John Oakley Fisher - Bishop Post, G.A.R.

John Oakley Fisher was known as a prominent architect and builder, once served as the Commander of the Bishop Post, and was elected as a county commissioner and infirmary director.  Although born and raised in Pennsylvania and settled in Illinois before coming to Defiance, Ohio, he contributed greatly to his community here.

John's birthday was September 3, 1834, born in Lycoming, Pennsylvania.  It was there he was found in the 1850 census, listed as an apprentice for John Martin, cabinet maker.  Also at the residence were Elizabeth, Martin's wife, and Benjamin Bowers, 35, also a cabinet maker.  John Fisher was just 16.


On August 16, 1855, he married Sarah Lucretia Klinefelter in Pennsylvania, and by the 1860 census, they were settled in LaMoille, Bureau, Illinois.  John worked as a cabinet maker, and Sarah kept house and raised three children - Thomas D., 4, and Robert, 2, both born in Pennsylvania,  and Mary, 8 months, born in Illinois.  So their move was probably made circa 1859.

John O. Fisher was found on the Civil War Draft Registration of Mendota, Illinois, in 1863.  He was 28 years old and married, of course, but he did enlist, as required, on October 18, 1864, into Company E, 31st Illinois Regiment.  He came late into the battle, but managed to see plenty of warfare as he was led by General Sherman after Atlanta.  A regimental history of the 31st, noted, in short:

"Retracing its steps, the Regiment reached Atlanta on the 13th of November, and on the 15th it there began with Sherman the triumphant march to the sea, and on it marched, with that magnificent army, cutting roads through tangled forests, bridging streams for the passage of the troops, tearing up railroad tracks,twisting the rails "as crooked as rams horns", "discovering" and Devouring sweet potatoes and other provender, surging over the country "from Atlanta to the sea", "shouting the battle-cry of freedom", and proceeding by way of Millen, it arrived the 10th of December 1864, at Savannah. 

Here the Regiment went into camp on the rice plantation of Dr. Owen, where the rice was consumed for food, the husks being first beaten off by means of wooden mortars and pestles appropriated from the slave quarters near by. On of the incidents of the day was the encountering of a battery mounted on a flat car, pushed along the railroad by a locomotive. 

On the 4th of January 1865, the Thirty-first bade farewell to Savannah, and shipped on the steamer Harvest Moon, and after the novel experience and sights of a sea voyage, disembarked at Beaufort, S.C., where it remained, enjoying the luxury of fresh oysters at low prices, until the 13th. To this succeeded some skirmishing at Fort Pocotaligo-"Poke-em-till-they-go", as the men called it-which was evacuated by the enemy. 

On the 30th of January the march began through the Carolinas by way of Salkahatchie, Orangeburg-which was captured, after some fighting by the Regiment's skirmishers,-Columbia-scourged by destroying flames-Winsborough, Cheraw,Fayetteville-captured by foragers-and Bentonville-scene of the last great struggle of Johnston's army, and the Regiment came out of the swamps, out of the pine forests, "out of the wilderness",the men ragged, dirty, many of them barefooted, to Goldsborough, N.C., where it arrived the 24th of March 1865, and where letters from home and news from the world were received. These and the prospect of the nearing of the end were cheering and refreshing to men who for 54 days had been without communication with home or the world, and were weary with long marching and fighting".

When the weary soldier came home, he joined his wife and children again in Mendota, Lasalle, Illinois.  By 1870, Dora (Isadora), Charles, and Margaret (Maggie) were added to the family.  In 1871, son Will was born, but the next child, Herbert, was born in Ohio (1875), as was Egbert (1876), so the move from Illinois occurred sometime between 1871 and 1875.

In the 1880 Federal Census, the Fisher family resided at 425 Front Street in Defiance.  With eight children to support, John continued his vocation as carpenter, with some of his sons helping him.  Soon his name appeared frequently in the paper as he served on the board of education and a mayor's committee, as a commissioner, jury member, election judge, and most often as a very competent builder.  In 1898, the death of his dog made the paper!

Defiance-Express, December 8, 1898

 When he ran for county commissioner as a Democrat in 1899, his biography ran in the Defiance-Express on November 2, 1899:

  In 1900, John and Sarah lived at 707 West High in a home they owned.  But, in 1902, Sarah died and was buried back in Illinois at the Restland Cemetery, near Mendota, Illinois.  Eventually John moved in with his daughter, Mary, and her husband, John Hammon, and their children, and that's where he was enumerated in 1910.  He is listed as a stepfather and crossed off on that census.  He was not the stepfather, and it is unclear why he was crossed off.

In 1913 or perhaps before, John was admitted to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home in Erie County, Ohio. His registration in Sandusky indicated that he was 78 when he entered the home, 5' 11 1/2 " tall, with a light complexion and gray eyes and hair. A widowed carpenter, Protestant, he named his nearest relation as his daughter, Mary Hammon, Jewell, Defiance County, Ohio. John received $20 a month pension for his service.  Someone listed his disabilities as defective vision (cataracts), heart disease (cardio hypertrophy, mitral insufficiency, hardening of the arteries), chronic rheumatism and a contraction of flexor tendons (hands and fingers were locked, probably in a claw type position.)  The home's conclusion was that he was in fair condition. He was discharged and readmitted at least once.  It was there that he passed away, and then was transported back to Illinois to be buried next to his wife.

Restland Cemetery, Mendota, Lasalle County, Illinois

(This is part of a series on Civil War veterans of Defiance County who were part of the G.A.R., Bishop Post, that headquartered in the city.  Formed in 1879, the post was named after a local man, Captain William Bishop, Company D, 100th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Army who died as a result of wounds received in battle.  The veterans' photos are part of a composite photo of members that has survived.  If you have other information or corrections to add to the soldiers' stories, please add to the comments!)