2nd great-grandfather of Bethany Hoover

Private   Co. F   152nd OH Nat'l Guard Infantry

Dates of Service:  01 May 1864 - 02 Sep 1864

John Bartlett Hole was born in Versaille, Darke County, Ohio on 2-25-1842.  He was the son of Daniel Hole and Hannah Bartlett Hole.  His father Daniel was born in Miamisburg, Montgomery County, Ohio.  Initially called Hole Station, Miamisburg was renamed in 1818.  In 1831, Daniel bought 80 acres and cleared the land for a farm in Darke County.  John farmed with his father and married his first wife Christine Lehman on 2-11-1864 and they had a daughter, Orpha Lavinia.  

At the age of 22, John volunteered to serve his country in Co. F, 152nd Ohio National Guard Infantry.  His brother David Hole served in Co. J, 156th Ohio National Guard Infantry.  His brother Jay Hole also served in the 152nd in Co. L.  The 152nd Ohio National Guard Infantry was formed for 120 days at Camp Dennison, Ohio on May 11, 1864.  They left for New Creek, West Virginia on May 15 then to Martinsburg and Beverly.  On June 12, they witnessed the burning of the Virginia Military Institute along with adjoining buildings, several factories, foundries, mills and the private residence of Governor Lector.  On June 19, they destroyed the Grace Iron Works owned by Jeff Davis and Company.  They saw action at Greenbrier Gap on June 22 and Sweet White Sulphur on June 23.  They then moved to Cumberland, Maryland on June 29 and did duty along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.  Along the way, they destroyed bridges, mills and anything of use to the Confederacy.  They had many long marches and went with rations several times.  A “good dinner” was hard tack and coffee.  In Cumberland, they were attached to the Reserve Division, Department of West Virginia.  They were ordered back to Camp Dennison, Ohio on August 25, 1864 and mustered out on September 2.  Much of this information is from a letter on the Darke County Historical Society website written by a soldier in the 152nd named Charles Viets.  

After about a month of service, John contracted typhoid pneumonia and was near death.  He was in the hospital for a good portion of his enlistment.  He was never in good health again.  He suffered from chronic intestinal problems and hearing loss from the guns.

His wife Christine died on 3-10-1865 of unknown causes, possibly childbirth complications.  Orpha stayed with her Hole grandparents and was raised by them.  John then moved to Celina, Mercer County, Ohio where he lived most of his adult life doing farming and other labor.  He married Mary Eletta Palmer on 11-10-1867 and had ten children – Eleanora, David Parkham (my great-grandfather), Sarah Ann, Elizabeth Jane, Edwin, Maggie Ollie, Laura, William, Violetta and Robert.  John and Mary also had three children who died in infancy. 

John applied for a disability pension in 1885 at the age of 43 due to the chronic intestinal problems.  He was awarded a pension and received $4 per month.  John died on 3-17-1922 in West Cairo, Allen County, Ohio where his daughter Maggie King lived and is buried in Swamp College Cemetery near Celina, Mercer County Ohio.  Mary died in 1929 and is buried beside him.  I visited his gravesite and “152nd ONGI” is engraved on his tombstone.  I like that on one of the forms in his pension file where he lists his family members, he says he has “a happy peaceful life”. 

GRAVESITE: Swamp College Cemetery, Celina, Mercer, Ohio

Written by Bethany Hoover, March 2009

Updated by Bethany Hoover, PDP, March 2020 

Eva Gray Tent No. 2, Grand Rapids, Michigan  

When John Bartlett Hole was born on February 25, 1842, in Versailles, Ohio, his father, Daniel, was 36 and his mother, Hannah, was 31. He married Christine J. Lehman and they had one daughter together. He then married Mary Eletta Palmer and they had 13 children together. He died on March 17, 1922, in Cairo, Ohio, at the age of 80.