WILLIAM E. MYERS. A courageous soldier in the dark days of the rebellion, a man who has fought the good fight in all the occupations and relations of a busy career, and honored alike in his home and among his neighbors, Mr. Myers is one of the oldest citizens of Burnettsville. His home has been in that village for half a century, and of that group of citizens who were of adult age when he came there he is now the last survivor. His family has lived in White County since 1859, in which year his parents, Michael and Eleia (Lemmon) Myers came from Guernsey County, Ohio. His grandfather, Frederick Myers, was a native of Germany, and on coming to America made his home near Cincinnati. At one time he owned about 500 acres of land now included in that city and its suburbs. Michael Myers was one of the youngest in his father’s family, and spent most of his youth in the home of a man named Wilson near Piqua, Ohio. He was a carpenter and millwright by trade and after his marriage he bought ten acres of land where Putnam, Ohio, was later built, now included in the City of Zanesville. After selling that place he moved to Guernsey County near Cambridge, and in 1859 brought his family to White County, locating in Princeton Township, about two miles southeast of where the Village of Wolcott now stands. His death occurred in this county June 8, 1863. Up to 1856 he had been a whig voter, and afterwards was a republican. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Church. They had six children: Noble, who died in 1833 when an infant; William E.; Asa L., who was born in 1844 and now lives at Bluffton, Indiana; Nancy Sarah, who was born in 1847, and is now deceased; Frank C. born in 1851 and now lives at Warren, Indiana; and Adda, who was born 1853 and died in infancy. William E. Myers was born in Ohio December 18, 1841. He had not yet reached his majority when the war broke out and he responded to the call for troops to put down the rebellion. He enlisted at Wolcott December 12, 1861, and a little later was mustered in at Logansport in Company G of the Forty-sixth Indiana Infantry, his captain being R. W. Sill. When in the army, a spell of measles had left him with weak lungs and it was on account of this disability that he received an honorable discharge from the regiment on April 8, 1862. He came home and in a few weeks had recovered sufficiently so that he again proffered his services to the Union. He enlisted at Wolcott and on being sent to Indianapolis was assigned to duty in Company G of the Sixty-third Indiana Infantry, under Captain Holloway. His second enlistment was on August 10, 1862. He continued with the army until receiving his honorable discharge at Greensboro, North Carolina, June 21, 1865 having fought until the Confederacy had completely crumbled. He saw a great deal of hard fighting while with the Sixty-third. He was engaged in guard duty chiefly up to the fall of 1863, when it marched from Covington to Knoxville, Tennessee and then participated in the engagements of Strawberry Plains, Salt Creek, and in the fighting around Chattanooga. He was a participant in the almost continuous fighting for 100 days during Sherman’s advance from Chattanooga to Atlanta, including the battles around and the siege of Atlanta. After the fall of that stronghold of Confederacy he returned with Scofield’s army in pursuit of Hood, and took part in both the bloody battles of Franklin and Nashville during the closing weeks of 1864. His command then followed the shattered forces of Hood to Mussell Shoals on the Tennessee River, subsequently went up the Ohio River on boats to Cincinnati, was transferred east of the mountains to Alexandria, Virginia, later to Fort Fisher, on to Wilmington, North Carolina, thence up Cape Fear River to Goldsboro, from there to Raleigh, and was at Greensboro when Johnson surrendered his army to Sherman. Mr. Myers reached his mother’s home in White County July 4, 1865. After his father died his mother had moved to Burnettsville, and her death occurred in that village November 8, 1866. Prior to entering the army, Mr. Myers, in addition to gaining his education in the common schools, had served an apprenticeship in Guernsey County, Ohio at the blacksmith trade under John Swan. He also worked for a Mr. Newman at Wolcott, and while there welded the first piece of iron in the village. On returning from the army he established a blacksmith shop in Burnettsville, and that was the steady and dignified vocation which followed continuously up to his retirement in December, 1912. Few men continue one employment for so many years as Mr. Myers who was a blacksmith for fully fifty-three years. Since his retirement he has enjoyed the comforts of his good home in Burnettsville. He owns three acres of land around his house and barn, and has everything he needs for the evening years of life. On March 1, 1867, Mr. Myers married Mary A. Robbins, a daughter of Jesse and Mary Robbins, who came to White County as early settlers in 1855. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Myers were born six children. Addie L., the oldest, lives at Burnettsville with her husband, Frank McCully, and of her eight children four are still living. The next children, Gertrude B. and Jesse C. and Louis B. all died in infancy. Mary E, the widow of Wilson Coble, by who she has one living child, resides with her father in Burnettsville, and is the chief comfort to his old age. Adoka L., the sixth child, is the wife of Edward Caley and they have their home in Burnettsville and are the parents of three children. Mr. Myers is one of the honored old soldiers of White County and is a member to the Grand Army Post at Monticello. He belonged to a regiment which sustained heavy losses during the war, and when his regiment was discharged there were only thirty-three men to the company. While an out and out republican, Mr. Myers has never cared for the honors of office. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Church, and he has been a liberal contributor to church and other causes. His daughter Mary is a member of the Order of Rebekahs. At one time Mr. Myers served as a member of the school board and on the town council, and he has always been a citizen whose character and conduct have commanded respect and confidence. Notes: William E. Myers died 20 March 1926 in Burnettsville. His wife, Mary A. (Robbins) Myers was born in Ohio on 15 June 1849 and died in White Co., IN on 24 June 1911. Both are buried in the old Burnetts Creek Cemetery SW of Burnettsville.

Submitted by: Charles. J. Myers Jr. (bseepe@insightbb.com)

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