Civil War soldier gets headstone more than a century after death at ‘Poor House’
Albion students researched Daniel Walterhouse and secured headstone
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Matthew Passerall of the VFW in Albion places a GAR marker by the new headstone for Daniel Walterhouse, a Civil War veteran who lived at the Orleans County Alms House or Poor House for about 15 years until his death in 1910.
The new headstone was unveiled during a ceremony at the Alms “Poor” House Cemetery behind the Orleans County Emergency Management Agency on Countyhouse Road.
Civil War re-enactors mostly from the 140th N.Y. Vol. Infantry attended the service and later did a military gun salute. From left in back include David George, Doug Mergler, Wes Miller, Michael Ryan, Nathanael George and Jude Melin.
The re-enactors also brought a 34-star flag from the Civil War which is set near the new headstone.
The headstone for Walterhouse was installed by the Orleans County Department of Public Works before Saturday’s ceremony.
Two Albion eight-graders secured the 230-pound Civil War era headstone from the Veterans Affairs office in Washington, DC.
Anton Schwarzmueller, vice chairman of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War for New York State, attended the ceremony and presented letters of appreciation from the organization to Kendall Peruzzini, center, and Mary McCormick.
The students started researching Walterhouse last summer. They initially were helped by Civil War researcher George Wilkinson of Michigan. They set out to dig into local record books for primary source evidence
McCormick and Peruzzini visited Albion Town Clerk Sarah Basinait to look over handwritten death records. They saw that Daniel Waterhouse died on Aug. 20, 1910 and was buried in the “County Farm” Cemetery.
Then they visited Catherine Cooper, county historian, to look over Alms House ledgers from the late 1890s to early 1900s. The Alms House operated on Courthouse Road from 1833 to about 1960. It was a site for poor residents, and others with no other place to go.
Walterhouse was listed annually in the registers for approximately 15 years until his death in 1910. The “Record of Inmates” registry notes he was admitted twice, once in 1893 and again in 1895.
Peruzzini and McCormick also looked over the National Archives records on Walterhouse that verified his Civil War service and eventual residence over his final years at the Alms House.
“This was the conclusive evidence we needed to link our Civil War soldier to the one buried here,” Peruzzini said.
Since the cemetery is county property, the two attended a County Legislature meeting to get its permission to seek a headstone and have it placed at the cemetery. The Legislature approved the request.
There were then able to apply to the Veterans Affairs office in Washington, DC for a Civil War era headstone. The request was approved “with great promptness” and the 230-pound headstone arrived six weeks later.
“All this research culminates today in Mr. Walterhouse’s long overdue recognition, and the formal unveiling of his headstone,” Peruzzini said. “Along with Mr. Walterhouse, this recognition in some way also honors the many forgotten, soldier or not, who lived and died here at the Orleans County Alms House.”
The re-enactors fire their guns in a salute for Daniel Walterhouse, who was born in 1823 in Western New York.
During the outbreak of the Civil War, Walterhouse was accepted into state service in Washtenaw County, Mich. on May 16, 1861, and later mustered in at Lenawee County on June 20, 1861, with over 1,000 other men, joining Company K of the 4th Michigan Infantry, McCormick told more than 50 people at the ceremony on Saturday.
In his two years of service his company would fight in northern Virginia and Maryland regions in places like Bull Run, Malvern Hill and Antietam.
On July 1, 1862, he fought with Gen. George McClellan against Robert E. Lee and the Confederates at Malvern.
The day would end with over a thousand men dead and 6,000 wounded, McCormick shared. Walterhouse was taken prison, and would later during an escape attempt be stabbed in the leg below the left knee. A few months later at Antietam he would smash his right ankle falling off a wagon during battle.
“These two major injuries put him in hospitals in both Washington and Philadelphia,” McCormick said. “This ultimately ended his ability to serve after two years of faithful service. These injuries would significantly hamper him through his future life as a farmer.”
Through his pension records, McCormick and Peruzzini learned Walterhouse moved to Niagara County at some point after the war and was living in the Niagara County Alms House in the late 1880s. He was a widower with no one to care for him because immediate family all stayed in Michigan.
In the late 1890s he moved to the Orleans County Alms House and would live there for 15 years until his death in 1910.
“One of the last to be buried in this cemetery, today we honor Daniel L. Walterhouse with this long overdue headstone for his service and dedication to our country,” McCormick said.
Scouts and their leaders from Troop 64 in Albion raise the American flag near the start of the service on Saturday.
Albion students played a big part in clearing overgrown brush from the cemetery in 2010-11 in a service learning project led by their teacher, Tim Archer. Students and the county reset stones, and also had an interpretive made listing many of the residents buried in the cemetery. About 200 residents are buried there.
Retired Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin speaks during Saturday’s ceremony. Lattin visited Archer’s class in 2010 and Lattin’s comments to the class back then started an effort to reclaim the overgrown potter’s field as a more suitable cemetery for the residents buried there.
Albion student Rigo Baltazar leads the group in the pledge of allegiance. Tim Archer is at right. He has helped guide many of the service learning projects with students at Albion Central School. The 34-star flag from the Civil War is in back.
Jax Gotte, an Albion Boy Scout, places an American flag by Walterhouse’s headstone.
Mike Donahue served as the bugler in the playing of Taps near the end of the ceremony.
These participants in Saturday’s ceremony gather for a group photo.
