Civil War Pension File of George W. Herrick

WC 673.682
Unit: Company E, 55th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Corporal
Enlisted: 8 May 1862 – Discharged at Indianapolis, Indiana, 6 Sep 1862
Unit: Company D, 51st Missouri Volunteer Infantry, commissioned Captain
Enlisted: 3 Apr 1865 – Discharged Sep 1865, St. Louis, Missouri

Documents:

(1) Declaration for Invalid Pension – 6 Oct 1890 – DeWitt Co, Illinois
George Herrick, aged 51, resident of Farmer City, DeWitt Co, Illinois, declares that he is the identical George W. Herrick who enrolled as a corporal on 8 May 1862 in Company E of the 55th Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry and enrolled again on 3 Apr 1865 and was commissioned as Captain, Company D, 51st Regiment of the Missouri Volunteer Infantry.  He was honorably discharged from the 55th Regiment in September 186? And from the 51st in September 1865.
He is unable to earn a support by manual labor by reason of loss of thumb and three first fingers on the left hand.  The said disabilities are not due to his vicious habits, and are to the best of his knowledge and belief permanent.  He has not previously applied for a pension.  Post Office, Farmer City, DeWitt Co, Illinois.
Signed: George W. Herrick
Witnesses: David Lowry and Robert V Cumming

(2) Circular – 15 Jan 1898, filled out 5 Jul 1898 – Washington, D.C.
   ·  Wife’s full name and maiden name: Dora Olive Knight
   ·  Married: 28 May 1870, Farmer City, Illinois, by E. Orr
   ·  Location of Marriage Record: Office of the DeWitt Co. Clerk at Clinton, Illinois
   ·  Previously married: No
   ·  Names and birthdates of living children:
   ·  Lott R. Herrick – b. 8 Dec 1871
   ·  Blanche E. Herrick – b. 12 Sep 1875
   ·  Dwight O. Herrick – b. 8 Jan 1880
   ·  Lyle Herrick – b. 14 Mar 1881
   ·  Hope Herrick – b. 21 Sep 1884
   ·  G. Wirt Herrick – b. 8 Oct 1889
   ·  Wayne D. Herrick – b. 20 Sep 1891
Signed: George W. Herrick, 5 Jul 1898

(3) Certificate of Death – 8 Aug 1904 – DeWitt Co, Illinois
   ·  Name: George W. Herrick – male, white, aged 64y 9m
   ·  Born: Indiana, lived in Illinois 34 years
   ·  Occupation: Law
   ·  Died: 20 Jul 1904 at Farmer City, Illinois
   ·  Burial: Maple Grove Cemetery, Farmer City, Illinois
   ·  Undertaker: George Stensel
   ·  Immediate Cause of Death: Thrown from buggy crushing skull
   ·  Dated: 8 Aug 1904
Signed: M. C. McIntire, Farmer City, Illinois

(4) Drop Notice – 6 Dec 1904 – Chicago, Illinois
George W. Herrick, Certificate No. 636840, Invalid Class, last paid at $8 to 4 April 1904, has been dropped because of death, 20 Jul 1904.

(5) Declaration for Widow’s Pension – 21 Dec 1908 – DeWitt Co, Illinois
Dora O. Herrick, aged 55, resident of Farmer City, DeWitt Co, Illinois, declares she is the wife of George W. Herrick who was a Private in Company E, 55th Indiana Infantry and a Captain in Company D, 51st Missouri Infantry, and served at least 90 days in the late war of the Rebellion.  He was honorably discharged and died 20 July 1904 at Farmer City, Illinois.  She was married under the name of Dora O. Knight on 28 May 1870 by Rev. Alec Orr at Farmer City, Illinois.  She had not previously been married and has not remarried since the death of George W. Herrick.  She makes this declaration for the purpose of being placed on the pension roll of the United States under the Act approved 19 Apr 1908.
Signed: Dora O. Herrick
Witnesses: I. F. Houseman & E. J. Longmate

(6) Certificate of Record of Marriage – 28 Dec 1908 – DeWitt Co, Illinois
Mr. George W. Herrick was married to Miss Dora O. Knight in said County on 28 May 1870 by A. T. Orr, Minister of the Gospel.
Signed: E. F. Campbell, County Clerk, by Mae Tracey, Deputy

(7) General Affidavit – 31 Dec 1908 – DeWitt Co, Illinois
George H. Parks, aged 71, resident of Farmer City, Illinois, declares that he has been personally and intimately acquainted with Dora O. Herrick, nee Dora O. Knight, from the year 1860 when she was a mere child up to and including the present time.  The said Dora O. Knight intermarried with George W. Herrick on May 28th 1870.  They lived together continuously as husband and wife until George W. Herrick was killed in an accident.
They were never divorced.  Dora O. Herrick has never remarried and she was never married more than once.
He knew George W. Herrick from the year 1868 until his death.  George W. Herrick was a single man when the affiant first became acquainted with him and was never married before he married Dora O. Knight.
The affiant has lived within one half mile of the said George W. Herrick and Dora O. Knight since 1871 and up to the present time.
Signed: George H. Parks

(8) General affidavit – 31 Dec 1908 – DeWitt Co, Illinois
Levi R. Murphy, aged 62, resident of Farmer City, Illinois, declared that he first became acquainted with George W. Herrick in 1868 in DeWitt Co. and knew him well continuously from that time up to the day of his death on July 20th 1904.
George W. Herrick was a single man and remained so until he intermarried with Dora O. Knight.  The affiant knew both personally from the time they were married until the death of the soldier in 1904 and he has known Dora O. Herrick since the death of her husband.
They lived together as husband and wife from the time of their marriage until the death of George W. Herrick and they were never divorced.
He has known Dora O. Herrick since she was a small girl and from his long acquaintance with her knows that she was never married but once and that she has not remarried since the death of her husband.
The affiant also states that during all the time that he knew the said George W. Herrick that he was married but one time and from his long personal acquaintance with him the affiant is satisfied that George W. Herrick was never married to any woman other that the said Dora O. Herrick.
Signed: L. R. Murphy

(9) General Affidavit – 16 Jan 1909 – DeWitt Co, Illinois
A. D. Beggs, aged 64, resident of Weldon, Illinois, states that he formerly resided in DeKalb County, Indiana, and that he was personally and well acquainted with George W. Herrick in said DaKalb County.   He first became well acquainted with George W. Herrick when he was a young man about 19 years of age.  The affiant has known him well and continuously from that time until the time of his death.  George W. Herrick was never married but once and that marriage was with his present widow, Dora O. Herrick.
Signed, A. D. Beggs

(10) General Affidavit – 18 Jan 1909 – DeKalb Co, Indiana
Electa J. Ryan, aged 75, resident of Saint Joe, Indiana, states she is an older sister of George W. Herrick, deceased, late of Farmer City, Illinois.
She lived in the same family with her said brother from the time he was a baby until he grew to manhood in DeKalb County, Indiana.  He went to Illinois about the year 1868 or 1869.
After the year 1869 she frequently visited the said George W. Herrick at his home in Farmer City, Illinois.
The affiant further states that George W. Herrick was never married but once and that was to Dora O. Herrick, formerly Dora O. Knight, his surviving widow.
She knows the above facts to be true by reason of being a sister of the said George W. Herrick, older than he, and having known him from the time of his birth until his death.
Signed: Electa J. Ryan

(11) Summary of Muster Rolls – stamped 20 Jan 1909 – Washington, D.C
George W. Herrick, Company E, 55 Regiment Indiana Infantry, age 22, was enrolled 9 Jun 1862 and mustered out with the company 6 Sep 1862.  From muster in to muster out he held the rank of Corporal.  The rolls and files for that period do not show him absent except as follows: Roll of 6 Sep 1862 shows him captured at Richmond, Kentucky, on 30 August 1862 and returned.  Prisoner of War records show him captured and paroled at Richmond, Kentucky, 30 Aug 1862.
George W. Herrick, Company D, 51 Missouri Infantry, was enrolled 5 Apr 1865 and mustered out in Indiana, muster roll dated 30 Aug 1865.  From muster in to muster out the rolls on file show him as Captain, mustered in 20 Apr 1865.
No medical record found.

(12) Application for Increase in Widow’s Pension – 23 Nov 1928 – DeWitt Co, Illinois
Dora O. Herrick, states she now resides at 724 East High Street, Farmer City, DeWitt Co, Illinois, where she has resided continuously for more than fifty successive years.
The affiant is the surviving widow of George W. Herrick, who departed this life on July 20, 1904, at Farmer City, Illinois, and that the affiant, as his surviving widow is now receiving a pension of $30 per month from the Bureau of Pensions at Washington, D. C.
The affiant further states that she is unable to furnish any proof whatever of the date of her birth, and there is no public or church record of her birth.  The family Bible of her parents was, at one time, in the possession of her uncle, Harry Huddleston, who has been dead for many years.  The affiant believes that the record of her birth was inscribed in the said Bible, but that affiant’s uncle, Harry Huddleston, reported to this affiant in his lifetime that he lost said Bible in moving from Colorado to Farmer City, Illinois, and the affiant is unable to furnish any family record or family Bible showing the date of her birth.
The affiant was born at Farmer City, Illinois, on September 2nd, 1853.  The correct name of the City of Farmer City at that time was the Town of Mount Pleasant.
The affiant was living in Farmer City, Illinois in the summer of 1860.
On the 28th day of May, 1870, she was married to George W. Herrick and continued to live with him as his wife from that time until his death in 1904.
Her maiden name was Dora O. Knight.
About the first week in June, 1870, after her marriage, she and her husband moved from Farmer City to Clinton, Illinois, and during their stay in Clinton resided on what is now North Monroe Street.  She and her husband moved back from Clinton to Farmer City about the middle of December, 1870, and the affiant has continued to live in Farmer City, Illinois ever since.
During the summer of 1860 affiant lived with her grandparents, Henry Huddleston and Elizabeth Huddleston, at Farmer City, both of whom have long since been deceased, and that at the time of her marriage on May 28, 1870, she was residing with her uncle Harry Huddleston at Farmer City, and during the rest of said year lived with her husband, George W. Herrick.
The affiant never had any full brothers or sisters, but does have half-brothers and half-sisters.  None of the said half-brothers rendered military or naval service during the Civil War.
This affidavit is made in order to furnish the facts necessary to entitle her to an increase in pension to $40 per month under the Act of 23 May 1828.
The affiant was 75 years of age on the 2nd day of September 1928.

Combined Service Record, George W. Herrick, Corporal, Company E, 55th Indiana Volunteer Infantry & Captain, Company D, 51st Missouri Volunteer Infantry, File Designation WC 673.682, National Archives, Washington D.C.

NOTE: The 55th Indiana Volunteer Infantry was organized at Indianapolis, Indiana, for three months service, June 16, 1862.  It was in Battle of Richmond, Kentucky, August 30.  They were mostly captured, paroled and sent to Indianapolis, Indiana.  They mustered out September 6 to October 23, 1862.