Holland City News, August 8, 1932
Last Member of Van Raalte Post of G. A. R. Is Dead
Heart Attack Is Fatal to John Wise, 86, At Daughter’s Home
Rites for Aged Resident Will Be Conducted Tomorrow
John Wise, last member of the A. C. Van Raalte Post of the G. A. R. and veteran of the Civil War, died yesterday morning at 1 o’clock at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Clara Elferdink, 312 River Street, as the result of a heart attack. Mr. Wise had been in fairly good health and Saturday morning had been downtown.
He was born March 9, 1846, in Berks County in eastern Pennsylvania. In 1869 he married Miss Lacy Saxton in Toledo, and in 1884 the couple came to Holland, where Mr. Wise had resided ever since. He retired about four years ago prior to which time he had been employed as stationary engineer for 32 years at the Ottawa Furniture Company.
Mr. Wise served as a private in the Civil War for two years and three months following his enlistment in Pennsylvania. He was wounded twice, in the Battle of Antietam and the Battle of Cold Harbor.
Mr. Wise was one of the three surviving veterans of Holland; the other two being John Douma and Gerrit Doesburg. About three years ago Mr. Wise was made an honorary member of the Holland Spanish War Veterans. He has resided with his daughter for the past ten years. Surviving besides Mrs. Elferdink are two sons, Guy Wise of Grand Haven, and Lee Wise of Grand Rapids, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2 o’clock at the home of Mrs. Elferdink. Rev. J. Randall, pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, will officiate. Burial will be in Holland Township Cemetery. Pall bearers will be George Moomey, Frank Harbin, Benjamin Hamm, Henry Van Lente, T. Vander Water and Frank Kalmar, all members of the United Spanish War Veterans. Friends may view the body this evening and tomorrow morning.
(Mr. Wise served in the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Battery E.)
Transcriber: Joan Van Spronsen
Holland Evening Sentinel, July 24, 1929
Veteran of the Civil War Recalls the Days When He Saw
Lincoln Review the Troops
John H. Wise
One of the most fascinating ways of spending time is to sit at the feet of a soldier who has been through the Civil War. But such opportunities are rare for two reasons. In the first place, a soldier who has been through the war is very reluctant to speak on the subject, and in the second place, these soldiers are becoming very few in these days.
One however, John H. Wise, did tell us a little story of the war and the bit of history revealed was interesting and instructive. Mr. Wise is known about the city as the engineer of the Ottawa Furniture Factory as he has held that job for 37 years beginning soon after the Civil War.
Mr. Wise, who at present is 83 years old, was 17 when he went to war, and during those years of fighting the old veteran was wounded in the arm and in the leg. "But those wounds were worth the cause we were fighting," he said.
As he told of Lincoln, Grant and Hooker, tears came to the eyes of the old gentleman and one knew that these memories were sacred. "It was in 1865 that I saw Lincoln; he was reviewing the troops in Virginia and as we passed by, I, like all the men that were marching by, could see the war was weighing upon him and yet he gave us a smile as we passed, which inspired us and which all of us will remember until we are no more."
Mr. Wise fought nearly three years for the Union and yet he has a great deal of respect for the troops and the men of the South. "It was too bad that we had to fight those Southerners," he stated. "It was too bad that Lincoln had to be shot after the war. There were many Southerners also who mourned his loss, for they saw that a great man had been lost."
Of the wounds Mr. Wise would say very little. He suffered one under the arm at the Battle of Cold Harbor and the other on the leg at the Battle of Antietam.
Mr. Wise is no longer able to march in the Memorial Day Parade, although with regret he admits that fact and stated that he would be very willing to do so if it were possible. He is able to visit the old places of his work, for he goes to the engine room of the Ottawa Factory quite frequently and talks to the new man at the throttle.
It is among those friends that occasionally he will recall bits of history, and the group that hears those stories listens with all eagerness, for such tales stick better than any history lesson learned in school.
Mr. Wise came to Holland in 1884 and he was born in Pennsylvania where his folks were also born. At present he lives with his daughter on South River Avenue. Pennsylvania is really his native state in addition to being born there. He went to war from there and returned there after the war. Nevertheless, Mr. Wise calls Holland his home, for this city has had him for the greater part of his life.