Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 10, 2011

(Part 57 of an ongoing series on the Battle of Gettysburg).  Around the base of the Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg are a series of plaques which, by regiment and company, note the names of every soldier who was present at the Battle of Gettysburg.  This post will present the plaque recognizing the men who served in the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry.  By clicking on the plaque it should enlarge so the names can be more clearly read.  Following the plaque is a list of the men who have thus far been identified as eligible for inclusion in this Civil War Research Project who, it is believed, served for a time in the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry .  Not all the names may appear on the Pennsylvania Memorial plaques.  If a name does not appear, it could be that the soldier did serve in the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry, but was not part of the regiment during its days at Gettysburg – or it could mean that the soldier was erroneous included in the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry list.  There could also be errors on the plaque.  Readers are invited to submit comments about any names appearing below, or on the plaque, especially if they believe the soldier was from the Lykens Valley area and should be included in this study.

Click on picture to enlarge.

Men from the Lykens Valley area who probably served in the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry:

John Ritz

Information for this post was taken from the files of the Civil War Research Project.  A separate digital file is kept on each of the above-named men.  Information is sought on any men from the Lykens Valley area who were soldiers or sailors during the Civil War.

Category: Memorials | 1 Comment »
Tags: Monument

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 9, 2011

Galusha Aaron Grow (1822-1907)  was the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 37th Congress and served in that capacity from 1861 through 1863.  He represented the 14th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, of which Gratz and Dauphin County were a part.  At the time of his re-election in 1860, he was a Republican, but had previously served in the 32nd through the 34th Congresses as a Democrat, switching sides when President Franklin Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act.  In the 35th and 36th Congresses he served as a Republican.  In 1858, he was physically attacked by Democrat Representative Laurence M. Keitt in the House Chambers which led to an all-out brawl between northerners and southerners.

When the 37th Congress was called into session on 4 July 1861 by Abraham Lincoln, there were 60 fewer members in the House as a result of the secession of the southern states.  Grow was nominated by Pennsylvania’s Thaddeus Stevens for the position of Speaker.  The only other candidate was Francis Preston Blair.  Grow easily won election.

In addition to the war which took a great deal of the Congressional attention, two major acts were passed under Grow’s leadership:  The Pacific Railway Act, which authorized land grants to encourage the construction of a transcontinental railroad, and the Homestead Act, which resulted in the establishment of more than a million and a half homesteads.  The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

In addition to those well known acts, the Revenue Acts of 1861 and 1862 established the first federal income tax, which was used to finance the war.  The National Banking Act, passed in 1863, established a one national currency.  Slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia in 1862 by Congressional action.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture was also created in 1862.   Another achievement was the Morrill Land-Grant College Act which set aside land for the establishment of agricultural and technical schools.  This led to the creation of Penn State University.  And, near the end of its term, the False Claims Act helped to curb the abuses of the wartime profiteers.  Arguably, it was one of the most effective Congressional terms ever… and did a great deal to firmly establish powers of the central government at a time when the question of Union was also being decided on the battlefield.

Grow sided often with the Radical Republicans during his term as Speaker, and perhaps for that reason, was defeated for re-election in 1862.  His replacement from the 14th Congressional District representing Gratz and Dauphin County was the Democrat William Henry Miller (1829-1870) who only served one term before he was defeated in 1864 by Republican George Funston Miller (1809-1885) who served a total of three terms through the 40th Congress.

Galusha A. Grow was born in Ashford, Connecticut, and received his basic education at the Franklin Academy in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.  Later he studied at Amherst College and became a lawyer in 1847.  In 1864 and again in 1868 he was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions.  He was a railroad executive in Texas in the 1870s before returning to Pennsylvania to practice law between 1875 and 1894.  In 1894, he won an at-large seat from Pennsylvania to again serve in the U.S. House of Representative until 1903.

Grow resided in Glenside, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, after he left Congress in 1903 until his death in 1907.  It is not known whether he ever traveled to Upper Dauphin County to meet his constituents who he served during the early years of the Civil War.

Galusha A. Grow (1822-1907)

Information for this post was taken from Wikipedia.

Category: Research, Stories | Comments Off on Galusha A. Grow – Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Blair family, Gratz Borough, Grow family, Miller family, Railroad

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 8, 2011

During the Civil War years, Catholics in Williamstown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, had to travel to Lykens Borough to attend Mass.  In about 1865, Rev. John Laughlin of Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church in Lykens, saw the need to establish a mission in Williamstown and the first Masses were said in a log cabin.  At that time, Williamstown and Lykens were part of the Diocese of Philadelphia.  When the Diocese of Harrisburg was established in 1868, Lykens and Williamstown became part of the new Diocese.

By 1875, after ten years of holding mass in homes and the public school, the first Catholic church was built in Williamstown.  The cornerstone for Sacred Heard of Jesus Church was laid on 22 August 1875, by Bishop Jeremiah F. Shanahan.  The congregation then consisted of about forty families, mostly Irish and German immigrants and their descendants.  At around this time, the Summit Branch Railroad gave about two acres of ground to create a Catholic cemetery in Williamstown.  Before this land was obtained and consecrated, the Catholic dead were buried in Lykens.

The history of the church and cemetery closely parallels the history of Williamstown, Williams Township, and the growth and development of the coal mines in the area.

In 1912, a new Catholic cemetery was opened and many families had their dead exhumed and moved there.  The old cemetery went into ruin and was difficult to access, especially to honor war veterans that had been buried there.  In the 1980s, Williamstown‘s American Legion Post decided to participate in moving the remains of Capt. Richard Budd to the new cemetery.

In 1922, a major renovation of the church building took place.  Today, the “look” of the church and grounds resembles the changes that took place at that time.

The new Catholic Cemetery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church is located on the north side of Main Street, also known as Pottsville Road, on the eastern side of Williamstown.

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Some of the Civil War soldiers who are buried here are:

Capt. Richard Budd (1832-1904).  Born in Ireland and came to America at an early age.  Capt. Budd served in the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company K, from 23 September to 31 August 1863 when he was discharged on a Surgeon’s Certificate of Disability after being wounded at Charles City Crossroads.  He married Fanny Robison [Robertson in some records].  He lived in Williamstown and was a laborer in the coal mines.

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Charles Knecht (1841-1915).  Born in Germany and came to America at around age thirteen.  Served in the 20th New York Infantry, Company A, as a Private, from 3 May 1861 to 1 June 1863.  He married Pauline Eisenstock and lived in Pottsville and Tower City where he worked as a carpenter.

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William Budd (1839-1897).  William was an immigrant from Ireland and was the brother of Capt. Richard Budd.  He served in the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company K, as a Sergeant, from 31 October 1861 through 4 May 1864, and later transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps.  William and his wife Sarah lived in Williamstown, and like his brother, worked in the coal mines.

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Information for this post was taken from the files of the Civil War Research Project and from Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, 100th Anniversary, 1875-1975.   Copies of the book are available at the Williamstown-Williams Township Historical Society.

Additional pictures of the cemetery follow:

Category: Memorials, Research, Stories | 1 Comment »
Tags: Budd family, Cemeteries, Eisenstock family, Knecht family, Lykens Borough, Railroad, Regiments, robison family, Tower City, Williams Township, Williamstown

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 7, 2011

This is the seventh in a series of posts on Gratz during the Civil War. The original house on Lot #38 on the south side of Market Street was built about 1822,  probably by Barbara Wiest, the widow of Jacob Wiest who died in 1811; she had re-married to Michael Salada.

Lot #38 – Early 20th Century View of the House

In 1830, John DeWalt, a hatter, lived here.  This could be the same John DeWalt who later joined the 191st Pennsylvania Infantry, Company F, but more information is needed to determine this.  In 1833, DeWalt sold the property to a merchant Samuel Schwartz, who operated a store here.  In 1838, Samuel Schwartz sold the property to George Moyer (1801-1875), a blacksmith.  The property then remained in the Moyer family throughout the Civil War and years beyond.  George Moyer died in 1875 but had transferred the property to his daughter Charlotte some time before his death – but failed to record a new deed.  It is not known at this time whether either of Charlotte’s brothers, George D. Moyer (1836-?) or John Moyer (1840-1913) had Civil War service or whether any of her sisters married Civil War veterans.

Charlotte married George Washington Seebold (1836-1903) and lived in this house until her death in 1898.  During the Civil War, two children were born to Charlotte and George Sebold at this house, Lillian Sebold (1861-1865), and Mary Sebold (1863-1932).  After Charlotte’s death, her husband remarried Emma Hess, the widow of Jeremiah Buffington (1836-1891).  No Civil War service had been located for George Seebold or Jeremiah Buffington, but at Jeremiah’s grave in Gratz Union Cemetery, a G.A.R. marker has been placed, perhaps in error.

Isaac Hepler (1838-1918)

After George Seebold died in 1903, the property was sold to  Isaac Kratzler Hepler (1838-1918) and Amanda [Harper] Hepler. Isaac was a Civil War veteran having served in the 172nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Company K, as a Private.  In 1904, the Hepler’s made extensive renovations and additions to the house, adding a wrap-around porch and a large addition in the rear.  In 1907, they conveyed the property to their son George Hepler (1877-1932).

George Hepler was a produce farmer, primarily a peach grower, and conducted some of his business from this property.

In 1968, the property passed by sale to members of the Schoffstall family who owned a grocery store next door (on Lot #36).   Later the house was divided into two rental units which have since been dismantled in an attempt to return the house to a single-family residence.  A few years ago, one of the outbuildings was demolished; it was believed to have once been the blacksmith shop that was in operation here during the Civil War.

Today the property is unoccupied, bank-owned and for sale.  Inquiries can be made by clicking here.

Some of the information for this post was taken from the book A Comprehensive History of Gratz Pennsylvania.

Category: Research, Stories | Comments Off on Gratz During the Civil War – George Moyer House
Tags: Buffington family, DeWalt family, Gratz Borough, Harper family, Hepler family, Hess family, Moyer family, Regiments, Salada family, Schoffstall family, Schwartz family, Sebold family, Walking Tour, Wiest family

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 6, 2011

(Part 56 of an ongoing series on the Battle of Gettysburg).  Around the base of the Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg are a series of plaques which, by regiment and company, note the names of every soldier who was present at the Battle of Gettysburg.  This post will present the plaque recognizing the men who served in the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry.  By clicking on the plaque it should enlarge so the names can be more clearly read.  Following the plaque is a list of the men who have thus far been identified as eligible for inclusion in this Civil War Research Project who, it is believed, served for a time in the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry .  Not all the names may appear on the Pennsylvania Memorial plaques.  If a name does not appear, it could be that the soldier did serve in the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry, but was not part of the regiment during its days at Gettysburg – or it could mean that the soldier was erroneous included in the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry list.  There could also be errors on the plaque.  Readers are invited to submit comments about any names appearing below, or on the plaque, especially if they believe the soldier was from the Lykens Valley area and should be included in this study.

Click on picture to enlarge.

Men from the Lykens Valley area who probably served in the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry :

Note:  At the present time, no veterans from the Lykens Valley area have been identified in this regiment.  Since research is still being conducted to determine the Civil War regiments in which many of the Lykens Valley area veterans served, it is possible that some names will be added in the future.  Research is on-going and corrections and additions are always welcome.  Readers are invited to submit comments about any veteran found on this plaque, whether or not they have a connection to the Lykens Valley area.  Click here for map.

Information for this post was taken from the files of the Civil War Research Project.  A separate digital file is kept on each soldier who is included in the list of veterans.  Information is sought on any men from the Lykens Valley area who were soldiers or sailors during the Civil War.

Category: Memorials | 14 Comments »
Tags: Monument