Capt. Edwin Went, solder, sailor, and old settler of Grand Rapids, Mich., was born in Hastings, England, January 14, 1830. He was but ten years of age when his parents, with their ten children, landed at Montreal, Canada, but of these further mention will be made toward the close of this biographical notice. Young Edwin learned the wig-maker’s trade in Montreal, and later went to New York city to find employment, and while there shipped, in 1849, on board a passenger sailing vessel, as steward, for a trip around Cape Horn for San Francisco, this being at the time of the early and intense gold excitement. The ship had a very stormy passage and was five months in making the trip, but nevertheless Mr. Went passed six years on the ocean and on the Mississippi river.

Returning to New York, Mr. Went worked at his trade until near the breaking out of the Civil war, and then went to Aurora, Ill., where he organized company H., Thirteenth Illinois volunteer infantry, of which he was commissioned captain, and was for three months on duty in the state, and was then mustered into the United States service May 21, 1861, and served three years and three months, with the army of the Tennessee under Gens. Grant and Sherman. He participated in the battle of Pea Ridge, the march through Missouri to Helena, Ark., and took part in several severe skirmishes on route. He was next at Chickasaw Bayou, Miss., where, out of sixty men in his company, forty were lost, the regiment being almost annihilated. He was then appointed an aid-de-camp to Gen. Sherman, held the position temporarily, and then returned to command his company at Vicksburg, where he was wounded on the top of his head by a piece of shell, and for five hours lay in the broiling hot sunshine before relief came. At Lookout Mountain he was wounded through the right ear, and through the right leg at Champion’s Hill, Miss. He fought at the battle of Arkansas Post while still under treatment for his wounds, preferring to stay with the boys rather than be ill in the hospital. For six months, also, Capt. Went had command of his regiment as senior captain. He was on the Atlanta campaign and fought in the battle of Resaca after the expiration of his term of service, and then went with Sherman to the sea.

Capt. Went was one of the guards of honor over the remains of the martyred Lincoln while they lay in state at Chicago, being one of twelve officers in the volunteer service selected by the war department for this purpose. This honor Capt. Went remembered with pride, as he had been honorably discharged from the service some months prior to the assassination. The captain returned to Aurora, Ill., with the remnant of his company, was mustered out, and soon after went to Chicago and resumed work at his trade.

In 1866 Capt. Went came to Grand Rapids to visit a friend, and while on this visit decided to remain, and at once engaged in the barber business, in conjunction with his wig-making.

Capt. Went was united in marriage in Jersey City, N.J., in 1849, with Miss Cornelia Dermeus, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., born in 1829. The grandfather of this lady was an officer in the American navy during the Revolutionary war, and the name is well known in the state of New York. The captain and his wife have lost the three children born to their marriage, but have reared a daughter they adopted in early childhood, and who is now Mrs. Cornelia Irving, residing near Holland, Mich.

Capt. Went received a pension on account of his wounds received in the service. For three years he did the barber’s work at the soldier’s home, having been appointed for that purpose by the board of managers,. and he has received other marks of appreciation of his gallant services. He is a member of Custer post, No. 5, G.A.R., and is now serving his ninth term as delegate to the state encampment. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and has been an Odd Fellow since twenty-one years of age.

Before the war, Capt. Went was a Douglas democrat, but since its close he has supported the principle of the republican party.

The parents of Capt. Went both died in Brooklyn, N.Y., the father at the age of eighty-four years and the mother at eighty-two, the captain being present at the deathbed of the latter, who was blind for six years prior to her demise. Of the children, William was a sea-captain, but lost his vessel and now lives in Australia; Ann married Charles Price, but died under a surgical operation in Brooklyn; Ellen is the wife of Charles Einsfeldt, and Maria is married to Charles Johnston--both of Brooklyn; Charlotte, now Mrs. Ladd, resides in Boston; Caroline died in Havana, Cuba, and Henry died in infancy at Montreal, Canada.

Capt. Went has been a resident of Grand Rapids since 1866, having come here when the city contained a population of 15,000 only, and has lived to see it grow into a metropolis of 100,000 or over, and this growth has been watched with commendable pride on his part, although he has not been able to take any very important action in promoting its progress. He is quiet and unassuming, yet is one of the best known men in the city, is honored for his past career, and stands very high in the esteem of all as an upright man and a useful citizen.