Timothy Herlihy was born in Inniscarra, County Cork in Ireland on September 7, 1840. Thanks to descendant Dave McMahon, author of “Peril in the Powder Mills,” I know that he came to the U.S. in 1860 with his parents, Daniel and Julia. His two older brothers were already here, living in Easton. The family lived where Borden’s Orchard is now.
Timothy enlisted in Company G of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment in October of 1860, just after he came to the U.S. and before the war began. He was 21, a cooper by trade, with blue eyes and fair hair and was 5’8” tall.
Timothy Herlihy is the last entry shown on this page of enlistments
The 3rd U.S., called the Old Guard, served in the Civil War right from the start, participating in the first battle of Bull Run. It went on to the Peninsula Campaign, then was at Antietam in September of 1862. Sometime in there, Timothy suffered a hernia so bad that he was discharged for disability on December 23, 1862. He started to receive an invalid pension right away, though the reason given was “abdomen wound.” He is on a list of pensioners in Albany from 1863-1865, when he was receiving $4 per month. His obituary in the March 12, 1896 Troy “Daily Times” states he received a severe wound at the first Battle of Bull Run. Was this true? Hard to know. He cited the hernia in the 1890 Veterans’ Census- it may have gone unrepaired all of his life.
After his service, Timothy returned to Easton at first, and worked on the family farm. Dave says he worked as a flax dresser in a mill on the Hoosic in Johnsonville by 1870, though I did not find him in the census. He lived near the Masters farm on the Schaghticoke side of the river. In 1872 he married Ann Hosty, and in 1875 returned to farming in Easton. The 1880 US Census for Johnsonville captured the family: Timothy, 38, a laborer; Ann, 35, born in Ireland and illiterate; son James 3; an infant son 7-months-old; and niece Florence, 11.
Timothy definitely had moved to Schaghticoke by 1882, when he was one of the founders of the local G.A.R. post. He was recorded as a pensioner here in 1883. In the 1886 Rensselaer County directory there is Timothy Hurlehey in Schaghticoke, a farmer with 87 ½ acres of land. This confirms the information I have from Dave, who says Timothy had a farm again by the time he died. There are two other Hurleheys, Cornelius, another farmer, and Francis, who was listed as a saloonkeeper in that directory. Cornelius was Timothy’s brother.
Timothy died in March 1896, and his widow, called Mary on the pension card, applied for a widow’s pension. Dave does not know if there was a second wife- or just an error in recording the name of the widow. His farm was sold to John Hayes, Sr., grandfather of our former highway superintendent, Willie Hayes. His funeral was from St. John’s Church and he was recorded as a valued member of Post Hartshorn, G.A.R. Timothy’s parents, brother Cornelius, and sister Mary Beecroft are all buried in St. John’s Cemetery, Schaghticoke, Timothy is not recorded as being buried there, though I think he must be. He is one of the few local veterans I have found who was actually in the regular U.S. Army rather than one of the state militia units.
John Hendry’s only connection to Schaghticoke is his burial in Elmwood Cemetery. He was born in Scotland in 1848 and came to the U.S. as a two-year-old. In the 1860 US Census his family lived in Troy. Father Thomas, 37, worked as a watchman. He and wife Margaret, 34, had children Janette, 14, and future soldier John, 12, born in Scotland, plus Peter, 10; James, 4; Margaret, 2; and Mary, 1 month, born in New York.
John enlisted to fight in the war just about as soon as he was old enough, at age 17, in Company K of the 192nd NY Infantry Regiment, on April 3, 1865 in Schodack. He listed his occupation as “stripper,” and was 5’4” tall, with brown
eyes and dark hair. He may have been employed in the woolen or cotton industry, stripping trash from carding machines.
NYS Muster Card of John Hendry
The 192nd was almost the last regiment recruited in the state, as the war ended. The Regiment still went south, and was mustered out in Cumberland, Maryland on August 28. It lost 26 men to disease.
John returned to his family in Troy. The 1870 US Census found him living with them. Father Thomas, now 47, had no occupation when the census was taken, surely a temporary thing, as he owned real estate worth $1000 and had a personal estate of $300. John, now 21, was a carpenter, and his sister Janette worked in a woolen mill. Brother Peter was an apprentice carpenter. Thomas and wife Margaret, now 44, had added a son Thomas, then 6; daughter Isabelle, 4; and son David, 5 months old. John continued at home in the 1880 US Census, still a carpenter. His father was listed as an engineer. Brother Peter, now a carpenter, was also at home, along with brother James, a machinist, sister Maggie, 20; sister Mary, 18; a dressmaker, plus Thomas, “Bell,”, and David. Father Thomas’ brother David, 50, also a carpenter, also lived with the family.
I am surprised I couldn’t find John in the 1890 Veterans Schedule, as I think he still lived in Troy. He married a woman named Mary in 1883. She was born in Schaghticoke. In the 1900 US Census for Troy John was listed as a house carpenter and Mary as a collar turner. They had an adopted 4-year-old son, Earl.
The 1910 US Census stated that John, now 61, and Mary, 60, had had two children, one living. Earl was 14. He later attended R.P.I. and became an electrical engineer. In the 1920 US Census John and Mary lived on College Avenue in Troy. At 71, John still worked as a carpenter, and Mary now did collar work at home. She died on July 24 that year, and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.
John went to the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Bath, N.Y. in 1927. He was admitted for heart problems. The Home reported that he was 79- years- old, Protestant, and 5’9”. I’m interested to read his height, as he definitely had enlisted before he grew to his adult height, still a boy. His nearest relatives were his son, Lt. Earl Hendry, who was based at Fort Omaha, Nebraska, and his sister-in-law, Clara Hendry, who lived on Tibbitts Avenue in Troy.
John had applied for a pension based on his Civil War service in 1902, and received $50 per month as of 1927. He died March 5, 1928 and is buried in Elmwood with Mary. In 1957, Floyd Doty applied for a federal tombstone for John. Earl is also in the plot with his parents. Apparently he never married, and died in Florida in 1991, at age 95. If I’d only known this history earlier, I could have spoken to him when I first became town historian!
History of the Town of Schaghticoke 