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Henry Alspach – Requested Burial Next to Wife
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on June 13, 2018
Normally, a deceased veteran’s request for burial next to his wife would not be a subject for a blog post, as many veterans made similar requests; also as did many widows to be buried next to their husbands who predeceased them. In this case, however, Henry Alspach died at a Soldiers’ Home a good distance away from Tower City where his wife was buried. The government did not provide funds to bury veterans where they wished to buried. If they died in a Soldiers’ Home, they were usually buried in the home cemetery or an nearby national cemetery.
From the West Schuylkill Herald, 5 November 1892:
Henry Alspach, a member of the Washington Artillerists, died at the Soldiers’ Home at Fortress Monroe last week. His birth place is at Tower City, and before he died, he expressed a desire that his comrades would bury his remains beside those of his wife at Tower City. The first Defenders’ Association are now raising funds to carry out their dead comrade’s last request.
And, from the West Schuylkill Herald, 12 November 1892:
William Thompson Post, G.A.R., abandoned the project of bringing the body of Henry Alspach, who died at the Soldiers’ Home at Hampton, Virginia, to this place for burial alongside his wife.
Sadly, the local G.A.R. Post could not raise the required funds. Whether they eventually revived the fund campaign or the funds were provided by someone else is not known at this time.
It is not known when Henry Aspach was re-interred at Tower City, but his grave marker is there. Presumably someone eventually paid for the re-interment.
The grave marker of Henry Alspach is shown above at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Cemetery, Tower City, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
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News clippings from Newspapers.com.
I am hoping that this Veteran is resting with his wife.