BIO:  Theodore D. BAHN, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/york/
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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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Part II, Biographical Sketches, Wrightsville Borough and Hellam Township, Pg 73

THEODORE D. BAHN was born July 14, 1833, on the Dosch farm, half a mile south of 
East Prospect, York Co., Penn.  His parents were Henry and Maria (Dosch) Bahn, 
and soon after subject’s birth removed to Marietta, Penn.; when he was about one 
year old they removed to Lewistown, Mifflin Co., Penn., thence to the Comfort 
Farm, five miles west from Lewistown; thence, in is fifth year, to a farm in 
Juniata County, and in his seventh year to McAlistersville, same county, where 
his father engaged in the tanning business and died in our subject’s thirteenth 
year.  When Theodore was fourteen, his mother died, leaving a family of six 
small children, he being the eldest and only boy.  All were subsequently well 
cared for by kind friends, he with his eldest sister being taken into the family 
of his uncle, Jacob Dosch.  At the age of fifteen he removed with his uncle to 
the then far West, arriving at Galena, Ill., on the 1st of December; thence they 
traveled by team to Fayette County, Wis., where they settled.  He remained with 
his uncle, working at the carpenter’s trade and farming at intervals, until he 
was eighteen years of age, when he went into the Wisconsin pineries, where he 
spent one year working at shingle-making; returning again to Fayette County, he 
worked at his trade and farming, until the spring of 1857, when he removed to 
Lodi, Columbia Co., Wis., continuing at his trade in the summer and teaching 
school in the winter until April 18, 1861, when he enlisted in Company H, Second 
Wisconsin Volunteers, for three months, going into camp at Madison, where the 
regiment was drilled until the 11th of June, when he, with the entire regiment, 
re-enlisted for three years (being promoted in the meantime to the position of 
fifth sergeant) and on the same day embarked for the seat of war.  He 
participated in the first Bull Run battle, when he received a gunshot wound in 
the right shoulder; was granted a furlough for two months, returned home and in 
due time joined his regiment.  He participated in all the battles in which his 
regiment was engaged (except those of second Bull Run and Antietam, at which 
time he was on detached duty in the engineer corps), up to the battle of 
Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded in the left side during the first 
charge of the famous “Iron Brigade,” within thirty yards of he spot where Gen. 
Reynolds fell.  With considerable difficulty and severe pain he reached the 
court house, then being used as a hospital, where he remained until the close of 
the battle; he was then transferred to the United States General Hospital, at 
York, Penn., where he remained until February 11, 1864, when he was pronounced 
unfit for field service, and transferred to the Second Battalion Veteran Reserve 
Corps, Company 108, with the rank of first sergeant.  He was assigned to duty as 
clerk in the office of the surgeon in charge of the above-named hospital, where 
he remained until June 11, 1864, when he was honorably discharged.  He returned 
to his Western home, where, on the 21st day of July, the third anniversary of the 
first Bull Run battle, he was married to Miss Hattie C. Bartholomew.  Resuming 
his trade, he worked for the government at Duvall’s Bluff, Ark., on hospitals 
for six months; returning again to Lodi, Wis., he pursued his trade until the 
fall of 1869, when he removed to the city of Milwaukee, where he was engaged in 
a sash, door and blind factory until the spring of 1872, when he removed to 
Cedarburg, where he engaged in the same business until the fall of 1874, when he 
came to Wrightsville, and entered the employ of his brother-in-law, John 
Beidler, in the lumber and hardware business.  In 1880 he entered the millinery, 
trimming and fancy good business, in which he is still engaged, with very fair 
prospects of success.  At present he holds the position of “Post Commander” of 
Lieut. R. W. Smith Post, No. 270, G. A. R., and is a member of the E. Lutheran 
Church and Sunday-school.