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Obituary of William DeHaven of Millersburg
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 21, 2015
William H. DeHaven, born 21 June 1846, served in the 208th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company E, as a Private, during the Civil War. After the war he was one of the founding members of the G.A.R. Kilpatrick Post at Millersburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
He lived in Millersburg most of his life, working as a laborer in a planing mill and a sash factory.
William H. DeHaven died on 28 August 1919 and his obituary appeared in the Harrisburg Telegraph on 29 August 1919:
WAR VETERAN DIES AT MILLERSBURG, 73 YEARS OLD
Millersburg, Pennsylvania, 29 August 1919 –– William H. DeHaven, a veteran of the Civil War and one of the few remaining comrades of Kilpatrick Post, No. 212, G.A.R., of this place, died rather suddenly, after ailing for several months, on Thursday. He was 73 years old and is survived by an adopted daughter, Miss Maggie DeHaven. The funeral will take place from his late home in West Moore Street, Monday at 3 p.m., in charge of his pastor, the Rev. Mr. Musselman, of the Lutheran Church. Burial will be in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Additional information is sought about this veteran. Comments can be added to this post or sent via e-mail.
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The news clipping is from Chronicling America of the Library of Congress.
My Great Grandfather on my mother’s side of the family died quite a while ago. He lived in Gettysburg and enlisted when he was 16, saying he was 18, in 1861. He was a private in the First Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserves. He was shot in the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The bullet was removed from his neck, and he was unable to use one arm for the rest of his life. When he was older, living in Pottstown, he took the bullet to a jeweler, and had a gold band around the middle of the bullet with a loop so he could wear it as a watch fob. His name was Samuel E. Davis. I have the bullet framed along with a story from the Philadelphia paper about his amazing experience at Gettysburg. It was published on the 50th anniversary of Gettysburg. He told the paper that Governor Curtin visited him in the hospital, and sat by his bedside and fanned him for two hours.