On this Memorial Day weekend, the veterans buried in the Dayton Cemetery take the spotlight. One of them is John Heath Breese, who was born October 12, 1830 in New Jersey. He was married to Elizabeth Lewis in Peoria, Illinois, on November 16, 1859.

They had seven children:
Nellie Virginia, born September 2, 1861
Ellis E., born April 14, 1867
Emmor E., born 29 June 1869
Cora, born September 19, 1871
Nora B., born March 11, 1874
William L., born October 25, 1876
Walter, born December 24, 1878.

John enrolled as a private in Company C (Houghtailing’s), 1st Regiment, Illinois Light Artillery Volunteers on August 22, 1862. At the time of enlistment he was a farmer, 5 feet 8 inches tall, with light hair and blue eyes. He joined the unit just before the march to Nashville, Tenn., September 3-12. He saw action at Murfreesboro; the Battle of Stone’s River; the Tullahoma Campaign; the Battle of Chickamauga; Mission Ridge; Rocky Faced Ridge; Buzzard’s Roost Gap; Pumpkin Vine Creek; Kenesaw Mountain; Pine Hill; Lost Mountain; the siege of Atlanta; the battle of Jonesboro; Lovejoy Station; the march to the sea; the siege of Savannah; the campaign of the Carolinas; surrender of Johnston and his army; the march to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va.; and the Grand Review. He was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois, June 12, 1865. He suffered from rheumatism and heart trouble as a result of a fever he contracted at Nashville in the winter of 1862-3. He spent some weeks in the hospital and suffered from rheumatism from then on. This severely limited his ability to do farm work and made him eligible for a pension.

On his return from the war, he spent 8 years in Kansas, returning to Dayton in 1874. In the summer of 1880 he was working in the paper mill in Dayton when he injured himself jumping up out of a pit without waiting for the ladder to be brought.

He died in Dayton, September 30, 1914. Both he and Elizabeth are buried in the cemetery, along with children Nellie Virginia, Ellis, Emmor, and Nora (wife of Lowell Hoxie).

Nancy Green was born 200 years ago today, April 26, 1816, in Licking County, Ohio, the second daughter of John and Barbara (Grove) Green. She was 13 years old when her family moved to what later became La Salle county, Illinois. In 1831, her older sister, Eliza, married William L. Dunavan. Three years later, on January 26, 1834, Nancy married William’s brother, Joseph Albert, and three years after that, Nancy’s sister Katherine married Albert’s brother George. Joseph and Nancy lived on a farm in Rutland township, across the Fox river from Dayton. They had twelve children:

Katherine (1835-1915) married Benjamin Frank Brandon March 21, 1857
Samuel (1837-1914) married Amanda Miranda Munson March 22, 1859
Isaac (1838/9-1914) married Mary Ann Lafferty March 9, 1880
David (1840-1910)
Amanda (1843-1846)
Joseph (1845-     )
George (1847-1922) married Kate Rogers March 4, 1877
John (1849-1854)
Jane (1852-1927) married Aaron Howe December 25, 1872
Alice C. (1854-1904)
Lewis (1856-    ) married Jennie McMichael in 1879
Anna L. (1859-1884) married William Miller February 22, 1883

Nancy’s husband went to California in the gold rush. There was no word of him for some time and the rumor spread that they had started home through Mexico (as indeed they had) and had been killed there (as they had not). The night he got home, Nancy had a headache as a result of a toothache cure she had applied. She had run a hot darning or knitting needle into the cavity of her tooth to stop the pain. When he got home she entirely forgot the tooth and headache and they sat up about all night talking and visiting.

John Green had given Nancy and Albert a quarter section of land when they married, and they had turned it into a prosperous farm, where they raised their large family. However, in 1883 disaster struck. Albert and his brother, George, had been buying and selling cattle and were in debt. They borrowed from Matilda Hogue, a wealthy widow, and her son Joshua. In order to pay this debt they speculated on the Chicago Board of Trade and lost. Albert and Nancy sold their farm to their son Lewis for $10,400. After the debt was paid they had only a thousand dollars to begin a new life in the West. They moved to Sterling, Colorado, in 1889, where Albert farmed with his sons. They later returned from Colorado to Hamilton, Missouri, where Albert died in 1892. Nancy continued to live in Hamilton with her son, David, until her death on February 27, 1905.

Joel F. Warner, who is buried in the Dayton Cemetery, was born June 14, 1831, in Syracuse, New York. He enlisted August 14, 1862, in New Buffalo, Michigan, in company F of the 25th Regiment of Michigan infantry and was mustered in as a corporal on September 22, 1862, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In the spring of 1863, the regiment joined the Georgia campaign with General Sherman from Chattanooga to Atlanta, participating in the battles of Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face and Resaca, among others. On June 12, 1864,  while the company was in action at Pumpkinvine Creek near Dallas, Georgia, Warner was injured. In the words of his sergeant:

I was first Sergt at the time. We moved up in front of the enemies line about noon of the day in question. We hurriedly threw up breastworks, had orders late in afternoon to strengthen the works that night. I made a detail from my Co, J. F. Warner being one of the number & set them to work.I then went to the rear some 10 or 15 rods & lay down for the night, The weather was warm and our line in the woods. We put up no tents. The night was very dark. Some of the men went in front of the works to dig a trench, J. F. Warner with their number. Through some mistake or neglect a gun with fixed bayonet was left leaning against the works. Some time in the night the enemy opened fire on our line with artillery. It lasted but a few minutes, did not alarm the camp to much extent. But the men in front of the works came back very hurriedly. J. F. Warner came in contact with said bayonet, which struck him somewhere in the region of the groin, and carried clear over on the point of it to the ground. He seized hold of the bayonet with both hands and being a man of superior strength kept it from going through him, twisting the shank of the bayonet around the barrel of the gun. I did not see the wound, he was immediately  moved to Hospital before I was apprised of the fact. I saw the condition of the bayonet.

He returned to duty September 16. He had two other short spells in the hospital, in October for fever and in November for neuralgia. He was mustered out with the company on June 24, 1865 at Salisbury, North Carolina. Following his discharge he returned to Three Oaks, Michigan, where he remained until 1872, when he moved to Oswego, Illinois, and then to Dayton.

In 1876, Joel Warner applied for an invalid pension since his ability to work was hampered by the effects of his old injury. He was examined by a local doctor, who estimated that he was 50 percent disabled because of a scrotal hernia on the left side. He had also suffered the loss of his right leg four inches below the knee in a railroad accident, although this happened many years after his war service.

His request for a pension was initially refused, on the grounds that he was not truly incapacitated. However, in 1890 another pension law was passed, expanding the grounds for acceptance. He reapplied, and this time received a pension of $12/month, which was later raised to $20/month.

Warner died in Dayton September 26, 1911, and was buried in the Dayton Cemetery. His widow received a pension of $12/month following her husband’s death, and in 1916 that was increased to $20/month. Mary Ann (Inman) Warner died January 20, 1918, at the age of 79, and is also buried in the Dayton Cemetery.

There is a tombstone in the Dayton cemetery for Gerret J. Harms. There are no other Harms burials. He does not appear to be related to anyone else buried in the cemetery. There is no obituary for him in the Ottawa paper. Where did he come from, and how did he come to be buried in Dayton?

There were no Harms families in La Salle county, but Gerret did have family here – his wife’s family. Gerret was born in Hanover about 1839/40. He came to the United States around 1861, and went to Boston, where he met and married Marina Barends on August 22, 1863. Marina came from a Dutch family, many of whom anglicized their name to Barnes. They had two children, Hannah, born in 1865, and Gerret, born in 1868.

Whether Gerret was a farmer in Germany or not, he appears to have wanted to go into farming. Marina had four brothers who had gone west and settled in La Salle county, Illinois, in Dayton and Rutland townships. Apparently their reports were favorable, because in 1870 Gerret and Marina were living west of the city of Ottawa where Gerret did not own land, but was employed in farming.

They had another child, Frederick, born in 1873 in Ottawa, but then, on July 14, 1873, Gerret died. Although he lived some distance from Dayton, two of Marina’s brothers lived in Dayton township and they must have arranged for Gerret to be buried in the village cemetery. By 1880, Marina and the children had returned to Boston, where much of her family had settled. She never remarried but lived in Boston until her death, November 2, 1893.

While they were living in Illinois, apparently daughter Hannah made a deep, if youthful, impression on her cousin Peter Barnes, son of Marina’s brother Nicholas, as Peter came to Boston and married Hannah on March 2, 1893.

The pieces of his tombstone have now been reassembled and stand upright. Some of the pieces of his story have now been reassembled as well.

John Heath Breese was born October 12, 1830 in New Jersey. He was married to Elizabeth Lewis in Peoria, Illinois, on November 16, 1859. They had seven children: Nellie Virginia, born September 2, 1861; Ellis E., born April 14, 1867; Emmor E., born 29 June 1869; Cora, born September 19, 1871; Nora B., born March 11, 1874; William L., born October 25, 1876; Walter, born December 24, 1878.

At age 32, he enrolled as a private in Company C, 1st Regiment, Illinois Light Artillery Volunteers on August 22, 1862. He participated in a number of noted campaigns: the battles of Chicakamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Kenesaw Mountain, and Sherman’s march to the sea. He was discharged at Springfield, Illinois, June 12, 1865. He suffered from rheumatism and heart trouble as a result of a fever he contracted at Nashville in the winter of 1862-3. He spent some weeks in the hospital and suffered from rheumatism from then on.

This severely limited his ability to do farm work and made him eligible for a pension. On his return from the war, he spent 8 years in Kansas, returning to Dayton in 1874. In the summer of 1880 he was working in the paper mill in Dayton when he injured himself jumping up out of a pit without waiting for the ladder to be brought. In 1889 he applied for a pension from the federal government, claiming rheumatism and heart trouble due to the sickness he suffered in January 1863. In 1892, after the investigation into his claims, he was granted a pension of $8/month, retroactive to August 16, 1889. In 1903, he applied for an increase, claiming total disability; his pension was raised to $12/month.

He died in Dayton, September 30, 1914. Both he and  Elizabeth are buried in the Dayton cemetery, along with children Nellie Virginia, Ellis, Emmor, and Nora (wife of Lowell Hoxie).

Elizabeth Lair was born September 3, 1785 in Rockingham county, Virginia, the daughter of Joseph and Persis Lair. She married Samuel Dunavan December 22, 1807 in Rockingham county, Virginia. They had three sons, William Lair, Joseph Albert, and George Milton. Samuel died June 22, 1816 in Licking county, Ohio and she was left with 3 small boys, aged 8, 4, and 1. The following year she married David Letts, February 27, 1817 in Licking county, Ohio. In 1830 David removed his family to the new country in Illinois, joining another group of Licking county people in La Salle county.

Her son Noah Harris Letts gave this description of his mother when, in 1900, he wrote an account of his family’s history:

“My mother at the period of time I am writing about [about 1829] was a very robust woman weighing about 150 pounds, dark hair, blue eyes and fair complexion, and I can safely say a very handsome woman and was of a very kind disposition, beloved by all that personally knew her, and was a loving mother, and idolized her children, and in return they dearly loved her. She could govern us children by kindness and never used the rod, but it was somewhat different with our father. He would use the beech limb on us, if we displeased him, but I presume not without a cause, as we were rather wild”¹

“This fall [1835] on the third day of September our mother died after a short spell of sickness with the bilious fever. We were left a lonely set of children, who had lost a kind and loving mother and we felt the loss, for our mother was beloved by her children and all who knew her. She was a woman in the prime of life and had always been a very healthy, robust woman until this last spell of sickness. On the day she died she was just fifty years old. She was buried in a new graveyard on the bank of Fox River about three-fourths of a mile north of Dayton, opposite the mill dam, and I think was the first person that was buried there, and since it has been the burying ground of Dayton and quite a distance around. The graveyard is kept up very nicely but I have not had the satisfaction of visiting my mother’s grave for a number of years. But she is not lost to my memory or ever will be while I am alive.”²

1. Paul M. Angle, editor, “PIONEERS / Narratives of Noah Harris Letts and Thomas Allen Banning / 1825-1865” (Chicago: The Lakeside Press,1972), 22-23.
2. Ibid., 59-60.