2nd great-grandfather of Bethany Hoover

Private     Co. A      15th Michigan Infantry
Dates of Service:  20 Sep 1864 - 30 May 1865

James Delaney was born in County Waterford, Ireland in 1833.  He emigrated from famine-ridden Ireland to Boston in 1851 and purchased 60 acres of land in Rush Township, Shiawassee County, Michigan on 12-15-1851 for $300 from the Auditor General.  This property is currently located at 4853 N. Chipman Road, Owosso, Michigan.  He proceeded to clear the land for farming.  He married Miss Mary O’Rourke and they had the following children:  Julia Mariah (Harvey Hubbard) in 1857, Mary (Edward B. Koyne) in July 1860, James Thomas (Alice Carmody) on 12-23-1861, and Lucy Ann in 1865. 

During the Civil War, James was drafted into the Union Army and served with Co. A, 15th Michigan Infantry from 9-20-1864 to 5-30-1865.  The 15th Michigan served under General William T. Sherman and during his enlistment fought the Atlanta Campaign and marched to the sea to capture Savannah.  They also fought in the Battle of Bentonville and were part of the Grand Review in Washington D.C after the war ended.  James survived the war to return home. 

Mary O’Rourke Delaney died in 1869 and James never remarried.  He died in 1875 of unknown causes.  His son James Thomas, orphaned at age 14, worked as a lumberjack to support himself and his three sisters.  He married and had eleven children, leaving many Delaney descendants.  James and Mary Delaney are buried in St. Paul Catholic Cemetery in Owosso, Michigan.

GRAVESITE: St. Paul Catholic Cemetery, Owosso, Shiawassee Co., MI
Written by Bethany Hoover, March 2012