Person:Gilbert Wardwell (3)

Enlisted as a Sergeant on 29 September 1862 at the age of 34 Enlisted in Company C, 23rd Infantry Regiment Maine on 29 September 1862 Mustered out on 15 July 1863 in Portland, ME Filed for Civil War Pension as "invalid" 20 August 1888.

Living in Albany, ME at 1850, 1860 with real estate valued at $800 and personal estate valued at $171 &1870 census where real estate is valued at $800 and personal estate value of $300. Again in Albany at 1880. In Albany at 1890, when Veteran's census was taken.

"GILBERT WARDWELL, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen of Albany, Me., was first elected to that office in 1862, and has been honored with re-election at intervals several times since. He was born in this town, August 11, 1828, the son of Colonel Isaac and Mary (Adley) Wardwell. Colonel Isaac Wardwell was born in Otisfield, Me., and was engaged in farming in that town in his youth, leaving there at the age of twenty-one to locate in Albany. Here he took up a tract of unimproved land in the southern part of the town, and, clearing a farm, improved and developed it into a valuable homestead, following the pursuit of agriculture until his death, January 24, 1837. He was one of the leading men of the place in his day, an officer in the State militia and a member of the Albany Board of Selectmen. His wife died in 1869, at the advanced age of eighty six. She was the mother of ten children, of whom only the two youngest-born are living. These are: Charles A., who married Miss Abbie Witham, and resides with his wife in Biddeford, Me. ; and Gilbert, the subject of the present sketch. The departed are the following: Mary, who was the wife of Luther Bisbee; Dorcas F., wife of Hiram Stone, who also has passed away; Betsey F., who was twice married, her first husband being Abner Holt, her second Perley French; Sallie, who was the wife of the Rev. Marcus Wight; Isaac, who married Miss Sarah King, now deceased ; Jacob, whose wife, Martha Lovejoy, survives him, living with one of her daughters in Massachusetts; Emmeline, who was the wife of Dr. Stephen Coburn ; and Harriet, who died in infancy. Gilbert Wardwell was left fatherless when he was eight years of age. He received a common-school education, helping about the farm between school times until he was sixteen; and then he began to work for wages as a farm hand. He was employed in this way for several years, spending one year in Lancaster, Mass. ; and he also taught during the winter terms, taking charge of schools in Milan, N. H., and North Norway and Albany, Me. About 1851 he settled on the farm where he now resides; and in 1862, answering his country's call, he left his pleasant home and enlisted in the Federal army. He was enrolled as a private, September 10, 1862, in Company C, Twenty-third Regiment, Maine Volunteers, under Colonel W. W. Virgin and Captain C. H. Prince, which, during the greater part of its ten months' period of service, was on picket duty along the Potomac River, guarding the fords. The thrilling experience of exposure to the fire of lurking Confederates is recalled by the poet's lines

"All quiet along the Potomac to-night, Except now and then a stray picket Is shot, as he walks on his beat to and fro, By a rifleman hid in the thicket."

Unscathed at the end of his term of enlistment, Mr. Wardwell received his discharge at Portland, Me., July 15, 1863, and again took up the work of agriculture. He has a well-improved farm of one hundred and thirty-five acres, and has been very successful in his chosen work. Mr. Wardwell is a member of Round Mountain Grange of Albany. On May 11, 1851, he was married to Rhoda Jane, daughter of Jacob and Betsey Robbins. She was born in North Yarmouth, Me., May 26, 1826. . Her mother died when she was a child; and her father, who was a farmer, took the little girl to Guilford, Me., remaining a few years and then returning to North Yarmouth. He died at the home of his son-in-law. Mrs. Wardwell died June 10, 1888. She. was the mother of five children, namely: Isaac and Jacob, twins; Nellie Augusta; Ambrose; and Eugene A. Isaac Wardwell has been twice married, his first wife being Lilla G. Flint, and his second, Frances H. Brown. Jacob died at the age of twenty-two, leaving a widow, Martha L. Morrill, who is now living with her third husband in Bethel, Me. Nellie Augusta died at the age of twenty-six; Ambrose is engaged in the manufacture of paper boxes at Maltville, Conn. ; and Eugene A. is an instrument tuner in a large organ manufactory in Derby, Conn. Mr. Wardwell has voted the Democratic ticket since he was qualified to exercise the right of suffrage. He was elected Chairman of, the Albany Board of Selectmen in 1862, 1864, 1865, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872, 1875, 1877, 1878, 1881, and again in 1896; and he served as Town Treasurer two years." -Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Franklin and Oxford Counties, Maine. Boston: Biographical Review Pub. Co., 1897, 636 pgs.

1. ↑ Gravestone.
2. ↑ Gravestone.
3. ↑ Gravestone.