Bovina in the Civil War - Soldier Biographies I

With this entry, I am starting a series that will run a bit over a year of mini biographies of Bovina's Civil War soldiers. These will appear once a month on the 12th of each month, five or so biographies each month.

Born in 1836, James S. Adee was the son of  Stephen B. Adee and Elizabeth Luddington.  He enlisted on September 2, 1862 in the 144th New York Volunteers as a 2nd Sergeant.   James was reported 'absent sick in hospital' in August 1863.  He was promoted in May 1864 to 1st Lieutenant.  Mustered out as a first lieutenant in 1865 at Hilton Head, South Carolina, he married Mary E. Witmore the following year.  In 1866, he joined a large group of Civil War Veterans who opposed President Johnson and his policies that they saw as too lienient to the south and harmful to the recently emancipated slaves.  In 1890, he reported suffering from 'disease of the lungs, rheumatism and malaria, measle and other afflictions.'  He died in Delhi in 1899 and is buried in Bloomville.

John G. Atkin was born in 1833, the son of Charles Atkin and Rachael Miller.  He was excused from the draft in 1863 because he was the father of a motherless child, but a year later, he enlisted in Company E of the 144th New York Volunteers.  He was paid $700 for doing so.  By this time, he appears to have remarried to Mrs. Dorcas Hamilton, who ran a hotel and tavern in Bovina.  He mustered out as a private in Hilton Head, SC in June 1865.  By 1870, John, Dorcas and their daughter had moved to Delhi.  Dorcas died sometime before 1885.  That year, John married as his third wife Mary Grantbury.  He died in Delhi in 1914.

Though born in Scotland in 1838, Andrew Anderson came to the United States while still an infant.  His time in Bovina was relatively brief but encompasses his service in the Civil War. In 1860, he was in Bovina as a servant in the household of Thomas Hamilton, his uncle. He enlisted in the 144th NY Volunteers as a private on September 1, 1862 and mustered out in Hilton Head, SC on June 25, 1865.  He married Margaret Liddle in Delhi in 1866 and settled in Andes on Dingle Hill as a farmer.  He and Margaret had nine children.  Widowed in 1917, Andrew died November 6, 1929 from the effects of a fall the day before.  He was almost 92 and had been in good health when the fall happened.  The obituary in the Stamford Mirror noted that "He leaves very few comrades behind as the lines are growing thinner."  He was buried in Andes with members of the American Legion as pall bearers.  Note: Andrew Anderson's last name varies in the records, from Andrewson to Anderse to Anderson

Adam C. Biggar was born in 1840, the son of Walter Biggar and Jeanette Cowan.  He enlisted in August 1862 in Bovina and mustered in as a private in Company E, New York 144th Volunteers.  He died of typhoid fever on October 18, 1863 at Folly Island, S.C. and is buried there.

Samuel O. Blair, the son of Peter Blair and Margaret McCune, was born in Bovina in 1831, but he spent most of his life in Delhi.  He was married to Elizabeth Atkin and had three children when he enlisted in 1864 and was mustered into Company E of the 144th New York Volunteers.  He mustered out a year later at Hilton Head, S.C.  He briefly lived in Bovina during the war, but by 1870 was living in Delhi.  Samuel suffered from malarial poisoning of the bladder, a side effect of his war service.  He died on December 11, 1890 and is buried in Bovina.