Memorials › Orrin Manchester

Orrin Manchester

23 Feb 1843 – 26 Mar 1924

Birth23 Feb 1843
Death26 Mar 1924
CemeteryHillside Cemetery
North Loup , Valley County , Nebraska , USA
Added byStarlight on 20 Oct 2012
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/91933820

Bio

2nd Illinois Light Artillery , Battery I Residence Aurora IL; a 19 year-old Farmer. Enlisted on 2/13/1864 at Aurora, IL as a Private. On 2/29/1864 he mustered into "Battery I" Co. IL 2nd Light Artillery He was Mustered Out on 6/14/1865 at Springfield, IL He was described at enlistment as: 5' 9.5", light complexion, blue eyes, auburn hair ____ Orrin Manchester, son of Hiram and Angeline (Lawton) Manchester, was born in the town of Pittstown, Rensselaer county, New York, February 22, 1844. He was ninth in a family of ten children, one brother residing in Pennsylvania, one in New York on the old home place, a sister in New York, one brother and one sister in Kansas, and another sister, Mrs. Eliza Paddock, living in North Loup, the others being deceased. The father was of English-German extraction, and died in 1871 in New York state. The mother was of New England stock, and she died in New York in the eighties. Mr. Manchester received his education in the home schools, and grew to manhood on the farm. As a young lad, he went to Aurora, Illinois, and from there, in January of 1864, enlisted in Company I, Second Illinois Light Artillery, serving until close of war. He received his honorable discharge at Springfield, Illinois, in June of 1865. After the hundred days' fighting from Chattanooga to Atlanta, Mr. Manchester was with Sherman on his famous march to the sea, then on through the Carolinas, and participated in the battles in that region. He was at Goldsboro when the announcement of Lee's surrender was received, and followed shortly after by the sad news of Lincoln's death. He participated in the grand review at Washington, and proceeded thence to Aurora, where he took up civil life again. Soon after his return, Mr. Manchester was married, January 12, 1866, to Miss Letitia Fikes, at the home of her parents, George and Margaret (Keck) Fikes, near Aurora, Illinois. Miss Fikes was a native of Illinois. Her parents were of German extraction, but born in New York state and both are now deceased. Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Manchester, namely: George, died October 26, 1903, survived by his wife and two children, who live in Valley county; Lizzie, deceased, at eighteen years of age; Jesse, married, has two children, and lives in Sherman county; Ed, also married, and living in Sherman county, has two children; Frank; John A., at home; Ira, married, and living on the old home place in Sherman county, has one child; Mary, wife of Herman Sperling, has nine children, and resides in Sherman county; and an unnamed infant, deceased. In the fall of 1868, Mr. Manchester moved to Grundy county, Illinois, where he resided until March of 1880, when he came, with his wife and six children, to Nebraska, locating in Sherman county. Here he purchased three hundred and twenty acres of B. & M. railroad land, on which he lived until 1903, when he retired from the farm, and moved to North Loup, purchasing a good home, where he now lives. Mr. Manchester is a successful man of affairs, owns a fine stock and grain farm of six hundred and forty acres in sections eight and nine, township sixteen, range thirteen, in Sherman county, as well as a fine tract of forty acres adjoining North Loup, in Valley county. The Manchesters are among the well known families, enjoying the high-esteem of a large acquaintance. Mr. Manchester served as director of his school districts for some years, as well as in other minor offices of this county. Mr. Manchester is republican in politics, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. When first settling in Sherman county, Mr. Manchester lived for a number of years in a sod house, and at that time deer and antelope were to be seen in large numbers on the hills. Those years were full of discouragements and hardships. The loss of all crops in 1894 by drought, and by hail in 1896, were but few of the many that beset the early settler. Source: Compedium of History and biography of Nebraska, Chicago: Alden Publishing Company, 1912, page 285

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