From Pittston to Sacramento: Michael Gilbride Moves West

Along the Sacramento River, 1870s. Michael Gilbride lived just blocks away from these docks by 1884.

by Nancy Gilbride Casey

Marital discord and a loss of fortunes could have played a role in the disintegration of Michael and Sarah Gilbride's family. While the exact causes may never be known, it was clear that around 1872 Michael Gilbride left Pittston, Pennsylvania and moved west, while Sarah and their children moved to the Lowell, Massachusetts area.¹

While in Pennsylvania after the war, it appeared that his injuries from the Civil War did not impact Michael's ability to earn a good living. If he had not lost his home in 1872 due to a debt, who knows how far he might have gone. But by the time he applied to the Pension Bureau in 1884 his injuries had significantly affected his ability to earn a living.

Michael wrote to the Bureau many different times to pursue his claim. In turn, they requested more information to verify it. With each affidavit he wrote, his memory of events seemed to become clearer, and more details of his service emerged—while he also appeared to become more desperate. Poignantly, in one he notes that, "...being a poor scholar he did not keep dates of the several events..." and "...That he is unable to write and consequently has to depend on his memory for dates and circumstances." Since he was illiterate, all of his affidavits were dictated to lawyers for transcription.

September 25, 1884

 

State of California }

County of Sacramento }

 

On this Twenty-fifth day of

September A.D. one Thousand Eight

Hundred and Eighty-four personally

appeared before one Chas. H. Coglan

clerk of the Superior Court, a court

of record within and for the County

and State aforesaid Mike Gilbride

aged 53 years, a resident of the City of

Sacramento, County of Sacramento,

State of California, who being duly

Sworn according to law, declares that

he is the identical Mike Gilbride

who was enrolled on the _____ day of

August in the year 1864 as a private

in company H of the 52nd Pennsylvania

Volunteers and was honorably discharged

at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on the

month day of August 1865, that his

personal description is as follows

Age 53 years, height 5 feet 2 ½ inches

complexion Fair hair - Brown tinged gray -

eyes Gray - . That while a member

of the organization aforesaid in the service

and in the line of his duty he re-

ceived a bullet-wound in his left

hand wrist, in a skirmish near

the Santee River, South Carolina,

about February 21st 1865.

 

That furthermore he has had the mis-

fortune of loosing his right eye, altho’ he

did not loose it while in actual service, still

he firmly believes that the exposures and hardships

he underwent in the army, helped toward the loss of the same.

 

That he has never been employed

in the military or naval service other

wise than as stated above. That since

leaving the service this applicant

has resided in Idaho Territory and

California and his occupation has

been that of a laborer. That prior

to his entry into the service above named

he was a man of good sound, physical

health, being where enrolled a coal-miner.

 

That he is now ⅔ dis-abled from ob-

taining his subsistence by manual

labor, by reason of his injuries above-

described received in the service of the United

States and he therefore makes this declara-

tion for the purpose of being placed on the

invalid pension roll of the United States

That he has never received nor applied

for a pension. That his Post Office add-

ress is 1011 4th Street, Sacramento

City, Sacramento County, State of California.

 

 

15 November 1884

 

Michael Gilbride, being duly sworn

according to law deposes and says:

the while in the line of duty he received

a bullet-wound in his left wrist, in a

skirmish near the Santee River, South Carolina
about February 21st 1865, which disabled
his left hand.
 

That furthermore when making his or-

iginal application for pension he

omitted to state that his right eye was

powder burned, by the explosion of a gun

at Fort Wagner, Morris Island in front

of Charleston, South Carolina, about

1 week before the evacuation of Charleston.

That the aforesaid wound in his

wrist was dressed in the field, by some

one he cannot say who, and that the

only hospital treatment he received was

that received about one week later

when his wound was attended to in a

field hospital near Newburn, North Carolina.²

 

Watercolor view of Charleston, S.C. from Fort Wagner, Morris Island. Michael referenced his presence here several time in his pension application.³

 

6 March 1886

 

Michael Gilbride

being duly sworn according to law doth depose

and say that he is the identical Michael

Gilbride who was a Private in Co. “H.” 52nd Regt.

Penna. Infantry; that while in the line of

his duty at Fort Wagner, Morris Island in front

of Charleston, South Carolina, about one week

fore the Evacuation of Charleston, his

eye right eye was injured and powder burned

by the explosion of a gun, by reason of which

he has since had to have the eye taken

out and That afterwards and while in the

line of duty he receive a bullet wound

in his left wrist in a skirmish near the

Santee River, South Carolina, on or about

the 21st day of February 1865, which

disabled his left hand, which wound

was dressed first near Charleston by

some person unknown to deponent,

Deponent was then place on a boat for

Moorhead City, and arriving there

was marched to Newbern, North Carolina

when his wound was dressed by some

person unknown to deponent.

That Sergt. Roberts had command of the

charge on “Hampton’s Cavalary” when

deponent’s hand was disabled, and although

he has made inquires and written to

Said Sergeant he has been unable to

find his whereabouts, and he now

firmly believes said Roberts is dead.

Deponent is also informed and believes

that the records of the Regiment to which

he belonged were lost and therefore

cannot obtain any information from

them or of them. Deponent further

says that it would be impossible for him

to give dates and times of treatment to

his injuries as when he went back to Penna.

he was treated by Drs. Townley and Durkan

both of whom are dead; Deponent further

says that he left Pennsylvania and came

to Sacramento, California, and was treated

by Dr. Morris who has since disappeared-

 

Deponent further says that he went to

San Francisco and had his eye taken

out by Dr. Wyler, who has also disappeared

having written to him on different

occasions the letters being returned

to the writer~Deponent solemnly avers

the the above statements are true and
correct, that his memory is clear as
to said transactions but being a poor

scholar he did not keep dates of

the several events. That Deponent is

not not now able to perform any heavy

Manual labor by reason of the loss

of his eye and use of his left wrist

but that he is sound in body otherwise

and does not desire to be consigned

a poor house during the balance

of his life. 

 

 

9 August 1886

....That he has written

letters to Joseph R. Roberts, his sergt. at Falls,

Wyoming Co. Pa. but has been unable to

receive any answer thereto= That he

has stated fully and correctly to your

department how his eye was injured

(of which he is now blind) having had to

have it taken out on account of having

It powder burned at Morris Island (in

Fort Wagner) South Carolina, by the

bursting of a cannon while firing at

the steamboat “Fox” a blockade runner~

That he deponent got shot through the
left wrist near the Santee River, which

has almost disabled him from having

any use of it~That deponent has
wrote letters of inquiry to his officers
and doctors of his regiment but

has been unable to receive any

reply and now supposes they are

dead~That he has used his very best

Endeavors to find them but without

avail~Deponent further says that in

regard to the Effection of his left eye he

was advised by the Doctor who performed

the operation of removing his right eye

that if it was not removed he deponent

would become blind Entirely~Deponent

further states that he is now near fifty-

six years of age and not capable of

Doing a days work~That all the papers

on file in this his application are true

and correct~That he is unable to write

and consequently has to depend on his

memory for dates and circumstances-

and that unless some relief is grants

he will be compelled to become a charge

on the public~Deponent further says

that the doctor who removed is Eye is

now deceased...⁴

 

Though the Pension Bureau had every right to verify his claims to avoid fraud, how frustrated Michael must have been to continually have them questioned. To slowly feel his abilities lessen, and with every undelivered letter, to realize that those who could back up his injury claim could either not be located or were likely dead. The spectre of the poorhouse loomed.

Michael appeared to have some friends around him. Of particular interest was James Morgan who swore out an affidavit in support of Michael's claim, stating that he, too, had been a resident of Luzerne, Pennsylvania and knew Michael to be a coal miner in good health before the war.⁵ Morgan's presence in Sacramento at the same time as Michael suggests that they may have come west together. It is also possible that he was related to Elizabeth Morgan—another Luzerne County native—who married Michael's son John in 1879 in Lowell, Massachusetts.⁶

There is also the intriguing statement in Michael's deposition that he spent time in Idaho Territory.⁷ No specific timeline was given, but since Idaho was known as a territory from March 3, 1863 to July 3, 1890, it narrows Michael's potential residence there from sometime in 1872 to late 1884, when he is documented in Sacramento.⁸

It would not be surprising that Idaho could claim the attention of a successful miner, such as Michael had been. Gold had been discovered in Idaho in 1860 and spurred growth in the territory throughout the 1860s and 1870s. Silver was discovered in the early 1870s, with the first silver lode claim registered in 1873. In 1877 one of the richest lodes of lead-free silver was discovered, leading to the establishment of the Ramshorn Mine. In turn, this sparked a major silver rush to the area, drawing thousands of miners. Michael could have been one such miner, seeking to reverse his fortunes with gold or silver.⁹

Whatever transpired in Idaho, by the time he filed his application in 1884, Michael was living at 1101 4th Street, Sacramento.¹⁰ In 1873, that location was very near to the Sacramento River and the adjacent railroad depot. It's not impossible to imagine that as a laborer—even a less-than-fully-able one—could have worked there. 

Michael's Sacramento residence at the time of his pension application.¹¹

 

Michael's time in Sacramento as he awaited a decision on his pension was all too brief. Within weeks of his last deposition, he died of peritonitis at the county hospital on 23 September 1886. He was buried at Saint Joseph Cemetery ("St. Joe"), the first Catholic cemetery in Sacramento, established in 1865.¹²

Portion of death register with Michael's info.

 

Michael's family had no knowledge of his death until 1902 when the Pension Bureau's replied to John's inquiry. By then, Sarah Gilbride and all but two of her and Michael's children had passed away, leaving John and remaining sister Sarah no doubt wondering if they had any family left at all.¹³

Next time, a look at the Gilbrides of Lowell, Massachusetts.

 

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A Researcher's Aside—While looking for a map of Sacramento at the time Michael lived there, I came across a nifty tool on the David Rumsey Map Collection website: a View in Georeferencer tool. Overlay the historical map from their collection onto a current map of the same area (or several historical maps over each other, etc.). Below is a snip of the map above, overlaid onto a current map of Sacramento. Several highways now stand between Michael's 4th Street residence and the Sacramento River.

IMAGE: Augustus Koch, Bird's eye view of the city of Sacramento, state capitol of California, 1870 (San Francisco : Britton & Rey, 1870); digital image, Online Archive of California (https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf900011kj/?brand=oac4 : accessed 14 November 2022); citing UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library.

 

NOTES

¹ Nancy Gilbride Casey, Leaves on the Tree, "How I Found My Civil War Veteran Michael Gilbride," 2 November 2022 (https://myleavesonthetree.blogspot.com/2022/11/michael-gilbride-civil-war-veteran.html : accessed 14 November 2022), and "A Letter, A Notice, A Deed: What Happened to Michael Gilbride," 10 November 2022 (https://myleavesonthetree.blogspot.com/2022/11/a-letter-notice-deed-what-happened-to.html : accessed 14 November 2022).

² Michael Gilbride (Pvt., Co. H, 52nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Civil War), Invalid Application file, I.O. 523.651; Case Files of Approved Pension Applications; Civil War and Later Pension Files; Record Group 15;  Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

³ Unknown artist, View of Charleston S.C. from Fort Wagner, Morris Isla, 18??; digital image, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.23093/ : accessed 14 November 2022); citing Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington. In the public domain.

⁴ Michael Gilbride (Pvt., Co. H, 52nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Civil War), Invalid Application file, I.O. 523.651.

5 Ibid. James Morgan statement, 9 August 1886.

6 City of Lowell, Massachusetts, Marriage, vol. G, 1860-1867, p. 205, #283, marriage of John A. Gilbride to Elizabeth A. Morgan, 12 May 1879; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-997M-3RY9 : accessed 14 October 2022); citing FHL film 004282179, image 664.

⁷  Michael Gilbride (Pvt., Co. H, 52nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Civil War), Invalid Application file, I.O. 523.651.

⁸ Wikipedia, "Idaho Territory," (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_Territory : accessed 14 November 2022), last updated 3 November 2022, at 15:32 (UTC). Also: Great Register of the County of Sacramento For the Year 1884, p. 48, #3262, Michael Gilbride, age 53; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2221/images/32421_230587-00188  : accessed 10 November 2022); citing Great Registers, 1866-1898, Collection Number: 4-2A, CSL Roll 35, California State Library, Sacramento.

⁹ Western Mining History (https://westernmininghistory.com/state/idaho/ : accessed 3 November 2022), "Idaho Mining Towns." Also: RareGoldNuggets.com, (https://raregoldnuggets.com/?p=5729 : accessed 13 November 2022), "Bayhorse, Idaho—One of the Finest Old Mining Towns in the State."

¹⁰ Michael Gilbride (Pvt., Co. H, 52nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Civil War), Invalid Application file, I.O. 523.651.

¹¹ J. R. Ray, Gray's Atlas Map of the City of Sacramento The Capital of California (Philadelphia : Stedman, Brown & Lynch, 1873); digital image, David Rumsey Map Collection (https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~264544~5524882:Sacramento- : accessed 2 October 2022).

¹² Daily Record 1884-1900, City Cemetery, Sacramento, "Record of Deaths and Interments In and From the City of Sacramento, n.p., #263, Michael Gilbride, age 56, 23 September 1886; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99V4-MSHH : accessed 13 November 2022); citing County Recorder, Sacremento; FHL film 007609637, image 524).

¹³ Samuel A. McPherties, Deaths, Vol. G., City of Lowell, Massachusetts, p. 84, #190, Sarah Gilbride, 16 March 1875; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9Q1-L3SM?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=9NXY-7KH : accessed 14 October 2022); citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL film 004282177, image 310. Also: City of Lowell, Massachusetts, Deaths, 1876-1884, p. 119, no number, Michael Gilbride, 1 August 1880; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89Q1-LSLZ : accessed 14 November 2022); FHL film 004282177, image 454; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.; Also: City of Lowell, Massachusetts, Deaths, 1884-1887, p. 97, #1362, Mary A. Gilbride, 29 November 1886; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9Q1-L9PJ : accessed 18 October 2022); FHL film 004282177, image 667; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston. Also: City of Lowell, Massachusetts, Deaths, 1888-1892, p. 32, #1391, James H. Gilbride, 6 October 1888; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89Q1-1WWD?i=37&cc=2061550 : accessed 18 October 2022); FHL film 004282181, image 38; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston. Also: City of Lowell, Massachusetts, 46th Registration 1887 Deaths, Vol. 383, Hampshire - Plymouth, p. 150, #1619, Rose E. Handley, 1 November 1887; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-XX67-4X : accessed 14 November 2022); FHL film 004282177, image 173; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.