David "Nesbit" Miner
(1838-1909)
David 'Nesbit' Miner was born on Nov.
25, 1838 at Unity, Columbiana County, OH, the son of Burget
and Sarah Ann Miner. He was a soldier in the Civil War, and he and his wife
were pioneer settlers of Nebraska.
Nesbit stood 5 feet, 6 inches, with blue eyes and light hair, and weighed 130 lbs. In the years before the war, he lived in Van Wert, Van Wert County, OH and worked as a carpenter.
As the Civil War was being waged, Nesbit joined the US Army on Sept. 8, 1861, as a member of Company K of the 15th OH Infantry. In November and December of that year, he was detached from the regiment and served as a steward in the Army hospital at Camp Nevin, KY.
Nesbit later rejoined his regiment, and was promoted to corporal. The regiment saw action at the battles of Chickamauga, Pickett’s Mills, Stone River and Resaca.
In July 1864, Nesbit served with General William Tecumseh Sherman’s troops, in the Atlanta region. In the words of his regiment’s surgeon, William M. Clark, David took part in a quick time march with the regiment from Vining Station, GA and:
… in the line of his duty at or near Chatahoochee River in the state of Georgia [David] did on or about the 10th day of July 1864 become disabled in the following manner--: After making a forced march of 20 to 25 miles through a rough country on an excessively hot day the regiment was exposed to a drenching rain, causing considerable sickness in the regiment….
Army troops passing through Resaca, Georgia at night
Nesbit himself recalled that Sherman had:
…forced a crossing about 20 or 21 miles above where we was stationed and … we was ordered to reinforce at Double Quick time which order came about 12:00 noon. We made the march by 5 or 6 o’clock the same evening and was still in line, the men almost [illegible] & some left on the road. At this moment their came a hevy thunder storm drenching us to the skin. Without blankets or tents we dryed ourselves … slightly. As best we could, gathered brush for a bed & went to sleep. Some time in the night I got up to urinate but found the passage stoped. I forced myself for a time before I had an evacuation after which I shook as though I had an ague and at day light I found myself in the same situation and found I passed most all blood.
Recalled regiment Captain Julius A. Gleason, Nesbit suffered "an attack of hemorrhage and inflammation of kidneys and bladder. Although he remained with the regt. and performed duty a part of the time until sent to Hospital at Victoria Texas (during the march to San Antonio Tex.) I do not think he was able bodied from July 10, 1864 until discharged."
He was treated in the hospital at Victoria, TX in July and August 1864. He was discharged at San Antonio, TX on Nov. 21, 1865, and mustered out of his regiment on Christmas Day at Camp Chase in Columbus, OH.
On Sept. 21, 1868, at Van Wert, Nesbit married Caroline Amelia Crumrine (1853-1910). The ceremony was performed by Rev. Mounts. Nesbit was a full 2 decades older than his wife, and she married him at the tender age of 15, even though she swore on her marriage application that she was actually 17.
They had 5 children – Emma J. McMullen, Charles T.J. Miner, Cora N. Cummings, Laura E. Miner and Edward B. Miner (possibly also known as George). One daughter married Melvin Dotson and another Harvey Farrell.
In 1866, the Miners bought a lot in the town of Van Wert. Then, in 1869, they purchased town lot 7 in the nearby village of Willshire, OH.
As he aged, Nesbit continued to suffer from his wartime illnesses. In his own words:
The disease was acute for 4 or 5 years after my discharge & one time Dr. McGovern gave me up and said he could do nothing for me. After such time the disease became chronic. The pain is not so severe unless I take cold and when I take cold it always goes back to the old complaint. At the present time I never go to bed without getting up 5 or 6 times a night [to urinate].
In June 1871, Nesbit and Carrie and their 5-month old daughter Emma left Ohio, and moved to Columbus, Platte County, NE. Said the Columbus Journal, "Mr. Miner was a resident of this city for a good many years..."
Rare old postcard photograph of 13th
Street in Columbus
By 1886, the Miners had migrated to Kent, Loup County, NE, and in 1889 was in Burwell, Garfield County, NE. Nesbit worked during these years as a carpenter and contractor, but was so weak that he said he often hired other men to do the laboring.
In the year 1898, the Miners were back in
Columbus. Nesbit was named to a committee to erect a Civil War monument in the
middle of Frankfort Square in town. His skills in construction would have been
valuable to the committee, whose other members were J.H. Galley, H.T. Sperry,
J.R. Meagher, E.O. Rector, R.L. Rossiter and Ed. W. Clark. The group obtained two old cannons from California. A 65-ton barre granite stone measuring
30 feet high was installed as the base, and on top was placed a bronze eagle
with a wingspan of six feet. The names of 132 men were inscribed on the granite
base. The monument is seen at left in an old postcard view circa 1907,
and Nesbit's name carved on its base is still seen today, at right.
While in Nebraska, as compensation for his wartime illness, Nesbit successfully petitioned the federal government for a pension. As of 1909, he was receiving $15 a month.
In 1900, when the federal census was taken, married daughter Cora resided in their home, with her 2 young children, Ownie Cummings and James A. Cummings. However, on Dec. 20, 1901, just five days before Christmas, Caroline and Nesbit separated, after 35 years of marriage. She left home and never returned, except "after many months absence, ... for a short time, ... only as a visitor to the rest of the family..." During that visit, she "refused to have anything to do with" her husband.
Nesbit filed for divorce in the Platte County District Court on Feb. 16, 1904. Caroline refused to defend herself, and the divorce was granted by the judge the following month, on March 23, 1904.
Following the
divorce, Nesbit
apparently moved to Council Bluffs, IA, presumably into the home of one of his
married daughters -- Mrs. Harvey Farrell or Mrs. Melvin Dotson. A rare old
postcard photograph of Council Bluffs' Broadway Street is seen at right.
After several years there, he was admitted in 1906 to the National Military Home in Kansas City, MO. Later, he moved in with his son Charles at 415 Vine Street in Kansas City. Nesbit died there on May 30 or 31, 1909 and was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Kansas City. Said the Columbus Journal, "Mr. Miner had been in poor health all winter, due to old age, and while he seemed to get better with the approaching warm weather, he did not regain strength.. Old soldiers acted as pall bearers at his funeral, and members of the army of the Philippines."
News of his death also was printed in his old Ohio hometown newspaper, the Van Wert Twice-A-Week Bulletin:
D. Nesbit Miner, well known to the older inhabitants, as the son of the late Burget Miner, died in Kansas City.... Mr. Miner had been living in Nebraska for several years. Recently he moved to Kansas City.
Carrie
suffered a hemorrhage and passed away on Nov. 13, 1910,
presumably in Kansas City. She was laid to rest in Elmwood Cemetery, a short
distance from Nesbit's burial site, but her grave was not marked. In the photo
seen here, great-great grandson Gary McMullen stands on the approximate site
of her grave, with Nesbit's standard-issue military marker and flag in the
foreground.
During the Spanish-American War, son Charles served in the US Army with Company K of the 1st Nebraska Volunteer Infantry. After the war, in 1900, Charles also worked as a carpenter in Columbus.
For more information, please contact great-great granddaughter Marcia (McMullen) Driggs.
Copyright © 2002, 2004, 2007 Mark A. Miner