THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of the Sebewa Center Association,
FEBRUARY 1991, Volume 26, Number 4. Submitted with written permission of Editor, Grayden D. Slowins:


SURNAMES: HATHAWAY, WELCH, SHOTWELL, THRASHER, FARRELL, HAMPTON, ELDRIDGE, FROST, KARRAR, STAMBAUGH, INGALL, GREENMAN, PATRICK, BLOSSER, GOOD, WENGER, PATRICK, STUART, GRABIEL, WINGER, ENGLISH, WHITE, TALLANT, WILLIAMS, FREEMAN, WALKER, TIDD

DEATHS FOR THE PERIOD:
Marian S. Hathaway, 93, daughter of Freeman & Sara Welch Shotwell, widow of Alfred Hathaway, mother of Mary Thrasher, historian.

Ray D. Farrell, 101, son of Dennis & Amy Hampton Farrell, husband of Hattie Eldridge, father of Alta Mae Frost, raised in Sec. 6, logger at Seney, U.P., farmed in Sec. 34 Sebewa, later in Sec. 30 Odessa, his mother Amy & sister Nina Mae are buried in West Cemetery.

Marjorie A. Karrar, 54, daughter of Leon & O. Virginia Stambaugh Karrar, granddaughter of John F. & Greta B. Ingall Stambaugh, great-granddaughter of John H. & Sarah Jemina Greenman Stambaugh and William Ingall, great-great-granddaughter of Sheldon Greenman.

Eunice N. Patrick, 84, daughter of Aaron W. & Salome Blosser Good, granddaughter of Martin & Susanna Wenger Good, husband of James Patrick, great-aunt to Dr. Lee Stuart, and cousin to thousands of us who are descended from Christian & Eve Grabiel Wenger (Winger), who emigrated from Wengen & Eggiwil; Canton of Bern, Switzerland, in 1727. Teacher West Sebewa.

EARLY HISTORY OF BOSTON TOWNSHIP, Compiled by Grayden Slowins from HISTORY OF IONIA COUNTY by J. S. Schenck

The first permanent settlement in the township was that portion known as South Boston, and, as the first settler was named English, the neighborhood was first called English Settlement. In the Spring of 1836 Worcester English, Timothy White, James M. Tallant, and Jesse Williams came west from Tunbridge, Vermont, and stopped at Kalamazoo with their families. They looked around, and deciding to settle in the township now known as Boston, they made entry in the summer of 1836 at the Land Office in White Pigeon. They rolled up a log cabin in SW ¼ Sec. 21, where English had made his land entry, and in January, 1837, he and his family became the first settlers. This farm is now owned by the Robert & William Keitzman family.

Next came the Timothy White family, in March, 1837, to E ½ SW ¼ & W ½ SE ¼ Sec. 20. This farm is still in the same family, 155 years after entry, and is owned by the J. Fred Cahoon family. The frame house is sometimes called the James K. Cahoon house, because during its construction in 1844-1845, Timothy White or a helper climbed to the ridge-row and shouted “Three Cheers for James K. Polk” when word of the election of this Democrat several weeks before finally reached the wilderness settlement. For a time Timothy White maintained a place where wayfarers could be fed and lodged overnight, and it was called White’s Tavern.

The James Tallant & Jesse Williams families came in May, 1837. Tallant had W ¾ NW ¼ Sec. 29, and Williams had the next 60 east. The Williams farm became the John Freeman farm and is now owned by Harvey Metternick. James Tallant, Jesse Williams, and Worcester English were married to sisters of Timothy White, so property lines got shifted somewhat as succeeding generations inherited and divided them. The buildings and east 60 acres of the Tallant farm passed to Clarisa Mae & George Walker, and reached Centennial status in the hands of the Walker daughters, Susie Raymond & sister. It is part of the Metternick farm, too, now. The west 60 acres of the Tallant farm passed to the Eva & Guy Perry family and eventually became part of the Perry & Frank Freeman farm located in NE ¼ Sec. 30, under the ownership of Clare Alderink. Recently this became the Robert Roth farm and is out of the family too.

I was born on the Frank Freeman farm and lived the next two years on the Mae Walker farm. Recently I built a bookcase from a walnut board cut in the woods on the Eva Perry 60 acres of the James M. Tallant farm the winter of my birth in 1931-1932.

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
In the G. A. R. story in this issue, many of the members of the Sunfield Post were Sebewa residents. Some people believe they organized first in Sebewa, at the I. O. O. F. Hall (Independent Order of Oddfellows) on Lots 1 & 2, Block 1, John Friend’s Addition to the Plat of Sebewa. But research has not uncovered any written proof of a Post at Sebewa.

Perhaps they began at Sebewa and moved or merged with Sunfield after the railroad came thru in 1886-1887. Or maybe only the IDEA of a Post originated in Sebewa.

But at any rate, Commander Thomas Leak, Charles O. Hiar, Lyman Peck, Dr. George W. Snyder, Lt. George W. Lusk, John Bradley, Conrad Peabody, and others mentioned were Sebewa soldiers and most are buried here.

In fact we have 41 graves of Civil War Vets in the East & West Sebewa Cemeteries, and they would have made a formidable Company in war or peace.

Their names are as follows:
Heman S. Brown 1838-1923
Lucian J. Heaton 1808-1893
Jacob W. Evans 1844-1919
George Trumpower
No Headstone
Irving A. Brown 1847-1916
Oren W. Daniels 1838-1921
Rollin Derby 1844-1918
Henry Rodegeb 1839-1908
Willam Pettingill 1837-1912
Josias C. Clark 1826-1918
Jacob Showerman 1804-1875
David W. Goddard 1831-
Jonah Carpenter 1817-1911
Hanson Evans 1833-1904
George W. Snyder, MD 1845-1927
Stephen York 1852-1917
Samuel Bigham No Headstone
Hosea Bates 1833-1901
Charles O. Hiar 1850-1905
Elkanah Carpenter1819-1908
Nathaniel N. Tidd 1843-1928
John S. Marshall Peabody 1841-19?5
John R. Petrie No Headstone
 John S. Henry 1844-1888
Charles Deatsman 1830-1903
Stephen Everest 1835-1900
Charles A. Nichols 1848-1903
George Baldwin 1834-1894
George E. Friend 1846-1923
Stephen V. Ryder 1829-1880
John P. Franks 1843-1871
Alonzo N. Evans 1844-1931
J. H. McClelland 1832-1902
John Cross 1841-1898
Orlando V. Showerman 1838-1919
Allan B. Lippencott 1841-1898
John M. Bradley 1849-1934
William H. Southworth 66th Ill. Inf.
A. J. Olmstead 185th NY. Inf.
George W. Lusk 66th Ill. Inf.

WITH PHOTO TAKEN IN G. A. R. HALL: Jim Park, son of Douglas Park, incoming commander of the Curtenius Post, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, stands next to one of the members’ chairs inside the hall. This chair belonged to Charles Hiar, a veteran of Company E, 6th Michigan Cavalry Regiment, who died in 1905. The 6th Michigan Cavalry was commanded by General James H. Kidd, former editor-publisher of THE IONIA SENTINEL.

CHARLES O. HIAR (HIER), 1850-1905, lived near Sebewa Creek in NW w/r SW ¼ Sec. 30 Danby, on the farm later owned by Gerritt VanPolen and now owned by John Sandborn. He was married twice, to Mary E. and Annas M., and raised six children; Ralph, Will, Clyde, Harold, George, and Opal. The children attended Halladay School. Charles, Mary, Annas, Harold, and others are buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

THE SUNFIELD G. A. R. HALL by R. C. Gregory, Editor, Ionia Sentinel-Standard

SUNFIELD – This campaign is against time and the elements, not the Rebs.

The Sunfield G. A. R. Hall, the only Grand Army of the Republic Hall in Michigan still in use, has stood on Main Street since it was built in 1899. The Union veterans who built the hall have long since faded away, but the hall is decorated and furnished with memorabilia they bequeathed to their successors.

Those successors, members of Curtenius Guard Camp No. 17, Michigan Department, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, are struggling to restore and preserve the hall. The Sons’ problem is money. They’ve discovered in restoring the hall that one thing leads to another – and each thing costs money.

But the hall itself, its story, what both represent, and their own interest keep the Sons slogging along their campaign trail.
SAMUEL W. GRINNELL Post No. 283, G. A. R., was chartered Oct. 6, 1884, and local receipt of the charter and formal installation took place on Oct. 30. Grinnell, for whom the post was named, was a Sunfield Union veteran who had been a prisoner of war at Libby Prison, in Richmond, Virginia, who, nearly starved and ill, walked to Washington, D. C., after his release. His health was impaired thereafter and he died shortly before the post was formed. His fellow ex-veterans gave his name to the post when it was chartered.

For the first few years of Grinnell Post’s existence, the then middle-aged veterans meet at the houses of members or in the hall “above the blacksmith shop”. But they wanted their own building.

In December, 1898, a post member, Ransler Peling, provided $25 for the purchase of Lots Nos. 7 and 8, in Block 7, of the Sunfield plat. Post Commander Thomas Leak announced plans for construction of a post home and D. W. Litchfield, Conrad Peabody and Lyman Peck were named a building committee to oversee construction.

Some evidence suggests that at that time Lots 7 and 8 and land to the west along Sunfield’s Main Street was still heavily wooded. The land provided timber for building.

The minute books indicate that the Women’s Relief Corps (WRC), the auxiliary of the G. A. R., started serving meals – at 20 cents each – and holding ice cream socials to add funds to the building and furnishing fund.

With some lumber cut from the post’s own lots and additional lumber donated by Clark Richards – he served on the federal gunboat Manhattan – the post began construction in the spring of 1899. They worked through the summer and completed the hall in time to dedicate it on October 30, 1899, always observed as the post anniversary.

In the meantime, WRC members continued to raise money. The corps provided the hall with a set of dishes. WRC members also wove the carpet for the new hall. The post had its own home. It cost $836 and was valued at $1,660.

The building is a plain 20 feet by 40 feet frame gable structure, not unlike hundreds of school houses and churches. It has a 14-feet high ceiling. The front entrance opens on a short hall, with the kitchen on the left (east). At the southeast corner, there is a rear door, and across the remainder of the south end of the building, a raised platform, a feature also found in many school houses and churches.

The false front of the building – with the year and the initials G. A. R. – conceals the simplicity of the hall itself, and no doubt was installed to help the building harmonize with other buildings along the street. The false front made the building “look like downtown”. Now it remains one of the best preserved “store buildings” of its era in this area of Michigan, and would deserve restoration for that reason along. That it is a G. A. R. adds another reason for restoration.

Restoration has been slow and painstaking. As one member said “We’ve done a lot of work, spent most of our money, and it’s all been on things that don’t show”.

Working mostly on weekends, post members, led by James Pahl, post commander this year, James Lyons, former post commander, and Douglas Park, incoming post commander, phase one involved work on the floor.

Some floor joists were known to be in bad condition. In all, working in the crawl space, 14 floor joists were replaced. The north ten feet of the main central beam required bracing with wood supports. After that, flooring in the hall and kitchen were replaced.
Then came the false front. “The cap of the false front”, Lyons said “is pressed metal. We found that the top of the deck of the original cap had rusted away. It was leaking badly.”

“So we had to remove the pediment and the flange attaching it, and make repairs. We now have two-inch angle iron securing the deck. When we opened up the deck, we found there wasn’t much inside. The cantilever system had rotted away. So we built a new deck and replaced the cap, or cover, with one piece of heavy aluminum and secured it with angle iron.
Then we replaced the top of clapboard siding on the front.

In everything we’ve done, we took meticulous measurements, and we matched everything we put back on just as meticulously. It’s very hard to tell we did what we did.”

Additional summer work included replacing clapboard siding on the south end of the building. Lyons noted “The original clapboard wasn’t all the same width and it would have been easier to replace it with uniform clapboard. But we didn’t. We took very careful measurements and put back a perfect match for what had to be replaced.

And then the building had not been painted in 10 years or more. We had money enough to do that—and made extensive preparations before we painted. I can’t tell you how much scraping and cleaning we did before painting, but it was a lot.
I even managed to free up some of the windows that, over the years, had been painted shut.

Basically, what we’ve don up to this point is make the building weather-tight and improve its appearance.”
The Sons have plans for the next major job – which is restoring the interior – and no money. “I think right now we have about $16” Parks said.

On the interior, several layers of wallpaper have begun to peel. Lyons, Parks and Pahl would like to remove it to the plaster. “We’d like to repair the plaster – it clearly needs it in some places – and then repaper in what was first used, or as near to it as we can find”, Lyons said.

“We could take a short cut and just paint it after we repair the plaster but that wouldn’t be as nearly correct. We want to match the vintage wall-paper. Work has to be done on the floors, woodwork, windows, and kitchen. The whole inside, really”, he said.
He, Parks and Pahl estimate the work they want to do will cost between $1,500 and $2,000. While they would like to begin the interior work next spring, they have to raise the money first.

Meanwhile, the Helen M. Edwins Tent No. 30, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, are the senior group interested in the hall’s preservation. They, as the Sons quickly acknowledge, are the group that has kept the building intact, have maintained it, and have begun cataloguing the records and memorabilia.

“The Daughters have been very important” Parks said, “because until the last few years when the Sons came on the scene, they had been responsible for hall. They’ve held bake sales and many other fund raisers to keep the hall intact.

And after we started working on the building, they provided cool meals in hot weather and vice versa. Let there be no mistake about their role. We can’t thank Ruth Forshey and her daughter, Sheila Van Vleck, enough.”

Visitors who drive to see the building may find enough to pause for a few minutes and look around.
A large honor roll, listing Sunfield area residents who served in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam stands in front of the building, as does a State Historical Marker.

The state marker was granted and dedicated on Decoration Day 1987.
It’s inscription says:
G. A. R. Hall – The Samuel W. Grinnell Post No. 283 was granted its charter by the Grand Army of the Republic (G. A. R.) on October 6, 1884. The post operated until 1934, at which time it was disbanded. Members built this hall in 1898-99. Dedicated in October 1899, it contains flags, medals, photographs and other momentos of the Civil War and of the Sunfield veterans of that war. Furniture, ritual equipment and records of this G. A. R. post are also kept here. In 1899 members planted and dedicated the three maple trees at the front of the property, dedicating them to the memory of Generals Grant, Sheridan and Sherman. The two cannon on either side of the hall were brought to Sunfield by the G. A. R. in 1900.

Now the Sons want to have the hall listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The cannon are Spanish in origin. “The minute books say the cannon were supposed to be here when the hall was dedicated in 1899” Lyons said. “They were available in California and the federal government offered them to the post, if the post would pay the freight”.

One cannon weighs 8,465 pounds and fired a 42-pound shot. The other cannon weighs 7,200 pounds and fired a 32-pound shot. The government also agreed to send nine cannon balls with the cannon but only six were received. The freight proved to be a considerable amount of money.

THE PORTLAND OBSERVER wrote, as quoted in THE IONIA SENTINEL of Oct. 25, 1899:
“The Grand Army Post at Sunfield thought it would be nice to have a couple of cannon which Dewey captured at Manila in their village. As they could have them by paying freight from San Francisco, to which point the government delivered them, they ordered them sent on. They received notice the other day that they were at Lansing – and they were glad. But when they knew the amount of freight charges they were sad – the figure was $303. The guns weigh 17,000 pounds.”

The freight bill was more than one-third the cost of the hall itself. And the cannon may have languished in a freight yard for some months. But the post wanted the cannon and raised $173, although how quickly is not indicated. Perhaps the railroad would wait only so long for its money. At any rate, Clark Richards, instrumental in building the hall, lent the post $130 for the rest of freight charges and took a note. Bases for the cannon cost another $80.

With the freight costs and installation costs, the cannon were not installed and dedicated until Oct. 30, 1900 – a full year after the dedication of the hall. Regrettably, how the cannon were moved into place is not recorded.
A claim against the railroad was entered for the three missing cannon balls – but the post minute book indicates the cannon balls were never located and the claim was never settled. Perhaps railroad officials were heartily tired of Sunfield’s cannons. In due time, the Post paid the note and burned it.

Not less interesting are “Grant”, “Sherman” and “Sheridan”. Those are the three hard maple trees in front of the hall, between the sidewalk and the building. The trees were planted as whips when the post was dedicated and each has its own marker, flush with the ground. The trees keep green the names of three great Union generals.

Inside the walls are crowded with pictures, medals, charters, and other memorabilia. Perhaps the most touching items, though, are the chairs. Each of the charter members of Grinnel Post had a straight chair and subsequent members acquired chairs as they joined, although the chairs are not all alike.

And according to minute books, each veteran painted his name on the back of his chair. Three chairs bear the names of men who served in the Sixth Michigan Cavalry.
One chair says: Chas. Hier, Co. E, 6.Mich.Cav. Died, July 6, 1905.
In August of 1862, a 22-year-old Ionian, James Harvey Kidd, recruited 102 men, mostly from in and around Ionia County. They were sworn into federal service Sept. 13, 1862, as Company E, Sixth Michigan Cavalry, with James H. Kidd as their captain commanding.

The 6th Michigan Cavalry, along with the 1st, 5th and 7th Michigan Cavalry Regiments, make up the Michigan Cavalry Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer. In time, Captain Kidd became Major Kidd and then Colonel Kidd – and when Custer received a second star and a division to command, Col. Kidd, later General Kidd, commanded the brigade.
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War was officially designated by the G. A. R. as its successor organization. The first camp was organized in Sunfield on May 22, 1918. But that camp was disbanded in 1934.

Meanwhile, in 1926, the Helen M. Edwards camp of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War was chartered in 1926 and continued the use of the hall.

On June 11, 1983, the current camp, SUVCW was chartered and named for Albert Curtenius of Kalamazoo. A veteran of the Mexican War, he served in Co. B of the 7th Michigan Infantry and later was adjutant general of Michigan. Curtenius’s father had been a brigadier general during the War of 1812 and his grandfather served during the Revolutionary War.

The Curtenius Camp, with members from Sunfield area and east to Lansing meets the last Tuesday of January, March, July, September and November; in May it meets on May 30, the date of Memorial Day. Membership is open to male descendants, in either direct or collateral lines, of soldiers and sailors who served between 1861 and 1865.

Founded in 1881, SUVCW was charged by the G. A. R. with maintaining its memory and monuments. Curtenius camp is one of eight camps in the Michigan Department. In addition to work on the Sunfield G. A. R. Hall, members are actively engaged in identifying, locating and making accessible G. A. R. records, in conducting a state survey of all Union veterans’ graves in Michigan.

Lyons, long active in Curtenius camp, has been state commander and currently is serving as national secretary.
“In 1966 we will hold the national encampment in Indianapolis” he said. The G. A. R. was founded April 6, 1866, so this will be the 125th anniversary of the founding of our parent organization. Indianapolis was also the site of the last G. A. R. encampment in 1949, when 12 surviving Civil War veterans were able to meet” he said.

But the immediate battles for the Sons in their campaign are continuing restoration of the hall, of cataloguing and protecting records and archives. And of encouraging new members to help fight the campaign.
“Some people say to us that we’re not veterans of the Civil War, which is true. But we are the successors of the veterans of the Civil War – and not only is that still the bloodiest war this country has fought, most historians agree it was the Civil War that made us the nation we became, the people we are.

The Civil War is important historically – and that comes right down to the Sunfield G. A. R. Hall. That’s why we’re going to keep plugging away, fighting our campaign, even if, to paraphrase General Grant, it takes us several summers” Parks said. “We are in this for the duration.”

For information about Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, call or write Douglas Parks, 404 Kenway Drive, Lansing, Mich. 48917, (517) 321-6768; or James T. Lyons, 411 Bartlett Street, Lansing, Mich. 48915, (517) 482-9360; or James B. Pahl, P. O. Box 214, Sunfield, Mich. 48890, (517) 566-8037.
For information about Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, call or write Sheila Van Vleck, 8227 Grand Ledge Highway, Sunfield, Mich. 48890, (517) 566-8730, or Ruth Forshey, 67 Grand Ledge Highway, Sunfield, Mich. 48890, (517) 566-8428.
____December 1990, IONIA SENTINEL STANDARD, 114 North Depot Street, Ionia, Michigan 48846 (616)527-2100.

NATHANIEL NEWTON TIDD: Part I by Michele L. Kristin
“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.//A time to be born, and time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.// A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build,//A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.//A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.//A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.//A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak.//A time to love and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. Ecclesiastes 3, 1-8”

I decided to start my story with this passage as a tribute to my maternal great-great grandfather Nathaniel Newton Tidd because I would like to think that since he was a circuit preacher he would have appreciated an opening that is concerned with the purpose and value of human life.

Before I began my research for this article, my information about this family ancestor was a mix of fragmented family folklore and few documented sources. Although my search is still far from over, I thought the readers might like to know the story of this man because many facets of his life embody the essence of what it was like to live in Michigan during the later half of the nineteenth century. Also, perhaps, one of the readers might be able to direct me to other descendents of this man.

Also, time is an appropriate theme because my search for this man covers a span of 148 years from his birth in Roundhead Township, Hardin County, Ohio in 1843 to the present. He is buried in SEBEWA TOWNSHIP, IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN next to his second wife Nancy Elizabeth Smith Tidd, and a son by his first wife, Margaret A. Peoples Tidd. I am a descendent of Nathaniel and his first wife through their eldest son (my great-grandfather), Elmer Eli Tidd.

Fragments of family oral history, faded microfilms, incomplete or missing records form an image of man that are like an old sepia toned photograph. He was a student, a bible teacher, a civil war soldier, the first of my direct maternal family to settle in Michigan, a father, a farmer, a circuit preacher, and a pensioner.

But who was he really? His commitment to his calling as a minister perhaps is the reason why he moved several times in Michigan—to Mecosta County, and to Eagle and Riley Townships in Clinton County. And now, for a reason as yet undiscovered, he is buried in Ionia County. As we travel through Michigan in my story, perhaps, the pieces of Nathaniel’s eventful life will fall into place.

This is the first part of Nathaniel’s story because although I am not related to his second wife, Nancy, she plays an important role in my family history. She was loved by my great grandfather and grandfather. This first article covers the span to Nathaniel’s first marriage and the birth of my great grandfather.

In 1850, when he was seven years old, Nathaniel was living on the family farm in Roundhead Township, Hardin County, Ohio with his parents Hugh and Mary Givens, Tidd, five brothers and a sister. Nathaniel, listed as Newton on the 1850 census, is the fifth child and fifth son in the family. The Tidd family traces its origins to a John Tidd who came from England and was living in the Boston, Massachusetts area in 1637.

The Tidds saw their share of territorial conflicts with Native Americans and two major wars as they moved westward to New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Nathaniel’s grandfather Samuel Tidd was a War of 1812 veteran, and Samuel’s father Martin was a Revolutionary War veteran.

By 1860, the Ohio census shows that Nathaniel was 17 and his parents had another son. So, there was a total of eight children in the family. The children are as follows: 1)William; 2)Jacob; 3)Alexander; 4)Samuel Perry; 5)Nathaniel Newton; 6)Rebecca; 7)Zachariah; 8)Albert.

Nathaniel is listed as a bible teacher. When the 1860 census was taken in June, increasing strife brought rumors of impending conflict between the states. This would be the last summer Nathaniel would live at home.

By the summer of 1861, the conflict between the states had started. Sometime in that year Nathaniel was living in or around Rochester, New York. Perhaps, he was visiting distant relatives, or attending one of the city’s many divinity schools. Maybe he was looking for a job, or maybe he was just swept with the tide of enlistees to that place because he had heard that the Thirteenth Volunteer Regiment of Infantry, also known as the Rifle Regiment or Rochester Regiment, was forming a new Company G.

My great-great step uncle, Ned Tidd, had told my mother that Nathaniel had been a drummer in the Civil War. That has been part of our family folklore for many years. It seems highly unlikely that Nathaniel at age eighteen had been a drummer, although many men and boys of all ages served an important role and drummed orders during the din of battle. I’m still waiting for the confirmation from the National Archives, but if, indeed, Nathaniel was a drummer and had a position towards the rear of the ranks, then that would explain why he seems to have escaped a three year term of service relatively unscathed.

If my information is confirmed, Nathaniel would have seen almost every major battle of the Civil War. Nathaniel enlisted on December 19, 1861. When he arrived it seems his company had an eight month lull that ended abruptly with the second battle of Bull Run. From that moment on, until Company G was transferred to the 140th New York Volunteers on June 23, 1863, the 13th Regiment fought at Antietam, MD; Sheperdstown, VA; Hartwood Church, VA; Richard’s Ford, VA; and finally, Chancellorville, VA.

Most of the 13th regiment had enlisted for two years. But, Company G, having been formed late, had an enlistment time of three years. On April 27th, 1863 all the three years’ men were transferred to Companies H and K, and June 23, 1863, these companies were transferred to the 140th New York volunteers.

That was just in time for the battle of Gettysburg in July 1-3. The following is only a partial list of the engagements of the 140th Regiment, during the period of Nathaniel’s enlistment until December 19, 1864; Gettysburg; Rappahannock, VA; Wilderness, VA; Spotsylvania, VA; Cold Harbor, VA; Seige of Petersburg, VA; Weldon Railroad, VA; Hicksford Raid, VA.

After Nathaniel mustered out of his Company, he returned home to the family farm in Ohio. He was 22 years old. Sometime in 1865 in Ohio, he married Margaret A. Peoples, a young woman born in 1845 or 46 in Ireland. Shortly, thereafter, the young couple moved to Grant Township, Mecosta County, Michigan. My great grandfather Elmer Eli and his twin Ellsworth Elias were born there on December 15, 1866.

Sunfield – Sebewa – Danby Fire Department – NOTICE---NOTICE-
TO CITIZENS LIVING WITHIN THE SUNFIELD—SEBEWA—DANBY FIRE DISTRICT.
911 EMERGENCY SERVICE IS COMING – IN STAGES!
BEGINNING JANUARY 15, 1991
#1 CITIZENS LIVING IN SEBEWA TOWNSHIP WITHIN THE SUNFIELD CENTURY TELEPHONE EXCHANGE WILL DIAL 911 FOR FIRE EMERGENCIES.
#2 CITIZENS LIVING IN SEBEWA TOWNSHIP WITHIN THE LAKE ODESSA BELL TELEPHONE EXCHANGE WILL CONTINUE, FOR NOW, TO DIAL 1-517-566-8211 FOR FIRE EMERGENCIES.
#3 CITIZENS LIVING IN SEBEWA TOWNSHIP WITHIN THE PORTLAND BELL TELEPHONE EXCHANGE WILL CONTINUE, FOR NOW, TO DIAL 1-566-8211 FOR FIRE EMERGENCIES.