Joseph William Wolfe is my maternal great-great-grandfather. He was born June 14, 1845, in Washington County, Pennsylvania (probably in East Pike Run Township, where the family lived in 1850), the third child and second son of William C. and Melinda Jane Smallwood Wolfe. William C. Wolfe died in 1855 and Melinda married William Peden, and in 1860 the blended family is living in Fallowfield, also in Washington County.On September 2, 1861, Joseph enlisted as a private with Company D of the 79th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, which saw quite a bit of action in the Civil War. He rose to the rank of corporal and served through July 12, 1865. Apparently he eventually applied for a pension in December 1868 as 1883 pension rolls for Washington County show him receiving $4 a month.
Joseph married Margaret "Maggie" Melzen Carroll on October 31, 1868, and in 1870 they are living with her parents in Carroll, Washington County. Joseph and Maggie had eight children, one of whom passed away in infancy. From 1880 on, Joseph lived in Monongahela in Washington County.
The Annual Report of the Adjutant General of Pennsylvania [National Guard] for the year 1893 shows that Joseph was a member of the Tenth Regiment Infantry, enlisting as a private on December 17, 1888, promoted to corporal in June 1892, and to first lieutenant on May 26, 1893.
Joseph William Wolfe died on October 30, 1918, and is buried in Monongahela Cemetery, Monongahela, Pennsylvania. The star beside his grave appears to be a memorial flag holder for the G.A.R., the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War Union veterans' organization.
© Amanda Pape - 2010
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