Ancestors and Relatives of T. Walker, Secretary

According to his Union pension, Oliver Cable Everly was born 27 December 1845 in Pennsylvania to John Everly and Ellen Smith. Two affidavits in the pension file are in disagreement about his place of birth. One indicates Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and another document states he was born in Yellow Creek, which is in Bedford County. The Everly family is found on the 1850 US Federal Population Census of Ohio County Virginia (later West Virginia). Oliver and his younger brother Isaac Alonzo Everly appear to have been living on their own by 1860 in Belmont County Ohio.

Oliver Everly was in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio on the 8th of October 1864 where his service record indicates that he enlisted as a substitute in Company D, 19th Ohio Infanty. A monument to this unit was erected at Chickamauga Tennessee, and their unit flag has been preserved at the Ohio State Historical Society..

Oliver returned to Belmont County after the war, and on September 3rd, 1868, married Susannah Spilman. Of their six children, only daughter Olive married and has descendants, as mentioned in Kansas Pioneers (1975, The Topeka Genealogical Society, Walsworth Publishing). Oliver and Susannah are buried at Burlingame Cemetery in Osage County, Kansas.

Elias Firebaugh (1833 – 1902) was the twelfth of thirteen children born to John Firebaugh and Elizabeth Friend of Harrison County, Ohio.

Elias married Mary E. Boor November 1, 1855 in Harrison County. Three years later Elias, Mary and two small daughters joined a group migrating west, which included extended family members of his brother in law, John Heaston, who had married Elias’ sister, Frances. Some of these families settled in Doniphan County, Kansas. Elias Firebaugh and John Heaston both made their homes just across the border in Richardson County, Nebraska Territory. Elias Firebaugh and Mary Boor have been recognized as a “First Family of Nebraska” by the Nebraska State Genealogical Society.

In March 1863, Elias Firebaugh and John Heaston both mustered in to the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry. The Second Nebraska Cavalry protected settlers and freight companies along the Platte River Road and fought Indians who were at war with the United States. After the war, Elias became a member of GAR Post #84 in Falls City. The GAR building in Falls City is one of only four original halls still standing in Nebraska.

According to the 1900 US Federal Census, Elias Firebaugh and Mary Boor were the parents of nine children, of which only Irene and Alvin have descendants living today. A metal G.A.R. marker stands next to the large granite tombstone of Elias Firebaugh at Steele Cemetery in Falls City, Nebraska.

My ancestor, William H. Gosline and most of his siblings were born in Canada, in what is today Lennox / Addington County Ontario, to Pratt Foster Gosline and Sarah H. Wriley / Riley.

The Gosline family is found on the 1850 US Federal Census of Monroe County New York and on the 1855 New York state census in Perinton, Monroe County, New York. Sarah Gosline and the children migrated to Butler County Ohio by 1857. William had gone several years earlier to Ohio, and married about 1854 to Cordelia Stark of Delaware County. The father, Pratt F. Gosline is believed to have possibly died intestate in Monroe County, NY after 1855.

Three of the Gosline sons answered the Buckeye State's call for volunteers to defend the Union. Their sister Lucy had married back in Monroe County to Samuel Benjamin. He served in Company F of the 69th Ohio Infantry. Another sister, Emily married 1857 in Butler County Ohio to Henry Vogt / Voght, who was a native of Holland. Henry served in Company G, 100th Ohio Infantry.

William, who was the oldest of these three brothers, enlisted 29 July 1862. He was a skilled Blacksmith, adept at handling teams and keeping the wagons for several companies of the 96th Ohio Infantry rolling. A beautifully restored image of the Regimental Colors of the 96th OVI has been placed online at the Ohio Historical Society. After the war he and Cordelia moved to Dixon County Nebraska. William is buried with his second wife, Martha L. Mosher (daughter of Philip Mosher and Cynthia Haskins) at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Union County, South Dakota. A full text history "Services of the Ninety Sixth Ohio Volunteers" by J. T. Woods is available to read or download on Google Books.

The next Gosline brother to serve, Albert L. Gosline was born 1842 in Canada. He signed with Company L of the 4th Ohio Cavalry. Near the end of the war, Albert was promoted to Captain of Company K, 138th Colored Infantry. When the unit disbanded in Atlanta, Georgia, Albert remained in the south. Albert married three times. His first wife was Martha Johnson, and they had one daugther, Ella in 1867. He married Second to Polly Ann Norton in 1874. She lived only two months after the marriage. His third wife was Elizabeth "Bettie" McCarley. They had four known children. Albert became a Mason, and was elected Treasurer of Fulton County Georgia in 1879. He died 1891 in Douglas County, Georgia. His grave is unmarked, and early cemetery records for the Douglasville Cemetery have been lost.

The youngest brother, Finley W. Gosline, born 1847 in Canada, was only 16 when he enlisted in the 115th Ohio Infantry. He was part of a two hundred member detachment of Company C which was captured December 5, 1864 at Lavergne Tennesssee while guarding the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. They were taken by train to Andersonville Prison. Upon liberation of the diseased and emaciated Andersonville prisoners in May 1865, most were sent home on the ill fated steamship Sultana. Finley was too weak from the effects of Scurvy and Dysentery to travel. He remained in an area hospital for a short time before making his way home to Ohio. Along with Horace Cochran and John J. Davis, Finley Gosline is one of only three known survivors of those two hundred men. Finley W. Gosline is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Columbus Ohio with his wife, Lida Lenhart and two sons.

John Garrett Haskins was born about 1844, the only son of Peter W. Haskins and Lucinda Newbury. Peter and Lucinda were also the parents of three daughters, Cynthia Ann born 1835, Julia Ann born 1837, and Melvina born 1841. The family was originally from Chautauqua County, New York. In 1836, they moved to Huron County, Ohio, and to Richland County, Wisconsin in 1849. In 1853, Peter Haskins laid out the town plat and founded the town of Petersburg, in Richland County. The Haskins daughters all married in Petersburg. Cynthia married Philip Mosher, Julia married Levi Reed and Melvina married Franklin Page.

John G. Haskins enlisted on the 30th of September, 1861 in the 6th Wisconsin Light Artillery, known as the "Buena Vista Artillery" along with his uncles John Price and Nelson Newbury. The 6th Wisconsin Light Artillery was at the Battle of Corinth Mississippi on 4 October 1862, but John Haskins may have been too ill to fight. He died 13 October 1862 in Corinth of Pneumonia and Dysentery.

With the death of his son, the town that Peter and Lucinda Haskins had so carefully planned, held no interest. Three months later on 23 January 1863, Peter sold the townsite of Petersburg to Anthony (Anton) Dederick, a prosperous German settler. Petersburg is known today as Bear Valley. Peter Haskins moved west to Dakota Territory and became one of the first homesteaders of Union County, South Dakota. When he retired from his trade as a Blacksmith, Peter and Lucinda moved across the Big Sioux River and lived their remaining years in Hawarden, Sioux County, Iowa. They are buried at Grace Hill Cemetery in Hawarden, Iowa.

John A. Hetrick was born 30 September 1831 in Blair County, Pennsylvania, the fourth child of Michael Hetrick and Catherine Acker. John married 1853 in York County Pennsylvania to Agnes Fry, a daughter of Jacob Fry and Catherine Huber.

The sons of Michael Hetrick and Catherine Acker - Samuel, Michael, William, Jacob, and John served various Pennsylvania Infantry units. Although we have no photo, the physical description in his pension file tells us that John was a striking six feet tall, with dark hair, dark complexion, and grey eyes. His unit, Company E of the 84th Pennsylvania Infantry was among those at the Battle of Fredericksburg, where John was of the many wounded. He remained in service until the end of the war, and was honorably discharged on 24th of July, 1865.

John returned to his home in Blair County, and remained there until 1878, when the family moved to Saunders County, Nebraska. He and Agnes had eight children - Catherine, Rueben, Emmanuel, Frederick, Amos, Jacob, Sarah, and William, who was only five years old at the time they left Pennsylvania.

John died 13 May 1899 in Saunders County, and is buried at Indian Mound Cemetery in Ithaca, Nebraska. He was probably a member of John A. Andrew G.A.R. Post 90, in Wahoo, Saunders County. The top of John's tombstone is engraved with a G.A.R. symbol.