The History of Genesee, MI, Ch. 25, GAR

The History of Genesee County, MI
Chapter XXV
Grand Army of the Republic

Online Edition by Holice, Deb & Clayton

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC Governor Crapo Post, Grand Army of the republic, was organized on June 5, 1883. The charter members numbered twenty-three. Its first commander was comrade Richard h. Hughes and, succeeding him, the following name members have held the office.
Frank E. Willett	Oscar F. Lockhead	Charles A. Bassett
John Algoe	Andrew J. Ward	Gorge W. Buckingham
Welcome L. Farnum	George W. Newall	Marvin C. Barney
Edward C. Marsh	Charles W. Austin	James H. Failing
Orange S. Thomas	John W. Benjamin	John W. Begg
George W. Hilton	Joseph Rush	George Raab
Charles L. Bentley	Thomas A. Willett	Jarvis E. Albro
E. A. Jennings	Wallace Caldwell	James Van Tassell
T. A. Willett	.	.

The various soldiers and sailors who have at different times been members of the post number five hundred and five, and the membership of the post at its floodtide was three hundred and fifty. It now numbers seventy-eight, many of whom are feeble in health and unable to attend the meetings.

Of its members who held rank in the army, were:
Gen. T. B. Stockton	breveted brigadier-general
Col. William B., McCreery	colonel of the Twenty-first Michigan Infantry
Philo D. Phillips	who as major of the One Hundred twenty-sixth New York Volunteer Infantry
Rev. H. H. Northrup	chaplain of the thirteenth Michigan Infantry
James C. Willson	surgeon of the Eighth Michigan infantry, ranking as major
John Algoe	captain
George W. Buckingham	captain
Charles A. Bassett	captain
M. F. Campbell	captain
Ira Wilder	captain
Martin I. Wiley	captain
Charles S. Brown	captain
Almon A. Thompson	surgeon Twelfth Michigan Infantry
James H. Failing	lieutenant commanding company

The members of the post are loyal to the memory of their comrades in that the duties of the officers include the decorating of the graves of the deceased. Old soldiers are laid to rest in the various cemeteries of the city and also in the Whigville cemetery, the Burton cemetery, the Grand Blanc cemetery, the five Points cemetery, the McFarland cemetery, the Bristol cemetery, the Cronk cemetery, and the Tupper cemetery, also flushing, good rich, Davison and Richfield, in each of which lies some former member of the post.

The present officers of the post are:
T. A. Willett	Commander
William A. Bloomer	Senior Vice-Commander
Rufus Ranney	Junior Vice-Commander
E. A. Jennings	Adjutant
James Van Tassell	Quartermaster
A. Van Aerman	Surgeon
M. C. Barney	Chaplain
George Raab	Officer of the Day
Wray Mitchell	Officer of the Guard
E. C. Marsh	Sergeant Major
William R. Pratt	Quarter Sergeant
James H. Failing	Patriotic Instructor

The present roster of the post contains the following:
Charles Baker, Jr.	Ninth Michigan Cavalry
Marvin C. Barney	Tenth Michgian Infantry
William D. Bailey	Twenty-third Michigan Infantry
John Begg	First United States Engineers
Melvin C. Bowman	Eighth Michigan Cavalry
Luke Boyce	First Nebraska Cavalry
John R. Buchanan	Twenty-ninth Indiana Infantry
Frank C. Burnham	Maine Coast Guard
John H. Carey	Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry
Mortimore Carter	Eighth Michigan Infantry
John Cleveland	Twenty-third Michigan Infantry
Silas Collins	Twenty-third Michigan Infantry
C. H. W. Conover	United States Engineers
Miles P. cook	Twentieth Ohio Battery
William H. Crawford	First Michigan Cavalry
John Donlon	United States Navy
James H. Failing	Fifteenth Michigan Infantry
Ira L. Fales	First Michigan Cavalry
J. Brush Fenton-Lieutenant	Eighth Michigan Infantry
Corydon E. Foote	Tenth Michigan infantry
Charles B. Ford	Tenth Michigan Infantry
Thomas W. Gilbey	Sixteenth Michigan Infantry
Andrew H. Gillies-Lieutenant	Eighth Michigan Infantry
Jonathan Gordon	First New York Cavalry
Henry M. Graff	Ninety-eighth New York Infantry
John Grierson	Eighth Michigan Infantry
John Hollingsworth	Twenty-fourth Michigan Infantry
J. E. Howe	Twenty-third Michigan Infantry
Oscar F. Lochhead	Second Michigan Infantry
Irving McConnell	Second New York Heavy Artillery
Edward C. Marsh	Eighth Michigan Infantry
Wray Mitchell	Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry
Ira G. Ormsby	Sixteenth Michigan Infantry
Albert Palmer	Iowa Cavalry
Thomas Pack-Musician	Eighth Michigan Infantry
Charles R. Pomeroy	Fourteenth Vermont Infantry
William R. Pratt	Eighth Michigan Infantry
George Raab	Fourth Michigan Cavalry
Edgar Randall	First Michigan Infantry
Feeling H. Rich	Tenth Michigan Infantry
Joseph Remington	Fifteenth Michigan Infantry
Joseph Rush	One Hundred Sixtieth New York Infantry
Amader Ruby	Twenty-second Michigan Infantry
Phillip Smith	One Hundredth Ohio Infantry
Reuben C. Smith	Twenty-second Michigan Infantry
John H. Soper	Ninetieth New York Infantry
Enos Sullivan	Eighth New York Cavalry
George W. Sweet	First Michgian Engineers
John W. Taylor	Second Michigan Infantry
Jeremiah Thompson	Sixth Michigan Cavalry
George H. Turner-Lieutenant	Eighth Michigan Infantry
George A. Tyler	First Michigan Cavalry
Abram Van Aerman	One Hundred Fifty-first New York Infantry
James M. Van Tassell	Third Michigan Cavalry
Frank E. Willett	Eighth New York Cavalry
Thomas A. Willett-Gunner's Mate	United States Navy
William Angle	Eighth Michigan Infantry
Frank Butcher	Fifty-first Indiana Infantry
Charles Dye	Eighth Michigan Infantry
Charles Dunham	Seventeenth Indiana Infantry
Dolphus Davis	Eighty-third Penn. Volunteer Infantry
Leroy Ellis	Twentieth New York Cavalry
Morris Eastman	Fourth Michigan Infantry
Charles Eichof	One Hundred Fiftieth N. Y. Vol. Infantry
John Emery	Eighth Michigan Infantry
Thomas Fouch	Loudon Rangers, Virginia
R. H. Fosdick	Fourth Michigan Cavalry
John Morrish	Fourth Michigan Cavalry
Talman C. Owens	Tenth Michigan infantry
Charles H. Penoyer	Twenty-third Michigan Infantry
Rufus Rainey	Twenty-third Michigan Infantry
Milo Swears	Tenth Michigan Infantry
William Sperl	One Hundred Fifty-second N. Y. Infantry
William Vanderwood	Twenty-fourth Michigan infantry

Soon after the installation of the post in Flint, there were smaller posts started in Davison, Clio, Fenton, Swartz Creek, Mt. Morris, Linden and Flushing. From Davison and Davison township a number of men, proportionately greater to its population than almost any township in Michigan, answered the call of their country, and at the conclusion of the war one of the strongest orders in the county perpetuated the memory of their comrades. In 1884 they organized Henry W. Knapp Post No. 284, Grand Army of the Republic.

Its first commander was Lester S. McAllister and it had thirty-one charter members. The commanders since then have been,
A. A. Elmore	Alexander Campbell	William M. Knapp
Willard Clemmons	S. S. Clemmons	John Cottrell
B. F. Sanford	G. R. Van Tine	B. W. Perkins
S. A. Comstock	William A. Monroe	C. B. Smith
M. H. Hewitt	A. M. Davis	James Cooley
Milo Swears	L. G. Adams	.

The post increased in membership until it was represented at the national encampment at Detroit in 1891 by sixty-four members. The natural decrease among the membership from death has reduced the name to seventeen at the present date.

"We believe as a post we have been an educator in patriotism and good citizenship," says A. A. Elmore, to whom this book is indebted for this account of the post.

At Clio, James Bradley Post, Grand Army of the Republic, was organized in 1883. The membership, diminished by the inevitable death of the old soldiers, has left but a remnant of its one-time roster.

It numbers at present:
C. H. Woolson	William Wood	Joseph Buffum
A. S. Shelley	Silvester Leach	George Vanst
Porter Greenfield	Jerome Courier	Edward Ormsby
J. J. Powell	Cyrus Perrigo	Henry Richardson
John Sloan	P. H. Loomis	Evard Leach
W. C. Lewis	Louis Speckler	Charles Barker
Hiram Chase	William Bone	Ira Phillips

Ransom post No. 89, Grand Army of the Republic, was organized in Flushing in October, 1882. It had forty-two charter members, and at one time had as many as sixty members. It had for its first commander Stewart Curle, and since that time the following have served as commanders:
James M. Greenfield	W. H. J. Martin	Cornelius E. Rulison
William Davie	S. H. Thomas	John W. Caldwell
Cyrus Phelps	W. J. Ottaway	Chester Felton
Walter V. Banning	Albert Crosby	A. D. Olmstead
O. H. Perry	Isaac Wheeler	John Wheeler
William Stone	.	.

The post was named for Capt. Randolph Ransom, an uncle of A. E. Ransom, editor of the Flushing Observer. The present officers of the post are:
Commander	James M. Greenfield
Senior Vice-Commander	Spellman Loop
Junior Vice-Commander	S. H. Thomas
Officer of the Day	John W. Caldwell
Quartermaster	Cyrus G. Phelps
Chaplain	W. J. Ottaway

The roster of its present membership includes the following eleven members, the few survivors of the many who have been members of Ransom Post;
A. E. Bennett	Seventeenth Connecticut Infantry
John W. Caldwell	Sixteenth Michigan Infantry
Enos Delong	Tenth Michigan Infantry
G. W. Darling	Third Ohio Infantry
C. S. Freeman	Twenty-third Michigan Infantry
James M. Greenfield	Seventh Michigan Infantry
H. H. Kahl	One Hundred Twenty-first Ohio Vol. Inf.
Spellman Loop	One Hundred Sixth New York Infantry
W. J. Ottaway	Thirteenth Michigan Battery
Cyrus Phelps	Tenth Missouri Infantry
S. H. Thomas	First Michigan Infantry

Colonel Fenton Post No. 24, Grand Army of the Republic, was organized august 29, 1881, at Fenton, and is thus the oldest in the county. Its first commander was Dexter Horton, and since that time the following named comrades have served in that capacity:
Charles F. Barber	James Robertson	Ernest T. Winters
Thomas G. Skelton	Louis V. Curry	C. F. Wertman
Alva H. Marsh	William Butcher	James N. Ripley
Silas K. Freeman	Vernon C. Smith	Charles A. Sadden, Current Commander

Of the present membership of twenty-six, we are able to give the following partial roster:
Charles A. Sadden	William Butcher	Ernest T. Winters
Vernon C. Smith	Perry Birdsall	Henry Munson
M. D. Herington	Daniel Harrington	Hiram Hodges
Edgar Durphy	George Wass	Frank Potter
Mumford Billings	Emory Denton	George W. Barber
Frank Fessenden	Adam Andrews	Charles Bentley
Gilbert Angus	Francis Cleveland	J. J. Carmer
George Gates	Edward Bennett	Mr. Ferchencer

Each year sees the sad diminishing of the post. Each year a few more brave men to claim the great reward; each year those who are left, possibly, are too feeble to take an active part in the gatherings of their comrades. There are, however, some who are still hale and hearty. May they round out many years of usefulness in giving visible evidence of the spirit of '61, and in furnishing an inspiration for the oncoming generation. We salute them!

History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions
by Edwin O. Wood, LL.D, President Michigan Historical Commission, 1916