Bios: Emmanuel Wesley Stibgen, 1848 - c.1873: Lancaster County

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             EMMANUEL WESLEY STIBGEN, 1848 - c.1873

Emmanuel Wesley Stibgen was born on March 16, 1848 in West Hempfield
Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  He was the child of
Emmanuel Mayer Stibgen and Fanny Gochnauer.  Emmanuel was the
grandson of Jacob Kauffman Stibgen and Anna Mayer.  He would go by
Emmanuel during his short adult life, but his mother would call him
Wesley.  His father would die on July 31, 1848, soon after the birth of
his only son.  Fanny and Wesley moved in with Fanny's mother,
Elizabeth, also a widow, and the rest of the Gochnauer family in West
Hempfield Township.  Fanny remarried to John Hogendobler in the early
1850's, but he, too, had died by 1860.  When Emmanuel turned 18, in
early 1865, the Civil War was almost over.  He volunteered and was
mustered into the 195th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company J.  The army
described him as 5 feet 4 inches tall with a "ruddy" complexion,
hazel eyes, and dark hair.The unit was ordered to Charlestown, West
Virginia, where his older cousin, William Stibgen, had served in the
opening months of the war.  General Lee surrendered in April of 1865,
and Emmanuel's unit was ordered to Berryville, Virginia for
peacekeeping duties.  According to Bates, "this regiment had been
selected for the delecate duty of preserving quiet in the midst of a
hostile people, on account of its excellent reputation for good
discipline..."  The unit was then moved to Staunton and Harrisonburg,
where the bulk of the unit was mustered out.  The remaining troops
were ordered to Washington, D.C. for the duty of "guarding government
property, in which duty it continued until the 31st of January, 1866,
when it was mustered out of service.  Emmanuel returned to
Pennsylvania and apparently got a job with the railroad.  He married
Mary A. Wolfe, daughter of George and Eliza Wolfe of Hallam Township,
Pennsylvania on July 27, 1871 at the Methodist Episcopal Church in
Northumberland, Pennsylvania.  They soon had a son, Elmer, in 1872,
but like his father, tragedy would befall Emmanuel soon after his son
was born.  Emmanuel was involved in a railroad accident that took his
life.  Mary wrote years later that her most treasured possession was
Emmanuel's discharge papers from the military.  Mary and Elmer
continued to live in nearby Sunbury, Pennsylvania.  Mary remarried
Oliver C. Bennett on January 16, 1876.  They soon had 2 daughters,
Cora and Tracy.  The railroad job soon moved Oliver to Williamsport,
Pennsylvania.  Oliver was later killed in a railroad accident at
nearby Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania in 1900.  Mary then applied for a
pension as the widow of Union veteran Emmanuel Stibgen.  Her requests
were repeatedly denied until she asked her congressman and U.S.
Senator to lobby the Pension Office, which they did.  She was soon
approved for a widow's pension in 1915, which she continued to
receive until her death in Williamsport in 1932.  She is buried at
the Bennett plot at Mound Cemetery, Loyalsock Township in Lycoming
County, Pennsylvania.

SOURCES:Bates' "History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers" 
Emmanuel Wesley Stibgen Pension Files 
U.S. Census records 
Lancaster County Historical Society files