Sylvester Donley - Civil War Soldier Buried in Farmer Cemetery

In 1850, Sylvester Donley was a thirteen year old boy, who lived with his parents, William and Melinda, and his siblings - Cynthia, John, and Eliza.  The family lived in Washington Township and farmed on real estate valued at about $200.




 By 1860, the family had moved to St. Joseph Township in Williams County, with their post office as Edgerton.  Sylvester was 23.  Within the next year, he would be enlisted in the Union Army.

His first enlistment was into Company K, 21st Regiment, Ohio Infantry, on July 8, 1861.  It was supposed to be a three month enlistment, beginning in Findlay, and then moving to Camp Chase near Cleveland.  Just before Sylvester's enlistment, the group was sent to West Virginia where they found the Confederates and fought them.  Then the group returned to Ohio on a steamer, back to Gallipolis where they did reconnaissance work and had one skirmish while defending the Ohio border.  On August 12, 1861, Sylvester mustered out at Columbus, Ohio

He probably went home before he reenlisted the next year on August 23, 1862, into Company D, 124th O.V.I.  There he served until the end of the war and on July 9, 1865, he mustered out in Nashville, Tennessee.  This unit fought in some of the most well known battles in the south, including Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga and the Siege of Atlanta. The 1890 Veterans Census noted that he was wounded in the left ankle.  Sylvester mustered out as a Corporal on July 9, 1865.

Helen Jennette "Nettie" Carlisle became Sylvester's wife before 1870, and they settled in California Township, Branch County, Michigan.  Sylvester, 32, and Helen, 22, had children Albert, 4; Angelia, 2; and Edward, 8 months, according to that census.  Sylvester worked as a day laborer and they owned no house or land, they reported.

By 1880, they were back in Defiance County, this time in Farmer Township, with the addition of Mertie, age 6.  Sylvester was a farm laborer.   He died a rather early death on March 19, 1897, in Evansport, at the age of 59.

The Bryan Press ran the obituary of Sylvester Donley on April 1, 1897:

"Died.  March 18, 1897, at his home in Farmer township, Sylvester Donley, aged 53 years, 3 months, and 21 days.  

Mr. Donley was born in Williams county, Ohio, on November 23, 1837.  He enlisted in Co. K, 21 O.V.I., was discharged July 8, 1861, reenlisted August 23, 1862, in Co. D, 124 O.V.I. and served until war ended, and was discharged July 9, 1865.  He was a member of Cervin (Lewis) Bowker post G.A.R. and sergeant of that post at time of death.

He leaves a wife and six children.  The funeral sermon was preached at Farmer by Rev. Bartlett, of Edgerton, and the text was the latter part of first verse of the thirty-eighth chapter of Isaiah: 'Thus saith the Lord, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.'  One of the best and most impressive sermons followed this text.

Then the body was laid to rest in Farmer cemetery.  One by one the members of the G.A.R. are crossing the bourne to that undiscovered country from whence none ever return ..."

 

The Oldest Settler - William Donley, 1895

It is always a special pleasure to read a first person account of an ancestor's life.  In this letter to the editor, William Donley, at 55 years old, looked back at his life as one of the first people to settle in the wilds of Defiance County.  The article appeared in the Defiance Express on December 20, 1895; William would live but six more years.

"THE OLDEST SETTLER.

That Honor Now Claimed by Wm. Donley of Washington Township.

I was thinking today what a wonderful change has taken place in Defiance county in the past fifty-five years.  It also occurred to me while I was considering the question that I am now the oldest settler in Washington township.  

My father, John, better known as Jack Donley, came to Defiance county in 1837.  He was born in Virginia in 1804 and come to Ohio with his parents some time in 1815.  They settled at Raccoon Hill, Athens county, where I was born Dec. 11, 1833.

In my boyhood days, bears, wolves and deers were plenty in Washington township, the wolves making the night hideous with their howling.  Indians were almost as numerous as birds are now-a-days and as treacherous as any of the name could have been.  If they wanted anything to eat, there was only one way to get rid of them and that was to feed them.

My father frequently killed a deer or bear before breakfast.  Meat and Johnny cakes were the main staff of life and in that particular the neighbors all fared alike.  You bet they enjoyed it, too.

The first settlers in Washington township were Zacharial Huet, George Huet, James Huet, Jesse Donley, Hugh Donley, Andrew Bostater, H. Skeen, James Skeen, Gideon Skeen, Peter Doud and Wm. Donley, Sr.

There were but five houses on what is now known as the Bellefontaine road in those days.  One at Brunersburg, two in Washington, one at Williams Center, occupied by Mr. Dilman and one at the St. Joe river, owned by old man Parker.  It is called the Lang place now, but was known as Denmark.  Very strangely there is but one house at that point at this day.

My parents raised ten children, six boys and four girls, all of whom are dead but Malinda Hutton, of Kansas, and the writer.  My father died in Illinois in January 1866, and my mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth McKee, at Ney, this township in 1875.

Wm. Donley

(We wish to say in this connection that Mr. Donley is one of the liveliest old settlers that we know of in this neck of woods.  He is a blacksmith by trade and lives in the town of Ney.  He was in the army during the war and is now one of the leading, hardworking Republicans in Washington township.  He buried his youngest child, an infant some two weeks old, about two month ago.  Bill is grey and grizzley, but has vim enough to last twenty-five years.  We hope he will and then some.)

www.findagrave.com - Ney Cemetery