Roswell Henry Ryan
2nd g-grandfather of Shelley Brinker
Corporal Co. E, 142nd New York Infantry
Dates of Service: 30 Aug 1862 - 7 Jun 1865
Roswell Henry Ryan was born on 16 April 1837 to Roswell Smith Ryan and Janice Alice Rockwell in Hammond, St. Lawrence, New York. The 1850 U.S. Federal Census shows the family living in Oswegatchie, St. Lawrence, New York. Roswell S. Ryan is 39, Jane is 37, Henry B. is 13, Eliza 5, and Mary 2. Others living there are Mary Crookshanks 22, Edward Ultaser 22, and Wm. Rogers 20.
The 1860 U.S. Federal Census lists R. S. Ryon age 49 (boss carpenter), Real Estate valued as $5,000 and personal estate as $1,000. Jane A is 47, Henry is 23 (carpenter), Eliza 14, Mary L. 12, Alice C. 8, and Frederick S. 6, and William R. 3. Also a servant Sarah Oneil age 28 (Zeeland).
On 30 August 1862 at age 25, Roswell H. Ryan enlisted at Oswegatchie, New York. On 29 September 1862 he was mustered in as Corporal in Co. E, 142nd New York Infantry. He had blue eyes, brown hair, and a light complexion. He was 5’8” tall. Roswell was promoted to Full Private on 15 April 1863. Then he was detailed in the Ambulance Corps S.O. (Supply Office) 27 September 1864. On October 1864 he was on the muster roll again and mustered out 7 June 1865 with his Co. at Raleigh, N.C. New York: Report of the Adjutant-General.
There was another record of Roswell Ryan’s service. It was in the New York, Town Clerk’s Register of Men Who Served in the Civil War, ca. 1861-1865. A bounty of $50 was paid by the Town Clerk for every man entering the service in the 142nd Infantry from Oswegatchie, New York.
Roswell Ryan married Harriet Ann Lowery in 1865/66 in Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, NY. The 1870 U.S. Federal Census lists the family as Ryan Roswell H. age 33 (carpenter), his wife Harriet age 21; and children Harriet 3 and Lillian 11/12.
In June of 1880 they are still living in Ogdensburg, NY. The 1880 U.S. Federal Census lists the family as Ryan, Roswell H. age 43 (carpenter), Harriett A. age 33; children Harritt A. 13, Lilian S. 11, Jane E. 9, Roswell T. 7, and Bertha 3. With five children still at home, their mother Harriet Ann Roswell age 34, wife of Roswell H. Ryan, passed away on 7 June, 1881.
The U. S. National Homes for Disabled Soldiers, 1866-1938, gives Ryan’s military record indicating the following disabilities arising from the Fall of 1862 at Camp Davies, Va. Listed were defective vision, rheumatism, chronic diarrhea, and heart disease. This record also shows that he was admitted to the Marion Branch National Military Home on 29 March 1890.
According to the Register of Civil, Naval, Military, and Service 1863-1959, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers – 1891, Roswell H. Ryan was employed at the Marion Branch of National Military Homes as Home Guard earning $10 per month. The 1900 U.S. Federal Census – Twelfth Census of the United States, Schedule 1, lists those living at the Marion Branch National Military Home, Grant County, Indiana. Roswell is listed as a widower age 63, indicating his birth date, and that he can read and write.
Roswell Henry Ryan died on 1 April 1902 at age 65. Cause of death was Chronic Endocarditis. He was in the hospital for seven days before he died. He is buried in the Marion National Cemetery, Marion, Grant, Indiana, Plot 1, 830. Find-A-Grave Memorial no. 2864292, maintained by U.S. Veterans Affairs Office.
GRAVESITE: Marion National Cemetery, Marion, Grant, Indiana
Written by Wenda Fore, March 2020