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Joseph E. Peters Jr. – Located in Elizabethville Area After War
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on May 19, 2017
Joseph Edwin Peters Jr. served in the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company D, as a Private during the Civil War. A brief sketch of him, edited from information found in Captain Enders Legion, pages 173-174, is as follows:
Joseph E. Peters Jr. was born 12 July 1843 in Mahantongo, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Joseph Peters and Sarah [Lentz] Peters…. Joseph married Louisa Lyons in Millersburg, Pennsylvania on 1 May 1865. Louisa was born 19 October 1845 in Klingerstown, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Edward Lyons and Angeline [Welker] Lyons. Joseph and Louisa were parents of seven children: William H. Peters, George E. Peters, Joseph E. Peters III, Jacob Peters, Jennie Peters, Mamie Ellen Peters, and Charles Peters. Joseph was a laborer…. Joseph died 26 April 1915 in Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, and is buried there.
However, the information given in Captain Enders Legion, was that Joseph Jr. served in the 200th Pennsylvania Infantry, which is incorrect, and has since been corrected by one of the authors (see below).
In 1860, Joseph Jr. was living with his parents, north of Millersburg in Dalmatia, Northumberland County. The father was working as a laborer. On 7 March 1862, Joseph Jr. was mustered into service in the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company D, at Harrisburg. At the time of his muster, he was working as a farmer, was 18 years old, and he gave his residence as Millersburg. His physical description included that he was 5 foot 5 inches tall, had light hair, light complexion and blue eyes. The military record notes that during his service, he was wounded at Fredericksburg, Virginia, 7 March 1862 and again at Dabney’s Mills, Virginia, on 6 February 1865. Also, there is a record that he re-enlisted on 29 February 1864 at Mitchell’s Station, Virginia, and was discharged with his company on 13 July 1865.
Joseph’s service at Gettysburg is noted on the Pennsylvania Memorial there. On the plaque (shown above), he is “J. E. Peters.”
The connection with Millersburg was first established at his enlistment, but it should be pointed out that Joseph Peters Jr. is not named on the Millersburg Soldier Monument – still another soldier ignored by that community on its Civil War memorial!
During the war, 1 May 1865, while he was still serving, but recovering from his wounds at Dabney’s Mills, he married Louisa Lyons at Millersburg. Their first child, Joseph Henry Peters, was born on 12 August 1866. According to this son’s records, that birth took place in Elizabethville, Dauphin County.
In 1870, the family is found in Upper Paxton Township, where Joseph was working as a laborer.
In 1880, the family had moved to Washington Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, where Joseph was working as a laborer, and where his second son, George Ellsworth Peters, age about 10, was also working as a laborer.
By 1890, Joseph was living in Berrysburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, where in the 1890 Veterans’ Census, he stated his service in the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry, and noted that he had a “right hip wound” during the war.
In 1900, the family was living in Shamokin, Ward 4, where Joseph was a laborer in a colliery, his son Jacob Peters, age 19, was working as a day laborer, and his daughter Jennie Peters, as working as a mender in a stocking factory.
In 1910, still living in Shamokin, Ward 4, Joseph was still working as a laborer in a colliery, his son Charles Peters, age 26, was working as a laborer for a lumber company, and his youngest daughter Maurice Peters, age 19, was working as a mender in a stocking factory.
Joseph E. Peters applied for an invalid pension on 4 February 1880, which he received and collected until his death. However, the place of death noted on the card above from Fold3 is not the same as the place of death on the official death record shown below. Louisa applied for widow’s benefits on 1 May 1915, received the benefits, and collected until she died on 15 March 1919.
Joseph Peters Jr. died on 26 April 2015 at Shamokin of a cerebral hemorrhage, with Bright’s Disease as a contributory factor. He is buried in the Shamokin Cemetery. The death certificate, shown above is from Ancestry.com. Additional information about him can be found at his Findagrave Memorial, which is maintained by Russ Ottens, one of the authors of Captain Enders Legion. The portrait of Joseph at the top of this post is courtesy of Russ Ottens.
For those compiling lists of Civil War soldiers from communities in the Lykens Valley area, Joseph Peters Jr. belongs in lists for: Millersburg and Upper Paxton Township; Elizabethville and Washington Township; Berrysburg and Mifflin Township; and Shamokin and Coal Township. The fact that he moved around quite a bit during his lifetime may be the reason that he has been ignored by those communities when lists of veterans were compiled.
Maybe you will find this of interest. We just looked at a run down house on market street I lewisburg close to the lewisburg hotel, an old fraternity house of bucknell. In the basement was a tunnel that was closed up and going to the hotel and on the other side was another tunnel that was said to be leading to the river…all have been closed up since the owner could remember…