Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post 588 Wilna, NY

GAR Post 588 Natural Bridge, New York.   

Post meeting circa 1891

The bust of General Sherman
is on exhibit at the Augustus Saint Gauden
National Historical Park in
Cornish, New Hampshire

GAR Post 588 was chartered on April 13, 1891, remaining active until 1937 when the charter was surrendered.  It was named after General William Tecumseh (Uncle Billy) Sherman who died two months prior to the post's formation.   The photograph above was probably taken in 1891 when the post met for the first time.  It couldn't have been taken any later than 1905 as  Mr. Luther Wright, a member who is pictured, died that year. 

While researching the post and its history I was able to identify most everyone in the picture to include their Civil War Unit and dates of birth and death see the chart below for more details.      

On the back of the original photograph are handwritten notes identifying all the members present. 

Two family members are pictured in this photograph. 

The first Franklin Sanders born 1841 the son of Philander and Nancy Sanders.  

Frank Sanders 

Franklin is the 1st cousin of Jennie M. Sanders, Harvey Jesse Lake's wife.   Frank Sanders served in the 10th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment from 1862 to 1865 when he was discharged at the end of the Civil War.

Frank Ashcraft

The second is Frank Ashcraft he was born in 1836 and died in 1913 he was related to Lorenzo Ashcraft, the husband on Anna Clement, Daniel L. Clement's youngest daughter.  Not much is known currently about Frank Ashcraft and his connection, but there are other photographs of him with the old family pictures that indicate a close connection.   He also served in the 10th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment from 1862 to 1865. 

Members of GAR Post 558 pictured above

Name	Born	Died	Civil War Unit	Dates of Service
Bill Williamson	1843	1911	10th NY Heavy Artillery	1862-1865
Mr McCory	**
N. Williamson	**
Ed Weatherhead	**
Daniel Puffer	1837		10th NY Heavy Artillery	1862-1865
Henry Weatherhed	1844		10th New York Heavy Artillery	1862-1865
Luther Wright	1846	1905	186th NY  Vol Infantry Regiment	1864-1865
Charles Schultz	1839	1916	10th New York Heavy Artillery	1862-1863
John Davis	1842		94 NY Vol Infantry Regiment	1862-1865
John Shoemaker	**
William Nichols	1820		186th NY  Vol Infantry Regiment	1864-1865
Frank Datuch	1835		94th NY Vol Infantry Reg	1862- ?
Henry Crimmins	*
Frank Ashcraft	1836	1913	10th NY Heavy Artillery	1862-1865
Cal Graves	**
Frank Sanders	1841	1917	10th NY Heavy Artillery	1862-1865
Mr. Holland	**
Warren Harlow	1829		10th NY Heavy Artillery	1862-1865
Len Ward	*
Mr. Priest	*

* There are people of the proper names and approximate age and the Wilna, NY area that could be these three men however more research must be done to prove this conclusively

** No information available 

The mystery of Orlo Sanders solved

Another of those family mysteries;  I have been searching for Orlo Sander, he is my great grandmother's (Jennie Sanders Lake's) brother. He was born in 1861 in Jefferson County, New York to Jared and Sarah (VanAntwerp) Sanders.   

He lived most of his adult life in Watertown, New York, many newspaper articles of the day can attest to this.  On August 21, 1887, in Antwerp NY, he married Jennette Ervin of Philadelphia, New York.   Old newspaper gossip columns reported that they were visiting or were visited by,  friends and relatives on a regular basis.   The last mention of Orlo Sanders or his wife Jennette was November 19, 1889 when he purchased property on Hunt Street in Watertown, New York for $585.00.

When I received these photographs I noted a curious piece of information; Orlo's portrait was taken at the Rainier Studio at 707 Second Street in Seattle, Washington. Jennette's photograph was taken at Lewis and McCollester studio in Carthage, New York.  So it was clear that Orlo at some point traveled to Washington State.  There is no indication on the photographs themselves when either of them where taken.   The possibility that he relocated to Washington State could certainly explain the reasons for the lack of information in New York.   However, family lore says that Orlo was killed by a falling tree sometime after 1880 in New York State, and was buried in or around Wilna, New York.

Then to add to the mystery, meet Mrs. Orlo Sanders,  Grace Chapin. Note that her photograph was taken at LaRoche Photographers at the Rengstorff Building in Seattle, Washington.  On the back of the card the street address is given and it is the same building where Orlo's photograph was taken.

I have not located any information as to what happened to Jennette, if she went to Washington, and died there or passed away in New York, nor have I found a divorce record.   Above is the obituary of  Mrs. Jared Sanders dated May 6, 1893. She died in New York and her obituary identifies her survivors;  note that Orlo is not listed; it would appear that he died prior to his mother.


A search of  Genealogy Bank located this record, from the  Watertown Daily Times, dated February 24, 1891, an announcment from the Odd Fellows Fraternal Organization,  Watertown Chapter  that Orlo Sander,s one of their members, had died in Seattle,Washington of Typhiod Pneumonia and that he had been interred there.

I have tried to locate a death and burial record in Washington State but so far I have not had much success; however, it does seem clear that the mystery of what happened to him has been solved.

LakeGen Website Updated

Updates have been made to the design and some content added to family pages in the Calder, Sanders and Lake families.

www.lakegen.com or follow the links on this blog

Orlo Sanders 1861 to ?

One of our families many mysteries is my great grandmothers brother Orlo Sanders he was born in 1861 in Wilna Jefferson Co., New York, I have posted a web page for him on the Lakegen.com website; the link http://www.lakegen.com/sanderfam/index.htm, his is listed under his fathers Jared Sanders sublink.

Very little is known about him, according to family oral history he died after being struck by a falling tree, no one seems to have any idea when or where that happened. The article on the web post tells the story in more detail and I intend to place Orlo on footnote's new site and geni.com to see if anything is generated from that, as far as anyone is aware he did not have children. Orlo was married twice and did travel to Washington State at least once, for what no one that we could find ever new. So these two outlets may bring on unexpected results.

Bringing together Blogs

Ever since beginning this documenting project I had it in my head that I would create a blog for each family group then post stories and research notes etc for those groups. Then I began looking around at other blogs that people have been working on and found just how much they put into just one. It also became apperent very quickly when I started building a seperate website just how much extra work I was bringing on myself.  So in an effort to keep posting to this blog current and work the website and research and, and, and!!!!    I have move all of the blogs with the exception of one to this place and made several posting of older information in this one spot and taken the others down hopefully this works better.

Grand Army of the Republic Post on Website

Just added a page to my website about the Town of Wilna, Village of Natural Bridge NY GAR Post 588. Have an old picture of two great uncles, both veterans of the 1oth New York during the Civil War. In the summer months between 1891 and 1905 this photograph was taken of them. The people in the photograph were identifed by name and by researching some records I found the majority of them, including my relatives who were members of GAR Post 588; the rest of the men were Veterans of the same military unit or different units all from the same area. The photograph and information are posted at http://www.lakegen.com/ in the photographs.

Harvey Jesse Lake of Natural Bridge NY

Harvey Jesse was born December 7, 1863 to Joesph J. Lake and Christie Ann Calder Lake, he was the eldest of three and the only son. He was born in De Kalb, St. Lawrence Co., New York, in what can be considered the seat of this branch of the Lake Family from the War of 1812 until relatively modern times.

A short history is in order to place Joseph and Harvey in historical perspective. The first of this Lake Family line known to be in the colonies was John Lake of Gravesend, NY. Some accounts have him traveling to the Gravesend Colony with Lady Deborah Moody, a religious dissenter of the time. No historical evidence is currently available to prove that he travelled to the Gravesend Colony with the original party, but it is clear that he was a member in the years very shortly after it was founded. John married the daughter of one of the original party and established his family, the majority of which stayed in or around that area of New York and New Jersey until the American Revolutionary war. John’ son, John, was the next in our family line; he was born and died in Gravesend, NY. They were all farmers, or at least that is what history can tell us so far. It appears that the elder John went from being a relatively poor farmer to a man of some means before his death, based on his will.

Nicholas, the third generation, was also born in Gravesend, but moved to New Jersey to raise his family and died in Somerset in 1773. His son Thomas was born in New Jersey but did not stay in that area, information has him in the Upstate New York in an area of what is now Washington County. When the American Revolutionary War began he was a Loyalist who served in a Loyalist Militia and at the Battle of Bennington he was captured, his nephew, Nicholas Lake was killed. An interesting side note: Thomas' son Henry was also at the Battle fighting in a Patriot Militia unit, which must have made for interesting family reunion conversation.

After the war Thomas and most of his family fled to Canada as all of their farm land was confiscated and it was extremely difficult for any loyalist to live in the new Republic. Thomas’ son James was the first to return to the United States but he moved back and forth across the border several times. His son Jesse Lake, during the War of 1812, was conscripted by the British to fight against the American Army in an upcoming attack across the St Lawrence River; Jesse escaped the British, and when crossing the river, he notified the American Garrison of the British intentions. Jesse never returned to Canada and after this, his father refused to sign a loyalty oath to the British Crown and was forced to leave Canada for good. It was at this point they settled in Gouverneur, St Lawrence Co., New York. Several generations, and Lake family lines can trace their roots to this place.

Jesse Lake was, as many of his ancestors, a farmer. He married Lavinia Cook in 1816 and began their family; they had 10 children, one of which was Joesph J. Lake, the father of the subject of our article.

Harvey J. Lake worked as a laborer on farms, mines and the railroad. It was while he was working in a Railroad engine for the New York Lime Co. on June 19, 1906 that he was critically injured, losing an eye when the boiler valve exploded in his face. The article (above) from "Watertown Daily Times June 20, 1906" tells the story of what happened.


This story (left side) from the "Carthage Republican July 11, 1906" demonstrates just how serious the injury was and it talks about his return from the hospital some 20 days later. The photograph of Harvey (above) was taken about 1930, twenty four years after the accident.

He lived through defining moments in this US and World History. Looking at the times of my Great Grandfather's life, he was born in the middle of the American Civil War, he was 35 years old during the Spanish American War. The SS Titanic was lost in 1912, the Russian Revolution of 1914, the Abdication of King Edward VII of England in 1938, and the "Roaring Twenties." I would imagine that many of these important historical dates meant very little to him. The important dates to him would have been when his youngest son Robert was coming home after serving in the Navy during World War I, the loss of his wife, and nearly his son in law to the flu pandemic of 1918, the Great Depression.

His birthday in 1941 marked a point in history that will forever be remember in the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt as "A day that will live in infamy;" the beginning of World War II for the United States.

He lived during the terms of 16 of our Presidents, one serving two different times so 17 administrations in all. Presidents Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Authur, Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland (again) McKinley, T. Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt.

Harvey Jesse Lake died April 3, 1942 in his home in Natural Bridge NY, without fan fair or parade with only his family to mark his passing. The times he lived in were some of the greatest and worst in our history but they passed by for this simple working person who raised his family in New York, probably never realizing just how important a time he lived in and how much history he was witness to. Wouldn't it have been nice to talk to him!

Other than Genealogy

As of late I have been spending allot of time working on the other blogs associated with this huge project, this seems to be the only page that I haven't been posting to regularly. I have been out of town for a week on buisness, while I did have my computer and most all my research with me on DVD and my database in Legacy 7.0 I had zero time to even look at it. So at this point I am playing abit of catch up with everything, I need to pick a Lake family to work on and start plugging away I have made the following posts at my collateral line blogs which can be found at the following links Family Tree of Jennie Sanders Lake and Orlo Sanders 1861 Wilna, New York .

A small bit of Family History by Jennie Sanders Lake Jan 1 to Oct 2, 1918

This small appointment book consisting of some 24 pages, gives us snippets of the last 10 month of the life of my Great Grandmother Jennie Sanders Lake. She was one of the millions who died as a result of the 1918 world wide flu epidemic, or what we would call a "pandemic". That year nearly every members of her household became ill at one point or another, Jennie was the only one to have died from the illness. Her small diary notes daily life around their small upstate New York farm; the weather, important events, people who visited, the names of several people from the community who had passed away, their funerals and bit of information important to her. It is a small slice of the history of a community during an extremly dfficult time, in reading it you can see how, life kind of came and went moving along for these people even with everything that was happening around them, and to them. One of the stories that was noted in this small history then expanded on by later verbal family accounts was Jennie's son in law Ira Edwin Clement came in from working the fields very sick with the flu one afternoon infact he was so ill that he had to be carried in the house. When he came down with the illness his hair was a light brown color when he finally left his sick bed his hair had turned white, and remained that way the rest of his life, such was the dramatic effect this virus had on people. Jennie started this little book using an out dated 1916 appointment book, very frugal people "never waste anything you can use later" and as you can see by the example she made little notes everyday. On the first page Jennie identified the date she was started the diary, being January 1, 1918 on October 1st she noted, "Nice Day, Ernest come home sick, Walter Perriggo died" the next day was her final entry, 6 days later she died of the flu at the age of 54.

Jennie Sander was the daughter of Jared A.and Sarah Sanders, she was born in Lewisburg, Lewis Co., New York on 22 Apr 1864. She married Harvey Jessie Lake 14 Dec 1883 in Diana, Lewis Co, New York. Jennie's father was born in 1815, in Champion NY he live to extreme old agefor the time passing in 1914. Her grandparents are Joesph Sanders and Lucinda Fairman both born in the early 1780's in what is now southern Windham Co., Vermont or Northern Massachuetts, then migrated to Jefferson or Lewis Counties of New York State. This family line is somewhat a mystery as the lack of records as hampered the research todate. There are possible links to Sanders families in the Halifax, VT, from the 1780 period that are currently being explored.

Note: Jennie Sanders was the wife of Harvey Jessie Lake
Ernest Leon was their son and my grandfather
Ira Edwin Clement was the husband of Merle Florence Lake; daughter of Jennie Sanders and Harvey Jessie Lake