John Henry Barton is my third great grandfather on my mother’s side of the family tree. Born in New York state in 1834, he grew up on his family’s farm in the town of Liberty. John Henry married Henrietta Brown on July 27, 1859, and a year later they welcomed their first child, a son whom they named Arthur. Remaining close to the rest of the Barton family, John Henry continued to work on the farm in Liberty. The young Bartons welcomed their first daughter, Clara, on the day after Christmas in 1862; she is my great-great grandmother.

I don’t know what John Henry thought about the war raging mostly to the south of his home. Newspapers would have reported the advances of General Lee and the leadership changes on the Union side. Enlistment numbers continued to fall short, however, prompting Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts to introduce the first Conscription Act, which Congress passed in March of 1863. For reasons that remain unknown to me, it was not until December of 1863, several months after the Gettysburg Campaign, that John Henry mustered in as a Private in the United States Army. Some records indicate that he was drafted while others clearly say, “enlisted.” To my knowledge, no photograph has survived of him, but his papers indicate that he stood 5 feet and 6 inches tall, had light hair and blue eyes.

On December 29, 1863, Private John Henry Barton became a part of the 54th NY Infantry Regiment, Company I. The regiment had fought bravely at Gettysburg before being attached to the Department of the South and sent to South Carolina.
By the time Private Barton joined the 54th NY, the soldiers had already been “building fortifications, patrolling, and recon-noitering” on the islands around Charleston. He was promoted to the rank of Corporal in January of 1865, though the reason for such a large promotion has not yet been discovered. Three months later the 54th NY marched into the heavily bombed and evacuated city of Charleston.

Detachments of the 54th NY served at Freedmen’s Bureau sites throughout South Carolina for the next year. While on such a mission near Aiken, SC, Corporal John Henry Barton received a wound to his left leg. Pension papers filed many years later revealed that there was no surgeon present when he was originally wounded, and the healing was so incomplete that it compromised his ability to work when he returned home.

Although the war ended in the spring of 1865, Corporal Barton was one of many soldiers who remained on active duty until April of 1866. The 1870 Census records show that he and Henrietta were still living in Liberty and had a new child, a daughter named Ida. Five years later the family had grown to include another girl, Harriet, and a boy they named Edgar. The 1880 Federal Census indicates that the family had moved to Landis Township, NJ, sometime after 1878, because a son, Jay, had been born in NY and was only a year old at the taking of the census.

On November 23, 1885, John Henry Barton died of Bright’s Disease, a kidney ailment. In 1889 his widow, Henrietta received a pension to help raise their minor children. Henrietta lived until 1922. An article about the 54th NY, written in 1902, reported an active Veteran’s group meeting in NYC. I think it is worth noting that the author made mention of the men striving “to imbue their own children and the rising generation with the patriotic enthusiasm that impelled” them “to offer their all to the cause…” Whether additional facts ever reveal more information about my veteran ancestor, I trust that he knows of my membership in the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War and the honor that I pay to him. ​

​George Washington Hoffmaster was born in 1837 in Reading, Pennsylvania, to Richard and Mary Hoffmaster. He married Anna Roeder, an immigrant from Germany in 1858. We think he served with the Union Pennsylvania Volunteers, 122nd Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, Company A. He was a professional Brick Mason, part of the firm G. W. Hoffmaster & Son brickwork and furnace contractors. He had two younger brothers that served the Union during the Civil War. Corporal John Richard Hoffmaster was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1839. He served with the Union Pennsylvania Volunteers, 50th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, Company B. He was wounded, shot through the left breast, the bullet passing through his left rib. He was confined to a hospital for six months, after which he was honorably discharged. He never married and was a professional brick mason. Private William Benton Hoffmaster was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1841. He served with the Union Pennsylvania Volunteers, 46th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, Company E. He was missing at Winchester, 25 May 1862, captured at Front Royal, Virginia. He was a sick and debilitated prisoner. After he was paroled, he was sent to Annapolis, Maryland. He eventually made it home to Reading, Pennsylvania and died on 17 Nov 1862. He never married and was a professional brick mason.

Adam Stewart, ancestor of Iva L. Knapp, was born October 4, 1832, in Jackson County, Virginia. His was the son of William Stewart and Mary Parsons. William was born in Monongahela County, PA, and moved to Jackson County, VA, and then moved to Mason County in 1846 with his children. Adam married Ellen Jane Smith on March 25, 1853, in Mason Co, VA, which became WV. He was engaged in farming when he signed up to join the Thirteenth West Virginia Regiment, Company B, on August 8, 1862, in Point Pleasant, WV, and had his first muster October 8, 1862. He was wounded in action at the Battle of Kernstown (near Winchester) on July 24, 1864. He suffered a conical ball wound of his left foot. He was in the hospital at Cumberland, MD, in which the conditions in the summer were reported as unbearable. He was transferred to the hospital in Clarysville, MD, which was 1000 feet higher than Cumberland, and it provided a more hygienic situation with a purer atmosphere, seclusion to allow exercise in the open air, and abundant supply of excellent quality water. He recovered in the hospitals from July 25, 1864, until he returned to service with his unit March 6, 1865. He was mustered out on June 22, 1865. He returned to farming and had a saw mill in Mason County, WV. He was a member of the Methodist Church. His children were Almeda, Matilda, Henry T, Rachel, Sarah, Susan, James H, and my ancestor Mary Jane Stewart who married Spencer Knapp in 1873. Ellen Jane was the daughter of Isaac E Smith, a Methodist Minister, and Rachel McGuire. She was born January 7, 1833, in Mason County, WV and died on March 3, 1909. Adam Stewart died on September 8, 1902, and he and Ellen are buried at Smith Church Cemetery, in Leon Township, Mason County, WV. ​

My ancestor who I used for my membership into DUVCW is Lyman Benjamin, my 3 x's Great Grandfather. I am related to him through my Grandfather Lee's mother Adeline. He was a member 14th Regiment, Michigan Infantry, Company D and held the rank of Private. He was mustered in February, 1862. His service was mainly in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Alabama. Due to either an injury or illness, he was Honorably Discharged in July of 1865. He returned to his home in Eagle, Michigan, where he was a cobbler. He was married to Elizabeth and had eight children. His daughter Adeline married my Great Grandfather James Bird Lee and that is my connection to Lyman.

Lyman's 2x's Great Grandfather, James Benjamin fought in the Revolutionary War and I am in the process of obtaining documents linking him to James. My search took a strange turn when I saw a head stone for someone I thought was a related to my Grandmother. Next to the headstone was a marker placed there by the Eva Gray Tent 2 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I contacted the person listed for more information. I was contacted by Dorothea (Dottie) Piechocki from the Eva Gray Tent 2.  She has an interest in genealogy and provided me with the information about my Grandmother Lee's Grandfather Thomas Clarence Jackson. 

Thomas C. Jackson fought in the Civil War with the 78th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company I as a Private. He enlisted in December 20, 1861, at age 21. He fought in many famous battles and was with Sherman during the siege of Atlanta. He was mustered out on January 12, 1965. He returned to Michigan and married Isabella Montague and had 3 daughters, Mary, Margaret (my Great Grandmother), and Hannah. The very interesting thing that Dottie discovered was that in 1922, Thomas's daughter Mary married Lyman Benjamin's son James. Who would have thought that my two Civil War ancestors would be related through marriage?
--Donetta Bantle    ​