Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 21, 2019

On 2 April 1910, Alban D. Morgan, a miner living in Coaldale, Wiconisco Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, died of pneumonia. His obituary, which appeared in the Lykens Standard, 8 April 1910, identified him as a Civil War veteran but gave little information about his service.

Alban D. Morgan of Coaldale, died at 5:30 p.m. Saturday after a weeks’ illness of pneumonia, aged 62 years, 8 months and 2 days.  He was twice married, his first wife Eliza Ritzman, having preceded him in death a number of years ago.  This union was blessed with 19 children, only three of whom survive:  David Morgan; George Morgan; and Claude Morgan. His second marriage was to Mrs. Emma J. Mace [nee Emma Koppenhaver].  Four sons and one daughter resulted from this marriage, only three of whom survive; Alvin Morgan; Stella Morgan; and Joseph Morgan.  He is also survived by his wife and four sisters:  Mrs. William Barrett; Mrs. William Shamper; Mrs. Henry Bowman; and Mrs. John Hawk, all of Lykens.

Mr. Morgan was a veteran of the Civil War, a good, honest citizen and a kind father and will be sadly missed in the community in which he so long resided.

Funeral services sere held at his late home at 2 p.m. Tuesday by Rev. Paul G. Krutzky of St. John Lutherand Church.  Burial was made in Wiconisco Cemetery.

The Veterans’ Card from the Pennsylvania Archives (above) identifies his Civil War services as a Private in Company D of the 97th Pennsylvania Infantry. At age 18, he enrolled as a substitute and mustered into service at Harrisburg on 27 February 1861 He was honorably mustered out with his company on 28 August 1865.

On 26 June 1880 he applied for pension benefits, as noted on the above card from Fold3 and it appears from the information on that card, that he was awarded a pension which he collected until his death, following which his widow applied. The date of death given on the card is eight days later than his actual death, which can be confirmed by his Pennsylvania Death Certificate (available from Ancestry.com, and not shown here).

On 15 July 1910, the second wife, Emma J. Morgan applied for benefits, which she received, according to the card above from Ancestry.com (as well as the Fold3 card).

Emma J. Morgan lived until 1 May 1951 and at the time of her death, her obituary appeared in a local newspaper.

MRS. EMMA MORGAN

Mrs. Emma Jane Morgan, age 84 years, widow of Albion Morgan, died at her home at Coaldale, Lykens R. D., on Tuesday.

Mrs. Morgan was a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Koppenhaver, Elizabethville R.D., and had been a resident of the Coaldale community fifty years.

Survivors are two sons and one daughter, Alvin Morgan and Joseph Morgan, and Mrs. Stewart Bohrman, all of Lykens R.D., thirteen grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.

Services will be held from the Buffington Funeral Home, Elizabethville, at 2 o’clock Saturday afternoon.  Rev. Albert L. Stinner, pastor of the Transfiguration Baptist Church, Lykens, will officiate and interment will be in the Evangelical United Brethren Cemetery at Berrysburg.

Friends may call at the Buffington Funeral Home Friday evening from 7 to 9 o’clock.

Not stated in the obituary, Mrs. Morgan was one of the last surviving Civil War widows collecting a pension in the Lykens Valley area.

Finally, from the available information at the time of this writing, Alban D. Morgan, also known as Alvin David Morgan and Albion D. Morgan, was honored by being recognized on the Lykens G.A.R. Monument.

As can be seen by the cut from the monument plaque, he is named as Alvin Morgan. He is listed with the men who joined the Heilner Post after its organization.

Comments are welcome.

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News clippings from Newspapers.com.

Category: Research, Stories | Comments Off on Alban D. Morgan – Miner of Wiconisco Who Had 24 Children
Tags: Berrysburg, Coaldale, Elizabethville, Lykens, Washington Township, Wiconisco

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 19, 2019

William Minnich (or Minning as he was sometimes called), who died before the 1890 census was taken, was a member of the 39th Pennsylvania Infantry (Emergency of 1863), Company E.

In the 1890 Census for Tremont, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, his widow, Regina Minnich reported his service:

At this time, no other information has been found to connect this William Minnich or Minning, who left a widow named Regina, to any other records.

Help is needed to further identify this veteran. Information can be sent by e-mail or added as a comment to this post.

Category: Queries | Comments Off on Who Was William Minnich, Militia Man?
Tags: Tremont

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 14, 2019

John Kay Clement was briefly mentioned here in a post entitled “Additions to Veterans’ List,” published 18 May 2013:

John Kay Clement (1820-1882) ——–  3rd Pennsylvania Infantry (Emergency of 1862), Company D, Private (12 Sep 1862 – 25 Sep 1862).  Enrolled:  Sunbury.   Provost Marshal of 14th District of Pennsylvania  (1862-1864).   Residence:  Sunbury.  Occupation:  Lawyer.

The Veterans’ Card from the Pennsylvania Archives (above) confirms his Civil War service in the emergency regiment of 1862.  His connection to the Lykens Valley area of Pennsylvania is more through his service as Provost Marshal.  The Lykens Valley was part of the 14th Congressional District of Pennsylvania.

One of the duties of a Provost Marshal was insure that the draft went smoothly and that draft dodgers and deserters were appropriately disciplined according to the applicable laws.

The original files of all the Provost Marshals of Pennsylvania during the Civil War are housed in the Philadelphia Branch of the National Archives and are available to researchers by appointment.

An on-line biography taken from an 1899 text published in Chicago gives additional information on John Kay Clement’s genealogical background as well as his career:

GENERAL JOHN KAY CLEMENT, deceased, was one of the most prominent criminal lawyers of the state of Pennsylvania, and participated in many of the most famous cases tried in the section in which he lived. He lived at Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pa., where he acquired a very extensive practice, mainly criminal, and was for many years a well-known figure in the public eye. He was a son of Evan C. Clement and Hannah [Kay] Clement, and was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1820. Gen. Clement descended from a prominent family of Quakers in England, the earliest ancestor of whom we have any record being Gregory Clement, who was one of the famous body of Regicides and with four others was hanged. When Gregory was arrested in 1660, his son James Clement escaped and emigrated from his native country to America, landing on Long Island. He subsequently located in Camden County, New Jersey, near Camden, where he founded the village of Clementon nearly 150 years ago. He became a large landowner and surveyor and his descendants continued at that occupation for a number of generations following.

His companion in the pathway of life was Sarah Field and among the children who blessed their union was one Jacob. Jacob Clement married Ann Harrison and they were the parents of Samuel Clement, the great-grandfather of our subject.

Samuel Clement, the great-grandfather, married Rebecca Collins, a grand-daughter of Francis Collins, who came to America in 1688, locating in New Jersey, where he became a man of distinction. He served for a time in the capacity of a judge and was a member of the Provincial Legislature of New Jersey:

Samuel Clement, the grandfather of our subject, married Mary Foster and they reared Evan C. Clement, the father of our subject, who was born in Camden County, New Jersey.

In connection with his father, Evan Clement engaged in the manufacture of glass and became a man of considerable means. He was a soldier of the War of 1812, serving with the rank of sergeant-major. He was a life-long resident of Camden County, dying there in 1827, at the age of thirty-seven years. He was united in marriage with Hannah Kay, a daughter of John Kay, who was a great-grandson of John Kay, the first settler of the name, who was several years speaker of the Provincial Assembly of New Jersey. John Kay, the father of Mrs. Clement, married Kesiah Thorne, a daughter of Capt. Joseph Thorne, a soldier of the Revolutionary War.

Gen. John Kay Clement, the subject of this biography, was but seven years of age when his father died and, as the latter had failed a short time previous to death, John was thrown upon his own resources at that youthful age. He received his early education in the Friends’ School at Philadelphia, and at the age of eighteen years entered upon the study of law, a profession for which he proved himself eminently fitted. He studied in the office of his cousin, Richard Howell, of Camden. New Jersey, and at the age of twenty-one years was admitted to the bar at Trenton, New Jersey, in 1841. Shortly thereafter he removed to Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, making his home first at Minersville and subsequently at Pottsville. While residing in that county he was made brigadier-general of the state militia, and he also practiced law there until 1854, when he moved to Sunbury, Northumberland County. Being a man of unusual power and eloquence as a speaker and pleader, he had by this time attracted considerable attention as a lawyer, and in 1859 he was elected district attorney of Northumberland County.

He was re-elected to that office in 1871, and received an appointment to the same office in 1877. He practiced law to the exclusion of everything else, making a specialty of criminal law, up to the time of his death, and he took rank among the leading criminal lawyers of this state. From 1871 to 1878 he was engaged as counsel for the prosecution or defense in every important case brought to trial and his efforts in almost every instance were attended by success. “Bear” Dolan, the first “Molly Maguire” convicted, was prosecuted by him in 1872; and Peter McMannes, the last one tried, was defended by him.

Besides being an eloquent speaker, Gen. Clement excelled as a man of great reasoning power and his knowledge of the law was almost unlimited. Politically he was a Democrat prior to the Civil War, but subsequently he staunchly supported the principles of the Republican party, and for some years was a member of the Sunbury Council. Gen. Clement took an active part in the Civil War, showing great patriotism and devotion to the cause for which the government was fighting. He was captain of the Pottsville Light Artillery, which organization still exists as Company F, 4th Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania and he served in the First Battle of Bull Run as aide to Col. Cameron.

In 1862 he was made Provost Marshal of the Fourteenth District of Pennsylvania and served efficiently until 1864. During the war he also served as a private in Company D of the 4th Pennsylvania Emergency Troop.

On May 18, 1854, Gen. Clement formed a matrimonial alliance with Mary S. Zeigler, of Sunbury, a daughter of Isaac Zeigler and Mary [Eyer] Zeigler. She is now living in Sunbury at the advanced age of seventy-two years. Five children blessed their home, only one of whom survives. Gen. Clement passed to his eternal reward on October 15, 1882.

Finally, the National Tribune, the G.A.R. newspaper of Washington, D.C., publlished the following obituary on 26 October 1882:

Gen. John Kay Clement, died at Sunbury, Pennsylvania, on the 15th Inst.  During the war he was Provost Marshal for the district from 1862 to 1864.  He was prominent in the formation in the Washington Artilleryists, of Pottsville, of which he was Captain, prior to the Mexican War, in which they volunteered for service but were refused, Pennsylvania’s quota being full.  This organization was one of the first defenders in 1861, and is now [1882] headquarter guard to Major-General Hartranft.

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News clipping from Newspapers.com.

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Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 11, 2019

A worn grave marker notes the burial place of William A. Loomis (1842-1900) at the Fairview Cemetery, Altoona, Blair County, Pennsylvania.

At the grave is a G.A.R. star-flag holder. During the Civil War, Loomis served in the 192nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H, as a Private, and according to the Pension Index Card (above from Fold3), he also served in Company F of the 195th Pennsylvania Infantry. He collected a pension until his death, which occurred on 4 September 1900, and after his death his widow collected benefits.

William A. Loomis was born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania on 27 December 1842. He is the same William Loomis who appears in the list of Halifax area Civil War veterans.

After the war, William A. Loomis openly supported the white supremacist views of Heister Clymer by signing a call for denial of equal rights to African Americans, both those who were previously slaves and those who were previously freemen. The statement was published in the Harrisburg Patriot of 24 July 1866 and included his name, regiment, company and rank.

Heister Clymer was a white supremacist candidate for Pennsylvania Governor on the Democratic Party ticket in 1866, and was previously profiled here on 26 April 2016.

The call for a meeting of Union Soldiers was printed in the Harrisburg Patriot, 24 July 1866, along with an up-to-date list of Clymer supporters who openly supported Heister Clymer‘s white supremacist views and wanted to deny “negro equality and suffrage” even to those who had been free men before the war.

The undersigned honorably discharged Union soldiers, believing that we battled in the late war for the Union of these States, and had successfully maintained it, view with alarm the persistent efforts of radical men who seem determine, practically to destroy the Union we went forth to save.  They would have the community believe that Union soldiers are willing to give up in the hour of victory the great object to which their sacrifices and toll and blood were given….

Therefore we unite in requesting all the honorably discharged officer, soldiers and seamen of Dauphin County who favor the wise and constitutional policy of President Johnson, who oppose the doctrine of negro equality and suffrage, and desire the election of the Hon. Hiester Clymer, to meet in Mass Convention at the Democratic Club Room, Walnut Street, below Third, Harrisburg, at 7 1/2 o’clock, on the evening of the 25 July 1866, for the purpose of electing fourteen delegates to the Convention of Union Soldiers, which is to assemble in this city [Harrisburg] on Wednesday, 1 August 1866.

The Dauphin County veterans who signed the racist petition calling for the meeting were from a variety of regiments and social levels.  Included in the list were some residents of Upper Dauphin County, the area north of Peter’s Mountain – all of which is included in the geographic area of the Civil War Research Project.

William A. Loomis was only one of many honorably discharged Union soldiers who openly supported the white supremacist gubernatorial campaign of Heister Clymer in 1866.  The full list of those with a connection to Upper Dauphin County will be presented over time.

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Grave marker photo from a public post on Ancestry.com.

Category: Research, Stories | Comments Off on William A. Loomis – White Supremacist, 1866
Tags: G.A.R., Halifax, Hate

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 8, 2019

Samuel Miller, (1833-1904) served in the 26th Pennsylvania Infantry (Emergency of 1863), Company D, as a Private and Sergeant, during the Civil War.

According to the Pennsylvania Veterans’ File Card from the Pennsylvania Archives, he enrolled at Lykens on 15 June 1863, and four days later was mustered into service. At the time he was 29 years old. At the conclusion of the emergency, he was discharged on 30 July 1863.

Previously on this blog, a post entitled Samuel Miller, Emergency Man and the Fire That Destroyed His General Store, gave more information about him and his Civil War service, including that he is honored on both the Lykens G.A.R. Monument and the Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg.

Today’s post features a photo of his grave marker at the Calvary United Methodist Church Cemetery (above), Wiconisco, and his obituary, which was published in the Lykens Standard of 10 June 1904.

SAMUEL MILLER

Samuel Miller, one of Wiconisco‘s most prominent citizens, died at his home at that place at 3:30 p.m., Saturday, aged 70 years, 6 months and 1 day.  He had suffered several paralytic strokes within the past few years which at his advanced age rendered him very feeble, and for a year preceding his death, he was unable to leave the house.

Deceased was born in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, December 3, 1833.  He was a son of the late Charles H. Miller of this place  [Lykens], and a brother to Edward Miller, deceased; Sophia J. Miller, Mrs. J. H. Foster, deceased; William P. Miller, deceased, all of whom were residents of this place, and B. F. Miller, residing at Wiconisco, and Henry C. Miller, deceased.

Mr. Miller was a self-educated man, having attended the public schools for only a short time when he was a small boy.  He worked among the farmers, earning from 25 to 50 cents a day.  When 14 years of age he was a clerk in a store in this place, receiving $2.75 per week, and paying his own board.  He was for two years in this position, after which he took a contract for making a road in the upper end of the county, in connection with his father.  He next worked at railroading in New Jersey, after which he returned to Lykens and worked two years as a blacksmith for the Lykens Valley Railroad Company.  Then he clerked in a store at this place for four years, and in 1866 entered the store of Barrett & Blum, where he remained three years.  In the Spring of 1869 he engaged in the general store business at Wiconisco with Rev. S. A. Heilner, afterwards becoming the sole owner, which business he was engaged in at the time of his death.  He also opened a branch store in Lykens in 1881, which he conducted until 1888, when he sold it to his sons Charles H. Miller and Jacob M. Miller.

in 1856 he married Rebecca Mann.  Nine children were the fruits of this union, viz:  Annie L. Miller, Mrs. W. J. Simpson; W. Howard Miller, who died at the age of 4 years; Jennie Miller; Charles H. Miller, merchant of Philadelphia; Jacob M. Miller, merchant of this place; Rebecca E. Miller; Carrie L. Miller, died in infancy; Samuel H. Miller, manager of his father’s store; and Mary M. Miller.  His wife preceded him in death 2 years ago.

Mr. Miller was a Republican, and was a number of times honored with office by the citizens of Wiconisco Township.  He was a school director for two terms, during part of which he was a president of the board.  He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a Sunday School teacher and superintendent, and for many years a trustee of the church.  He was also for about five years a director of the Miners’ Deposit Bank of this place [Lykens].

He enlisted for three months at Harrisburg, in March 1863, in Company D, 26th Pennsylvania Volunteers, under Colonel Jennings.  He was a member of Ashlar Lodge, No. 570, F. and A. M. of Wiconisco, and had been a member of the Odd Fellows.

Funeral services were held at his late home at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday by Rev. Edward Devine, pastor of the Wiconisco M. E. Church, after which interment was made in the Wiconisco Cemetery.  The pall bearers were Edward Lebo, Robert J. Beadle, F. J. Douden, Isaac Mossop, G.A. Pinkerton and George S. J. Keen.

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Obituary from Newspapers.com.

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Tags: Lykens, Wiconisco, Wiconisco Township