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Wesley Gould

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Wesley Gould Veteran

Birth
Goulds, Delaware County, New York, USA
Death
14 Feb 1928 (aged 83)
Binghamton, Broome County, New York, USA
Burial
Hancock, Delaware County, New York, USA Add to Map
Memorial ID
View Source
Died in hospital following a serious operation.

From The Echo - an official publication of the Basket Historial Society of the
Upper Delaware Valley:
Page 6 - "Wesley, youngest son who later practice law in Hancock and served in
the legislature at Albany, was prisoner of War on Hart Island for many years."

(Transcribed from "Biographical Review, Delaware County", 1895)
HON. WESLEY GOULD, a prominent member of the Delaware County bar, a patriotic and influential citizen of the town of Hancock, was born here on August 25, 1844, son of John and Mary (Gillard) Gould. John Gould was a native of Devonshire, England, and with his wife and three children came to this country about 1834. He was a stone-mason, and worked at his trade for some time at Newburg on the Hudson, whence, in 1842, removed to Hancock, having exchanged his Newburg property for a large tract in this new settlement. The journey was made overland on an ox sled, and the nights were passed in the woods. This was severe experience, especially as he had his family with him, including a three-month-old baby. After reaching his destination, he began his pioneer life by erecting a log cabin, and then proceeded to clear the land. Mr. Gould also found opportunity for the exercise of his trade, being employed on the stone-work of the Erie Railroad bridges, and also at Lackawaxen. He was killed by a log while at work in a saw-mill, and died January 20, 1852, age the age of forty-eight, when he was just rising into prominence in his business, and had been found to be a most useful man in the community.

The part of the town in which he lived has been always known as the Gould Settlement. He and his wife were among the leading members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Gould died six years later than her husband, leaving the following family: John W., a farmer and lumberman in Hancock; George, an extensive lumberman and mill-owner at Long Eddy, Sullivan County; Hannah, wife of Marvin W. Thomas, a farmer of Hancock, who died in 1888; James, a lumberman, farmer, carpenter, and builder, living now in California; William, a farmer and lumber merchant at Gould Settlement; Richard a farmer and lumberman, also at Gould Settlement; Henry, a doctor, who died of apoplexy; Charles W., a member of Company I, Third Regiment, Sickles's Brigade, who died in the army at Camp Wool, Md., in 1862; and Wesley Gould, the subject of this biography.

Wesley in his young days attended the district school; and after the death of the parents the brothers still lived on in the old home with their sister as housekeeper, the family remaining, together until the breaking out of the war. Then all the brothers enlisted except John, who by mutual consent was appointed to stay at home and attend to the affairs of the place, while the others went forth to fight for their country. At this time Wesley Gould was a youth of seventeen; but he took his place in the ranks of the brave boys in blue, and was engaged in some of the fiercest fighting and suffered some of the worst privations of the four years that followed, trying to the utmost the mettle and endurance of mature men.

He enlisted in September, 1861, in Company F, Forty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, at Harrisburg. They were first sent to Fortress Monroe, and then to Otter Island, where they stayed all winter, and in June, 1862, went to James Island, and into the midst of the fighting. Afterward joining the Army of the Potomac, they engaged in the Maryland campaign. At South Mountain Mr. Gould received a gunshot wound in his arm, but continued with his regiment, and with them went into the battle of Antietam, where he was struck by a shell. With admirable fortitude he still bore his wounds without complaint, and engaged with his regiment in the battle at Fredericksburg, December, 1862. They were besieged at Knoxville, Tenn., and, after much hard fighting and being nearly starved, repulsed the "rebs," who made a final assault on their entrenchments. The brave Union men were at last relieved by Sherman, and went into camp at Blaine's Crossroads, where the regiment re-enlisted, and, as a regiment, came home on furlough. They went back into the Virginia campaign under Grant, their rendezvous being at Annapolis, Md., where the regiment was recruited, and went through the campaign, from the Wilderness to Petersburg. Mr. Gould worked in the tunnel of the mine in front of Petersburg and helped to lay the powder to blow up the works. The Forty-fifth Regiment was already reduced to about one hundred men; and after the battle, which was a hand-to-hand fight, only thirty-three men were able to report for duty.

In the company to which Mr. Gould belonged there were nine men who went into the fight in front of Petersburg at the springing of the mine, and all were killed or wounded except two, Mr. Gould being one of those two in condition to go on duty. On September 30, 1864, Mr. Gould was taken prisoner at Poplar Spring Church, and for a short time was confined in Libby Prison, whence he was taken to Salisbury, N. C., where he was detained till March, 1865. In the prison cell Mr. Gould underwent the harshest treatment, often being three or four days without food or water, and seeing his comrades dying about him, sometimes seventy or eighty in a day; and, as their emaciated forms were carried from the prison, those who were left felt that perhaps the sun, which was now setting, might look to-morrow upon their forms enwrapped in a last sleep. It was truly a dreadful life, and happy were the survivors when paroled and allowed to their respective commands. Mr. Gould was at that time Second Lieutenant; and his four years of hard service for his country had changed the boy into a man, and a man of true courage and of a noble character, wrought in the forge of a terrible struggle for liberty.

Mr. Gould's brother Richard was in Company G, One Hundred and Forty-third Regiment. James, William, George, and Henry were in Company F, One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regiment. Shortly after his return from the war Mr. Gould pursued a course of study at Colgate Institute, whence he came back to Hancock, and for a while carried on lumbering and farming. Having decided to adopt the legal profession, he here began to read law, and afterward was graduated from the law department of Union University, and was admitted to the bar in 1884. Since that time he has practised law in Hancock with eminent success. On August 25, 1868, Mr. Gould married Pamelia Brazie, daughter of Abram and Nancy (Livingstone) Brazie, now of Hancock, but formerly of Schoharie County. They have two children: Cora B., now attending Oneonta Normal School; and Flora B., a teacher in Hancock Union School.

Mr. Gould is a stanch Republican, and a man of strong influence in his party. He has been Village Clerk and corporation attorney since 1888, and was elected a member of the Assembly for Delaware County in 1893 by a plurality of one thousand five hundred and twelve, running sixty ahead of his ticket in the county, and over one hundred ahead in his own town. All the family are members of the Methodist Episopal church, as were their parents before them; and they are active in all that concerns the welfare of the parish. Mr. Gould is a man of high moral principle, a well-read lawyer, a citizen of good judgment in affairs, well adapted to fill positions of trust and responsibility, as true a patriot now as when in high-hearted youthhood he bravely dared the dangers of battle and camp and weary march, that his native country might be preserved as the "Land of the noble
Died in hospital following a serious operation.

From The Echo - an official publication of the Basket Historial Society of the
Upper Delaware Valley:
Page 6 - "Wesley, youngest son who later practice law in Hancock and served in
the legislature at Albany, was prisoner of War on Hart Island for many years."

(Transcribed from "Biographical Review, Delaware County", 1895)
HON. WESLEY GOULD, a prominent member of the Delaware County bar, a patriotic and influential citizen of the town of Hancock, was born here on August 25, 1844, son of John and Mary (Gillard) Gould. John Gould was a native of Devonshire, England, and with his wife and three children came to this country about 1834. He was a stone-mason, and worked at his trade for some time at Newburg on the Hudson, whence, in 1842, removed to Hancock, having exchanged his Newburg property for a large tract in this new settlement. The journey was made overland on an ox sled, and the nights were passed in the woods. This was severe experience, especially as he had his family with him, including a three-month-old baby. After reaching his destination, he began his pioneer life by erecting a log cabin, and then proceeded to clear the land. Mr. Gould also found opportunity for the exercise of his trade, being employed on the stone-work of the Erie Railroad bridges, and also at Lackawaxen. He was killed by a log while at work in a saw-mill, and died January 20, 1852, age the age of forty-eight, when he was just rising into prominence in his business, and had been found to be a most useful man in the community.

The part of the town in which he lived has been always known as the Gould Settlement. He and his wife were among the leading members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Gould died six years later than her husband, leaving the following family: John W., a farmer and lumberman in Hancock; George, an extensive lumberman and mill-owner at Long Eddy, Sullivan County; Hannah, wife of Marvin W. Thomas, a farmer of Hancock, who died in 1888; James, a lumberman, farmer, carpenter, and builder, living now in California; William, a farmer and lumber merchant at Gould Settlement; Richard a farmer and lumberman, also at Gould Settlement; Henry, a doctor, who died of apoplexy; Charles W., a member of Company I, Third Regiment, Sickles's Brigade, who died in the army at Camp Wool, Md., in 1862; and Wesley Gould, the subject of this biography.

Wesley in his young days attended the district school; and after the death of the parents the brothers still lived on in the old home with their sister as housekeeper, the family remaining, together until the breaking out of the war. Then all the brothers enlisted except John, who by mutual consent was appointed to stay at home and attend to the affairs of the place, while the others went forth to fight for their country. At this time Wesley Gould was a youth of seventeen; but he took his place in the ranks of the brave boys in blue, and was engaged in some of the fiercest fighting and suffered some of the worst privations of the four years that followed, trying to the utmost the mettle and endurance of mature men.

He enlisted in September, 1861, in Company F, Forty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, at Harrisburg. They were first sent to Fortress Monroe, and then to Otter Island, where they stayed all winter, and in June, 1862, went to James Island, and into the midst of the fighting. Afterward joining the Army of the Potomac, they engaged in the Maryland campaign. At South Mountain Mr. Gould received a gunshot wound in his arm, but continued with his regiment, and with them went into the battle of Antietam, where he was struck by a shell. With admirable fortitude he still bore his wounds without complaint, and engaged with his regiment in the battle at Fredericksburg, December, 1862. They were besieged at Knoxville, Tenn., and, after much hard fighting and being nearly starved, repulsed the "rebs," who made a final assault on their entrenchments. The brave Union men were at last relieved by Sherman, and went into camp at Blaine's Crossroads, where the regiment re-enlisted, and, as a regiment, came home on furlough. They went back into the Virginia campaign under Grant, their rendezvous being at Annapolis, Md., where the regiment was recruited, and went through the campaign, from the Wilderness to Petersburg. Mr. Gould worked in the tunnel of the mine in front of Petersburg and helped to lay the powder to blow up the works. The Forty-fifth Regiment was already reduced to about one hundred men; and after the battle, which was a hand-to-hand fight, only thirty-three men were able to report for duty.

In the company to which Mr. Gould belonged there were nine men who went into the fight in front of Petersburg at the springing of the mine, and all were killed or wounded except two, Mr. Gould being one of those two in condition to go on duty. On September 30, 1864, Mr. Gould was taken prisoner at Poplar Spring Church, and for a short time was confined in Libby Prison, whence he was taken to Salisbury, N. C., where he was detained till March, 1865. In the prison cell Mr. Gould underwent the harshest treatment, often being three or four days without food or water, and seeing his comrades dying about him, sometimes seventy or eighty in a day; and, as their emaciated forms were carried from the prison, those who were left felt that perhaps the sun, which was now setting, might look to-morrow upon their forms enwrapped in a last sleep. It was truly a dreadful life, and happy were the survivors when paroled and allowed to their respective commands. Mr. Gould was at that time Second Lieutenant; and his four years of hard service for his country had changed the boy into a man, and a man of true courage and of a noble character, wrought in the forge of a terrible struggle for liberty.

Mr. Gould's brother Richard was in Company G, One Hundred and Forty-third Regiment. James, William, George, and Henry were in Company F, One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regiment. Shortly after his return from the war Mr. Gould pursued a course of study at Colgate Institute, whence he came back to Hancock, and for a while carried on lumbering and farming. Having decided to adopt the legal profession, he here began to read law, and afterward was graduated from the law department of Union University, and was admitted to the bar in 1884. Since that time he has practised law in Hancock with eminent success. On August 25, 1868, Mr. Gould married Pamelia Brazie, daughter of Abram and Nancy (Livingstone) Brazie, now of Hancock, but formerly of Schoharie County. They have two children: Cora B., now attending Oneonta Normal School; and Flora B., a teacher in Hancock Union School.

Mr. Gould is a stanch Republican, and a man of strong influence in his party. He has been Village Clerk and corporation attorney since 1888, and was elected a member of the Assembly for Delaware County in 1893 by a plurality of one thousand five hundred and twelve, running sixty ahead of his ticket in the county, and over one hundred ahead in his own town. All the family are members of the Methodist Episopal church, as were their parents before them; and they are active in all that concerns the welfare of the parish. Mr. Gould is a man of high moral principle, a well-read lawyer, a citizen of good judgment in affairs, well adapted to fill positions of trust and responsibility, as true a patriot now as when in high-hearted youthhood he bravely dared the dangers of battle and camp and weary march, that his native country might be preserved as the "Land of the noble



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  • Created by: JFJN
  • Added: Jun 25, 2011
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71969166/wesley-gould: accessed ), memorial page for Wesley Gould (25 Aug 1844–14 Feb 1928), Find a Grave Memorial ID 71969166, citing Riverview Cemetery, Hancock, Delaware County, New York, USA; Maintained by JFJN (contributor 46976255).