(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: UNK [Wolfe?]

This is one of the many photos I scanned while at my parents' home a few weekends back. This photo was/is in very bad condition, and we don't know who it is.

It's definitely someone on my Mom's side of the family. Since the coat the man is wearing looks almost military, I think it is probably from my maternal grandmother's side (Wolfe and Shelton). My maternal grandfather's parents were from Lithuania and my maternal great-grandfather, Charles Guokas Sr., did not immigrate until 1880 or 1890.

If I had to make a guess, I would say this is my great-great grandfather, Joseph William Wolfe, 1845-1918. 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.

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.

Guess I'll have to do some research on the uniforms of these groups for that period.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

ETA:  I now (November 2013) think this is a photo of Joseph's son, my great-grandfather Louis Henry Wolfe (1872-1929).  Louis was in the military too - he was in the Army, a private in Company C of the 6th Infantry, from May 4 to October 28, 1898, and then again from January 11, 1901 to January 11, 1904.  This photo was probably taken in 1898, when he would have been 17 years old.