Union Soldiers Buried in
Matagorda County, Texas

Please email if you know of another soldier that should be on this list.
 

Service

Anderson, George Washington

6th Regt IN Inf

Beck, Hiram

104th Regt IL Inf

Bonnett, Benjamin Lewis

43rd Regt OH Inf

Carr, Theron Francis

MN Cavalry

Cool, George E.
aka Cole, George E.

34th Regt NY Inf

Crawford, John J.

49th Regt KY Inf

Crowder, Aaron

151st Regt NY Inf

Fox, Ralph Osborne

48th Regt WI Inf

Hensel, Frederick C.

188th Regt OH Inf

Herreth, Francis, Jr.

7th Regt WI Inf

Knight, Charles

114th Regt NY Inf

Myers, Charles C.

16th Regt OH Inf

Shuey, Samuel P.

9th KS Cav - Co

Sisson, Henry H.

124th Regt IL Inf
& 33 Regt IL Inf

Spencer, Joseph W.

42nd Regt OH Inf

Obituaries of Union Soldiers Buried in Matagorda County, Texas
 

George W. Anderson

George W. Anderson, who passed away at his home in Palacios Thursday evening, Sept. 3, was born at Elizabethtown, Ind., on June 11, 1845.

At the beginning of the Civil War, he, with four of his brothers, enlisted with the Sixth Indiana Regiment and served throughout the war. After the war he was married to Miss Julia Carley and to this union were born three children. Mrs. Anderson died at their home here, Nov. 9, 1928.

Mr. Anderson, with his family, lived in Indiana until 1890, when they moved to Kansas. Twenty years later he moved to Texas and settled on a farm near Dunbar. Five years ago he moved to Palacios, where he spent his last days.

While a young man, Mr. Anderson obeyed the Christ and worshipped with the Christian Church at West Port, Ind., and throughout his life he has been an ardent and devoted servant of his Master.

He is survived by one sister, who lives in Indiana, a son, Fred Anderson and a daughter, Mrs. S. B. Lee, both of Palacios, besides a multitude of friends, who will miss him as he took his long walk every day or sat and talked with some of his associates.

Burial was made in the Hawley cemetery east of Blessing on Friday afternoon, with services conducted by Rev. C. F. Conner.

Mr. Anderson was well passed the four score milestone of an earthly career and had lived a life of habits and deeds that leaves an influence not soon forgotten.

The Palacios Beacon, September 10, 1931

Hiram Beck - Palacios Cemetery
 

Lewis Bonnett

Mr. Lewis Bonnett, age 92 years, 2 months and 11 days, died Thursday and was buried in Collegeport at 4 p.m. the same day.

The religious services were conducted by the Christian Science Society. The funeral was under the direction of Walker Furniture Company.
 

The Matagorda County Tribune, Friday, February 12, 1932

Lewis Bonnett

Funeral services for B. L. Bonnett Civil War veteran and long-time citizen of Matagorda County, were held at his home in Markham, February 12 at 2 p.m. Mrs. Williams, prominent member of the Christian Science Church of Bay City officiated at the funeral, and interment was made in the cemetery in Collegeport, Texas.

Mr. Bonnett was born in the state of Ohio, Nov. 30, 1838. Growing to manhood in that State, he enlisted in the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War and remained in the service until he was discharged at the close of the conflict. He then settled in Iowa, where he spent a number of years as a successful farmer and stock raiser of that state. For a number of years he has been living in Texas.

Mr. Bonnett was thrice married. His first wife, who was married to him before the Civil War, is buried in Ohio, and his second wife is buried in Iowa. After coming to Texas, he married on November 12, 1912, Mrs. Nannie K. Brown who now survives him. He is also survived by two grandchildren in Iowa and a niece and nephew in Ohio.

Although Mr. Bonnett was not a member of any church, he was the son of a Methodist minister and in his later years has been greatly devoted to the Christian Science Church to which Mrs. Bonnett  belongs. Relatives and friends feel keenly the departure of one who has attained the distinction of having lived so many happy years. Surely his noble example of longevity can only lead everyone who knew him to a better understanding of that scripture which says, "The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness."

 The Daily Tribune, Wednesday, February 24, 1932

Once again death hath summoned a brother Oddfellow, and the golden gateway to the eternal city hath opened to welcome him to his home.
 

 He has completed his work in the ministering to the wants of the afflicted, in shedding light unto darkened souls, and in bringing joy unto the places of misery, and as his reward has received the plaudit “Well Done”, from the Supreme Master.

AND – Whereas, he having been a true and faithful Brother of our order, therefore be it resolved that Bay City Lodge No. 81, I.O.O.F. of Texas, in testimony of our loss, tenders to the family of the deceased Brother our sincere condolence in this deep affliction.  That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the family, the daily paper, and Texas Oddfellow, and placed on minutes of this lodge.

                        R. C. Williams, Carl Thompson, A. A. Fryou  Committee

The Matagorda County Tribune, January 19, 1929

Death of Mr. R. O. Fox.

Ralph Osborne Fox was born at West Leydon, N. Y., Feb. 7, 1829, departed this life 7 a. m., Oct. 30, 1912. He had therefore reached the advanced age of 83 years, 8 months and 23 days. Funeral services were held at the Methodist church Wednesday afternoon at 4 o'clock, conducted by the pastor, Rev. D. A. Williams, followed by interment at the city cemetery.

He was the father of four sons and two daughters, of these two sons and one daughter are now living. Their mother died thirty-three years ago. His daughter, Mrs. Doxstador has never been separated from him but five years of her life. There are 21 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren.

He was a soldier for his country having served in the 48th Wisconsin Infantry, and he was also a true soldier of Jesus Christ. He loved the Lord, and his faith was strong to the end. He often spoke of being ready to go when the call should come.

He had a peculiar love for the flag of his country, and on special days, his flag was always seen flying. He gave direction that it should be raised to half-mast when he was gone. This was no childish notion, but sprang from an abiding patriotism.

His affliction was such that he was rarely seen beyond his own door yard, therefore he was not known by many; but to those who did know him he was always the same cheerful soul. Very patient indeed in his last illness. He is gone, but not dead, we shall see him again.

His Pastor.

Palacios Beacon, November 1, 1912

Frederick C. Hensel

Frederick C. Hensel, age 84, died Thursday in Palacios [at] his home. He is survived by two daughters, Mrs. R. J. Sisson of Palacios, Mrs. G. C. Harold of Wood River, Neb., and three sons, Claude P. of Lincoln, Neb., R. A. of Bloomfield, Iowa, Dr. Fred B. of Billings, Mo. Also surviving him are 11 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Interment will be in Palacios Cemetery, Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Taylor Brothers, funeral directors, are in charge of funeral arrangements.

Matagorda County Tribune, February 4, 1932

Obituary of F. C. Hensel

The funeral service for F. C. Hensel was held in the Presbyterian Church on Sabbath afternoon Jan. 31st, at 2 o'clock. The relatives present were Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Sisson, Harry Sisson, Elizabeth Sisson and one son, Claude Hensel, Sheriff of Lancaster County, Lincoln, Nebraska. Rev. G. F. Gillespie, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, and Dr. Driskill, had charge of the service. There was a large and representative attendance. Interment took place in Palacios cemetery.

F. C. Hensel was born in Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 16th, 1846, and passed to his rest on Jan. 28th, 1932. His wife entered into rest on June 9th, 1920 at Palacios. There were seven children, of whom five are living.

He joined the Northern Army at the early age of fifteen, and saw service all through the war between the States. Returning from the war, he completed his education and engaged in the mercantile business in Columbus, Ohio. He occupied a very prominent position in the business and political life of the City and State. He was especially prominent in politics, being high up in the counsels of the Republican Party. He was on intimate terms with many well-known men in the State which is called "the mother of Presidents." The family moved from Columbus to Hebron, Nebraska, about the year 1886, where he became interested in farming, and also held a good position as District Manager for the International Harvester Co. He moved to Palacios in the year 1910, having lived here for about 22 years. He took a deep interest in the well-being of Palacios. Being of an optimistic disposition, and capable of much enthusiasm, his faith in the future of Palacios never wavered. He served on a number of Boards, and was always in the forefront of everything that was for the good of the city. The citizens decided in 1920 to install a sewerage system. Being in receipt of a pension from the Government, he took entire charge of the work without any thought of compensation--such was his public spirit. No one rejoiced more than he when the National Guard of Texas decided on Palacios as its annual training ground. His enthusiasm was equally great when the $3,000,000 county-wide bond issue was carried for the hard-surfacing of our roads and he rejoiced at the coming of Highways 58 and 71, and too, the near coming of the Hug-the-Cost road.

He left the following poem in [a] prominent place in one of his private boxes, and it was evidently his favorite:--

HE IS NOT GONE

"That's good, read on" Earth's light was growing dim,

But he--he knew time endeth not for him;

He viewed eternity in wonderment,

Then quietly abided there--content.

He who taught bigness took no narrow room;

He who loved mankind saw no shade of gloom.

"Read on and on," this page is not the last,

Nor is the glory of his years forecast.

The footprints he has made are not effaced,

While time shall last they cannot be erased.

How pitifully weak the small of soul

Compared to him who fought and won his goal!

Prophetic words, "Read On And On And On."

Stronger in Death Than Life, He Is Not Gone.

The Pastor of the Presbyterian Church chose as his text at the funeral service the words from the Book of Acts, ch. 13, vv. 36 and 27--"For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep , and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But He, whom God raised again, saw no corruption." The preacher said he thought that F. C. Hensel would have liked his life to be described as a life of service [that] served his own generation, [from the] point of view of community ___ unweariedly and ____ the end of life_______ how______ the arena when any cause that appealed to him needed to be championed. It is only fair to say that he had the defects of his qualities. Strong-minded men are often impatient and intolerant at times of the weakness of others. But when this is admitted, what then? F. C. Hensel was through everything a kind-hearted neighbor and very loyal friend. Until he was about 75 years of age, he was noted for his quickness and firmness of step, commanding voice, his tenacious memory, his quickness and sureness of mind--these all were a kind of immortality. During the last few years the flashing eyes had grown dim, the energetic limbs had grown feeble, but he still retained all his powers of mind and memory. His is a well-earned rest. When the Angel of death comes, we all comfort ourselves with the words of Jesus; "Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know."

[Blanks were included where a portion of the paper was torn.]
 

Palacios Beacon, February 4, 1932

 

Francis Herreth St. Francis Cemetery Birth and Death Dates on Death Certificate are September 8, 1842 March 19/20, 1920

Account of the death of Charles Myers
Taken from Diary and Letters of Thomas Buchanan Linn, Drummer, 16th OVI
 

Decrow's Point, Texas, Dec. 30, 1863

Sundown-- I have just returned from beating the dead march at the funeral of our Drum Major who died last night at 10 o'clock. He was buried this evening with the honors of war. His name is Charles Myers. I will tell you how he was buried. First marched a Sergeant in command of sixteen men marching in two lines with arms reversed - that is with the muzzle down and pointing back; then came the band playing the dead march; next came the coffin and an old minister in the 114th Ohio regiment and after them came all who wished to join in the procession. Arriving at the grave his body was lowered and a few shovels of dirt thrown over it - the preacher made some remarks and prayer which I could not hear for the wind and sea -- three volleys were fired over his grave and we returned beating quick time.

Entire account: Diary and Letters of Thomas Buchanan Linn, Drummer, 16th OVI

Pictures courtesy of Ethel Williams, granddaughter.
 

In Memory of H. H. Sisson

Mr. H. H. Sisson died at his home at 2 o'clock Saturday morning, the 25th inst., at the age of 69 years, 11 months and 13 days. Funeral services were held at the family residence on Moore avenue Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock, conducted by Rev. W. L. Shepherd, pastor of the Presbyterian church, followed by interment at the city cemetery. The services were attended by a large concourse of the neighbors and friends of the deceased and his family. Resident members of the Knights of Pythias, a fraternity of which Mr. Sisson was a member, but of which there is no lodge in the city, marched as an escort to the cemetery, and after the benediction by the minister, marched around the grave and deposited therein sprigs of evergreen, the Pythian significance of which is that the memory or the departed will be kept ever green in the hearts and minds of the brethren. The body was laid to rest in a water proof brick and concrete vault.

The whole service was most impressive, and the floral offerings from friends an associates of the family were numerous and most beautiful. Three of the floral designs came from Houston; one from Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Regan, one from Dissen & Schneider, wholesale produce merchants and one from W. D. Cleveland & Son, wholesale grocers.

At the home during the service and at the cemetery Miss Nora Hayes and Mrs. O. C. Arnold sang appropriate hymns with feeling expression.

Mr. Sisson came to Palacios nearly five years ago on the advice of his Nebraska physicians who told him that nothing but a change of climate would prolong his life beyond a few months. The change added to his days a number of years; years that gave him a large measure of happiness and comfort. His genial nature and happy disposition made for Mr. Sisson friends of all with whom he came in contact, and he was held in highest esteem by all who knew him. In their loss the families have the sincere sympathy of all the people of the city.

OBITUARY
 

A good citizen has gone from among us. To say of a man that he was a good citizen is saying much. H. H. Sisson was a good citizen. In a world where kindness is the supreme need, he was kind. In a world where integrity is not so common, but that it distinguishes a man, he was distinguished.

He held a place of honor in the community in which he lived for his kindness, his integrity, his dependableness and his generous civic spirit. He had faith in men, therefore, men had faith in him and were drawn to him in friendship. A public spirited man, always he worked for and encouraged that which made for civic beauty and civic good. Notwithstanding the fact that man has compared himself as an individual to a grain of sand on the seashore, and his life to a bubble on the fountain, when such a man goes he is missed and his place not easily filled.

It might be said of Mr. Sisson that he had a genius for home making. He loved shrubs, trees, orchards, groves, the birds that nest and sing in them, and all the beautiful out doors. His love for birds and tress was almost a passion.

"How few have time for hearing

Above the clatter of their cares

The thrush's song so cheering!"

He had time for hearing. He loved to plant, nurture and watch a tree grow.

"What does he plant who plants a tree?"

He plants shade and shelter, comfort, foot it may be, and beauty and grace for those that come after. He saw all this in a tree and his love for it never grew less. This love of the tree was part of his genius for home making, with the help of Mrs. Clare Sisson whom he married in early manhood as Miss Clare Robinson whose immaculate housekeeping supplemented his work on the outside, adding the grace that woman's hand alone can give to the ideal home--it may be said that they made three homes. Their first home was made in Logan County, Illinois, near Lincoln, the county seat. Here on 240 acres of the finest farming land in the world, they planted shrubs, trees, orchard and grove, all of which flourished, making the beautiful setting that every home needs. It was here they passed their honeymoon, gathering about them a host of friends, and doing a generous part in dispensing the gaieties and good cheer of a prosperous farm home, where cream and butter, fruits and vegetables and meats seem so free and abundant as the water pumped from the wells by the windmill. This home was consecrated by the birth of their three children, two sons, F. A. and R. J. Sisson, now living in Palacios, and a daughter, Pauline, and also by the adoption of a daughter when a child whom they loved and roared as their own, and who is now Mrs. W. H. Wood, of Hebron, Nebraska. After sixteen years of life here, Mr. and Mrs. Sisson, on a visit to the west, fell in love with the rolling prairies of Nebraska, and seeing opportunities there that Illinois no longer afforded, in 1885 they moved to Thayer county, that state, and on a section of as fine farming land as is to be found anywhere, covered with grass and not a stump to uproot, they began the planting and building for another home. First the shade trees, orchard and grove and then a commodious farm house, that was long known far and near as a center of hospitality. Good dinners, good suppers, Christmas turkeys, Thanksgiving feasts and fun at this home made life a pleasure to many less fortunate pioneers, while friendships never to be broken off, were formed among their neighbors. It was while living in this house that their lives were saddened by the death of their lovely little daughter Pauline, at the age of four years.

As time passed and they found themselves less vigorous, they left their eldest son F. A. Sisson on the farm and moved to Hebron, the county seat of Thayer county, but were not among strangers as they had already made many friends there.

While in Hebron Mr. Sisson served three terms as county commissioner, making nine years in all. While he was in office the Thayer county court house, one of the finest in the state was built and the grounds around it beautified, the work giving entire satisfaction. Many bridges over streams and troublesome draws were also built and the work commended by the taxpayers as being carefully and economically done. As showing in what estimation Mr. Sisson was held as a man, we quote a portion of a letter from J. P. Baldwin, lawyer, and at one time county attorney of Thayer county, written Dec. 8, 1915 to Mr. Fletcher while visiting in Palacios. Mr. Baldwin says: "I am exceedingly sorry to her of the bad health of H. H. Sisson. I served with him at the court house for such a long time, that I am certainly grieved for his bad luck. I have known lots of public officials, and been associated with a great many of them and but few have I found as honest, clear headed and upright in all their dealings both public and private as Harry Sisson. I wish that he might recover his health and live to a ripe old age."

After a residence in Hebron of 15 years where he had endeared himself to the community by his manifestation of true civic pride, failing health caused Mr. Sisson to seek a home in the south. His friends regretted his departure and said and did what they could to keep him among them. But after visiting Palacios, Texas, so beautifully situated on Tres Palacios Bay and finding people eating strawberries and gathering roses at Christmas time and sitting on their porches taking sunbaths with deep breaths of fresh air while the people of Nebraska were contending with ice and snow, he was charmed into moving his family here where he built one of the beautiful homes of the city, making a rose garden of his lawn. Before his departure his friends would have given him a banquet, where speeches would have been made and a "God Speed!" spoken, but Mr. Sisson was not equal to the ordeal, and the silver "loving cup" that was to be presented at the close of the banquet was given to him quietly as a memento of their regard.

H. H. Sisson was a civil war veteran, enlisting in Company C, of the 124th regiment in 1863, at the early age of 18 years, and serving till the close of the war in 1865. His judgment was never so clouded by prejudice as not to admit that the "boys in gray" fought nobly, fully equaling the "boys in blue" in skill and courage.

Mr. Sisson's two sons F. A. and R. J., already mentioned, whose homes are in Palacios, were in close attendance at his bedside during his last illness, giving him every care and attention. The adopted daughter, Mrs. W. H. Wood, arrived from Hebron, Neb., Tuesday evening to attend the funeral.

Palacios Beacon, December 31, 1915

Joseph W. Spencer

Joseph W. Spencer passed to his eternal reward at his home near Palacios, Texas, on April 8th, 1932. Funeral services were held in the Palacios Methodist Church Saturday, April 9th, at 3:00 p.m., with Rev. R. Paine, conducting the service, assisted by other pastors of the city. Interment was made in the Palacios Cemetery after a Masonic service at the grave.

J. W. Spencer was born in Sullivan, Ohio, May 28, 1843. He was married to Elnora J. Bolles on May 11, 1871. They went to Kansas in 1880, taking up a homestead along with other Ohio families and made that state their home until 1908, when they came to Texas and purchased property on Tres-Palacios river to make their future home. Mrs. Spencer preceded her husband in death in October, 1909.

Palacios Beacon, April 21, 1932
 

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