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Civil War Blog

A project of PA Historian

Benjamin Rush Foster – Ties to Williamstown, Lykens, & Washington Township

| December 2, 2015

  The obituary of Benjamin R. Foster appeared in the Harrisburg Telegraph, 8 February 1911.  While his Civil War service was mentioned, it was not noted in the obituary that he had ties to at least three communities in the Lykens Valley area. Benjamin R. Foster Falls Dead Today Was One of Harrisburg’s Oldest Machinists […]

A Brief History of the B. F. Miller G.A.R. Post #393 at Fisherville

| November 30, 2015

Fisherville is a small community in Upper Dauphin County, near Halifax Borough, that in 1883 formed a local G.A.R. post.  Much of the history of that post has been lost over time and now needs to be re-created through available resources, among those resources, the Harrisburg and other archived newspapers and the national Grand Army […]

Franklin E. Fisher and the Fotheringill Brothers of Frailey Township

| November 27, 2015

In researching Franklin E. Fisher who served in Company C of the 50th Pennsylvania Infantry, and who died in Reading, Berks County, on 25 December 1932, it was discovered that after Franklin’s first wife died, he married Sarah [Irving] Fotheringill, the widow of Joseph W. Fotheringill of Lykens, Dauphin County, also a Civil War veteran.  […]

George W. Etter – Was He a Civil War Soldier?

| November 16, 2015

George Washington Etter (1838-1915) is buried at the Halifax United Methodist Church Cemetery in Halifax, Dauphin County.  There is a larger headstone on his plot which includes birth and death information for him and for his wife Catharine [Lebo] Etter, but at the foot of the plot, there is a smaller stone with a G.A.R. […]

Obituary of and Memorial to George W. Ely

| November 11, 2015

George Washington Ely died on 18 January 1914 in Lykens Borough, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.  As a member of the United Brethren Church in Lykens, his name was inscribed into the memorial book there and his obituary was attached to his memorial page.  The page, which is shown below, incorrectly gives his name as “George Edward […]