WILLIAM HENRY MCCLELLAN was the son of HANNAH HOGE/HOGUE and WILLIAM MCCLELLAND of PA, OH, and KS. As the 9th of their 10 or 11 children, he was born in OH after his parents moved there from Fayette Co, PA some time between between 1831 - 1835.
WHM probably enlisted in response to Pres.Lincoln's appeal for "100 day men"; men who were mostly in their teens when the war started who had not previously seen service. Rather than train them longer periods of time for combat, it was Lincoln's intention that they quickly take over non-combat roles such as guarding arms depots, bridges, POW camps, garrisons, etc. and free up the experienced soldiers for the remainder of the fighting.
WILLIAM HENRY MCCLELLAN joined the Union army as a member of the Ohio Volunteer National Guard, Co. G, 141st. Regiment. This regiment was composed of remnants of 4 battalions, the 36th from Athens Co., the 16th from Gallia Co., the 84th from Adams Co., and the 20th from Scioto Co. He mustered in at age 19 as a corporal in Gallipolis, OH between 11-14 May, 1864. The unit traveled to Charleston, WVA for garrison guard duty and mustered out on 3 Sept 1864.
They fought or skirmished on 20 June at Barboursville, WVA but took no combat casualties, losing a total of 4 enlisted men to disease. [source: "The Union Army", Vol.2]
He was a fifer for his unit and as a veteran joined the Meade Post #2 of the Grand Army of the Republic in Oregon City, OR in 1890, for which he played as part of the fife and drum band. He remained a member until his death in 1924.
After War service he joined his parents in Doniphan Co, KS where they had moved during the conflict, having left their home in Athens County, Ohio. There he married MARTHA JANE CURTIS, the daughter of staunch abolitionists MARY ANN "POLLY" WARREN CURTIS and JOHN MADISON CURTIS.
They wed in Troy, Doniphan Co, KS 0n 24 February 1870. MARTHA JANE was 19, WILLIAM HENRY was 25. They had 4 daughters and 2 sons. MARTHA JANE died in Doniphan Co. on 14 March 1881, just 9 days after giving birth to her son MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN. At the time her parents were both very ill according to a few lines of local news in the local Kansas Chief newspaper. It is not known if she died of complications of childbirth or from disease. Her parents survived and lived many more years.
MARTHA JANE CURTIS is buried in the old Masonic cemetery in Doniphan Co, KS, now called the Doniphan cemetery south of Troy. It is a remote site with a dirt road that turns to mud after prolonged rain and is best accessed in summer. This cemetery is not listed on many cemetery lists for Doniphan County. It once served the Missouri River town of Doniphan, pop. 5000, which was ultimately washed away when the river flooded and swept away the waterfront.
WILLIAM'S older sister ELIZABETH MCCLELLAN BRAY and her husband NELSON LUKE BRAY owned the farm next to that of WILLIAM and MARTHA JANE in Osborne County, KS. ELIZABETH had been widowed a few years before MARTHA'S death but she stayed on and tried to make a go of it for some years after. It was probably her maternal influence that helped raise the MCCLELLAN children and possibly his paternal influence that helped raise her sons after their father's death.
Around 1899 the widowed WILLIAM, with his brother THOMAS MCCLELLAN, sister LOVINA MCCLELLAN SARVER and their families, moved to Tenino, Thurston County, WA. As no family story of a late wagon train journey exists we assume they all moved by train.
By 1890 WILLIAM and his six children were settled in Oregon City, OR according to his Civil War pension application. Sister ELIZABETH BRAY lost her farm and followed her only married son to Brighton, CO.
WILLIAM HENRY MCCLELLAN and MARTHA JANE CURTIS - their known children:
1) Mary "Mollie" Isabelle McClellan (1871-1961).
Husband: Almon Terrell Dodge
2) Nella McClellan (1873-1937). [my g-g-grandmother]
Husband: Reuben Rudolph "Dube" Alldredge
3) Jessie Grace McClellan (1876-1912).
Husband 1: Unknown Mosier
Husband 2: Roy Neptune Woodworth
4) William J. McClellan (1877-?) Disappeared.
5) Lenora "Nora" Maud SHRUM (1879-1959).
Husband: Dayrette Payne Shrum
6) Milton Oliver MCCLELLAN (1881-?) Disappeared after abandoning wife and son.
Wife: Martha Sarah "Mattie" Pollman
Burial sites are unknown at this time for the two brothers WILLIAM J. and MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN. WILLIAM J. was among the six children who left Kansas with their father for WA and OR. The last known record for WILLIAM J. is at age 8 on the 1885 KS state census.
Last-born child MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN also came west and moved to Tenino, WA where as a young adult he worked as a coal miner. He married but deserted his wife and child in Kennett, CA around 1914/15, later signing a draft registration card in Plymouth, CA in the year 1918. His life after that is a mystery.
WHM's obituaries mention only one son, a Norman, or N.C., who enlisted in WW I at Farr, CO and disappeared, presumably in the fighting overseas. No one now living remembers such a person and it seems likely these are misspellings of MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN'S first initials. No WW I service record has been found for MILTON at this writing.
WHM never remarried, but lived at various times with each of his daughters and their families in OR, helping them with all his resources. The last years of his life he lived with NELLA and her husband REUBEN RUDOLPH "DUBE" ALLDREGE in Oregon City. His grave is 5 rows west of Tucker Rd./12th. St in Hood River. His grandson, GILFORD D. WOODWORTH, age 18 days, is buried next to him. Another Woodworth grandson was given the name Gilford P. some years later.
WILLIAM HENRY smoked a pipe and played the fife. He belonged to his G.A.R. post's fife and drum corp throughout his last 30+ years of life. His Civil War service records no longer exist with the NARA, other than date of mustering in and date of mustering out with the 141st. One family story tells of the "scrape" he got into during the Civil War, when he disobeyed an order. Details have been lost to time, but the story claims he did so because he believed the order to be illegal, immoral, or both. Supposedly he was nearly court-martialed, but there is no record of such an event.
"History never looks like history when you are living through it."
John W. Gardner (1912 - 2002), quoted by Bill Moyers.
Sources from Ancestry.com:
Federal censuses for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1900, 1910, and 1920.
Newspaper obituaries, NARA archives, "The Union Army" Vol. 2.
Military: American Civil War Regiments, Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934.
U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles.
Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 for 1865 and 1885. Kansas, County Marriages, 1811-1911, pg. 50, top left, file # 001787694.
Oregon Death Index, 1903-98.
Obituary of MARTHA JANE CURTIS MCCLELLAN in the Weekly Kansas Chief newspaper, 24 March 1881.
Other sources: Family lore.
Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database (Nat.'l. Park Service).
Biography updated and new sources provided on 31 Aug. 2019 and 23 May 2022.
WHM probably enlisted in response to Pres.Lincoln's appeal for "100 day men"; men who were mostly in their teens when the war started who had not previously seen service. Rather than train them longer periods of time for combat, it was Lincoln's intention that they quickly take over non-combat roles such as guarding arms depots, bridges, POW camps, garrisons, etc. and free up the experienced soldiers for the remainder of the fighting.
WILLIAM HENRY MCCLELLAN joined the Union army as a member of the Ohio Volunteer National Guard, Co. G, 141st. Regiment. This regiment was composed of remnants of 4 battalions, the 36th from Athens Co., the 16th from Gallia Co., the 84th from Adams Co., and the 20th from Scioto Co. He mustered in at age 19 as a corporal in Gallipolis, OH between 11-14 May, 1864. The unit traveled to Charleston, WVA for garrison guard duty and mustered out on 3 Sept 1864.
They fought or skirmished on 20 June at Barboursville, WVA but took no combat casualties, losing a total of 4 enlisted men to disease. [source: "The Union Army", Vol.2]
He was a fifer for his unit and as a veteran joined the Meade Post #2 of the Grand Army of the Republic in Oregon City, OR in 1890, for which he played as part of the fife and drum band. He remained a member until his death in 1924.
After War service he joined his parents in Doniphan Co, KS where they had moved during the conflict, having left their home in Athens County, Ohio. There he married MARTHA JANE CURTIS, the daughter of staunch abolitionists MARY ANN "POLLY" WARREN CURTIS and JOHN MADISON CURTIS.
They wed in Troy, Doniphan Co, KS 0n 24 February 1870. MARTHA JANE was 19, WILLIAM HENRY was 25. They had 4 daughters and 2 sons. MARTHA JANE died in Doniphan Co. on 14 March 1881, just 9 days after giving birth to her son MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN. At the time her parents were both very ill according to a few lines of local news in the local Kansas Chief newspaper. It is not known if she died of complications of childbirth or from disease. Her parents survived and lived many more years.
MARTHA JANE CURTIS is buried in the old Masonic cemetery in Doniphan Co, KS, now called the Doniphan cemetery south of Troy. It is a remote site with a dirt road that turns to mud after prolonged rain and is best accessed in summer. This cemetery is not listed on many cemetery lists for Doniphan County. It once served the Missouri River town of Doniphan, pop. 5000, which was ultimately washed away when the river flooded and swept away the waterfront.
WILLIAM'S older sister ELIZABETH MCCLELLAN BRAY and her husband NELSON LUKE BRAY owned the farm next to that of WILLIAM and MARTHA JANE in Osborne County, KS. ELIZABETH had been widowed a few years before MARTHA'S death but she stayed on and tried to make a go of it for some years after. It was probably her maternal influence that helped raise the MCCLELLAN children and possibly his paternal influence that helped raise her sons after their father's death.
Around 1899 the widowed WILLIAM, with his brother THOMAS MCCLELLAN, sister LOVINA MCCLELLAN SARVER and their families, moved to Tenino, Thurston County, WA. As no family story of a late wagon train journey exists we assume they all moved by train.
By 1890 WILLIAM and his six children were settled in Oregon City, OR according to his Civil War pension application. Sister ELIZABETH BRAY lost her farm and followed her only married son to Brighton, CO.
WILLIAM HENRY MCCLELLAN and MARTHA JANE CURTIS - their known children:
1) Mary "Mollie" Isabelle McClellan (1871-1961).
Husband: Almon Terrell Dodge
2) Nella McClellan (1873-1937). [my g-g-grandmother]
Husband: Reuben Rudolph "Dube" Alldredge
3) Jessie Grace McClellan (1876-1912).
Husband 1: Unknown Mosier
Husband 2: Roy Neptune Woodworth
4) William J. McClellan (1877-?) Disappeared.
5) Lenora "Nora" Maud SHRUM (1879-1959).
Husband: Dayrette Payne Shrum
6) Milton Oliver MCCLELLAN (1881-?) Disappeared after abandoning wife and son.
Wife: Martha Sarah "Mattie" Pollman
Burial sites are unknown at this time for the two brothers WILLIAM J. and MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN. WILLIAM J. was among the six children who left Kansas with their father for WA and OR. The last known record for WILLIAM J. is at age 8 on the 1885 KS state census.
Last-born child MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN also came west and moved to Tenino, WA where as a young adult he worked as a coal miner. He married but deserted his wife and child in Kennett, CA around 1914/15, later signing a draft registration card in Plymouth, CA in the year 1918. His life after that is a mystery.
WHM's obituaries mention only one son, a Norman, or N.C., who enlisted in WW I at Farr, CO and disappeared, presumably in the fighting overseas. No one now living remembers such a person and it seems likely these are misspellings of MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN'S first initials. No WW I service record has been found for MILTON at this writing.
WHM never remarried, but lived at various times with each of his daughters and their families in OR, helping them with all his resources. The last years of his life he lived with NELLA and her husband REUBEN RUDOLPH "DUBE" ALLDREGE in Oregon City. His grave is 5 rows west of Tucker Rd./12th. St in Hood River. His grandson, GILFORD D. WOODWORTH, age 18 days, is buried next to him. Another Woodworth grandson was given the name Gilford P. some years later.
WILLIAM HENRY smoked a pipe and played the fife. He belonged to his G.A.R. post's fife and drum corp throughout his last 30+ years of life. His Civil War service records no longer exist with the NARA, other than date of mustering in and date of mustering out with the 141st. One family story tells of the "scrape" he got into during the Civil War, when he disobeyed an order. Details have been lost to time, but the story claims he did so because he believed the order to be illegal, immoral, or both. Supposedly he was nearly court-martialed, but there is no record of such an event.
"History never looks like history when you are living through it."
John W. Gardner (1912 - 2002), quoted by Bill Moyers.
Sources from Ancestry.com:
Federal censuses for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1900, 1910, and 1920.
Newspaper obituaries, NARA archives, "The Union Army" Vol. 2.
Military: American Civil War Regiments, Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934.
U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles.
Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 for 1865 and 1885. Kansas, County Marriages, 1811-1911, pg. 50, top left, file # 001787694.
Oregon Death Index, 1903-98.
Obituary of MARTHA JANE CURTIS MCCLELLAN in the Weekly Kansas Chief newspaper, 24 March 1881.
Other sources: Family lore.
Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database (Nat.'l. Park Service).
Biography updated and new sources provided on 31 Aug. 2019 and 23 May 2022.
WILLIAM HENRY MCCLELLAN was the son of HANNAH HOGE/HOGUE and WILLIAM MCCLELLAND of PA, OH, and KS. As the 9th of their 10 or 11 children, he was born in OH after his parents moved there from Fayette Co, PA some time between between 1831 - 1835.
WHM probably enlisted in response to Pres.Lincoln's appeal for "100 day men"; men who were mostly in their teens when the war started who had not previously seen service. Rather than train them longer periods of time for combat, it was Lincoln's intention that they quickly take over non-combat roles such as guarding arms depots, bridges, POW camps, garrisons, etc. and free up the experienced soldiers for the remainder of the fighting.
WILLIAM HENRY MCCLELLAN joined the Union army as a member of the Ohio Volunteer National Guard, Co. G, 141st. Regiment. This regiment was composed of remnants of 4 battalions, the 36th from Athens Co., the 16th from Gallia Co., the 84th from Adams Co., and the 20th from Scioto Co. He mustered in at age 19 as a corporal in Gallipolis, OH between 11-14 May, 1864. The unit traveled to Charleston, WVA for garrison guard duty and mustered out on 3 Sept 1864.
They fought or skirmished on 20 June at Barboursville, WVA but took no combat casualties, losing a total of 4 enlisted men to disease. [source: "The Union Army", Vol.2]
He was a fifer for his unit and as a veteran joined the Meade Post #2 of the Grand Army of the Republic in Oregon City, OR in 1890, for which he played as part of the fife and drum band. He remained a member until his death in 1924.
After War service he joined his parents in Doniphan Co, KS where they had moved during the conflict, having left their home in Athens County, Ohio. There he married MARTHA JANE CURTIS, the daughter of staunch abolitionists MARY ANN "POLLY" WARREN CURTIS and JOHN MADISON CURTIS.
They wed in Troy, Doniphan Co, KS 0n 24 February 1870. MARTHA JANE was 19, WILLIAM HENRY was 25. They had 4 daughters and 2 sons. MARTHA JANE died in Doniphan Co. on 14 March 1881, just 9 days after giving birth to her son MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN. At the time her parents were both very ill according to a few lines of local news in the local Kansas Chief newspaper. It is not known if she died of complications of childbirth or from disease. Her parents survived and lived many more years.
MARTHA JANE CURTIS is buried in the old Masonic cemetery in Doniphan Co, KS, now called the Doniphan cemetery south of Troy. It is a remote site with a dirt road that turns to mud after prolonged rain and is best accessed in summer. This cemetery is not listed on many cemetery lists for Doniphan County. It once served the Missouri River town of Doniphan, pop. 5000, which was ultimately washed away when the river flooded and swept away the waterfront.
WILLIAM'S older sister ELIZABETH MCCLELLAN BRAY and her husband NELSON LUKE BRAY owned the farm next to that of WILLIAM and MARTHA JANE in Osborne County, KS. ELIZABETH had been widowed a few years before MARTHA'S death but she stayed on and tried to make a go of it for some years after. It was probably her maternal influence that helped raise the MCCLELLAN children and possibly his paternal influence that helped raise her sons after their father's death.
Around 1899 the widowed WILLIAM, with his brother THOMAS MCCLELLAN, sister LOVINA MCCLELLAN SARVER and their families, moved to Tenino, Thurston County, WA. As no family story of a late wagon train journey exists we assume they all moved by train.
By 1890 WILLIAM and his six children were settled in Oregon City, OR according to his Civil War pension application. Sister ELIZABETH BRAY lost her farm and followed her only married son to Brighton, CO.
WILLIAM HENRY MCCLELLAN and MARTHA JANE CURTIS - their known children:
1) Mary "Mollie" Isabelle McClellan (1871-1961).
Husband: Almon Terrell Dodge
2) Nella McClellan (1873-1937). [my g-g-grandmother]
Husband: Reuben Rudolph "Dube" Alldredge
3) Jessie Grace McClellan (1876-1912).
Husband 1: Unknown Mosier
Husband 2: Roy Neptune Woodworth
4) William J. McClellan (1877-?) Disappeared.
5) Lenora "Nora" Maud SHRUM (1879-1959).
Husband: Dayrette Payne Shrum
6) Milton Oliver MCCLELLAN (1881-?) Disappeared after abandoning wife and son.
Wife: Martha Sarah "Mattie" Pollman
Burial sites are unknown at this time for the two brothers WILLIAM J. and MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN. WILLIAM J. was among the six children who left Kansas with their father for WA and OR. The last known record for WILLIAM J. is at age 8 on the 1885 KS state census.
Last-born child MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN also came west and moved to Tenino, WA where as a young adult he worked as a coal miner. He married but deserted his wife and child in Kennett, CA around 1914/15, later signing a draft registration card in Plymouth, CA in the year 1918. His life after that is a mystery.
WHM's obituaries mention only one son, a Norman, or N.C., who enlisted in WW I at Farr, CO and disappeared, presumably in the fighting overseas. No one now living remembers such a person and it seems likely these are misspellings of MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN'S first initials. No WW I service record has been found for MILTON at this writing.
WHM never remarried, but lived at various times with each of his daughters and their families in OR, helping them with all his resources. The last years of his life he lived with NELLA and her husband REUBEN RUDOLPH "DUBE" ALLDREGE in Oregon City. His grave is 5 rows west of Tucker Rd./12th. St in Hood River. His grandson, GILFORD D. WOODWORTH, age 18 days, is buried next to him. Another Woodworth grandson was given the name Gilford P. some years later.
WILLIAM HENRY smoked a pipe and played the fife. He belonged to his G.A.R. post's fife and drum corp throughout his last 30+ years of life. His Civil War service records no longer exist with the NARA, other than date of mustering in and date of mustering out with the 141st. One family story tells of the "scrape" he got into during the Civil War, when he disobeyed an order. Details have been lost to time, but the story claims he did so because he believed the order to be illegal, immoral, or both. Supposedly he was nearly court-martialed, but there is no record of such an event.
"History never looks like history when you are living through it."
John W. Gardner (1912 - 2002), quoted by Bill Moyers.
Sources from Ancestry.com:
Federal censuses for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1900, 1910, and 1920.
Newspaper obituaries, NARA archives, "The Union Army" Vol. 2.
Military: American Civil War Regiments, Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934.
U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles.
Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 for 1865 and 1885. Kansas, County Marriages, 1811-1911, pg. 50, top left, file # 001787694.
Oregon Death Index, 1903-98.
Obituary of MARTHA JANE CURTIS MCCLELLAN in the Weekly Kansas Chief newspaper, 24 March 1881.
Other sources: Family lore.
Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database (Nat.'l. Park Service).
Biography updated and new sources provided on 31 Aug. 2019 and 23 May 2022.
WHM probably enlisted in response to Pres.Lincoln's appeal for "100 day men"; men who were mostly in their teens when the war started who had not previously seen service. Rather than train them longer periods of time for combat, it was Lincoln's intention that they quickly take over non-combat roles such as guarding arms depots, bridges, POW camps, garrisons, etc. and free up the experienced soldiers for the remainder of the fighting.
WILLIAM HENRY MCCLELLAN joined the Union army as a member of the Ohio Volunteer National Guard, Co. G, 141st. Regiment. This regiment was composed of remnants of 4 battalions, the 36th from Athens Co., the 16th from Gallia Co., the 84th from Adams Co., and the 20th from Scioto Co. He mustered in at age 19 as a corporal in Gallipolis, OH between 11-14 May, 1864. The unit traveled to Charleston, WVA for garrison guard duty and mustered out on 3 Sept 1864.
They fought or skirmished on 20 June at Barboursville, WVA but took no combat casualties, losing a total of 4 enlisted men to disease. [source: "The Union Army", Vol.2]
He was a fifer for his unit and as a veteran joined the Meade Post #2 of the Grand Army of the Republic in Oregon City, OR in 1890, for which he played as part of the fife and drum band. He remained a member until his death in 1924.
After War service he joined his parents in Doniphan Co, KS where they had moved during the conflict, having left their home in Athens County, Ohio. There he married MARTHA JANE CURTIS, the daughter of staunch abolitionists MARY ANN "POLLY" WARREN CURTIS and JOHN MADISON CURTIS.
They wed in Troy, Doniphan Co, KS 0n 24 February 1870. MARTHA JANE was 19, WILLIAM HENRY was 25. They had 4 daughters and 2 sons. MARTHA JANE died in Doniphan Co. on 14 March 1881, just 9 days after giving birth to her son MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN. At the time her parents were both very ill according to a few lines of local news in the local Kansas Chief newspaper. It is not known if she died of complications of childbirth or from disease. Her parents survived and lived many more years.
MARTHA JANE CURTIS is buried in the old Masonic cemetery in Doniphan Co, KS, now called the Doniphan cemetery south of Troy. It is a remote site with a dirt road that turns to mud after prolonged rain and is best accessed in summer. This cemetery is not listed on many cemetery lists for Doniphan County. It once served the Missouri River town of Doniphan, pop. 5000, which was ultimately washed away when the river flooded and swept away the waterfront.
WILLIAM'S older sister ELIZABETH MCCLELLAN BRAY and her husband NELSON LUKE BRAY owned the farm next to that of WILLIAM and MARTHA JANE in Osborne County, KS. ELIZABETH had been widowed a few years before MARTHA'S death but she stayed on and tried to make a go of it for some years after. It was probably her maternal influence that helped raise the MCCLELLAN children and possibly his paternal influence that helped raise her sons after their father's death.
Around 1899 the widowed WILLIAM, with his brother THOMAS MCCLELLAN, sister LOVINA MCCLELLAN SARVER and their families, moved to Tenino, Thurston County, WA. As no family story of a late wagon train journey exists we assume they all moved by train.
By 1890 WILLIAM and his six children were settled in Oregon City, OR according to his Civil War pension application. Sister ELIZABETH BRAY lost her farm and followed her only married son to Brighton, CO.
WILLIAM HENRY MCCLELLAN and MARTHA JANE CURTIS - their known children:
1) Mary "Mollie" Isabelle McClellan (1871-1961).
Husband: Almon Terrell Dodge
2) Nella McClellan (1873-1937). [my g-g-grandmother]
Husband: Reuben Rudolph "Dube" Alldredge
3) Jessie Grace McClellan (1876-1912).
Husband 1: Unknown Mosier
Husband 2: Roy Neptune Woodworth
4) William J. McClellan (1877-?) Disappeared.
5) Lenora "Nora" Maud SHRUM (1879-1959).
Husband: Dayrette Payne Shrum
6) Milton Oliver MCCLELLAN (1881-?) Disappeared after abandoning wife and son.
Wife: Martha Sarah "Mattie" Pollman
Burial sites are unknown at this time for the two brothers WILLIAM J. and MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN. WILLIAM J. was among the six children who left Kansas with their father for WA and OR. The last known record for WILLIAM J. is at age 8 on the 1885 KS state census.
Last-born child MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN also came west and moved to Tenino, WA where as a young adult he worked as a coal miner. He married but deserted his wife and child in Kennett, CA around 1914/15, later signing a draft registration card in Plymouth, CA in the year 1918. His life after that is a mystery.
WHM's obituaries mention only one son, a Norman, or N.C., who enlisted in WW I at Farr, CO and disappeared, presumably in the fighting overseas. No one now living remembers such a person and it seems likely these are misspellings of MILTON OLIVER MCCLELLAN'S first initials. No WW I service record has been found for MILTON at this writing.
WHM never remarried, but lived at various times with each of his daughters and their families in OR, helping them with all his resources. The last years of his life he lived with NELLA and her husband REUBEN RUDOLPH "DUBE" ALLDREGE in Oregon City. His grave is 5 rows west of Tucker Rd./12th. St in Hood River. His grandson, GILFORD D. WOODWORTH, age 18 days, is buried next to him. Another Woodworth grandson was given the name Gilford P. some years later.
WILLIAM HENRY smoked a pipe and played the fife. He belonged to his G.A.R. post's fife and drum corp throughout his last 30+ years of life. His Civil War service records no longer exist with the NARA, other than date of mustering in and date of mustering out with the 141st. One family story tells of the "scrape" he got into during the Civil War, when he disobeyed an order. Details have been lost to time, but the story claims he did so because he believed the order to be illegal, immoral, or both. Supposedly he was nearly court-martialed, but there is no record of such an event.
"History never looks like history when you are living through it."
John W. Gardner (1912 - 2002), quoted by Bill Moyers.
Sources from Ancestry.com:
Federal censuses for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1900, 1910, and 1920.
Newspaper obituaries, NARA archives, "The Union Army" Vol. 2.
Military: American Civil War Regiments, Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934.
U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles.
Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 for 1865 and 1885. Kansas, County Marriages, 1811-1911, pg. 50, top left, file # 001787694.
Oregon Death Index, 1903-98.
Obituary of MARTHA JANE CURTIS MCCLELLAN in the Weekly Kansas Chief newspaper, 24 March 1881.
Other sources: Family lore.
Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database (Nat.'l. Park Service).
Biography updated and new sources provided on 31 Aug. 2019 and 23 May 2022.
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