Corporal Carl Henry Schmick & Corporal Benjamin Edward Abel

Spanish American War Soldiers

Corporal Carl Henry Schmick

Carl Henry Schmick’s life carried him from the streets and clothing stores of Defiance, Ohio, to military service in Charleston, South Carolina, and later to the American Southwest. Illness interrupted his service with Company M of the Sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but when he returned home in January 1899, the local newspaper welcomed him as a “good and faithful soldier.”

Growing up in Defiance

Carl was born on November 16, 1872, in Defiance, Defiance County, Ohio, according to the collected family notes. His parents, Henry and Elizabeth Schmick, were both born in Germany. The 1880 census placed Carl with his parents at 419 Wayne Street, along with four sisters: Alice, Phebe, Eda, and Cora. The research notes locate that address near the present Metalink building at 419 Wayne St.

These early records place Carl firmly within a Defiance family whose ties would remain important throughout his life. Years later, a military home record named his sister Allie Schmick of Defiance as his nearest relative; Allie appears to be the Alice listed in the earlier census.

Military service and a welcome home

Carl served in Company M of the Sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish American War era. The notes identify him as Pvt. C. H. Schmick, with the variant Schmicky, but both the surviving military home record and the newspaper account identify him as a sergeant. The military record gives his enlistment as May 26, 1898, at Defiance.

Illness brought his service to an early end. The military home record lists pulmonary tuberculosis among his disabilities and records his discharge at Charleston, South Carolina, apparently on January 12, 1899 date assigned to the Defiance Daily Crescent clipping announcing his return is listed as January 30, 1899.

The January 30 newspaper account reported that Carl had arrived the previous evening from Charleston. It explained that illness (assuming here that it was tuberculosis) had compelled him to leave Company M and convalesce in Charleston while the company was on its way to Cuba. He had received an honorable discharge and planned to remain in Defiance and return to civilian work. Although he looked thin after his illness, the paper said he was steadily recovering and that his many friends were glad to see him home.

The records and articles suggest that he became ill while awaiting a transfer to Georgia for training and never accompanied his comrades to Cuba. The clipping supports his separation from the company in Charleston.

Back behind the clothing counter

By the 1900 census, Carl was again living with his parents, this time at 802 Clinton Street in Defiance. His occupation was clerk in a clothing store. The Defiance Weekly Express of April 13, 1900, identified his employer as King, Backus & Co.

On October 16, 1901, The Crescent-News reported a new business venture: Carl H. Schmick and Godfrey M. Watkins had purchased David Wertheimer’s clothing store stock in Defiance. Wertheimer had wanted to retire, and the purchasers were taking inventory and cleaning the premises. They expected to open about two weeks from the coming Saturday and sell at reduced prices until the stock was gone. The article describes a stock liquidation rather than confirming a continuing store under their names.

Marriage and journeys west

On March 30, 1904, Carl married Madaline Hark in Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan. According to the notes from their marriage record, Carl was then a resident of Chicago, Illinois. The recorded ages were 33 for Carl and 40 for Madaline. Carl’s stated age does not quite match the November 16, 1872, birth date, which would have made him 31 at the time.

The next records take the story west. On July 13, 1908, Carl entered the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers at Sawtelle, in the Los Angeles area of California. Its register records his military history, pulmonary tuberculosis, and occupation as a clerk. It names El Paso, Texas, as his residence after discharge from military service and lists Allie Schmick in Defiance as his nearest relative. Madaline is not named in that field, but that omission alone does not establish what happened to the marriage.

An October 3, 1908, voter registration places Carl in Phoenix, Arizona, with his age recorded as 36. This, too, differs slightly from the birth date in the notes, since his thirty-sixth birthday would not have fallen until November 16. The dates place the Phoenix registration within the span of his military home record, so there are discrepancies between the two records

The home register lists a discharge on November 1, 1909. The notes describe a $50 pension, but the reproduced page does not clearly verify that amount as a pension payment. His tuberculosis may help explain his move toward the Southwest, although the records do not state his reason for relocating. They also leave gaps in where he lived, and with whom, during the final years of his life.

National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers register

A final return to Defiance

 

In November 1913, word of Carl Henry Schmick’s death reached his hometown. A notice identified as appearing in The Crescent-News on November 6, 1913, page 5, reported that he had died that morning in El Paso, Texas. His body was to be sent to Defiance and was expected to arrive about Sunday. The paper noted that his family still lived there, that three sisters survived him, and that he belonged to the United Spanish War Veterans, Eagles, and National Union.

A New Mexico death record, however, names Albuquerque, New Mexico, as Carl’s place of death. This conflicts with the El Paso location reported in the Defiance newspapers. The collected information also gives November 7, 1913, as his death date, which differs from the date assigned to the first newspaper notice. Carl was 40 years old, just short of his forty-first birthday on November 16. For now, the conflicting records leave his exact death date and location unresolved.

His return to Defiance is more clearly documented. The Defiance Democrat of November 11, 1913, reported that his funeral took place that afternoon at two o’clock at the family home on Clinton Street. Rev. C. E. Shields of the Presbyterian church officiated, and Carl was buried at Riverside Cemetery. This notice also stated that his body had been brought from El Paso, Texas.

The funeral account remembered Carl as a well-known Defiance resident with many friends. His life had taken him from the family home to military service, the clothing business, marriage, and later years in the West. Although the records disagree about where his life ended, they agree on his final homecoming: Carl returned to Defiance to be laid to rest.

Colfax, New Mexico, United States records

Death notice attributed in the notes to The Crescent-News, November 6, 1913, page 5. Its date conflicts with the November 7 death date in the notes.

Corporal Benjamin Edward Abel

Benjamin Edward Abel appears in the muster rolls of Company M of the Sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry as a corporal. Behind that brief entry is a boy who grew up in Defiance, lost both parents at eight, and found care among relatives before entering military service. His childhood can be pieced together through census entries, family notices, and guardianship papers. What became of him later remains harder to discover.

Military roster entry for Ben E. Abell, age twenty, of Defiance, recording his service and changes in rank. See military source at the end.

Benjamin was born on April 13, 1878, in Defiance, Defiance County, Ohio, to Benjamin Loomis Abell and Mary M. Strong Abell. His father was a banker, a position that suggests financial standing and prominence in the community. Benjamin had an older sister, Mary Rebecca, and a younger brother, Donald Strong. 

The 1880 census finds two-year-old Benjamin at home with his parents and sister at 403 Wayne Street in Defiance. His father was listed as a banker, while his mother was recorded as suffering from consumption, the term commonly used for tuberculosis.

The Abell family monument at Riverside Cemetery in Defiance, where Benjamin’s parents are buried. Benjamin Edward is not buried here.

The substantial family monument offers another glimpse of the Abells’ standing in Defiance. Its size suggests the means to commission an imposing memorial, though it cannot tell us the full extent of their wealth.

A childhood changed by loss

In 1886, the children lost both parents within a few months. Their father died in January. A newspaper announcement of their mother’s death, dated approximately May 2, 1886, said she died on a Sunday morning after an illness of only one day, just fifteen weeks after her husband. Benjamin had only recently turned eight. 

Newspaper notice of Mary S. Abell’s death, approximately May 2, 1886. It remembers both parents warmly and anticipates care for the children with their mother’s sister in Grand Rapids.

The notice remembered Mary as highly respected and described the sorrow felt for the three young children, one girl and two boys, the eldest only ten. Its account of a suddenly broken family home gives a sense of the loss behind the dates. Although the 1880 census had noted consumption, the notice does not identify the cause of her final illness.

Benjamin Loomis Abell’s will had provided for his wife, leaving her his possessions, including a house at 37 Jefferson Street in Defiance. It also named Andrew Sauer in connection with funds for the children’s welfare. Sauer had worked as a clerk with their father at the bank. 

After Mary’s death, the Defiance County Probate Court appointed Sauer guardian of the “person and estate” of Mary Rebecca, Benjamin Edward, and Donald Strong Abell. A guardian’s bond filed on May 13, 1886, was set at $40,000. Although Sauer held that responsibility, the children did not live with him. 

Care among relatives and a new guardian

After their parents’ deaths, the children appear to have gone first to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to live with their aunt Janet and her husband, Clinton C. Harley. Their mother’s death notice anticipated that her sister, identified as Mrs. C. C. Harley, would care for them, and a later probate reference placed the children in Grand Rapids. The Harley family seems to have returned to Defiance with the Abell children sometime afterward. Donald apparently then spent time with the Henry Vosz family, whose surname also appears as Foss. 

This sequence is inferred from the newspaper accounts and family estate material. The exact dates, lengths of these stays, and details of the moves cannot be confirmed, but the references offer glimpses of the households that gave the children a home after their loss. 

On August 18, 1894, when Benjamin was sixteen, the Defiance County Probate Court appointed John H. Bevington of Hicksville as his new guardian. Bevington accepted responsibility for Benjamin’s “person and estate,” including his care and his property or financial interests. The bond was set at $10,000, approved that day, and recorded on August 21. 

Benjamin E. Abell’s guardian’s bond, dated August 18, 1894, naming John H. Bevington as guardian. Defiance County Probate Court; recorded August 21, 1894.

Questions about the children’s inheritance

Less than two weeks later, the Defiance Daily Express of August 30, 1894, reported an examination of Sauer’s accounts following his removal as guardian. The newspaper questioned his reports and the handling of the Abell children’s funds. Benjamin’s new guardianship came close in time to this public controversy, although his bond does not establish a connection between the two events. 

Excerpt from “The Abell Estate,” Defiance Daily Express, August 30, 1894, questioning the decline in assets reported by former guardian Andrew Sauer.

According to the article, Sauer’s report of December 30, 1890, listed $19,105.37 in resources; his final account, filed August 27, 1894, listed $13,380.44. The newspaper described the decline as suspicious and put the loss at about $6,000. These were newspaper allegations, rather than proof of embezzlement or a record of a legal finding. Sauer’s later, separate banking troubles should also be distinguished from this dispute over the children’s funds. 

For sixteen-year-old Benjamin, the change in guardianship and questions about his inheritance were part of a youth already shaped by loss. The papers tell us who held responsibility for him and his finances, but little about his everyday life or his feelings. He had begun life as the son of a prosperous banker; his parents’ deaths brought uncertainty that money alone could not resolve.

A corporal and an unfinished story

Benjamin’s name next appears in the military rolls of Company M of the Sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish American War era. At twenty, he entered service as a corporal. He was reduced to private on November 3, 1898, under Regimental Order No. 32, and appointed corporal again on April 1, 1899, under Regimental Order No. 20. Both orders came from Sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry headquarters. The roster does not explain the reason for either change in rank.

Beyond his military service, Benjamin’s life becomes difficult to follow. The research gathered so far has not identified reliable records establishing a marriage, a later residence, or his death. Those gaps leave his adult story unfinished.

For now, we know him most clearly as a Defiance boy: a banker’s son, orphaned at eight, cared for for a time in family households, placed under a new guardian at sixteen, and later serving as a corporal. The surviving records preserve these moments, even as the years that followed remain out of reach.

Sources and image notes

Military source: “U.S., Adjutant General Military Records, 1631–1976,” Ohio, 1898–1899, Sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company M, entry for Ben E. Abell.

Guardianship image: Defiance County Probate Court, guardian’s bond for Benjamin E. Abell, August 18, 1894; recorded August 21, 1894.

Estate clipping: “The Abell Estate,” Defiance Daily Express, August 30, 1894.

Death notice: Newspaper announcement for Mrs. Mary S. Abell, approximately May 2, 1886. The supplied clipping does not display a newspaper title or printed date.

Family monument: Photograph of the Abell family monument, Riverside Cemetery, Defiance, Ohio. Burial identification supplied with the photograph.