CivilWarTalk's (Mike's) Civil War Ancestry Research

What a gifted, gifted writer. This is an incredible piece. One of our in laws has letters home, hysterically composed of the soldier worrying endlessly his wife will spend all his money, and poorly while he is away at war. I don't think I'll point this out to him, he'll weep.

It's a kind of classic, by way of a synopsis, where the war is and what it meant. He's awfully good. Thanks very much for sharing these.
 
Discovered this today....

By T.E. Vassar

RejoiceAndShoutAloudTEVassar.jpg
 
Welcome to my personal ancestry research thread. During the American Civil War, at least three of my relatives served in the Union Army.

Rev. Thomas Edwin Vassar, D.D.
1834 - 1918
(Post-War Photo, circa 1872-1880, Flemington Baptist Church)
  • Thomas is my 3rd Great Grandfather
  • Son of William and Mary (Hageman) Vassar
  • Born on December 3, 1834 in Poughkeepsie, New York
  • Ordained as a Baptist Minister on January 19, 1857 in the First Baptist Church of Poughkeepsie, Age 22.
  • Married to Tamma G. Sackett on October 7, 1861
  • Chaplin of the 150th New York Volunteer Infantry
    • Service Duration: 10/11/1862 - 8/6/1863
    • Participated in the Battle of Gettysburg at the Peach Orchard (7/2) & Culps Hill (7/3)
  • Post War Vocation as a Traveling Minister, traveling as far west as Kansas City, Missouri before finally settling in Elizabeth, NJ
  • Children: Clarence, Thomas, Anvenette ('Nettie'), Frances, Harvey
  • Thomas is the Author of Uncle John Vassar: The fight of faith, published 1879
  • Died on July 2, 1918 in Elizabeth, NJ, likely of natural causes, at age 84
  • Buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Elizabeth/Hillside, NJ
    • Coord: 40°41'38.6"N 74°12'46.5"W (40.694051, -74.212906)
  • Thomas' name is listed on the front of the 150th NYVI Monument at Culps Hill, Gettysburg, PA

James Hervey Vassar
1839-1925
  • James is my 4th Great Uncle
  • Son of William and Mary (Hageman) Vassar
  • Born on October 20, 1839 in Poughkeepsie, New York
  • Corporal, 150th New York Volunteer Infantry, Co. A (10/62 to 6/65)
    • Participated in the Battle of Gettysburg at the Peach Orchard (7/2) & Culps Hill (7/3)
  • Married to Henrietta Rice
  • Post War Vocation was as a Clerk at the U.S. Sub Treasury in Boston, MA
  • Died on July 28, 1925
  • Buried at Worchester Rural Cemetery, Worcester, MA

Many apologies but I note you have the 150th New York in The Peach Orchard. I'm afraid that is incorrect. The 150th arrived on the morning of July 2nd as reinforcements from Washington DC for 12th Corps then holding Culps Hill. Upon Longstreet's attack on the opposite end of the line they were one of the 12th Corps units hastily ordered to go to the aid of the now heavily threatened 3rd Corps. They do not arrive until the attack is fizzling out [though unlike some 12th Corps units they do not get lost on the way] and so are returned to Culps Hill without firing a shot... where they find their original positions now in the control of the Rebels. The following morning they do end up in the heavy fighting on Culps Hill.
 
Many apologies but I note you have the 150th New York in The Peach Orchard. I'm afraid that is incorrect. The 150th arrived on the morning of July 2nd as reinforcements from Washington DC for 12th Corps then holding Culps Hill. Upon Longstreet's attack on the opposite end of the line they were one of the 12th Corps units hastily ordered to go to the aid of the now heavily threatened 3rd Corps. They do not arrive until the attack is fizzling out [though unlike some 12th Corps units they do not get lost on the way] and so are returned to Culps Hill without firing a shot... where they find their original positions now in the control of the Rebels. The following morning they do end up in the heavy fighting on Culps Hill.
Actually, ok I see what you are saying, that's probably not the right way to describe the position, I think I read a first hand account saying they were facing the peach orchard and misunderstood. But..... I presume the position marker at the Trostle House isn't wrong? That's what? 150 yards to the Peach Orchard?
 
Yeah here it is... My Great Grandfather wrote this to his local newspaper....

I have the opportunity of sending by special messenger (all mail communication being suspended) a brief account of the desperate battle just fought here and the part borne by the One Hundred and Fiftieth in the same. After a fatiguing march we reached this place on Thursday morning, July 2d, and found heavy skirmishing going on. About the middle of the afternoon the general engagement came on, opening with a furious artillery charge. An hour or two before sunset our corps (the Twelfth) was called out. The Dutchess boys, though weary, responded at once, but by the time we reached the position assigned us dusk was coming on and the tremendous fire which had been for hours incessantly kept up was slacking down and soon after altogether ceased.

We drove the enemy more than a mile, however, and recaptured and brought off three cannon which they had taken. While the regiment halted, awaiting farther orders, I strolled over the field, and fearful was the sight. All around the Union wounded lay thick, and pitiable were their cries for help. The ambulances soon arrived and commenced gathering them up. As it was too late for anything further that night, our brigade (General Lockwood's) was ordered to return to its camp.
So I guess I'm making a lot of assumptions, but reading about how he was walking the fields, I have another account that he wrote, or perhaps it was a speech he gave during his adventures out in the Midwest after the war, but he mentioned how he would go to a well near the Trostle house for water, and then carry it up the hill to the fatally wounded, this was in the middle of the night, I'm assuming his regiment had moved on back to Culps Hill by then. I think I always assumed he was talking about the Peach Orchard, I have to find that other account.
 
Here it is!

Here is a painful reminiscence; almost too harrowing
perhaps to be mentioned, although it refers to times so
far in the past. It belongs to that sultry sundown of
July 2nd, and a peach orchard was the place.

Our regiment had been helping regain the ground and
retake the guns which Sickles had lost during the after-
noon. We were pushing over ground littered with the
wounded, the dying and the dead, and my horse, not yet
become accustomed to such sights, stopped short. Dis-
mounting I tied him to a tree, proposing to follow on
foot. Hardly was I out of the saddle than those nearest
me, who were least injured, began their pitiful cries for
help. "Water! Water! Chaplain; for God's sake!"

This was the cry on every side. Seeing a small house
a fourth of a mile away I ran toward it, hoping to fill a
few canteens and furnish some relief. I found a well
there, but it was absolutely surrounded with wounded
men, some of whom must evidently have crawled thither
on their hands and knees. Some that could stand had
so drained the well that what now came up was so
thickened with mud as to be of the consistency of cream;
but even these nauseous driblets were clamored for with
passionate agony.

I stood beside that same well in the summer of 1902
when Nature all around was robed in her fairest hues and
forms, and very vividly stood out that summer night of
thirty-nine years earlier, when the heavens were lit with
trailing fire, the soil around drenched with blood, and
the air rent with shrieks and groans.

On this hunt for water I lost my regiment, and did not
find it again till nearly midnight.
From The "Dutchess County Regiment", 1907, Chapter XVIII, written by Thomas E. Vassar.
 
Last edited:
You are related to a knight! "Hold to the right."

James Hervey Vassar, who was of French and Dutch descent, was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, Oct. 20, 1839. He was the son of William and Mary (Hagerman) Vassar, and grandson of Thomas Vassar, who, with his brother James, came to New York from Taddenham, Norfolk, England, in October, 1796, and in the following spring settled in Poughkeepsie. The grandfather of Thomas was French and bore the name of Le Vassaur. He left France because of persecution for his Protestant views, going to England where the name was changed to Vassar. One early ancestor was knighted by Louis XIV for conspicuous bravery in battle. The crest is a gauntleted arm lifting a sword, with the words, "Tien le droit," "Hold to the right." Matthew Vassar, who founded Vassar College, was a cousin. Mary Hagerman traced her descent from old Dutch families of New York.

At the beginning of the Civil war, Mr. Vassar enlisted in the 150th New York Volunteers, becoming Captain during the service and was mustered out following the grand review in Washington in 1865. He then came to Lynn where his brother, the Rev. Thomas Vassar, was pastor of the First Baptist Church, and resided here till his death. He served as clerk in the United States Sub-Treasury in Boston for about fifty years.

In 1870, Mr. Vassar married Henrietta Rice, of Worcester, daughter of George M. and Rutha Rice, who was a descendant of the Peregrine White family. He died July 28, 1925, and his wife survives him with their daughter, Mary White Vassar. He was a member of the First Baptist Church for more than fifty years and a deacon for about forty years. He joined the Lynn Historical Society Apr. 20, 1915.

"The Register of the Lynn historical Society, Lynn, Massachusetts," 1898, Page 45
https://archive.org/details/registeroflynnhi05lynn
 
Another source about James.

James Hervey Vassar was the third and youngest son of William and Mary (Hageman) Vassar, and was born at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., October 20, 1839. He was named for his great-uncle, James, the father of the founder of Vassar College, so widely known. The great-uncle died while his namesake was still a babe. Thomas and James Vassar were the first of the line to cross the Atlantic, and the names of both brothers were perpetuated by boys in William Vassar's home.

Another son of William was called after his maternal grandfather, Adrian Hageman (sometimes written "Hegeman"), an uncle of the man who established the now widely known drug business of Hegeman, Clark & Co., of New York City. This brother too was a soldier of the Civil War, and an officer on the staff of General N. P. Banks. He died in the service at Point Isabel, Texas. The eldest son, Thomas, first Chaplain of our regiment, is mentioned elsewhere in this history.

James H., like his brothers, was educated in the public schools of Poughkeepsie, and began working for himself in the manufacturing establishment of Hotchkiss & Sons at Sharon, Conn., when about nineteen years of age. While there employed he heard the call to arms that so stirred many youth, and enlisted in Company A of the Dutchess County Regiment.

He was somewhat proficient in music, and that fact led to his being detailed to serve as leader of the regimental band, and in this capacity he continued until his regiment was mustered out at the close of the war. In the old Army of the Potomac, and later in all of Sherman's famous campaigns, from Chattanooga to the sea, and northward to Washington, he shared in all the toils and triumphs.

On returning home and falling into the pursuits of peace he was offered a position in the United States Treasury at Boston, and here, in different capacities, he has held a place for more than forty years. For two decades or more his office has been that of specie clerk, and on the coin question he is now an expert, and conceded to be one of the best authorities of the land.

In 1870 he married Etta, daughter of Hon. George M. Rice, of Worcester, Mass., one of the leading business men of that city, and a prominent member of the upper house of the Massachusetts Legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Vassar have one daughter, Mary W., a graduate of Boston University. Their summer home is at Lynn, but commonly their winters are spent in Boston.

Mr. Vassar is still hale and hearty, and bids fair to round out a half century of civil service, beside the military service rendered to his land. Practically about all his days have been given to the public interests of the country that he calls his own.

"The "Dutchess County Regiment" (150th Regiment of New York State Volunteer Infantry) in the Civil War," 19007, Page 279
https://archive.org/details/dutchesscountyre00cook
 
Another source about James.

James Hervey Vassar was the third and youngest son of William and Mary (Hageman) Vassar, and was born at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., October 20, 1839. He was named for his great-uncle, James, the father of the founder of Vassar College, so widely known. The great-uncle died while his namesake was still a babe. Thomas and James Vassar were the first of the line to cross the Atlantic, and the names of both brothers were perpetuated by boys in William Vassar's home.

Another son of William was called after his maternal grandfather, Adrian Hageman (sometimes written "Hegeman"), an uncle of the man who established the now widely known drug business of Hegeman, Clark & Co., of New York City. This brother too was a soldier of the Civil War, and an officer on the staff of General N. P. Banks. He died in the service at Point Isabel, Texas. The eldest son, Thomas, first Chaplain of our regiment, is mentioned elsewhere in this history.

James H., like his brothers, was educated in the public schools of Poughkeepsie, and began working for himself in the manufacturing establishment of Hotchkiss & Sons at Sharon, Conn., when about nineteen years of age. While there employed he heard the call to arms that so stirred many youth, and enlisted in Company A of the Dutchess County Regiment.

He was somewhat proficient in music, and that fact led to his being detailed to serve as leader of the regimental band, and in this capacity he continued until his regiment was mustered out at the close of the war. In the old Army of the Potomac, and later in all of Sherman's famous campaigns, from Chattanooga to the sea, and northward to Washington, he shared in all the toils and triumphs.

On returning home and falling into the pursuits of peace he was offered a position in the United States Treasury at Boston, and here, in different capacities, he has held a place for more than forty years. For two decades or more his office has been that of specie clerk, and on the coin question he is now an expert, and conceded to be one of the best authorities of the land.

In 1870 he married Etta, daughter of Hon. George M. Rice, of Worcester, Mass., one of the leading business men of that city, and a prominent member of the upper house of the Massachusetts Legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Vassar have one daughter, Mary W., a graduate of Boston University. Their summer home is at Lynn, but commonly their winters are spent in Boston.

Mr. Vassar is still hale and hearty, and bids fair to round out a half century of civil service, beside the military service rendered to his land. Practically about all his days have been given to the public interests of the country that he calls his own.

"The "Dutchess County Regiment" (150th Regiment of New York State Volunteer Infantry) in the Civil War," 19007, Page 279
https://archive.org/details/dutchesscountyre00cook


Edit - I just noticed you listed this book as a source in post #16.
 
Louis Le Vasseur is my 6th great grandfather. On a handwritten family tree from some time ago it list him as the one who was a Duke in France.

Yes, the regimental history was really awesome for seeing those details!
 
Maybe you have seen this from the Lynn Historical Society papers?

JAMES HERVEY VASSAR

James Hervey Vassar, who was of French and Dutch descent, was
born in Poughkeepsie, New York, Oct. ao, 1839. He was the son of
William and Mary (Hagerman) Vassar, and grandson of Thomas Vassar,
who, with his brother James, came to New York from Taddenham, Nor-
folk, England, in October, 1796, and in the following spring settled in
Poughkeepsie. The grandfather of Thomas was French and bore the
name of Le Vassaur. He left France because of persecution for his
Protestant views, going to England where the name was changed to
Vassar. One early ancestor was knighted by Louis XIV for conspicuous
bravery in battle. The crest is a gauntleted arm lifting a sword, with the
words, "Tien le droit," "Hold to the right." Matthew Vassar, who
founded Vassar College, was a cousin. Mary Hagerman traced her
descent from old Dutch families of New York.

At the beginning of the Civil war, Mr. Vassar enlisted in the 150th
New York Volunteers, becoming Captain during the service and was
mustered out following the grand review in Washington in 1865. He
then came to Lynn where his brother, the Rev. Thomas Vassar, was
pastor of the First Baptist Church, and resided here till his death. He
served as clerk in the United States Sub-Treasury in Boston for about
fifty years.

In 1870, Mr. Vassar married Henrietta Rice, of Worcester, daughter
of George M. and Rutha Rice, who was a descendant of the Peregrine
White family. He died July 28, 1925, and his wife survives him with
their daughter, Mary White Vassar. He was a member of the First
Baptist Church for more than fifty years and a deacon for about forty
years. He joined the Lynn Historical Society Apr. 20, 1915.




https://archive.org/stream/registeroflynnhi05lynn/registeroflynnhi05lynn_djvu.txt
 
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