The son of Gottlieb & Frederica Elser, in 1850 he was living with his family in Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He is not found in the 1860 census by by then was a butcher by trade and stood 5'6" tall with dark hair and hazel eyes.
A. Civil War veteran, he served three terms of service with two regiments:
1. Enlisted at the stated age of nineteen and mustered into federal service at Harrisburg April 20, 1861, as a private with Co. B, 2nd Pennsylvania infantry, and honorably discharged with his company July 24, 1861.
2. Enlisted at the stated age of nineteen in Chambersburg August 14, 1861, and mustered into federal service at Philadelphia Calvary (108th Pa.).
3. Re-enlisted at the stated age of twenty-one as a Veteran Volunteer at Portsmouth, Virginia, November 20, 1863, and re-mustered into federal service there December 1 as a private with the 11th Pennsylvania Calvary. Captured during the initial assaults on Petersburg, Virginia, he as incarcerated at a location as yet unknown, paroled on a date as yet unknown, and honorably discharged by general order either on June 5, 1865 (says Bates' History of Pennsylvania Volunteers) or March 3, 1865 (says the Pennsylvania Archives' ARIAS file).
After the war, he married Pennsylvania-born Ella E. Scheuring and fathered Anna (b. 1/23/70-married a Seibert), John Walter (b. 4/02/73), and Nellie S. (b. 12/24/74-married Calvin Deardorf). On December 3, 1877, according to accounts in the Valley Spirit, George Rapp followed and several times confronted Elser on their return home from a drinking establishment. The two engaged in "a drunken fight" during which Rapp struck Elser in the head with a stone, leading to his death the following night
Given his three stated ages at enlistment and the 1850 census listing him as a nine-year-old, his birth year was more likely 1841 regardless of what the tombstone may say.
info courtesy of Dennis Brandt #47232334
A. Civil War veteran, he served three terms of service with two regiments:
1. Enlisted at the stated age of nineteen and mustered into federal service at Harrisburg April 20, 1861, as a private with Co. B, 2nd Pennsylvania infantry, and honorably discharged with his company July 24, 1861.
2. Enlisted at the stated age of nineteen in Chambersburg August 14, 1861, and mustered into federal service at Philadelphia Calvary (108th Pa.).
3. Re-enlisted at the stated age of twenty-one as a Veteran Volunteer at Portsmouth, Virginia, November 20, 1863, and re-mustered into federal service there December 1 as a private with the 11th Pennsylvania Calvary. Captured during the initial assaults on Petersburg, Virginia, he as incarcerated at a location as yet unknown, paroled on a date as yet unknown, and honorably discharged by general order either on June 5, 1865 (says Bates' History of Pennsylvania Volunteers) or March 3, 1865 (says the Pennsylvania Archives' ARIAS file).
After the war, he married Pennsylvania-born Ella E. Scheuring and fathered Anna (b. 1/23/70-married a Seibert), John Walter (b. 4/02/73), and Nellie S. (b. 12/24/74-married Calvin Deardorf). On December 3, 1877, according to accounts in the Valley Spirit, George Rapp followed and several times confronted Elser on their return home from a drinking establishment. The two engaged in "a drunken fight" during which Rapp struck Elser in the head with a stone, leading to his death the following night
Given his three stated ages at enlistment and the 1850 census listing him as a nine-year-old, his birth year was more likely 1841 regardless of what the tombstone may say.
info courtesy of Dennis Brandt #47232334
The son of Gottlieb & Frederica Elser, in 1850 he was living with his family in Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He is not found in the 1860 census by by then was a butcher by trade and stood 5'6" tall with dark hair and hazel eyes.
A. Civil War veteran, he served three terms of service with two regiments:
1. Enlisted at the stated age of nineteen and mustered into federal service at Harrisburg April 20, 1861, as a private with Co. B, 2nd Pennsylvania infantry, and honorably discharged with his company July 24, 1861.
2. Enlisted at the stated age of nineteen in Chambersburg August 14, 1861, and mustered into federal service at Philadelphia Calvary (108th Pa.).
3. Re-enlisted at the stated age of twenty-one as a Veteran Volunteer at Portsmouth, Virginia, November 20, 1863, and re-mustered into federal service there December 1 as a private with the 11th Pennsylvania Calvary. Captured during the initial assaults on Petersburg, Virginia, he as incarcerated at a location as yet unknown, paroled on a date as yet unknown, and honorably discharged by general order either on June 5, 1865 (says Bates' History of Pennsylvania Volunteers) or March 3, 1865 (says the Pennsylvania Archives' ARIAS file).
After the war, he married Pennsylvania-born Ella E. Scheuring and fathered Anna (b. 1/23/70-married a Seibert), John Walter (b. 4/02/73), and Nellie S. (b. 12/24/74-married Calvin Deardorf). On December 3, 1877, according to accounts in the Valley Spirit, George Rapp followed and several times confronted Elser on their return home from a drinking establishment. The two engaged in "a drunken fight" during which Rapp struck Elser in the head with a stone, leading to his death the following night
Given his three stated ages at enlistment and the 1850 census listing him as a nine-year-old, his birth year was more likely 1841 regardless of what the tombstone may say.
info courtesy of Dennis Brandt #47232334
A. Civil War veteran, he served three terms of service with two regiments:
1. Enlisted at the stated age of nineteen and mustered into federal service at Harrisburg April 20, 1861, as a private with Co. B, 2nd Pennsylvania infantry, and honorably discharged with his company July 24, 1861.
2. Enlisted at the stated age of nineteen in Chambersburg August 14, 1861, and mustered into federal service at Philadelphia Calvary (108th Pa.).
3. Re-enlisted at the stated age of twenty-one as a Veteran Volunteer at Portsmouth, Virginia, November 20, 1863, and re-mustered into federal service there December 1 as a private with the 11th Pennsylvania Calvary. Captured during the initial assaults on Petersburg, Virginia, he as incarcerated at a location as yet unknown, paroled on a date as yet unknown, and honorably discharged by general order either on June 5, 1865 (says Bates' History of Pennsylvania Volunteers) or March 3, 1865 (says the Pennsylvania Archives' ARIAS file).
After the war, he married Pennsylvania-born Ella E. Scheuring and fathered Anna (b. 1/23/70-married a Seibert), John Walter (b. 4/02/73), and Nellie S. (b. 12/24/74-married Calvin Deardorf). On December 3, 1877, according to accounts in the Valley Spirit, George Rapp followed and several times confronted Elser on their return home from a drinking establishment. The two engaged in "a drunken fight" during which Rapp struck Elser in the head with a stone, leading to his death the following night
Given his three stated ages at enlistment and the 1850 census listing him as a nine-year-old, his birth year was more likely 1841 regardless of what the tombstone may say.
info courtesy of Dennis Brandt #47232334
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