Henry J. Simmons: Black Civil War soldier and important resident of Schaghticoke

Henry J. Simmons

            Henry Simmons was born in Canaan, Columbia County on March 8, 1831. I can’t find him in the public record before the Civil War, but I believe I found his parents in the 1850 US Census for Canaan: Charles, 55, and Harriet, 50, Simmons. Charles was a laborer with a personal estate of $400. I’m quite sure this is the correct family as Henry and his parents were black.

            According to Henry’s Civil War pension file, he married Julia Jackson in 1852 in Rochester, NY. They had three children born before the war: Daniel in 1854, Richard, in 1856, and Julia, in 1860. I did find Julia Jackson in the 1850 US Census. She was 18 and living in the hotel of John Schriver in Kingston.

  On September 5, 1864 Henry enlisted in Company H of the 20^th U.S. Colored Infantry. The regiment had been formed at the end of the year before, in response to the desire of black men to serve in the Civil War following the publication of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the need of the Union army for more men. It mustered on Rikers Island in New York City. Shortly after formation, it went to New Orleans, where it served through the end of 1865. Only one enlisted man died in combat, but 263 died of disease, a very high total.

             Henry gave his age as 35 when he enlisted. He was black, 5’6” tall, and gave his occupation as farmer. He gave his birthplace as Canaan, New York. Henry mustered out after one year of service, with the rest of his regiment.

Record card of Henry Simmons

            I know from Henry’s pension file that he was in the hospital for some months in 1865, suffering from jaundice. He also told a long and detailed story about receiving an injury to his right foot. While in the hospital, Henry had improved a bit, and the doctor asked him to hold the horses of his carriage. He and his wife were going to go for a drive. The flies were bad and one of the horses swiped at flies with its back foot, which it put down directly on Henry’s right instep. He ended up back in the hospital, still ill, but now with a badly injured foot. Henry was discharged from the hospital but never really returned to duty and walked with a limp thereafter. After a few years, his foot began to break open. It did so yearly for the rest of his life.

            After the war, Henry lived in New York City for a few months, then in Albany for a few months more. He moved back to New York City in the fall of 1866 and lived there until 1872. He was coachman for a W.P. Furness. In 1873, he moved to Schaghticoke. I know these movements from Henry’s pension file, but don’t know where his family was during all of these years, nor why he moved around.

            The first time I can find Henry in the census after the war, he and his family were living in the village of Schaghticoke in 1880. I wonder if he came here because he had heard of Schaghticoke from Amos Vincent, a local man who was a fellow soldier in Company H. In the 1880 US Census, Henry and wife Julia, 43, listed children Cordelia, 15; Emma, 13; Isadora, 6; and Harry F., 10-months-old, in their family. Henry worked in the powder mill, Cordelia and Emma in the woolen mill.

               From the records of Elmwood Cemetery, I know that Henry and his wife had two sons named Harry, one born in August of 1875, who lived just 9 months; and the other who was born in 1879 and died at age 11. And the cemetery records give Henry’s wife’s name as Candis Julia Jackson. She was born in 1837 and died in 1887 of pneumonia.

            Henry applied for a pension in 1885, before they were available on the basis of old age. His claim was based on his foot injury, and was rejected. Several of his fellow soldiers testified about the circumstances of the injury, but their descriptions were contradictory. And the Army’s hospital records showed he was only hospitalized for jaundice, not for a hurt foot.

               But several local people testified as to his disability. These neighbors, Herbert H. Dill, John Healy, and Nelson Viall, all stated that Henry was a man of good character, a hard worker, who lost a couple of months of work each year due to his foot injury and used a cane or crutches often. His local doctors, W.C. Crombie and D.H. Tarbell, described the injury in great detail. Dr. Tarbell, a fellow veteran, added that Henry now had kidney problems in addition to the foot injury. Dill and Healy were also veterans.

                Henry’s military service was recorded in the Veteran’s Schedule in 1890. At that point he began to receive a $6 per month pension just based on old age. He applied for more money in 1896, adding in the foot problems again, and did get more at that point.  He appeared as a widower in the 1900 US Census. Now 69, he was still a powder maker, living in the village. His daughter Cordelia, now 34, took care of a house of females, which also included her sisters Isadora 24, who worked as a twister in the woolen mill, and Maude, 19, who was a servant. Maude had been born in 1882, so lost her mother at age 5.

  A surgeon’s certificate in the pension file describes Henry in 1898, aged 67: 5’10” tall, 145 pounds, in fairly good health except for his right foot, but with no teeth except for a few stumps. The doctor felt he had some heart problems which led to his shortness of breath, plus some rheumatism.

          Three little granddaughters, Ruth Lovelace, born in 1889, and twins Edith and Edna, born in 1892, lived in the family in 1900 as well. They were the daughters of Henry’s other daughter, Emma, who had married Edward Lovelace. According to her tombstone, she died in 1888 at age 21. But the interment records state that she died in 1892, at age 25, of heart disease. Also in the cemetery plot is Edna Lovelace, with dates 1892-1907. The father of these little girls was not far away. As of the 1900 US Census Edward Lovelace lived in a rooming house in Troy, and worked as a porter. He was also black, born in New York in 1860. His parents were born in Florida. It is interesting to speculate how they ended up in New York in 1860 if they were slaves in Florida. Edward died of tuberculosis in Lakeview Sanitarium in 1915, and is also buried in Elmwood. Elmwood’s records say he was born in the “South.” Kenneth Perry’s book about blacks in Washington County states that he lived there before marrying Emma. Indeed, he is in the 1870 Census for White Creek as a 9-year-old, living in a white family.

            The 1910 US Census listed Henry on West Street in the village of Schaghticoke. At age 79, he was retired. His daughter Cordelia, 44, was still keeping house. Granddaughters Ruth, 20, and Edith, 18, still lived with them. They worked as twisters in the linen mill. Cordelia and Henry moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, along with daughter Isadora. Henry received an increase in his pension, to $24 a month, in 1912, and to $35 in 1919. Henry died later that year, aged 87, of nephritis. The government paid $153 for his funeral and interment in Elmwood. Unfortunately his death date was not added to his tombstone.          

              It would be interesting to know for sure how Henry found Schaghticoke. He evidently fit into the community, though it was as rare for a black family to live in the village then as it is now.  Perhaps powder making led him to a job here. He lived surrounded by women- his daughters and granddaughters.  He was a member of the local post of the G.A.R. The testimony of his neighbors in the pension file clearly shows that he was a valued member of the community who suffered almost daily from his war service. He must have had an amazing constitution!

Individual tombstone for Henry Simmons in Elmwood Cemetery

Central tombstone in the Simmons plot at Elmwood

This photo appeared in two local books: Arthur Herrick’s “Stand Proud Sonny” and Richard Lohnes’ “Schaghticoke Centennial Booklet”. This is Herrick’s caption, wrong on two counts- Henry was not a slave and the photo was before 1920. Lohnes says this is the Hartshorn G.A.R. Post (the Schaghticoke one) c. 1915.

            There is a long passage in Arthur Herrick’s memoir  of growing up in the village of Schaghticoke, “Stand Proud Sonny”,  where Henry recounts his life story to the author, then a child. The story is entirely false.  As recounted, Henry was an escaped slave from Virginia, educated alongside the son of a beloved master. After his death, Henry was employed as a stud, fathering 300-500 children! As the war began he escaped, joining the cavalry, staying in the Army long after the war, serving all over the West and ending up in Vermont, where he met his wife and retired from the Army on a partial pension. All of this is false, including his final statement that there was a place reserved for him in the Soldiers’ Plot at Elmwood – his family had its own plot. I assume that Henry had a great time telling this salacious and exciting story to a gullible young man, but I suppose it is possible that Herrick decided the real story was too tame.

Benjamin F. Searles: disabled in the Civil War, buried at Elmwood in Schaghticoke

Benjamin F. Searles

            Benjamin F. (it must be Franklin!) Searles was born in Fort Ann on June 20, 1839. He enlisted in Company I of the 123^rd NY Infantry Regiment, the Washington County Regiment, in Easton on August 9, 1862. He was a laborer, with blue eyes and light hair, and was 5’10” tall. There were several Searles families in Schaghticoke both before and after the Civil War, but I couldn’t find Benjamin. I don’t know who his parents were.

Benjamin Searles N.Y.S. Muster Card

            Benjamin had a difficult war- it’s hard to say how many of the battles of the 123^rd he participated in, as his record card shows him in and out of the hospital on several occasions: in April and October 1863, and in October 1864 in Tennessee. The 123^rd was heavily involved in the battle of Chancellorsville in May, 1863, then in the battle of Atlanta and Sherman’s March to the Sea in 1864. Benjamin made it through the war, mustering out with the regiment in June, 1865, but applied for an invalid pension on September 7, 1865. The only clue to his injury comes many years later, when his widow reported him to the 1890 Veterans Schedule and said he had injured his back in the war.

            Mary J. Herbert married Benjamin sometime before he enlisted. He returned to her after the war, but died on December 8, 1869 and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery. I think I found Mary in the 1870 census in Easton, as Mary Jane Searls, 28, with a personal estate of $850. Her occupation was listed as “home domestic”, but I don’t know if that means she was at home doing housework, or working for others. A young teacher, Ella Fort, 19, and an Irish farm laborer, Harvey Kenor, lived with her. I can’t find that she applied for a widow’s pension, which is surprising.

          Mary Searles remarried in 1876, to a widower named Alanson Chase. He was a farmer and lived in the southern part of what is now the town of Schaghticoke. The 1880 US Census listed the new family:  Alanson, 52, Mary, 38, and his children Ambrose, 23, and Nellie, 10. As I said, Mary reported her former husband’s service to the 1890 Veterans Schedule, still living in Melrose.  The 1900 US Census showed that Alanson, now 72, and Mary, now 58, had had two children of their own, one living. That was Herbert P., born in 1880, now farming with his father. Alanson died in 1905 and Mary in 1907. Both are buried in Elmwood Cemetery near Benjamin.

Benjamin F. Searls tombstone, Elmwood Cemetery

James Ryan: double vet of the Civil War and blacksmith in Schaghticoke

James Ryan

             James Ryan, age 43, born in Ireland, is in the listing of Civil War soldiers in the 1865 NY census for Schaghticoke. He reported he had enlisted in July of 1863 for three years in the “21NYC”.  I will assume that “21NYC” means the 21^st New York Cavalry Regiment. There I found James Ryan, a blacksmith born in Ireland, who enlisted in July 1863 in Troy. He was 35-years-old, with grey hair and blue eyes, and was 5’5 ½ ” tall. The muster card reports that he was a veteran, presumably meaning he had spent time in an earlier regiment, and that he was discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in September 1865 for disability.

James Ryan N.Y.S. muster card

            The 21^st Cavalry was organized primarily in Troy in summer 1863. It served up and down the Shenandoah Valley until the end of the war, then went to Denver, Colorado. It seems that James was discharged en route.

            In the main part of the 1865 census, James is listed as a blacksmith. The entry includes his wife, Mary, age 48. It was the second marriage for both of them.  In the family were William, Thomas, and Mary McGinty, aged 18, 16, and 22, presumably her children by her first marriage.

 The next time I can find the couple is the 1890 Veterans Census for Schaghticoke, which includes Mary, widow of James Ryan, who had died July 1881 in Hoosick. She says she lost his discharge papers, but that he was in Company H of the 30^th NY Infantry. Amazingly there were two James Ryans among the 100 men in Company H in the 30^th Infantry. One was just 21 when he enlisted, and was a tailor, so presumably if the 1865 and 1890 James Ryans are the same one, it was the second. He enlisted at age 32, on May 3, 1861 in Eagle Bridge and was described as a blacksmith born in Ireland, with grey eyes and black hair, 5’6” tall.  James was discharged January 6, 1863 at Fairfax Seminary Hospital in Virginia, presumably for some sort of illness or wound, though this would have been the end of his two-year enlistment.  He would have had time to be home for a few months, then enlist in the 21^st NY Cavalry in July. Even though the physical descriptions are not identical, I feel this is the same James, with the question of his veteran status answered.

First muster card for James Ryan

            The 30^th New York was a two-year regiment. It participated heavily in General Pope’s Campaign in Virginia in August and September of 1862, suffering almost 200 casualties, but few deaths. The men were also at Fredericksburg, Antietam, and Chancellorsville, but must have been either in reserve or on the fringes of the battles, as they did not suffer many casualties there. Either James enjoyed being a soldier or the steady income, to have served two stretches in the Army. The second time he got to ride a horse- and perhaps put his blacksmithing skills to work on horseshoes.

            I was not able to find out anything more about James and Mary, partly hampered by just how common their names are. There was a James Ryan, who applied for a pension in 1879. He listed service in the 30^th NY and the Mexican War. His wife Mary applied for a widow’s pension in August 1881. This fits with James’ death, though he would have been a pretty young Mexican War soldier.

Francis Ruso, Jr.: an old Civil War soldier, briefly in Schaghticoke

Francis Ruso, Jr.

            Francis or Frank Ruso/Rouseau was born in 1818 in the town of Bethlehem in Albany County. Obviously he was a son of Francis Ruso, Sr. In the 1850 US Census for Bethlehem, Francis, Sr. is listed in the family of John Ruso, aged 62. Amazingly, he is credited with $80,000 in Real Estate, an immense sum for the era. Francis’ wife was Barbara Arnold, according to genealogical information compiled by the late Larry House, found in the archives of the Hart Cluett Museum.   Ruso is apparently a name from Flanders, part of the Netherlands, and another Francis Ruso, called Frans, married Maria Palsin in 1758 in the Dutch Reformed Church in Bethlehem. So the Rusos were long-time Albany County residents.

            A Dutch Reformed Church newspaper recorded the marriage of Francis Ruso, Jr. to Maria Furbeck of New Scotland in 1850.  In the 1850 US Census for New Scotland, Maria Ruso, 22, lived in the family of Peter and Maria Furbeck, farmers, presumably her parents. Where was her new husband Francis? An article in the Albany “Argus” in 1850 reported the insolvency of Francis Ruso, Jr., certainly not a great way to begin a marriage.

           The 1855 NY Census for Albany listed the family, Francis, a cartman, aged 38, wife Mariah, 27, and sons Calvin, 4, and Edgar, 1. Francis was listed in the Albany City directories at 91 First Street in 1862 and 1863. Maria died in 1863 and is buried as Maria Furbeck, wife of Francis Ruso, in the Furbeck plot in a cemetery in New Scotland. In 1864, the Albany “Argus” reported the foreclosure by Peter Furbeck on his son-in-law’s house in Albany, co-owned by Francis with a couple of his brothers.

            Perhaps left with no other alternative, Francis enlisted in Company B of the 91^st NY Infantry Regiment in Albany in September 1864. He was an elderly Private at age 43 or 44.  He probably received a bounty for enlisting, though I don’t know the amount. The card describes him as 5’6”, with black eyes, brown hair, and a dark complexion. His occupation was given as “trader.” The “NY Register of Officers and Enlisted Men” called him a “travelling agent.”   He would have been a late addition to the 91^st, the Columbia County regiment, but got in in time for the excitement of the last months of the war. The 91^st participated in the siege of Petersburgh, then travelled west to Appomattox for the surrender, suffering about 240 dead and wounded along the way. Francis mustered out with the rest of the regiment in June 1865 near Washington, D.C.

NY Muster Card of Frank Russo- Francis Ruso

               Why is this man included in a book about Schaghticoke men in the war? The 1865 NY Census for Schaghticoke lists him living with farmer Hugh P. Simons and his wife Hannah, listed as “brother-in-law”.  His name was given as “Frank Rouseau.” The census correctly reports his birth in Albany County, that he was widowed, and served in the 91^st, adding that he was in good health. His occupation was again given as “travelling agent.” Hannah  (1829-1900)was Francis’ sister, according to the Larry House genealogical papers.

                I have not been able to find out anything else for sure about this interesting man. His sons Calvin and Edgar lived with various relatives in the New Scotland area and survived into the 1920’s.

2 William Roses from Schaghticoke in the Civil War

William Andrew Rose and William H. Rose

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 77^th 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 77^th 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 125^th 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 125^th, 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 125^th 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

Erasmus D. Rose: 7th NY Cavalry and 61st Massachusetts Infantry, Civil War

Erasmus Darwin Rose

Erasmus D. Rose is another man who left a small footprint in Schaghticoke. He was probably born in Stephentown in 1840.  The 1860 NY Census lists his family there: father Loren, 43, was a farmer with real estate worth $500. Mother Mary, was 48. His sister Eurania, 21, was a dressmaker. Though Erasumus was 20, he had no occupation listed. His younger siblings were Mary E., 11, and Rachel, 8.

Erasmus enlisted in the 7^th N.Y. Cavalry in Troy on October 15, 1861. This was the regiment quickly formed when the war started that went to Virginia but never got horses. Erasmus was mustered out with the Regiment on March 31, 1862. He may have returned to Rensselaer County, but was in Hancock, Massachusetts, just over the border, by 1864. On August 25, 1864, he enlisted in Company A of the 61^st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. He gave his occupation as farmer.  The unit was on Gallops Island in Boston Harbor until October, then went to Virginia. They spent some time erecting fortifications and on guard duty, and finally got into the action during the fight around Petersburg, storming Fort Mahone on April 2, 1865. Of course the war ended soon after.

The Regiment participated in the Grand Review of the Army in Washington on May 23 and was mustered out in Reading, Massachusetts in June.

After the war, Erasmus returned to Massachusetts. In the 1870 US Census, he was in Lanesborough, Berkshire County, Mass., where he gave his age as 30, his personal estate as $1300, and his occupation as teamster. He had married a woman named Sarah, who was 20, and they had a son, Frank E., 1-year-old.

I cannot find Erasmus in the 1880 US Census.  In 1890 he makes his appearance in Schaghticoke, when he is listed on the Veterans Schedule. Both of his periods of service are recorded, though the Cavalry regiment is incorrectly recorded as the 10^th NY.  He applied for a pension in 1891, still giving New York as his state of residence.

By the 1900 US Census, Erasmus had moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where he stayed for the rest of his life. Sarah, and probably Frank, had died. Erasmus married a woman named Jessie, born in 1850 in Scotland. This was her second marriage as well. She had had nine children, six of them living. She and Erasmus got married in 1891- maybe in Schaghticoke. They had a son, Erasmus D., Jr., born in Rhode Island in 1893. Erasmus, Sr. worked as a night watchman.

In the 1910 US Census, Erasmus and Jessie still lived in Providence. He was now a sheet metal worker, aged 69. Erasmus died in 1916. He is buried with his sisters and parents in the Cemetery of the Evergreens in New Lebanon, Columbia County, NY, without a mention of his Civil War service on the stone. There does appear to be a military marker and flag next to the stone.

tombstone of Erasmus D. Rose in New Lebanon, NY, thanks to find-a-grave

Peter Rooney: Irishman, soldier, and travelling man

Peter Rooney

I am so glad Peter Rooney lived briefly in Schaghticoke so I get to write about him. He was born in Ireland about 1840 and came to the U.S. about 1853. I cannot find him for sure in the 1860 US Census, but on August 16, 1861 he enlisted in Company D of the 18^th Indiana Infantry. A roster published by Indiana listed him as Peter Roney and said he lived in Osgood, Indiana.

The 18^th went to Missouri the day after it was mustered in, then to Arkansas for 1862. In 1863 it joined General Grant’s army and participated in the battles leading up to and then in the siege of Vicksburg. In 1864 the Regiment went home briefly, then back to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In July it was transferred to Virginia and then the Washington, D.C. area, where it had high casualties in several battles, including Fisher Hill and Cedar Creek. Peter mustered out on August 16, 1864, when his three-year enlistment ended.

Photo of some of the 18^th Indiana from the Iron Brigade website

In 1865 Peter appeared on the census for Schaghticoke. He was listed as 21, born in Ireland, and lived with his mother, Catherine Rooney, a widow aged 60 who had had five children. His brother James, 17, lived with them, and they all lived in the same house as Richard and Bridget Barrett and their children. Presumably he had come “home” after his war service. Catherine was a widow living in Schaghticoke as early as the 1860 US Census, when she appeared in the Barrett family. Richard Barrett, 25, was a farm laborer, living with his wife Bridget, 18. I’m betting Bridget was Catherine’s daughter.

 Peter didn’t stay here though.  The next time I found him was in the 1890 Veterans Schedule in Glencoe, Oregon. He filed for a pension on September 30, 1890. There is a Peter Rooney in Washington, Oregon in the 1900 census. He was a widower, a farmer who owned his home. He gave his birth date as October 1842. I’m not sure that is the same Peter.

From here on in, Peter toured the country. I found him as a patient in five different National Soldiers and Sailors Homes from 1902-1917! He consistently reported his service in the 18^th Indiana, that he had been born in Ireland, and that he was 5’6” tall, with dark eyes and grey hair. He was literate, a Catholic, and a widower who had been a farmer. At four of the homes he gave his nearest relative as Mrs. Bridget Barrett of Valley Falls, N.Y. So Richard and Bridget had stayed in the area, and had kept in touch with Peter.  They had had ten children, according to the 1900 census. At one of the homes, he gave her eldest son, John, as his nearest relative.

Peter always gave one of his health problems as deafness, but he also complained of lumbago, catarrh, and heart problems. At the hospital in Marion, Indiana, he added that he had had a gunshot wound of the left leg and forehead! When he was first admitted in 1902, he was receiving a pension of $6 per month, which rose to $40 by the end. The homes were in Marion, Indiana; Johnson City, Tennessee; Hot Springs, South Dakota; and Leavenworth, Kansas. I would have to make a chart to figure out where Peter was on which month of which year, but all of the homes recorded repeated stays, up to a year, from 1902 to 1917. The Marion, Indiana location recorded the only admissions from 1912-1917. At that point, Peter would have been 77–years-old. I am betting he is buried in a National Cemetery, but I can’t find him.

Peter was certainly a world traveler- beginning in Ireland, joining the Army in Indiana, touring many southern states courtesy of Uncle Sam, heading West, then traveling among those different Soldiers Homes, yet keeping connection with his sister in Valley Falls, New York. For a man with so many health problems, he went a long way and lived a long time.

John D. Rogers: Civil War officer, pillar of the Round Lake Association

John D. Rogers

John Rogers was born in West Grafton, NY  in March, 1841. The 1850 US Census for Grafton lists him as one of nine children in the family of Darius Rogers, a farmer with an estate of $2000. His grandparents lived with the family. Grandfather Joseph Rogers was a shoemaker.  According to John’s obituary in the “Saratogian”, he left home at 17 and lived in Schaghticoke before the war. He is in the 1860 US Census for Lansingburgh- in the Speigletown area by the names around his on the census. He was a farm laborer for Aaron Perry, a wealthy farmer. John enlisted in Company B of the 71^st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment in Philadelphia on May 28, 1861.  I do not know why he went to Pennsylvania to enlist. Oddly, because this regiment was raised by a Senator from Oregon, it was also known as the 1^st California Regiment- that is what is on its monument on the battlefield at Gettysburg.

The 71^st was involved in many battles, from the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia in 1862, to the 7 Days Battle, to 2^nd Bull Run, and Antietam, where it lost one-third of its strength. John was promoted to Orderly Sergeant, then 1^st Lieutenant on June 5, 1863, then to Captain on July 4, 1863. His obituary states he was promoted for his action in the vicious fighting at the Bloody Angle during the battle of Gettysburg, and that he was wounded.  The much-reduced regiment was near the 125^th New York on Cemetery Ridge during that battle, and was indeed hard-pressed during Pickett’s Charge at the Bloody Angle.

Somehow John suffered a compound fracture of the skull and was discharged from service on April 12, 1864, during a lull in the battles of the 71^st.  Perhaps he had a head wound at Gettysburg, and was finally discharged the following April. He applied for an invalid pension immediately. Evidently he made a full recovery from that injury, however, as the 1865 NY Census for Schaghticoke listed him and his new wife Mary living with her parents Charles and Louisa Russell in Schaghticoke. Charles, 45, was a grain cradle maker. Mary, just 16, was their only child. John, 24, was listing as boarding with the family, with his occupation given as “policeman.” He is not in the list of veterans which is one of the unusual features of that census. He and Mary had probably had met before the war, and married when he got home.  Mary was born in Saratoga County but her parents were from Rensselaer County. They had lived in Schaghticoke since about 1855.

                I cannot find the Russells and the Rogers in the 1870 US Census. John’s obituary says that he worked as a Sergeant in “the old Capitol Police,” when he first returned from the war, which implies working in Albany, and could explain the listing as a “policeman” in 1865. After a brief spell as a clerk in the Rensselaer Iron Works, he became a Captain in the new “Rensselaer Police.” That force was found to be “unconstitutional” and disbanded soon after.

              But by 1874 John was the Superintendent of Grounds at the Round Lake Association in Malta. Round Lake had been established about ten years earlier as a place for “camp meetings” by the Methodist Church. Thousands and thousands of people attended meetings and revivals there every summer until about 1920. The grounds expanded each year, with more and more permanent and elaborate structures. During most of this time, John Rogers was the Superintendent and an officer in the association. He served for 42 years, until his death in 1916. He and his wife lived in a cottage on the grounds. His name is mentioned frequently in the local newspapers, always as Captain Rogers. He was very involved in Civil War veterans’ and Masonic Organizations in Saratoga, as well as being a devout Methodist.

Engraving from a booklet about the Round Lake Association

John and Mary appear in the 1880 US Census for Malta, the town for Round Lake, when he was 39 and she 32. They had a son named Charles D., 14, and his mother, Lany, 60, lived with the family. John reported his military service in the 1890 Veterans Schedule. The 1900 US Census shows the couple living alone. Oddly, it reports incorrectly that they had had no children. Their son Charles had become a physician. In 1900, he and his wife Jessie Hartshorn were living, and he was working, in Juneau, Alaska. What an adventure! I don’t know why, but they reported their address to the census taker in Alaska as Binghamton, NY. Jessie was the daughter of Edward Hartshorn, who was Superintendent of the twine mill in Schaghticoke, and for whom the G.A.R. Post here is named.  Tragically, Dr. Charles died in 1905. The interment records say he died in Denver of an overdose of ether. His mother Mary died in 1909.

In the 1910 US Census for Malta, John, still the Superintendent of the Round Lake Association, aged 69, had taken in his son’s widow, Jessie, aged 43. He died in 1916 of an ulcer. Jessie survived until 1940.  All of them: Charles, Mary, Jessie, and our soldier John, are buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

tombstone of John D. Rogers Elmwood Cemetery

John Robinson: Civil War Engineer

John Robinson

John Robinson was born in Rensselaer County in 1838. I can’t find his family in the 1850 US Census, but in the 1855 NY Census they were in Schaghticoke. Father Samuel, age 44, was a farmer. He was evidently married to his second wife, Charlotte, who was 27. She was born in Saratoga County and had just lived in Rensselaer County for seven years. Also in the family were children Harriet, 24; David, 22; future soldier John, 17; Hannah, 16; plus Clarissa, 6, and Ophelia, 4, who were evidently children of Charlotte and Samuel.  By the 1860 US Census, John had moved out, and lived in the family of a very prominent local manufacturer, Isaac Grant. Isaac ran the agricultural machinery factory in what is now known as Grant’s Hollow just south of Melrose. Even though Isaac was a manufacturer, John, 22, is listed as a farm laborer on the census.  I can’t find the rest of his family in that census, though I feel they were here somewhere close.

John enlisted in Company B of the 15^th New York Engineers in Troy on November 19, 1861. Several of Isaac Grant’s employees and relatives had enlisted or were about to, so he was in company with lots of others. The 15^th N.Y. was organized as a regiment of Engineers- there were just three or four Engineer regiments recruited in New York during the war. Some of the men enlisted for two, others for three years. John was a three-year man.

Engineer regiments were instrumental in enabling Armies to travel- they built pontoon bridges across streams. They also built fortifications- around Washington, D.C. at the beginning of the war, and then as needed wherever the Armies went.

N.Y.S. Muster card of John Robinson

 He and the regiment served in Virginia: in 1862 during the siege of Yorktown, in 1863 during the Seven Days Battle and Fredericksburg, among others, and in 1864-1865 at the siege of Petersburg. John was mustered out November 27, 1864 at City Point, Virginia. The Regiment lost just a few men to enemy fire, but over 100 to disease over the course of the three years.

John returned to Schaghticoke. The 1865 NY Census found him working as a laborer in the family of Leonard Warner. Leonard had the very interesting occupation of “speculator.” By the 1870 US Census Leonard had moved on, and John was back with his parents. Samuel, now 65, was a farmer with an estate of $2500. He and wife Charlotte, 45, had just the children they had had together at home: Clarissa, 21, Ophelia, 19, and Willie, just 6. John worked as a farm laborer. Samuel Robinson’s farm was on Northline Drive, just east of the town hall.

The 1890 Veterans Schedule recorded John in Melrose. He reported he had injured a foot in the war and suffered from rheumatism. That same year he applied for a pension. His father died in 1891, aged 83, his stepmother in 1898. They are buried in Elmwood Cemetery. John has a stone in the same plot, with his birth year recorded as 1838, but with no death year. Presumably he was interred there, but his brother did not pay for the death date to be engraved, though he is not listed in the cemetery’s interment records.  John died before the 1900 US Census, when his brother William is listed as the head of a household including just himself and sister Clarissa, a dress maker. By the 1905 NY Census, Clarissa was living in the village of Schaghticoke, still working as a dressmaker. She has a tombstone in Elmwood, also with no death date, though the interment records say she died in 1942.

tombstone of John Robinson at Elmwood Cemetery

Charles A. Robinson: young Civil War soldier, life-time with a disability

Charles A. Robinson

            Charles was a very young enlistee in the 7^th NY Heavy Artillery on January 11, 1864. He said he was 18, and was born in 1847….so perhaps he was barely 18. He was the son of Hiram and Lydia Robinson of Lansingburgh. The 1850 US Census listed Hiram as a fish dealer, and Charles as age 3.  I did not find his NYS Muster Roll card, but he is listed on the roster of the 7th in the Annual Report of the Adjutant-General of NYS in 1897.

            The 7^th NY Heavy Artillery took part in the first large assault at Petersburg, Virginia from June 15-22, 1864. Charles was shot in the calf on June 16. I think he was in one hospital or another from then on, and was finally discharged from the General Hospital near Troy on May 25, 1865. He applied for an invalid pension right away. The 1865 NY Census listed him back home with mom and dad. Hiram was now listed as a merchant. Charles had no occupation at age 18. Also in the family were his sisters Parmelia, 15; Harriet, 10; Frances, 8; and Anna, 5.

            Charles remained at home at least through the 1880 US Census, when he and his father were both listed as “huckster and trader.” We give the term “huckster” a negative connotation- a person trying to cheat in selling things- but at the time it was a peddler selling small items. I think he married a woman named Carrie in 1894, but that they weren’t together for long. He is still listed in the 1890 Veteran’s Schedule living in Lansingburgh.  I can’t find him in the 1900 US Census, but a little article in the July 30, 1897 Schaghticoke “Sun” in the “Old Schaghticoke” column stated that Charles, a veteran, recently had a painful operation at the hospital in Albany, the amputation of the leg which had been wounded in the war. It had recently begun giving him trouble and had to be amputated to save his life.

             As of the 1905 NY census  Charles lived with his sister Harriet Russell and her family in Schaghticoke- I’m betting he had been with her since at least 1897. James Russell, 47, was a hotel keeper. He and Harriet, 43, had a daughter, Blanche, age 13, and a cook. Charles was listed with no occupation. By the NY Census of 1915, Charles, 65, was a lodger in the family of Clarence Mabb, a farmer, his wife and two daughters, in Reynolds, a hamlet between the village of Schaghticoke and Mechanicville. His sister and her husband still had a hotel nearby.

            In 1918 Charles became a patient at the Veterans’ Hospital in Bath, NY. The record book there described him as 5’6” tall, with blue eyes and grey hair. He was Protestant and had been a clerk. His contact person was not his wife, but his sister Frances, Mrs. William Packer of Mechanicville. Charles died in November 1921 and is buried at the cemetery at Bath. His whole life was really determined by a wound  received when he was just 18.

            His wife Carrie applied for a widow’s pension immediately. An article in the Troy “Times” on December 21, 1921 reported that the claim of his sisters Anna Collins and Frances Packer on his estate had been rejected as they claimed to be his only relatives when, in fact, he had a wife, Carrie, of Lansingburgh, plus a sister Harriet Russell in Schaghticoke. There was not really any estate to divide, but Carrie did get his pension.

            Carrie Robinson showed up in the 1910 and 1920 US Census for Lansingburgh. In 1910 she said she lived alone had been married for 16 years; in 1920 she was the housekeeper for a man named Thomas Llewellen. In both cases she was a collar turner, working from home.

Tombstone of Charles Robinson in the National Cemetery at Bath, Steuben County, NY, thanks to find-a-grave