Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
You might be thinking of:
William Allen Keesy (Reverend)
b: 25 Jul 1853 - Richmond Twp, Huron, Ohio.
William's parents were struggling with the very few Pioneer settlers of Richmond township (Huron County, Ohio) to brush away the forests where they had moved and sought to make a home, when in 1843, on the 25th day of July, William A was born.
The advantages of childhood and facilities for mental, moral and social culture were very limited in that community in those days. Hard work in the woods and on the farm, with little schooling, was the common lot of the children then. On the 18th day of January, 1859, when our subject was but 15
years of age, his father died. At the age of 18 he enlisted in the army and after the war, in 1868, on the 7th day of July, he was married to that most estimable lady, Miss Maggie J. Lane. There were three children born to them, viz: Minerva, April 13th, 1869, Mary, February 19th, 1971, and Maggie L. September 22nd, 1873. (Maggie L.) died November 24th, 1878. Maggie J. (Lane) Keesy was a devoted wife and loving mother and died September 24, 1873 in Shelby, Ohio.
William A was again married to Miss Hattie Augusta Charles (Born September 14, 1856) on February 9th, 1875. To them were born: Flora, 17 Nov 1876, Oce Ola, 5 Oct 1878, Vesta Leona, 12 Feb 1881, TWINS: Edith and Ethel, 16 Aug 1883, Leon Castle, 9 Nov 1888, Fern, 23 Feb 1891, Helen, 9 Aug 1896, and Robert Ivan, 23 Jun 1898.
William Allen Keesy was eighteen when he enlisted in the Union Army at Norwalk, Ohio, on October 24, 1861, to begin his participation in the Civil War. He became a member of Company I, 55th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
While with his regiment in Virginia, he became so ill that he had to be discharged for physical disability on December 11, 1862. Returning home, Keesy regained his health after six months, but his service to the nation was not finished. He was drafted on September 23, 1864, and assigned to the 64th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After seeing action in Tennessee, Keesy
was discharged again at Nashville on June 16, 1865.
After the war, William entered the ministry (and was admitted into the Sandusky Annual Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ) and in 1898 published a very literate and descriptive account of the hardships he endured - the hard marches, sickness, the sights and sounds of battle - that were experiencedc by so many veterans of that war.
He has successfully and successively served the following charges: Huron Mission, Honey Creek, Shelby, Richland. He founded and built the U.B. church at Chicago, Ohio, Oceola, Fostoria, Clyde, Attica, Bascom, Helena, Burgoon and Bucyrus (Ohio). He located and purchased the site for the U.B. church at Gibsonburg (Ohio) and traveled the district as Presiding Elder ten years. He
is the author of a little work entitled "Jesus Paid It All," which had a rapid sale and was the means of doing much good.
He (later was) the chaplain of his old regiment, the 55th, and the boys hail(ed) him with good cheer at all their reunions. He (was) a very sensitive of the fact that many of his comrades (had) far, very far, more brilliant army records, but he (knew) also that he cannot give a correct account for others and therefore deals exclusively, but truthfully with his own. Not desiring to rob a single comrade of any of the well-earned honor belonging to him, but to assist in telling the story of the war in such a way as to let oncoming people know what the soldier of the Civil War did for them. The Lord help us to appreciate what it meant to save this Union! Did its salvation justify the awful cost? If so, give the patriotic soldier honor for his part in the gory drama.
The book is: "WAR As Viewed from the Ranks" by Rev W. A. Keesy (Personal Recollections of the War of the Rebellion by a Private Soldier) "His not to Reason Why, His but to do and Die." Originally published by THE EXPERIMENT AND NEWS CO., Norwalk, Ohio. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1898, by W. A. Keesy, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. (c) 1991 by New Washington Historical Society, P.O. Box 463, New Washington, Ohio 44854
There stands a Keesy School (Historical Marker) in Huron County, Ohio between Willard and Attica. Haven't found out about it yet.
Howard
Followups:No followups yet |
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/geesey/messages/56.html | ||
 |
Agreement of Use Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|