that Mr. Conwell should go on and look after the body, but he is absent from the city and at this writing had not returned.

It is not known what became of his widow.

John G. Elliott

2008-08-12T07:42:00.001-04:00

John G. Elliott was born in 1842, possibly in Ohio and possibly the son of John (b. 1812) and Phebe (b. 1817).

Ohioan John (elder) married New York native Phebe and eventually settled in Ohio. Sometime after 1850 John moved his family to Michigan, and by 1860 he was working as a blacksmith and living in Lansing’s Third Ward, where his son John worked as a common laborer.

By the time the war broke out John was probably living in Lansing or Ingham County when he became a member of the Lansing militia company called the “Williams’ Rifles”, whose members would serve as the nucleus of Company G. Indeed, he was 19 years old and probably still living in Ingham County when he enlisted in Company G on May 10, 1861.

On July 20, Frank Siverd, also of Company G, wrote that following the action of July 18 at Blackburn’s Ford, near Bull Run, John along with several others from the company, was “exhausted and sent to the rear.” Soon after the battle of First Bull Run of July 21, Captain Robert Jefferds of Company G was sent home on furlough. Upon arrival in Lansing he reported to the Republican the condition of the men in the Regiment, and according to Jefferds, Elliott was sick in the Regimental hospital with inflammation of the lungs. John was reported absent sick in the hospital in May of 1863, was a cattle guard in from June through August and in September he was detached to Third Corps where he remained through February of 1864.

He eventually rejoined the Regiment and was a Corporal when he was killed in action on May 12, 1864, at Spotsylvania, Virginia. He was presumably buried among the unknown soldiers at Spotsylvania.

No pension seems to be available.

In 1870 his father (?) was still living in Lansing’s Third Ward.

Charles Ellet

2008-08-12T07:41:00.001-04:00

Charles Ellet was born May 24, 1818 in Dublin, Ireland, the son of James.

Charles’ parents were both born in Dublin and presumably died there. At the age of 13 Charles immigrated to North America by himself.

He was living in Canada in 1838 when he married Canadian-born Irene Reed (1821-1905), and they had at least five children: Lovina (b. 1842), James (b. 1846) and Lemuel (1850-1882), Fannie E. (1852-1920) and Alvina or Elzina (b. 1853).

Charles moved his family from Canada to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1848 (or possibly as early as 1846) and operated one of the first meat markets in the city.

According to Grand Rapids historian Albert Baxter, in “1842 Wm. R. Barnard opened a meat market in the pioneer building at the western angle of Prospect Hill, near the junction of Monroe and Pearl Streets. This was the first market for the regular supply of cut meats of which there is any published record. Robert M. Barr and Consider Guild, in 1848, were operating a meat market at the same place.” Ellet “was among those temporarily in the [meat] business about that time.”’

By 1850 Charles was living and working as a grocer in Grand Rapids, and eventually left the meat cutting trade working at a variety of jobs until the war broke out. (Charles may have joined the Grand Rapids Artillery in 1859. Under the command of Captain Baker borden, the GRA would serve as the nucleus for Company B, also under the command of Borden, of the Third Michigan infantry.) In 1859-60 Charles was working as a laborer and living on the east side of Broadway between Bridge and First Streets on the west side of the Grand River, and he was apparently employed as a lumberman in 1860 living in the Fourth Ward.

Charles was 43 years old and living in Grand Rapids when he enlisted in Company B on May 13, 1861. By September of 1862 he was employed as a wagoner, probably in the Brigade wagon trains, and was reported as a wagoner with the Brigade trains from April of 1863 through July, in October was with the supply train, probably serving as a teamster. In November he was a First Division wagoner and was back with the Brigade supply train from December of 1863 until he was mustered out of service on June 20, 1864.

After his discharge Charles returned to Grand Rapids where he lived out the remainder of his life, working as a bridge tender for some years as well as a laborer and lumberman. In 1865-69 he was working as a laborer and living at 8 Broadway Street on the west side, living with his wife in Grand Rapids’ Seventh Ward on Broadway and working as a laborer in 1880, in Grand Rapids in 1888 and in the Seventh Ward in 1890 and 1894. He was living at 16 Broadway when he testified in the pension application of Ellen Brown, Henry Brown’s dependent mother in 1894. (it is quite likely that Charles lived at his home on Broadway all his life.)

He was a member of Grand Army of the Republic Champlin Post No. 29 in Grand Rapids and possibly the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association as well. In 1887 he applied for and received a pension (no. 386884).

He was known as the “city cannoneer”. According to his obituary, “the old cannon now owned by the city was in Mr. Ellet's care and on 4ths of July and similar occasions it was invariably he who fired the gun.”

Charles died of old age and “La Grippe” (influenza) on February 3, 1900, at his home at 16 Broadway Street in Grand Rapids, and the funeral was held at the house at 2:00 Monday afternoon and was conducted by Rev. I. Davis of the First Presbyterian Church. He was buried in Greenwood cemetery: section F lot no. 57.

His widow applied for and received a pension (no. 497809).

Ferdinand Eichoff

2008-08-11T07:40:00.002-04:00

Ferdinand Eichoff, also known as “Eikhoff”, was born 1830 in Prussia, possibly the son of John and Catharine.

Sometime before 1855 Ferdinand left Prussia and immigrated to the United States.

He was married to Prussian-born Ann Catharine Winterhalter (1835-1870) and they had at least four children: Joseph (b. 1855), Ann or Anna (b. 1857), Louisa (b. 1861) and Lizzie (b. 1864). His wife Ann was possibly the sister of Stephen Winterhalter who would also enlist in Company C.

By 1855 they had settled in western Michigan, and in 1859-60 Ferdinand was working as a grocer living on the west side of Front between Second and Third Streets, on the west side of the Grand River in Grand Rapids, Kent County. On July 19, 1859, Ferdinand joined the newly organized Grand Rapids Rifles (or “German Rifles”), commanded by Captain Chris. Kusterer. (The GRR would serve as the nucleus for Company C of the Third Michigan infantry.)

In 1860 Ferdinand was working as a grocer and living with his wife and two children in the Fourth Ward; also living with them was one Mary Ann Eickhoff, probably a younger sister. His father John was also living in the Fourth Ward and working as a harness-maker, probably for the blacksmith Anton Thiele. In 1860 John Eichoff, age 69, was working as a harness-maker in Grand Rapids Fourth Ward.

Ferdinand stood 5’11” with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion, and was 31 years old and probably living in Grand Rapids when he enlisted in the Band on June 10, 1861. He was discharged for a “broken down constitution” on July 17, 1862, at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia.

After his discharge from the army Ferdinand returned to Grand Rapids and from 1865-68 he was employed in harness-making (possibly with his father), and living at 25 First Street (on the south side) between Broadway and Turner Streets on the west side of the Grand River. By 1868-69 Ferdinand was working as a harness-maker for Willibald Voss & Co., at 123 Canal Street, and living on the northwest corner of Turner and Elizabeth Streets, west side. He was working as a harness-maker and living with his four children (his son Joseph was working as a clerk in store) in Grand Rapids’ Fourth Ward in 1870. He continued to work for Voss until his death in 1878.

He and his wife were both members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Grand Rapids.

Ferdinand remarried German native Catharine Koenig (b. 1840) on May 2, 1871, in Grand Rapids, and they had at least three children: Mary Catharine (b. 1875), Mary Matilda (b. 1877) and Ferdinand Stephen (b. 1879).

Ferdinand died of heart disease on Friday, July 5, 1878 at his home at 19 Broadway in Grand Rapids. According to one report, on July 4, Eichoff worked a short time in the morning, which “was passed very pleasantly by him.” When he woke up on the morning of July 5, “feeling as though a glass of lemonade would taste good he went a short distance after it and returning to his house complained of not feeling well, and in a few minutes and almost unknown to those around he was a corpse.”

Ferdinand “was an old and much respected German resident and his sudden ‘taking off’ will be deeply mourned by his distressed family and a large circle of friends and acquaintances.”

The funeral service was held at his home at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 6 and he was buried by local undertaker William Koch (who had served in the Third Michigan during the war) in Mt. Calvary cemetery: section 5 lot no. 8. (The death certificate erroneously lists St. Andrews cemetery as his place of interment.)

His widow Catharine applied for and received a pension (no. 361588).

Charles Eddy

2008-08-10T07:39:00.002-04:00

Charles Eddy was born March 11, 1840 in Scotland, Ontario, Canada, the son of Constant (1817-1892) and Ann (Emmons, 1817-1859).

Charles’s parents were both born in Canada and married around 1837, probably in Scotland, Ontario where they were both born. They resided in Scotland for the remainder of their lives. Charles immigrated to the United States and by 1860 he was working as a farm laborer for Winfield Fuller, a farmer in Grattan, Kent County, Michigan, and probably living with (and/or working for another Grattan farmer by the name of Uriah Emmons, who was also from Ontario, Canada.

Charles stood 5’5” with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion, and was 21 years old and possibly living in Grand Rapids or Grattan when he enlisted in Company K on May 13, 1861, probably with Dave Emmons, having worked for Emmons’ father in Grattan. He was treated for typhoid fever during the latter two weeks of August of 1861.

Charles was a cattle guard in January of 1863, and was treated for gonorrhea September 24, 25 and 29, 1863. He reenlisted on December 24, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Cannon, Kent County. He was presumably absent on veteran’s furlough in January of 1864 and probably returned to the Regiment on or about the first of February.

He was transferred to Company A, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864, and wounded by a gunshot in the left shoulder on October 27, 1864 at Boydton Plank road, near Petersburg, Virginia. He was probably hospitalized and reported absent sick from December of 1864 until he was discharged on May 31, 1865, at Detroit.

After his discharge from the army Charles returned to Grattan. He was probably living in Grattan when he married Michigan native Clara A. Close (1847-1930) on October 16, 1865; they had at least four (and probably five) children: Connor or Converse (b. 1869), Laura, Lilla and Harold.

By 1868-69, he was living in Grand Rapids working as a shoemaker for Small & Moseby and boarding on the east side of Waterloo between Louis and Ferry Streets, but was listed as a dry goods merchant living with his wife and son in Grattan, Kent County in 1870.

Charles was still in Grattan in 1879 and was operating a general store in Grattan in 1880 and living with his wife and two children, but by 1884 he was probably working in the Eddy & Huntley general store in Petoskey, Michigan. By 1892 and 1894 he was back in Grattan, and was apparently living in Belding’s First ward, Ionia County in 1894 and in Belding in 1911. He and Clara were living in Belding in 1920; also living with them was a niece, Kitty Lester.

Charles was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association, as well as a member of Grand Army of the Republic Dan Root Post No. 126 in Belding, and he received pension no. 58,085, drawing $2.66 per month in 1883 for a wounded left shoulder, and $72 per month by 1925.

Charles died of malnutrition resulting from senility died on September 1, 1925, probably in or near Belding, and was buried in River Ridge cemetery, Otisco, Ionia County: section 2, lot no. 1.

His widow applied for and received a pension (no. 966585).

Abraham Eddy

2008-08-09T07:37:00.002-04:00

Abraham Eddy was born August 16, 1840, in Eagle, Clinton County, Michigan, the son of Abraham (1803-1842) and Sophia (Harrington, 1803-1869).

Vermont-born Sophia married Abraham or Abram and they settled in Michigan by 1833 when their son Alanson (d. 1855) was born. Abram was living in Clinton County in 1840. Sometime after Abram died in 1842 (he was buried in North Eagle cemetery, Clinton County) Sophia remarried Daniel Newsome and by 1850 the family -- including young Abraham and his four siblings -- were all living in Eagle, Clinton County where the children attended school. By 1860 Abraham was a student living with his stepfather and mother in Eagle.

Abraham stood 5’10” with blue eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion, and was 20 years old and living in Clinton County (probably in Eagle) when he enlisted 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.) Abraham was reported in the hospital at Alexandria, Virginia from July of 1862 through October, and was discharged for general debility on December 9, 1862, at Portsmouth Grove, Rhode Island.

After he left the army Abraham returned to Michigan. He married to Orpha Cornelia Robinson (1844-1924) on October 6, 1863, in Dewitt, Clinton County, and they had at least three children: Emily M. (1864-1866), Gracie A. (b. 1868) and Carrie (b. 1880); one of the latter two was Mrs. Edward Savage.

Around 1869 Abraham left Clinton County and settled in Muskegon, where he worked as a laborer for the railroad for some thirty years.

He was living in Muskegon, Muskegon County on July 31, 1879, when he became a charter member of Grand Army of the Republic Kearny Post No. 7 in Muskegon. He was working on the boom and living in Muskegon’s First Ward with his wife and children in 1880. He was still living in Muskegon in September of 1885 when he became a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association. (He probably served as the Association’s last secretary in 1927, the year the association was dissolved.) He was living at 156 Ottawa in Muskegon in 1888 and in 1890, and working for the Muskegon Railway; by 1894 he was residing in the First Ward. By 1907 he had moved to Grand Rapids and was probably living at 366 Ionia Street, and for a time was employed in a furniture factory.

In 1913 Abraham was living at 103 1/2 South Division Street, and on December 4, 1913, he was mustered into the Grand Army of the Republic Watson Post No. 395 in Grand Rapids. He remained in Grand Rapids until about August of 1924 when he moved to Sandusky, Ohio to live with his daughter, Mrs. Edward Savage, and was transferred from the GAR Watson post on August 16, 1924, probably to the McMeens Grand Army of the Republic Post in Sandusky, Ohio. By 1929 he was living at 1502 Central Avenue in Sandusky, Ohio.

In 1880 Abraham applied for and received a pension (no. 250189).

Abraham was a widower when he died at Good Samaritan hospital in Sandusky, Ohio on March 7, 1935, and his body was returned to Clinton County where he was buried in North Eagle cemetery: Center section 7 lot 3. Abraham may very well have been the last survivor of the original Third Michigan Regiment which left Grand Rapids for Washington, DC, on June 13, 1861, and one of the remaining two or three survivors of the entire Regiment.

Augustus Eckermann

2008-08-08T07:37:00.002-04:00

Augustus Eckermann, also known as “Ekerman” or “Ackerman.”was born on May 3, 1817, in Mecklinburg, Germany, the son of Christof.

Augustus left Germany and immigrated to the United States, and eventually settled in western Michigan. He was possibly married sometime before the war -- they had a son who was crippled --and was either widowed or divorced by the time he married his second wife, Bertha Rosenhaur (d. 1868) in Muskegon, Muskegon County, Michigan, on June 14, 1863.

He stood 5’11” with brown eyes, light hair and a light complexion and was a 42-year-old farmer possibly living in Muskegon County when he enlisted in Company C on January 29, 1864, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, crediting Muskegon, and was mustered the same day. (Company C was made up largely of German and Dutch immigrants, many of whom lived on the west side of the Grand River in Grand Rapids. This company was the descendant of the old Grand Rapids Rifles, also known as the “German Rifles”, a prewar local militia company composed solely of German troopers.)

Augustus joined the Regiment on February 18 at Camp Bullock, Virginia, and was reported missing in action on May 12 at Spotsylvania, Virginia. He soon returned to the Regiment and was transferred to Company I, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864. He was again reported missing in action and wounded severely on October 27, 1864, at the Boydton Plank road, near Petersburg, Virginia, and it is likely that he was taken prisoner, since he was mustered out on June 19, 1865, at Camp Chase, Ohio, the camp for former prisoners-of-war.

After the war Augustus eventually returned to Muskegon County and was living in Norton, Muskegon County when he married Prussian-born Flora or Florentine Kramer (1829-1918) in Black Lake, Norton Township, on April 22, 1869.

They were still living in Norton in 1870 and in 1880 when Augustus was working as a farmer; also living with them was a son Albert. By 1883 he was living in Muskegon drawing a pension (no. 108215) $16.00 per month, for an injury to the abdomen and a gunshot wound in the head (pension no. 108,215). He was reportedly still living in Muskegon in 1888.

According to his wife, August became quite ill sick in November of 1892, he was suffering from a chronic gastrointestinal disorder, and was confined to his bed until the following spring.

Augustus died in Muskegon Heights on March14, 1893, and was buried in Muskegon in Oakwood cemetery: section 2 lot 7 grave 8.

His widow applied for and received a pension (no. 509556), drawing $8 per month by 1901. She was living in Muskegon heights in 1900.

Anton Eberly

2008-08-07T17:49:00.001-04:00

Anton Eberly was born in 1837, in France or Germany.

Anton, who was unable to read or write, left Europe and immigrated to the United States, probably settling in Ohio sometime before the war broke out.

In fact, he married Ohio native Mary Stuhlmiller or Stahlmiller (1842-1913), who was also unable to read or write, on May 8, 1861 in Massillion, Stark County, Ohio, and they had at least five children: Louisa S. (b. 1867), Phillip Edward (b. 1869), George Franklin (b. 1874), Mary E. (b. 1875) and Lewis Antony (b. 1885).

Anton was 24 years old and may have just recently arrived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from Ohio when he enlisted in Company C on May 13, 1861, although he is not found in the 1905 Third Michigan Regimental history. (Company C was made up largely of German and Dutch immigrants, many of whom lived on the west side of the Grand River in Grand Rapids. This company was the descendant of the old Grand Rapids Rifles, also known as the “German Rifles”, a prewar local militia company composed solely of German troopers.) He was admitted to Chesapeake hospital at Fortress Monroe, Virginia on August 12, 1862, suffering from rheumatism and returned to duty October 1, 1862. On January 7, 1863, he was admitted to the Regimental hospital with intermittent fever, but was returned to duty two days later. He was again admitted to the Regimental hospital on February 10, 1863, with diarrhea and returned to duty on February 12.

He was present for duty until he was taken prisoner on November 20, 1863, at Mine Run, Virginia. He was confined in the prison at Andersonville, Georgia, and was admitted to the prison hospital on July 13, 1864, suffering from scorbutus.

Anton was paroled at Jacksonville, Florida on April 28, 1865, and reported to Camp Parole, Maryland on May 15, 1865. He was then sent to Camp Chase, Ohio on May 17 where he arrived on May 20, and was sent to the provost marshal in Columbus, Ohio on May 27. According to his military service record he was honorably discharged at Detroit on April 22, 1867, to date May 15, 1865.

Anton very likely returned to Ohio after the war. By 1870 he was still unable to read or write and working as an engineer (probably for a coal mine company) and living with his wife Mary and children in Lawrence, Stark County, Ohio. By 1880 Anton was working as a farmer and living with his wife and children in Franklin, Summit County, Ohio. By 1890 he was living in Geauga County, Ohio when he applied for an increase in his pension (no. 248,097), and in 1899 he was living in Akron, Summit County, Ohio, where he very likely lived the remainder of his life.

He was a Roman Catholic.

He was probably living at his home at 303 (rear) North Market Street in Akron, Ohio when he died on March 19, 1903, and was presumably buried in Akron.

In 1903 his widow applied for and received a pension no. 558,228.

Henry Eaton

2008-08-06T17:48:00.001-04:00

Henry Eaton was born in 1846 in Van Buren County, Michigan, the son of Chauncey (b. 1801) and Jane (b. 1805).

New York natives Chauncey and Jane were married presumably in New York where they resided for some years. Between 1839 and 1846 the family left New York and settled in Michigan. By 1850 Henry was living with his family on a farm in Arlington, Van Buren County. By 1860 Henry was attending school with his three younger siblings and living with his father on a farm in Columbia, Van Buren County.

Henry stood 5’8” with black eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion, and was 18 years old and possibly working in Stronach, Manistee County, or in Hastings, Barry County (his father was living in Hastings in 1864) when he enlisted in Company E on February 8, 1864, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, crediting Stronach, and was mustered the same day.

He joined the Regiment on March 23, was transferred to Company E, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864, and was wounded on June 17, 1864, near Petersburg, Virginia. On June 28 he was transferred from Staunton (?) general hospital and admitted to Satterlee general hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, suffering from “burns of hands and face from explosion of a caisson.”

He died of valvular heart disease at 8:30 a.m. on July 11, 1864, in ward 4 at Satterlee hospital. Henry was originally buried in Mt. Moriah cemetery and reinterred in Philadelphia National Cemetery: no. 534 or no. 93.

No pension seems to be available.

By 1870 his father had married New York native Caroline (b. 1813), and was working as a farm laborer and living in Hastings, Barry County.

John L. Eastman

2008-08-05T17:48:00.001-04:00

John L. Eastman was born in 1836 in New York, the son of Hester (b. 1794).

New Jersey native Hester married and settled in New York where she and her family resided for some years before moving west.

By 1860 John, who was unable to read or write, had left New York, possibly with his family, and settled in western Michigan where he was employed as a farmer, working for and/or living with Henry Young in Crockery, Ottawa County. That same year his mother Hester was living with her son Robert and his family in Bushnell, Montcalm County. Also living with her was another son (?) Samuel. (Both Robert, born around 1820, and Samuel, born around 1821, were natives of New York and were living in Salem, Washtenaw County, Michigan in 1850.) In 1863 John reported his mother as living in Bushnell, Montcalm County.

John was 25 years old and still residing in Ottawa County when he enlisted in Company F on May 13, 1861. He was reported as a company cook in September and October of 1862. He was shot in the right thigh on November 27 or 30, 1863, at Mine Run, Virginia, and admitted from the field on December 5 to Third Division hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, with a gunshot wound to the right thigh, the “ball entering about posterior of middle with upper third passing outward anterior to femur” and exiting near the entrance. He was hospitalized from December of 1863 through May of 1864, was furloughed for 30 days on March 4, 1864, and returned to the hospital on April 7. On May 3 he was transferred to West Philadelphia hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he was discharged for his wounds.

After his was discharged from the army John eventually returned to Michigan.

John married Ohio native Charlotte “Lottie” Caldwell (b. 1846), on July 2, 1864, at Alma, Gratiot County, Michigan, and they had at least five children: Ida L. (b. 1865) and Alice (b. 1867), Geneva (b. 1870), Richard Philmore (b. 1873) and Daisey Pearl (b. 1878).

By 1870 John was working as a farmer and living with his wife and three children in New Haven, Gratiot County. He was living with his wife and five children in New Haven and working as a farmer in 1880, and apparently residing in Sumner, Gratiot County in 1883 drawing $4.00 per month for a “wounded right side” (pension no. 135,245). He was living in New Haven, Gratiot County in 1882 when he provided an affidavit in the pension claim of former Third Michigan soldier Moses’ Bigelow’s father William, and in Sumner in 1888 and 1890, and in New Haven in 1894.

For reasons that remain unclear, John eventually became a resident of the Ohio Soldier’s and Sailor’s Home in Erie County, Ohio (as opposed to the Michigan Soldiers’ Home in Grand Rapids).

He was probably a widower when he died at the Home on November 25, 1908, and was buried in the Home cemetery: section H, row 5, grave 34.

By 1910 there was a Susan Eastman (b. c. 1837 in New York and possibly John’s sister-in-law) was living with one Charles Eastman (b. 1873 in Michigan, probably John’s nephew) and his family in Lafayette, Gratiot County; John’s son Richard was living in New Haven, Gratiot County in 1910.

Edward Smith Earle

2008-08-04T17:47:00.001-04:00

Edward Smith Earle was born around 1829 in New York, the son of John E. (b. 1800) and stepson of Mary (b. 1819).

New York native John E. married his second wife, New Yorker Mary sometime before 1850. By 1850 Edward and his brother John were working as clerks for his father who was a merchant living in the western half of New York City’s Fifteenth Ward, New York.

Edward was married to New York native Anna S. Tripp (b. 1830) on December 25, 1851, in St. George’s chapel, Beekman Street in New York City, and they had at least two children: John E. (b. 1853) and Anna A. (b. 1858).

As a young man Edward became involved with the Seventh New York cavalry, a militia company in New York City and served in that unit for perhaps as long as nine years, probably up to the time he moved to Michigan.

Edward and his family moved from New York City to Michigan sometime in 1853, probably along with his parents and younger brother John and their families, and engaged in the grocery business in Grand Rapids along with his brother John and presumably with his father. In 1859-60 Edward was managing his brother John’s store, and living on the west side of Lafayette between Fulton and Washington Streets, and in 1860 he was working as a grocer and living with his wife Anna and their two children in Grand Rapids’ Second Ward, near Rev. Francis Cuming, rector of St. Mark’s church and who would be elected chaplain of the Third Michigan infantry the following spring. That same year Edward’s father was working as a grocery dealer and living with his wife and children, including son John H. who was clerking for him, in Grand Rapids’ Third Ward.

Given his previous experience with the New York militia it was perhaps only natural that in 1855 Edward became a member of the newly formed Grand Rapids militia company, the Valley City Guard. In fact both he and his father John E. were active in the VCG. In January of 1856 Edward was reported as First Sergeant of the VCG and by the first of the year 1858 John E. Earle had replaced Captain Daniel McConnell who had been promoted. (McConnell would become the first Colonel of the Third Michigan infantry.) Edward served as Orderly Sergeant, or Adjutant, of the VCG.

Both father and son held their respective posts in the militia through the year but on March 22, 1859, his father resigned, while Edward stayed on as Orderly Sergeant, working for the new Captain, Byron R. Pierce (who would one day become Colonel of the Third Michigan). Edward continued to serve as Orderly Sergeant until the war broke out. He also served as Judge Advocate the Fifty-first Regiment of State Militia (Daniel McConnell commanding), comprising four west Michigan militia companies including the VCG.

By January 1, 1861, Edward was listed as Adjutant for the Fifty-first Regiment, having replaced William Andre (or Amane). He would continue in that capacity after the Fifty-first was reorganized as the Third Michigan in April. In June of 1861, one observer noted that Edward was “fond of military tactics, and . . .with the exception of a want of strong lungs, he makes a good officer.”

Edward was 32 years old when he enlisted as Adjutant and First Lieutenant of the Third Michigan Infantry when it was first organized at Cantonment Anderson in the old fairgrounds about two miles south of Grand Rapids along the Kalamazoo Plank road (present-day Division Street). However, he had taken sick while in camp and did not leave Michigan with the Regiment on June 13, 1861, when it departed for Virginia, but remained behind, along with Captain John Price of Company G, to oversee the three dozen or so soldiers -- most of who were also sick -- who had been left behind in Grand Rapids and vicinity.

Edward eventually left Grand Rapids on Monday, June 24, reportedly “with the last detachment of the 3d Michigan.” Although he was scheduled to arrive in Washington on July 1, with the remainder of the Third Michigan that accompanied the Fourth Michigan infantry to Washington, in fact he did not join the Regiment before July 6.

After his arrival in Washington Edward apparently spent little time with the Third Michigan, however. He was appointed Brigade Commissary on July 19, 1861, with the rank of Captain, and on September 16 was appointed Captain and Commissary of Subsistence of United States Volunteers. He was discharged from the army on April 1, 1863.

It is quite possible that Edward returned to Michigan after his discharge from the army, possibly to the Detroit area where his brother John may have been operating a grocery business. In any case,, Edward reentered the service and, according to a biographer of George Custer, was serving on Custer’s staff during the last half of the war and on into 1866.

After the war Edward eventually returned to Grand Rapids and by 1865-66 he was boarding at the Fay house, located at the corner of Monroe and Justice Streets. By 1870 his father was listed as a retired manufacturer (he owned some $25,000 worth of real estate and another $10,000 worth of personal property) and was living with his wife Mary in Grand Rapids’ Third Ward.

Edward soon left Grand Rapids and returned with his family to New York, eventually settling back in New York City, and by 1870 he was working as a clerk in a dry goods store and living with his wife and children in Brooklyn’s Twentieth Ward, New York. Also living with Edward and his family was his younger brother John and his wife Emily and one Susan Tripp, presumably Anna’s sister. They were all living with the William Harris family who was reported as a bookkeeper for a dry goods store. Edward also he worked for some years as a bookbinder.

Nevertheless Edward still remained in touch with his former comrades and was for some time a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association.

By 1880 Edward was working as a clerk in a store and living with his wife and daughter in Brooklyn, New York. In 1888, 1889 and 1890 Edward was working as a clerk and iving at 551 1/2 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn, and also in 1890 when he was working as a bookkeeper and when he received pension no. 819,068, (dated February 18, 1891) drawing $12.00 a month in February of 1891. That same month, Edward claimed he was suffering from a partial paralysis of the right arm as a result of the dislocation of his shoulder. According to his wife, Edward slipped and fell on their stoop that was covered with ice, resulting in his inability to perform any manual labor. By the fall of 1891 Edward and his brother John were both reported to be living and working in New York City.

Edward died of heart failure, probably at his home at the corner of Flatbush and Union Streets in Brooklyn, New York, on October 21, 1892, and he was buried in Greenwood cemetery, in Brooklyn: section 114, lot 11785.

His widow was living in Hollis, Queens County, New York, when she applied for and received pension no. 394,712, drawing $8.00 per month in 1908. She died on March 8, 1908, in New York City, and is reportedly buried with Edward.

John Eadie Jr.

2008-08-03T17:46:00.001-04:00

John Eadie Jr. was born in 1841 in Scotland, the son of John Sr. and Elizabeth (b. 1819).

John Jr. immigrated to America with his parents sometime between 1851 and 1853, and by 1859 they had settled in Ravenna, Muskegon County, Michigan. John Sr. died soon after they arrived in Muskegon and Elizabeth married one George Sipps in 1859. By 1860 John Jr. was a farm hand living with his mother and stepfather in Ravenna.

John was 20 years old and residing in Muskegon County when he enlisted in Company K on May 13, 1861. He was absent sick in the hospital from October of 1862 through January of 1863, and he reenlisted on December 24, 1863 at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Alpine, Kent County. John was presumably absent on veteran’s furlough in January of 1864, probably at his mother’s home in Muskegon, and probably returned to the Regiment on or about the first of February.

On May 12, 1864, John was wounded at Spotsylvania, Virginia, by a gunshot to the left leg, and his left thigh was “amputated at the middle third” in the field on May 18. He was seriously ill when admitted on May 28 to ward A, bed 45 in Emory hospital in Washington, DC, where he was treated for gangrene and loss of blood. (He was apparently divorced by the time he was admitted to the hospital since his medical descriptive list reported him as being single and his nearest relative as his mother.) On May 29 he was observed to be “partially comatose” and was “Suffering from an ulcer upon his sacrum 3 inches in diameter inclined by gangrene.” The following day it was noted that the “Stump of amputated limb discharges freely from around the bone. Left parts of stump continually look healthy, and about two thirds united. Bone necrosed.” He was given morphine, and on May 31 he was reported to be generally “the same,” although it was noted that he “Grows more comatose and weaker. Refuses at times to take nourishment or stimulants.” He was given morphine at bedtime. The following day, June 1, it was observed that he “Takes but little” stimulants presumably, and “Will not take anything except in small quantities.”

John failed to recover and died at 11:30 p.m. on June 1, in Emory hospital, and was buried on June 2 at 3:00 p.m. in Arlington National Cemetery: section 27, grave no. 421.

In 1890 a woman named Elizabeth Eadie, apparently living in Michigan, claiming to be John’s widow applied for a widow’s pension (application no. 444,341) but the certificate was never granted. (If in fact he had been married, his widow remarried in 1873, to one William Patterson, and she lived in Coopersville, Ottawa County and then in Ludington, Mason County.)

Hendrikus "Henry" Dykema

2008-08-02T06:33:00.001-04:00

Hendrikus Dykema, also known as “Henry,” was born 1836 in the Netherlands.

“Henry” immigrated to the United States, and eventually settled in western Michigan. (He may have been related to a farmer named Pieter Dykema and his wife Ida, both born in the Netherlands and both of whom immigrated to America sometime before 1850 when they were living in Holland, Ottawa County; they were still living in Holland, Ottawa County in 1860.)

By 1860 Henry (listed as “Dickma”) was employed as a mill worker in Allendale, Ottawa County, working in the Richard Roberts’ mill along with Jerry Sullivan, who would also enlist in Company C.

“Henry” was 25 years old and possibly still living in Allendale when he enlisted in Company C on May 13, 1861. (Company C was made up largely of German and Dutch immigrants, many of whom lived on the west side of the Grand River in Grand Rapids. This company was the descendant of the old Grand Rapids Rifles, also known as the “German Rifles”, a prewar local militia company composed solely of German troopers.)

He was wounded in the shoulder on May 31, 1862, at Fair Oaks, Virginia, but his wound was apparently not severe and he soon returned to duty.

Henry was wounded a second time, this time severely, on August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run, and subsequently hospitalized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania through the rest of the year. He was dropped from the company rolls on January 10, 1863, at Camp Pitcher, Virginia, but returned from dropped status on March 5, 1864, at Brandy Station, Virginia. Nevertheless, he apparently did not rejoin the Regiment and was a provost guard at Philadelphia in March, and in April was reported on detached service in Philadelphia. He probably remained on detached service until he was mustered out of service on June 20, 1864.

After his discharge Henry apparently returned to Ottawa County.

Henry apparently died sometime before January of 1869 when he was reburied on January 13, 1869, in Pilgrim Home cemetery in Holland, Ottawa County. (It is entirely possible that Henry died of his wounds in Philadelphia and his body returned to Michigan for burial.)

No pension seems to be available.