Oldest Civil War Soldier to Enlist from Mentz

With reflections of Memorial Day, I thought I would share some information about the oldest civil war soldier to enlist from the Town of Mentz (based on Ancestry.com records).  Our oldest soldier would be Levi DeGroff.

Levi Degroff served in Company L, 16th NY Heavy Artillery.  He reported his age as 45 at the time he enlisted.  His headstone at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery says he was born in 1809 making him closer to age 54 when he enlisted on Dec 23, 1863.

Less than 17% of the men to enlist here were of age 40 and over.  Less than 2% reported they were age 45.  Of these men, all were older but reported their age as 45, so not to be excluded from service.  Out of the 38 men age 40 and over, 4 would not survive, Patrick Cossin of 16th HART would die of disease at Williamsburg, VA, William Hatfield of 111th Infantry would die of wounds, Abel Mott of the 105th Inf would die of disease at Catlett's Station in Virginia and William Dibehart (Dineheart) also of the 111th would die of disease as a POW at Andersonville, GA. We owe a great debt of gratitude to our soldiers.

The oldest soldiers to enlist from Port Byron and Mentz includes:

Levi Degroff
Aaron Wilson
Henry Dinehart
David Upham

All of the oldest soldiers served in Company L, 16th NY Heavy Artillery.  Aaron Wilson served the last part of his service as the company cook.  David Upham may have been from Butler, Wayne County but enlisted here.

Levi Degroff married Susan A Moon and together they had three children.  They once owned a home on the corner of River and Green Streets.  His daughter Minnie DeGroff married Charles Delanson Quimby.  He also had a daughter named Mary and a son Levi Jr. 

He was a farmer by occupation and received a pension for his service during the war.  Levi DeGroff's obituary indicates he died at Victory, NY in 1890 while visiting on a trip there.  He is buried at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Port Byron.

Levi reminds us that freedom is never free, it comes at the price of many soldier's lives, those who make this sacrifice to serve, protect and preserve the freedoms and liberties that we all enjoy must be commended.  The long tradition of proud military service continues.  This memorial day, I express my appreciation to the many service men and woman who are serving to keep America strong.

Historian Exchange Program

I am pleased to announce that I have started a new "historian exchange" program.  Often public historians answer inquiries and research topics for newspaper articles, all while remaining in complete isolation.  The idea, inspired by my fond memories of the school band exchanges, will build camaraderie, bring renewed interest in our local history and allow historians an opportunity the work together. 

Several times a year I plan to offer a program to a neighboring township and in exchange, that township would then be hosted at Port Byron.  The idea has been well received by historians from Liverpool, Owasco, Montezuma, Scipio and Victory.

Event programming remains a challenge for most rural libraries and historical societies.  This will provide a wonderful opportunity where new educational and history presentations can come to each township with no cost to the host for the speaker.  In this process, we will learn a little more about the history of our neighbors as well as many other topics.

Historians who are interested in participating should contact me so that we can schedule you.  I look forward to visiting the many towns in our area and working with the various historians who keep history alive.

Plans for the program are in process.

New York's Coat of Arms

Next week my article about the New York Coat of Arms will be published in the Auburn Citizen. The laws and regulations behind our State Arms and Seal could not be covered in full due to space restrictions, so I thought readers may enjoy some of the resource links about the Arms that is used in our State flag.

I was inspired to write the article after finding reference that the Coat of Arms was used in Gansevoort's 3rd NY regimental flag that was carried at Yorktown during the revolutionary war.

The beauty of our flag has always interested me, but my knowledge of its history was limited. There are many claims of the flag that belonged to Col. Peter Gansevoort’s 3rd New York Regiment. Some site that it was the inspiration of our State Coat of Arms.

Photo from Albany-A Cradle of America.by Francis P. Kimball, Printed by the Argus Company 1936.

It has also been claimed that this flag was in the collection at the Albany Institute of History and Art.  After contacting them, they granted use of a photo of their flag for my Citizen article and it has slight variations of the flag pictured above, indicating there was a flag previous to their flag which dates between 1790-1797.

Due to limited article size, I was unable to include the flags from the civil war that also used variations of the State Coat of Arms:

4th NY Heavy Artillery

3rd NY Provisional Cavalry

15th NY National Guard

The correct arms of the state of New York, as established by Law since March 16, 1778 by Henry Augustus Homes, See Page 22, where it is recorded that Col. Peter Gansevoort issued a proclamation in 1864 that the 3rd NY was flown at Yorktown.  Gansevoort himself was not there due to consolidation of regiments, he was returned to command the Albany Militia as a Brigadier General.

The 3rd NY was best known for its defense at Fort Stanwix.  Soldier Ashbel Treat who was pensioned from Mentz and buried at Pine Hill in Throop testified he marched to Fort Stanwix but the dates on his muster cards indicate he arrived after the famous battle. 

The Revolutionary War flag did not "create" the Arms, it simply used a variation.  The fact that it was used on the regiment flag of the 3rd NY does provide me with a greater appreciation of what our State flag stands for.  Our current State flag is inspired by this historical flag of the American Revolution, from the Arms that were adopted in 1778.