Monument Monday - War Memorial, Manchester, Vermont

War Monument - Manchester, VT

From The Honor Roll Project at Nutfield Genealogy:

"The Honor Roll Project is an effort to transcribe and photograph military honor rolls.  The transcribed names make the soldiers available for search engines, so that descendants and family members can find them on the internet.  It is a simple, but very rewarding project."

This afternoon I took a ride into town to photograph and transcribe one of the war monuments in town.  Manchester was a gathering spot for soldiers during the American Revolution, especially in the days before the Battle of Bennington. The monument represents this with the figure of a Revolutionary War soldier at the top.  The monument, however, is dedicated to the men of four wars.

Facing the road at the base of the monument is the dedication plaque, stating that the monument was placed in 1905.  Working clockwise around the base are plaques list men who served in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Civil War.  I've transcribed each panel below.

IN

MEMORY

OF

THE MEN

OF

MANCHESTER

WHO SERVED IN THE

REVOLUTIONARY WAR

WAR OF 1812

MEXICAN WAR

CIVIL WAR

___

ERECTED BY CITIZENS OF MANCHESTER

DEDICATED MAY 30 1905.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR

AMOS ALLEN DAN. ALLEN JONATHAN ALLEN SETH ALLEN ROBT. ANDERSON DANL. ARNOLD REUBEN BAKER MARTIN BARBER GIDEON BARBER ISAAC BARKER THOS. BARNEY BENJ. BEERS LEWIS BEEBE AICE BECKWITH WM. BEDELL NATHAN BEMAN HAYNES J. BEMAN WM. BENNET PETER BLACH TIMOTHY BLISS JARED BOORN NATHANIEL BOORN ARTHUR BOSTWICK NATHL. BOSTWICK THOS. BULL THOS. BULL JR ELIJAH BURTON JOSIAH BURTON CAL. CHAMBERLAIN DANL. CHAMPION CHRIS’R COLLINS NATHL. COLLINS ELISHA COOK JOHN DAGGETT JOB DEAN ELIAKIM DEMING WM. DREW DUNCAN DUNN ASA FARRAND PETER FRENCH WM. GOULD SILAS GOODRICH

JESSE GRAVES THADDEUS HARRIS BARNABAS HATCH CORNELIUS HAVENS JAS. HENNESSEY SIMEON HINE ELIJAH HOLLISTER JOHN HOWARD BENJ. HUNTLEY SAML. HULL JAS. JAMESON DANL. JONES DAVID LEE JAS. LEWIS ROBT. LOGGAN BENJ. McINTYRE JOS. McINTYRE RICH’D McINTYRE ISAAC MARKS AARON MASON JACOB MEAD PHILIP MEAD TRUMAN MEAD RUFUS MUNSON THADDEUS MUNSON JONATHAN ORMSBY GIDEON ORMSBY DANL. ORMSBY GEORGE OLDS JACOB ODELL JOHN PAGE TIMOTHY PEARL STEPHEN PEARL ABEL PETTIBONE SAML. PETTIBONE SETH PETTIBONE PETER PIXLEY FELIX POWELL MARTIN POWELL TRUMAN POWELL BENJ. PURDY REUBEN PURDY

DANL. PURDY DAVID PURDY PHILIP REYNOLDS AMOS RICHARDSON ANDREW RICHARDSON NATHAN RICHARDSON BENJ. ROBERTS CHRIS’R ROBERTS JOHN ROBERTS JOHN ROBERS JR JOEL ROSE JESSE SAWYER AARON SEXTON GEORGE SEXTON JONATHAN SEXTON DANL. SHAW JOSIAH SHELDON GEORGE SMITH JOHN SMITH NATHAN SMITH STEPHEN SMITH PELETIAH SOPER SOLOMON SOPER MOSES SPERRY PRENTICE STORES PELEG SUNDERLAND WALLACE SUTHERLAND SAML. SUTHERLAND TIMOTHY SKINNER BENJ. VAUGHN JAS. VAUGHN JEREMIAH WAIT SAML. WALKER AZEL WASHBURN STEPHN WASHBURN ISAAC WHELPLEY JEREMIAH WHELPLEY JOHN WHITE ENOCH WOODBRIDGE

WAR OF 1812

ROBERT ANDERSON ALVAH BISHOP JOHN BLACK ELIJAH BURTON JOSEPH BURTON LEMUEL COLLINS BENJAMIN DIBBLE GURDON EATON SAMUEL FOLSOM ABRAM C. FOWLER DAVID GLAZIER JOHN HARRIS APOLLOS HARVEY JABEZ HAWLEY TRUMAN HILL SERENUS KILBURN TRUMAN KIMPTON ELIJAH LITTLEFIELD	MATHEW LOGAN BENJAMIN MUNSON JEREMIAH ODELL DANIEL OLDS JOHN R. PETTIBONE JOHN S. PETTIBONE DAVID REYNOLDS JOHN W. ROBINSON JOHN H. RULE LEONARD SARGEANT SIALS SMITH BURTON STRAIGHT NATHAN THOMPSON SAMUEL THOMPSON JOHN C. WALKER THOMAS WAIT ELIPHALET WELLS JAMES WHELPLEY
SAMUEL R. WHIDDEN

MEXICAN WAR

NICHOLS BARNARD
	PIERREPONT RAYMOND
		BENJAMIN S. ROBERTS

CIVIL WAR

W.H. AXTELL R.E. BALDWIN J.E. BATCHELDER JED BELL D.W. BENNETT H.T. BENNETT S. BENNETT W.K. BENNETT TRUMAN BENTLEY W.A. BLACK COLLINS BLACKMER J.C. BLACKMER A.B. BOYNTON CHAS. BROWN HENRY BROWN W.G. BROWN C.A. BUNDY NELSON BURNHAM S.E. BURNHAM C. BURLINGAME I.M. BURTON C..J. BURTON EDW. CAMPBELL W.S. CHAPIN C.W. CHAPMAN BRENTON CHELLIS H.C. CLAYTON G.H. COBURN S.H. COBURN F.O. CONNOR E.W. COOK F.W. COOK E.M. CUMMINGS HENRY CUMMINGS H.P. CUMMINGS S.A. CUMMINGS WM. CUMMINGS W.H. H. CUMMINGS H.C. DAWSON JOS. DEMARS G.H. DICKINSON C.P. DUDLEY

D.H.DYER FAYETTE DYER T.B. EATON D.W. EDDY MARK FARNSWORTH D.O. FELT GEO. FLEMING JEROME GLEASON MYRON GLEASON. S. GLEASON R.C. GRAY JOS. GRENIER J.H. HALEY M. HANLON C.M. HARD M.D. HASKINS L.H. HEMENWAY JAS. HICKS C.H. HILL MYRON JAMESON SMITH JAMESON MORT KEARSE TOM KEARSE A..J. KILBURN S. KILBURN J.U. LEONARD ALBERT McCOY CHAS. MEARS J.B. MUNSON S.L. NORCROSS ELIJAH PHILLIPS GEO. PHILLIPS CHAS. A. PIERCE E.W. PIERCE C.H. POND HARRISON PRINDLE CALVIN REED DEAN REED JOHN REED V. REAULO JOHN REYNOLDS

T. REYNOLDS C.H. RIDOUT B.K. ROBERTS RICH ROBERTS S.H. SEAVER G.H. SESSIONS G.W. SESSIONS, JR. C.G. SHELDON D.K. SIMONDS RICHARD SKINNER FRANK SMITH W.H. SMITH A.B. STRAIGHT G.H. SWIFT H.W. SYKES NATH’L TOWSLEY G.P. UTLEY M.W. UTLEY J.M. VANDERLIP JOHN VAUGHN C.HH. WALKER T.M. WAITE W.W. WARNER S.H. WESTCOTT A.A. WHEELER DAN’L WHEELER O.O. WHITMAN H. WHITTON H. WICHTMAN N.A. WICHTMAN W.C. WILSON C.L. WOODWARD W.H. WOODWARD C. WYMAN C.M. WYMAN H.A. WYMAN M.D. WYMAN M.G. WYMAN W.M. WYMAN H.D. YOUNG O.M. BELL

Wishful Wednesday – Great (and Great-Great-Great…) Grandfathers

Wishful Wednesday is a new blogging prompt that I saw on Geneabloggers this afternoon.  The idea behind Wishful Wednesday is to write about an ancestor that you wish you could have known personally.

When I first saw this, three men came immediately to mind; Barnabas Davis, the first of my line in America, Ernest Solomon Davis, my great-grandfather, and Charles Wesley Jenkins, Ernest’s father-in-law.

Barnabas, in particular, I find fascinating.  As I’ve mentioned before, he was the first Davis of my line in America, and I am the last, so we sort of book-end our family.  Aside from that, though, the man had a life full of adventure.  He crossed the Atlantic numerous times, spent time fighting both Indians and lawsuits, raised several children, and lived during the time of the Great Migration.  I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to sit down in front of a fire with him later in his life, listening to him recount his younger years.  It would be amazing to listen to a first-hand account of sailing across the ocean that many times.

Further down the family line, Ernest Davis, descendant of Barnabas, intrigues me.  First, thanks to my parents, we purposefully share initials.  Next, at one point in his life, he worked as a blacksmith, later he worked as a lineman for a local telephone company.  I find these two facts interesting as I enjoy working with tools myself, and I also, at one point in my life, worked in the telco industry.  Finally, I came across an old book of his one time, and he had signed the inside front cover, “E.S. Davis”, in the same manner and similar script as how I sometime sign my name.  I’d love to talk to him and see if we have anything else in common.

Ernest’s father-in-law, Charles Jenkins, as I mentioned in a previous post, is something of a mystery to me.  He took part in the Civil War, may have been born out west, but apparently lived in Massachusetts while the rest of the family lived in Vermont.  I have so many questions for him about where, why, and how he came to be in the places that he was.  From my research so far, he may have been near a few famous Civil War battles, but it doesn’t look like he actually took part in them.  I’m curious if it was circumstance or design.  For instance, did he really get sick a couple of days before Gettysburg, or did he know what was coming and found a way to serve without actually going into combat?  I may never know, but I’d sure love to ask him.