Bovina in the Civil War - Soldier Biographies VIII

John McArthur is another Bovina Civil War soldier who did not spend all that much time in Bovina and left the area after the war.  He was born in Rennsselaer County in 1825.  He came to Delaware County in 1830.  In 1853, he was married to Jane Sloan in Bovina.  She died a year later, a few days after giving birth to a daughter, and is buried in Bovina.  In 1855, John and his one year old daughter Elizabeth Jane were living with Andrew and Elizabeth Thomson in Bovina.  On August 1862, he enlisted in the 144th as a 1st lieutenant.  He received a bounty from Bovina of $100 for enlisting.  He was not in service very long.  He was dismissed 'by order of examining board' on February 7, 1863.  Three months later, he married as his second wife Mary Elliott Barlow.   Like a number of soldiers, he left Delaware County after the war, settling first in Grant County Wisconsin in 1866 and then in 1869 he came to Poweshiek County, Iowa.  John died in Belle Plaine, Iowa in 1885.

James McClure was born in 1814 in Scotland.  He enlisted in Hamden in the 101st NY Volunteers in December 1861, deserting in April 1862 in Washington DC.  He then re-enlisted in Cortlandville in July 1862 in the 157th, where he was paid $50.  Such desertion and later re-enlistment was a fairly common occurrence - and soldiers generally were not punished if they re-enlisted.  After his re-enlistment, James stayed on to the end of the war, mustering out with his company on July 10, 1865 at Charleston, SC.  It is not clear when he came to Bovina, but it was where he was living when he died in November 1888.  In December of 1887, McClure had been admitted to the Delaware County Poorhouse.  He was noted as being 'intemperate' and that he was in the poorhouse because he was old and destitute.  At some point in 1888, he was moved to Bovina and was being supported by the town when he died.  The Delaware Gazette reported that "'Jimmie' McClure, the eccentric character so well known here and in this vicinity, died in Bovina last Friday.  Mr. McClure formerly served in the British army, and was a soldier in the Mexican war and also in the war of the rebellion.  He was a pensioner for services in the Mexican war.  Although he had been in so much war he was never wounded."

James McNair was born in Delaware County in 1835 (though other sources say he was born in Canada).  He enlisted in the 8th NY Battery as a private in August 1861.  He re-enlisted at the end of his service and mustered out in Norfolk, Virginia in June 1865.  He was paid a bounty of $350.  In the 1865 census, he was enumerated with his brother-in-law, Walter Doig in Bovina. This appears to be his only Bovina connection.  In 1870, he was living in Andes with his wife Martha and son James.  By 1880, he had moved to Adair County in Iowa and was farming.  He lived there the rest of his life, dying in 1903.

Albert McPherson was born in Bovina in 1840, but at some point in his childhood and early adulthood he lived in Stamford.  He enlisted in August 1862 in the 144th New York Volunteers.  At the time of his enlistment, he was 5 feet 10 inches tall, with light complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.  He mustered out with his company in Hilton Head, SC on June 25, 1865.  In 1880, he was living in Bovina with his wife Drusilla and two sons.  He reported in 1890 that he was totally deaf, caused by his service in the war.  By 1910, he was a widower, living with his daughter, Ada Lester, in Queens.  He died in February 1917 on Long Island and is buried in Hobart.

Ezekiel McPherson was born in Bovina in 1835.  He joined the 144th New York volunteers in August 1862 as a corporal.  At his discharge on June 25, 1865, he was an orderly sergeant.  He married Isabella McDonald in 1868 and they settled in Hobart.  Ezekiel died in December 1906 in Stamford and is buried in South Kortright.