Two men named William Rose were born in 1840 in Schaghticoke, and served in the Civil War. One, William Andrew Rose, was born in Schaghticoke on July 20, 1840, the son of John Rose, Jr. and Jane Millis Rose. They are in the 1840 US Census in Schaghticoke. John worked in agriculture. Unfortunately, I cannot find the parents or son William A. in any other census before the war. William A. enlisted in Company E of the 77th N.Y. Infantry Regiment in Saratoga on November 21, 1861. He was a laborer. His muster card is almost illegible, so I haven’t included it here.
The 77th was the Saratoga County Regiment. William A. enlisted for three years, and served with the Regiment through the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg. The Regiment suffered many casualties at the battle of Marye’s Heights, just after Fredericksburg in May 1863. The muster card states that William A. was in the hospital for a while in April 1863, but he returned to duty. The regiment suffered even more casualties in the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse a year later. William mustered out at the end of the three years on December 13, 1864, in Saratoga, avoiding lots more fighting before Petersburg in 1865. In the Town Clerk’s listing of veterans of 1865, he gave his address as Porter’s Corners in Saratoga County.
William A. married Nettie Kilmer in 1868. The 1870 US Census listed them in Lansingburgh. He was a 28-year-old laborer; she was 18. From others in the census around them, I think they lived just south of the Deepkill in what is now Speigletown, town of Schaghticoke. By the 1880 US Census William was working as a farm laborer for 72-year-old widow Amanda Crandall in Schaghticoke. Wife Nettie was working making shirts. They had an 8-year-old son, Willard. The 1890 Veterans Schedule listed them in Johnsonville. William applied for a pension that fall.
On the 1900 US census the family was still in Pittstown. William, now 59, was still working as a farm laborer, though he had been unemployed six months in the past year. They did own their home, however. And wife Nettie, now 43, was no longer working outside the home. They had had a second child, Lena, born in 1882. She worked making shirts. Nettie died in 1907 and is buried in the Millertown Cemetery.
By the 1920 US Census William was retired and living with Lena and her husband Charles Burdick in Stillwater. Charles worked in the paper mill. Charles and Lena had moved to Schenectady by the 1930 US census, but William was not listed with him, so presumably he had died. His name is on the tombstone with Nettie in Millertown, but while his birthdate is given, the death date is not filled in.
tombstone of William A. Rose at the Millertown Cemetery in Pittstown
The other William Rose was William H. Rose. The 1850 US Census for Schaghticoke listed him, age 8, with his parents Henry, a 30-year-old mechanic, and Eliza, age 27. He had a sister Hannah, born in 1845. By the 1860 US Census, William had moved out, but not far. He was listed as a farm laborer in the family of Daniel Viall. Daniel was co-owner of the agricultural machinery factory on the DeepKill at Grant’s Hollow- that is certainly where Henry Rose had worked as a mechanic. “Mechanic” was the 1850 census designation for a man working in a factory. In 1860, his census listing is on the next line after that of his son, but his occupation given as farmer, with $600 in real and $200 in personal estate.
William enlisted in Troy on August 27, 1862 in Company B of the 125th N.Y. Infantry Regiment. Who knows why he didn’t go in Company K with the rest of the Schaghticoke boys? The son of John Grant, brother of the factory owner, did, and William must have known Job Grant. Job enlisted almost the same August day in 1862 as William.
Job, the sole support of several young sisters, died in Andersonville Prison in summer 1864. In the 1865 NY Census for Schaghticoke, William’s parents, Henry and Eliza were taking care of his youngest sister, Stella, age 7. She was listed as their niece- I don’t know which adult was related to her by blood, but this means that William Rose and Job Grant were first cousins.
On his record card when he enlisted, William gave his occupation as teamster, his age as 21, and his birthplace as Schaghticoke. He had blue eyes, and brown hair, and was 5’6” tall. Along with the rest of the 125th, William went to Harpers Ferry, Virginia, was captured by Stonewall Jackson’s Army, and spent a couple of months in parole camp in Chicago. By the time the Regiment returned to the front in Virginia, he was discharged for disability, on January 26, 1863 in Washington. He applied for a disability pension in June. This was before the 125th had engaged in any fighting at all.
N.Y.S. Muster card of William H. Rose
Despite the apparent disability, William went on to live a full life. By the 1870 US Census he was living in Milton, Saratoga County. He was a 29-year-old carpenter with an estate of $1000, with a wife Mary, age 26, and a daughter Jennie, age 3. By the 1880 US Census, he and Mary had four children. Jennie, now 13, had brothers Myron, 8, and Freddie, and sister Ada, 1. William gave his residence as Ballston Spa on the 1890 Veterans Schedule. By the 1900 US Census, he was still in Saratoga County, but was now a widower. None of the children were home, but he, now 58, still worked as a carpenter, and employed a housekeeper, Mary Wilking, age 60. William died on August 25, 1902 and is buried in the G.A.R. Circle of the Ballston Spa Village Cemetery. His service is noted on his tombstone. On the stone his birth year was given as 1841.
I wonder if the two William Roses knew each other?
William H. Rose, Ballston Spa, thanks to Find-a-grave
History of the Town of Schaghticoke 