SURNAME "B" BIOGRAPHIES


PHILO BALDWIN

Philo enlisted as a Private from Bridge Creek, Wisconsin into Company I 30th Wisconsin Infantry on 14 August 1862. He was discharged on 5 Sep 1865 with a disability. He started receiving his pension on 11 August 1870 and his wife, Mary, started receiving a widow's pension on 20 July 1893. In 1890 he was living in Felton. Burial, Tombstone Picture


PAUL HENRY BASSLER

Paul was born to Paul and Bertha Bassler on 10 September 1890 in Trenton, Clinton County, Illinois. His siblings included; Anna (1823), August (1885), Oscar, Elsie (1892), Bertha, and Emma (1897).
While living in Sabin, Paul registered for the U. S. Army and was called to service on 24 December 1917. He served in Company L, 117th Infantry, A.E.F. entering combat service in July 1918. He died in France on 7 October 1918.
Burial


FELIX BATTLES

In some records his given name is Phelix.
Felix was born in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee in November of 1842. This date is from his Declaration of Recruit completed when he enlisted which gave his age as 21 years, 9 months. A record of his birth depicting more than the year could not be found [note: one census shows April 1843]. Historian Krueger found that he was born on a cotton plantation outside of Memphis and somehow won his freedom but it is unrecorded how. He found him in an 1850 Shelby County slave schedule and then in an 1856 probate inventory in Mississippi as one of 68 slaves and he being a 13 year old worth $600.00. Before he enlisted in 1864 he lived in Hampton, Dakota County, Minnesota and he was a Boatman.
On 8 August 1864 in St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota he enlisted as a Private into Company G, 18th United States Colored Inantry Regiment. In some military records he is 5 feet, 4 inches tall and others 5 feet and 8 inches. After enlistment he was sent to be with the Regiment in the District of St. Louis, Missouri. He was promoted to Corporal on 1 November 1864. On 7 November the Regiment was ordered to Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky then on 12 November to Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee. He was involved in the Battle of Nashville on 15-16 December 1864, the pursuit of Confederate General Hood's troops to the Tennessee River, and then guarding the railroad at Bridgeport, Jackson County, Alabama until February 1865. He was involved in the action at Elrod's Tan Yard on 27 January 1865 near Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee. Felix was discharged at Chattanooga on 7 August 1865 which completed his one year enlistment.
After the war and in 1867, Felix is working as a waiter at the Globe Hotel in St. Paul, 260 E. Sixth St. Census reports indicate that Felix married Kate (Katie - maiden name unknown, born in 1855) in 1868. In the 1900 Census, Katie indicated they had five children but only one (Richard) survived. Known children are Julia (1870-1881) and Richard (1871-1916).
He became familiar with the Red River Valley while working on the Northern Pacific Railroad. He eventually settled here with his family in about 1872. While here he worked as a traveling barber and then by 1878 he had his own barber shop in Moorhead. He was forced out of his business in 1905 because of a stroke. It was at this time he started receiving his Civil War pension; 5 May 1905.
Felix died in Moorhead on 20 April 1907. Katie had died earlier in St. Paul on 26 June 1902. Julia also died in St. Paul on 23 January 1881 and Richard died in Moorhead on 23 November 1916.
Census information can be found in the Moorhead 1880, 1885, 1900, and 1905 Moorhead reports.
Fargo Forum - 22 April 1907
Fargo Forum - 24 April 1907
Minneapolis Star-Tribune - 29 July 2018
Fargo Forum - 1 July 2020
Part of Grand Army of the Republic Article
Felix's Burial, Tombstone Photo
Richard's Burial, tombstone Photo
Felix and Richard are buried in a plot which includes Isaac Gill (1853-1910), Jennie Harris (1870-1942), and Louise Gill (1839-1909). The relationship to the Battles family is unknown.

The information for this biography was done through research by this MNGenWeb Clay County Coordinator Mike Peterson using some of the research information provided by Markus Krueger a historian with the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County.


BERNHARD BAUERS

Some spellings of the surname are without the S. Bernhard enlisted in Company K 48th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment as a Corporal on 13 March 1865 while residing in Buffalo. He was promoted to Full Sergeant. He was discharged on 24 Mar 1866. He lived in Barnesville in the 1890 Veterans Census.


BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BAUMGARDNER

Benjamin's records sometimes give his given name as Frank or Franklin. He was born 1844 in Wayne County, Ohio and is a brother to John Wesley Baumgardner of Clay County. He enlisted in Company D 86th Ohio Regiment as a Private on 16 June 1863 from Clinton, Wayne County, Ohio. He was mustered out on 10 February 1864. From 1890 through 1930 census reports he was living in Clay County. He started receiving his pension on 14 August 1906. He died on 12 March 1932 in Clay County. His wife's (Emma) tombstone is in Elkton Cemetery engraved that she is the wife of B. F. Baumgardner. Burial.


JOHN WESLEY BAUMGARDNER
Click Picture to Enlarge

Provided by Jeff Olson
Jeff's Family Tree


John was born in 1846 in Ohio and is a brother to Benjaman Franklin Baumgardner of Clay County. He enlisted in Company F 102nd Ohio Infantry
Regiment as a Private on 6 September 1862. He was promoted to Full Corporal on 30 May 1865 and mustered out on 30 June 1865 in Nashville, Tennessee. From 1900 through 1920 census reports he was living in Barnesville. He started receiving his pension on 29 July 1890 and his wife Martha started receiving a widow's pension in 1922. John died on 2 June 1922 in Clay County. He is buried in Barnesville City Cemetery.
Burial, Tombstone Picture.


STEPHEN D. BENEDICT

Stephen was born 22 October 1840. He enlisted as a Private in Company C 14th Wisconsin Regiment from Butte des Morts, Winnebago County, Wisconsin on 8 September 1861. He was promoted to Full Principal Musician on 28 December 1863 and mustered out on 9 October 1865 at Mobile, Alabama. Stephen started receiving his pension on 30 March 1890. His wife Sarah started receiving a widows pension on 23 January 1895. Both pensions were in Minnesota. Stephen died on 26 October 1894 and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery at Sabin. Burial, Tombstone Picture


ARTHUR CARL BESTIC

Arthur was born to Arthur King and Hildur Elisabethh Bestic in Hamilton, Ravalli County, Montana on 17 March 1912. He has one sister, Lois, born in 1910.
Arthur was a World War II Veteran in the Merchant Marines. The FindAGrave Memorial which records facts on his death in the war is resourced in part here: "Arthur was a "Wiper" aboard the "William H. Welch", which sank in a gale off the coast of Scotland, and broke in two. Sixty-two of the crew of Seventy-four were lost. The ship was part of convoy EN-50 during WWII and Arthur was one of the Merchant Marine sailors aboard." A wiper has to have a Merchant Mariner's Document and STCW certificate issued by the United States Coast Guard. The job is to assist the engineers but also involves cleaning the engine spaces and machinery.
Burial, Tombstone Photo, Photos of Ship/Accident and links to some family members.


WILLIAM JOSEPH BODKIN

In addition to the extensive biography linked below: William served in the Civil War under the alias of William J. Anderson. He enlisted as a Corporal on 7 August 1862 in Company E, 104th Illinois Infantry Regiment and was released as a Sergeant on 6 June 1865 in Washington, D. C. He started receiving his pension on 12 July 1865 and his wife, Inger, started receiving a widow's pension on 1 June 1916. William died on 1 May 1916 is buried at Prairie Home Cemetery, in Moorhead.
Burial, Portrait, Tombstone Picture.
Biography from History of Clay and Norman Counties, Minnesota, Volume II - Biographies (1918).


ALBERT JOHN BOLGREAN

Albert was born in Minnesota on 28 February 1896 to Albert and Anna Bolgrean. Albert's baptism name is Albert Wilhelm Johann Bolgrean; however, later the family only used Albert John. The U. S. Army mistakenly has his surname as Bolgren in all the records. His siblings included Emma, Henrietta, Clarance, Mayme, and Ada. The family lived in Barnesville at one time.
Albert was killed in action by the enemy while serving in France with the Headquarters Company of the 325th Infantry. He died on 22 October 1918 in all likelihood during the Meuse River-Argonne Forest offensive. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
Burial, Tombstone Photo, Links to Some Family.


JOHN BOLTZ

John was born 18 August 1844 in Luxembourg. He enlisted from Waumandee, Wisconsin in Company K, 48th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment on 8 March 1865 and mustered out on 24 March 1866. He started receiving his pension on 1 September 1885 and his wife Anna started receiving a widow's pension 20 June 1901. John died on 2 June 1901 in Moorhead. He is buried in Saint Marys Cemetery in Barnesville. Burial, Tombstone Picture.


CHARLES BORNEMAN

Charles was born in Germany in 1826. He enlisted in St. Paul, Minnesota on 10 February 1865 as a Private in Company G 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery. He started receiving his pension on 2 April 1888. For a time he lived in Barnesville and was a member of Post 145 (Barnesville) Grand Army of the Republic. He died on 1 August 1895 at Elysian, Le Sueur County, Minnesota. Burial, Tombstone Picture, Death Notice.


SHERMAN W. BRONSON

Sherman enlisted as a Private in Company C, 29th Ohio Infantry on 26 August 1861 and was discharged with a disability on 10 January 1863. He then enlisted in the 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery on 16 February 1864 and was mustered out on 27 September 1865. In 1883 he was living in Hawley. He started receiving his pension on 13 July 1863 and his wife, Sarah, started receiving a widow's pension on 19 July 1918. Sherman died at the Dayton Ohio National Home for Disabled Volunteers on 31 January 1908 and is buried there. Burial, Tombstone Picture.


WILLIAM BUCK, JR.

William enlisted as a Private in Company M 1st Maine Cavalry on 31 October 1861 and was mustered ourt on 25 November 1864. He started drawing his pension on 20 May 1889. He lived in Felton in 1890. William died on 30 August 1908 in Douglas County, Oregon and is buried at the Roseburg National Cemetery. Burial, Tombstone Picture


CHARLES BUCKMAN

Charles was a 1st Lieutenant in the Civil War. He signed up on 18 October 1862 with Co I, 30th Wisconsin Infantry. He was discharged on 20 September 1865. He started drawing his pension on 15 December 1891 and his wife, Rebecca, started receiving a widow's pension on 18 February 1895. In 1890 he was living in Felton. He is buried in Ada, Norman County. Burial, Tombstone Picture


WILLIAM FRANK BURLEY

William was born 22 February 1840. He enlisted as a Private in Company B 2nd Iowa Cavalry 31 August 1861. He was promoted to Full 4th Corporal on 1 November 1864 and mustered out on 19 September 1865 at Selma, Alabama. William started receiving his pension on 30 June 1880. His wife Emma started receiving a widows pension on 27 Jan 1911 and Lloyd B. Burley started receiving a minor pension on 18 April 1930. William died on 2 January 1911 and is buried in Moorhead. Burial, Tombstone Picture


JOHN HENRY BURRILL

Extensive biography information is provided in below links: John was born on 2 August 1842 in Abbot, Piscataquis County, Maine and died on 12 June 1906 in Moorhead. While in Wisconsin he started receiving his civil war pension on 18 March 1891 and then his wife, Jane, started receiving a widow's pension on 29 June 1906 in Minnesota.
From "A History of the Second Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, in the War of Rebellion, Chapter VII, June 27 to August 22, 1862, published 1896; "BURRILL, John Co. A; b. Abbott, Me.; age 19; res. Fitzwilliam; enl. April 25, '61, for 3 mos.; not must. in; re-enl. May 22, '61, for 3 yrs.; must. in May 31, '61; must. out June 21, '64; re-enl. for 1 year, Feb. 1, '65; cred. Troy; assigned to Co. C; must. out Dec. 19, '65. P.O. ad., Hawley, Minn." A picture and comment written by John in the above book can be found here.
A biography of John is contained in the "History of Clay and Norman Counties, Minnesota, Volume II - Biographies (1918)" and an excerpt can be found here.
John is buried in the Hawley Cemetery. Burial, Tombstone Picture


HALVOR H. BURTNESS

Halvor was born 19 January 1845 in Norway. His Civil War records list him as Halvor Helgerson. He enlisted as a Private in Company H 33rd Regiment Wisconsin Infantry on 21 August 1862 and was mustered out 9 August 1865. He is listed in the 1890 Veterans Schedule, the 1900 Census and the 1910 Census as living in Ulen. He started drawing his pension on 20 May 1891 and his wife Annie started drawing a widow's pension on 18 February 1919. Halvor died on 19 December 1918 and is buried in Ulen's Bethlehem Lutheran cemetery. Burial, Tombstone & Family Pictures
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From the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum:
BURTNESS, HALVOR H. Residence: Rock Prairie, Wisconsin. Born 19 Jan 1845 at Nes, Hallingdal, Norway. Civil War: Enlisted in 1863. Post war: Lived at Ulen, Minnesota. Died 9 Dec 1918. Sources: (Ulvestad p274) (Great grandson Narv Somdahl, Bloomington, Minnesota).

HELGERSON, HALVOR WI 33rd Inf Co H. Residence: Plymouth, Rock County, Wisconsin. Born in Norway. Civil War: Farmer. Age 18. Unmarried. Blue eyes, light hair, light complexion, 5’7”, heavy build. Enlisted for three years on 21 Aug 1862 at Plymouth. Mustered 18 Oct 1862 at Racine, Wisconsin. Bounty paid at muster $25 (of $100 total). Private. Left sick at Memphis, Tennessee, 26 Nov 1862. Sources: (WHA Series 1200 box 151-10,14; red book vol 38)