Walter Wright Greenland and Sarah E. Wilson
Husband Walter Wright Greenland 1
Born: 6 Jan 1846 - Cassville, Huntingdon Co, PA 1 Christened: Died: 25 Mar 1895 1 Buried:
Father: Joshua Greenland (1808-1887) 1 2 Mother: Betsey Wright (1812-1880) 1 3
Marriage: 4 May 1870 4
Wife Sarah E. Wilson 4
Born: Christened: Died: Aft 1913 Buried:
Father: Samuel Wilson ( - ) 4 Mother: Elizabeth [Unk] ( - ) 4
Children
1 M Bird Wilson Greenland 4
Born: Christened: Died: when fifteen years old Buried:Spouse: Did Not Marry
2 M Walter Wright Greenland 4
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Gay Frances Jennings ( - ) 4
3 F Elizabeth Greenland 4
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: W. C. Stephenson ( - ) 4
4 M Samuel Greenland 4
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Mary Fox ( - ) 4
5 M J. Allen Greenland 4
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Walter Wright Greenland
As a youth he attended a private school conducted by Professor Hall in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and for several terms he was a student in the Cassville Seminary. He early manifested a great interest in the work of civil engineering, and in 1860 began to study that profession under the able preceptorship of the Hon. J. Simpson Africa. his brother-in-law. At the outbreak of the civil war, however, his intense patriotism prevented his continuing his studies, and on August 7, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company C, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which regiment was raised in Blair, Huntingdon and other central counties of the state, by Colonel Jacob Higgins, an old Mexican war veteran. Although a youth of but eighteen years of age at the time of his enlistment, Mr. Greenland was unfaltering in his loyalty and bravery. September 17, 1862, in the sanguinary battle of Antietam, he saved the regimental flag from capture by the rebels, in this way attracting official recognition. Soon after he was tendered the post of color sergeant of his regiment but this office he declined. Following is a description of the deed as given by an eye-witness:
When the Federal troops were beaten back, the color sergeant, shot through the heart, fell dead with the flag in his hands. A comrade behind him snatched the colors from the dead man's grasp, raising them aloft, once more turned toward the ranks, but the victory of the flag was brief, for an instant later he, too, fell with a shot wound in his breast, and the colors were once more trampled in the dust. The troops had retreated some distance before the fall of the colors was noticed. Then Greenland left the ranks, and, rushing back amidst the shower of grape and canister that fell thick and fast, he gathered up the bedraggled flag, and, raising it on high, bore it triumphantly back to his regiment.
The One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment figured prominently in the battles of Antietam and Chancellorsville and in a number of important engagements marking the progress of the war. May 18, 1863, after a period of nine months' hard service at the front, Mr. Greenland received his honorable discharge from the army and was mustered out with the rank of sergeant. Immediately on his return home he was nominated, on the Democratic ticket, for the office of surveyor of Huntingdon County. In the ensuing election, although he was but eighteen years of age, he was elected by a good majority, and he acquitted himself with great distinction in discharging the duties connected with that office.
Mr. Greenland came to Clarion County, Pennsylvania, in March, 1865, and on that date assumed the responsibilities of the office of superintendent of the Clarion River Oil Company. In this connection he sunk a number of wells at Deer Creek, Blyson Run and State Road Ripple. Three years later he went to New Jersey to accept the position of manager of the Fruitland Improvement Company and he lived in that state until 1871. While a resident of New Jersey he was appointed post-master of Atsion, by President Johnson, and he was elected chosen freeholder of Burlington county, an office similar to that of county commissioner in this state. Returning to Clarion, in 1871, he here engaged in the lumber business and he continued to devote considerable attention to that line of enterprise during the ensuing years until death called him from the scene of his mortal endeavors. In 1878 he was honored by his fellowmen with election to the office of prothonotary of Clarion county and he filled the same with the utmost efficiency for two terms, or a period of six years. In 1888 he was the Democratic candidate for congress from the twenty-eighth congressional district, but owing to political exigencies failed of election. He was a member of the board of trustees of the State Normal School at Clarion from the time of its organization and was one of the most earnest and forceful workers in securing its location at Clarion. He was contractor for the erection of the present music hall of the Normal group. Largely as a result of his influence, the narrow-gauge road of the Pittsburgh & Western Railroad Company was built through Clarion county and to Clarion. He was one of the members of the building committee of the Methodist Episcopal church at Clarion, of which denomination he was a devout member. In 1894 he was nominated, by the Democratic state convention, for the office of secretary of internal affairs, and in the ensuing October made a notable canvass of the state, in company with William M. Singerly, Democratic candidate for governor, Robert E. Pattison, W. U. Hensel and William F. Harrity, all prominent men in the public affairs of this commonwealth.
Following is a brief resume of Mr. Greenland's career in the Pennsylvania National Guard, in which his promotion was rapid. February 7, 1880, he enlisted as a private in Company G, Sixteenth Regiment. He was appointed sergeant-major of the above regiment shortly after his enlistment; was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster, August 1, 1881; reappointed quartermaster, May 18, 1885; was made quartermaster of the Second Brigade, February 27, 1887; was appointed quartermaster-general, March 5, 1891; and was appointed adjutant-general of Pennsylvania, by Governor Pattison, March 8, 1892, with the brevet rank of brigadier-general. He was held in high esteem by the officers and men under him, and at the annual encampment of the National Guard, in 1891, at Camp Kensington, they showed their appreciation of his work and character by presenting him, through their spokesman, Brigadier-General Wiley, with a magnificent sword, finely engraved, gold-mounted and of beautiful workmanship. On the scabbard is inscribed: "Presented to Col. W. W. Greenland, Quartermaster-General of Pennsylvania, by the General Staff and the Non-Commissioned Staff of the Second Brigade, N. G. P." On one side of the blade is inscribed: "W. W. Greenland," and on the other side: "U. S."
In 1889, when the Johnstown flood caused such havoc in Pennsylvania, Colonel Greenland, then quartermaster of the Second Brigade, volunteered his service to help relieve the terrible distress of the stricken community, and for the ensuing six weeks rendered valuable assistance to Adjutant-General Hastings, who represented the state authorities in furnishing relief and saving life and property.
As adjutant-general of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, Mr. Greenland was a diligent and untiring worker. It was his devotion to the duties connected with this office that finally began to tell upon his health. In the fall of 1894 he was forced to relinquish his responsibilities at Harrisburg and return to Clarion for much needed rest. The dawning of the new year, however, witnessed a change in the state administration and he felt it incumbent upon him to return to the capital and superintend the clerical and administrative work required in his office. His return to work was in direct opposition to the orders of his physicians and it was not long until he was obliged to give up entirely. Returning home in the latter part of the winter, he lingered but a short time and his death occurred March 23, 1895.
General Greenland retained a deep and abiding interest in his old comrades-in-arms and signified the same by membership in the Grand Army of the Republic. In the time-honored Masonic order he had passed through the circles of the York and Scottish Rite branches and held membership in Tancred Commandery, No. 48, Knights Templar, Pennsylvania Sovereign Consistory of Pittsburgh, and had reached the thirty-second degree. He was past master of Clarion Lodge, No. 277, Free and Accepted Masons.
1 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 1118.
2 J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 238, 245.
3 J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 245.
4
John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 1120.
Home | Table of Contents | Surnames | Name List
This Web Site was Created 15 Apr 2023 with Legacy 9.0 from Millennia