2nd great-grandfather of Theresa Netherton

3rd great-granduncle of Ginger Bish

Private    Co. I    3rd MI Infantry 
Dates of Service:  13 May 1861 - ??

Lewis Thorp Lovejoy was born 8 May 1835 in Lodi, Cattaraugus County, New York. He was one of fourteen children born to Almon Lovejoy and his wife Hannah Ames Lovejoy.

The Lovejoy family migrated to Michigan, where Lewis married Lydia Spotts on 19 August 1852. They had two children: Sarah E. and Amanda M. Nothing further is known of them.

On 13 May 1861 Lewis enlisted in Company I of the Third Regiment of Michigan Volunteers. He enlisted at Grand Rapids. His military papers give his description as six feet two inches tall, light complexion, grey eyes, and brown hair. His occupation was butcher.

On 1 January 1862, while his unit was in the vicinity of Alexandria, Virginia, Lewis accidentally cut himself in the leg with a broadaxe. The regimental surgeon examined Lewis and prepared his instruments for amputating the leg. His non-commissioned officers and comrades persuaded the surgeon to try to save the leg, and soon after, Lewis was taken to the hospital in Alexandria.  He was eventually judged to be incapable of performing the duties of a 
soldier because of chronic ulceration of the leg, and he was discharged for disability. His injury plagued him for the rest of his life.

When Lewis returned from the war he went to Wisconsin. There he met and married Anna Louisa Rist. Their two sons were born in Wisconsin: Almon H. in 1866, and James Edward in 1868.

Lewis lived in several states before settling in DeKalb County, Missouri where he died on 12 February 1912 at the age of seventy-seven. He is buried in DeKalb County, Missouri in the Riggs Cemetery, also known as Walnut Grove.

GRAVESITE: Walnut Grove Cemetery, Weatherby, DeKalb, Missouri 
Written by Theresa Netherton, September 2008

Updated by Susan Norder, March 2020