Person:Samuel Olmstead (11)

Name: Samuel H Olmstead
Birth Year: abt 1838
Age: 55
Death Date: 22 Dec 1893
Death Place: Kings, New York, USA
Certificate Number: 20538

20 Oct 1869 - Oct 19 City Rev Joseph T Duryea Samuel H Olmstead M D to Sarah S Decker both City

... 6071, Samuel Hawley, Brooklyn, N. Y.; b. Aug. 9, 1838; d. Dec. 22, 1893; m. Oct. 19, 1869, Sarah F. Decker; b. Dec. 4, 1840, at Hudson, N. Y.; dau. of Jeffrey and Emeline (Perry) Decker.

Dr. Hawley Olmsted grad. Yale Medical School 1861 ; was a Surgeon in the Civil War, New York Vols., and was mustered out with rank of Lieut. Col. In the year 1839, he was persuaded to remove from Wilton to New Haven and resuscitate the Hopkins Grammar School, an institution older than the College, to which it was chiefly tributary, but from various causes had greatly languished. Dr. Olmsted gave ten years of his life to this work, which he was wont to speak of as his best years. As a tribute to his success in this and other departments of letters and sound scholarship the Corporation of Yale College, in the year 1862, conferred upon him the honorary title of Doctor of Laws.

"Although never seeking public office, he was often sought to fill positions where mature judgment was most needed, as also where an 'unswerving supreme fidelity to Truth and Right' was respected. He was a Member of the Legislature for Wilton in 1825, '26, '28, '29, and a Senator from New Haven in 1853. As Chairman of the Committee on Education in 1826 and '28, he presented reports on Common School Education which attracted no little attention at the time and which forty years have shown to be singularly prophetic.

"He died while he was addressing at his own house the literary club, with which, for more than twenty years, he had been accustomed to meet weekly for the discussion of some great moral and practical questions. Said an eye-witness: ' He had just completed a most thorough, logical and, as his companions felt, richly beautiful argument. It was, indeed, the beautiful death of the Christian soldier with his armor on, the disciple going out of the earthly service to the "Well Done" of the Lord.'

"He was a man of medium height, stoutly built, very erect, and dignified in his carriage, but courteous and affable in his address. He governed his school and won the lasting respect of his pupils to a remarkable degree with little apparent effort." — From "Anniversary of Wilton Cong. Ch.," p. 54.

[Olmstead is charged with illegally burying a stillborn infant in the yard.]

[Olmstead is defended by Coroner Simms.]

SAMUEL HAWLEY OLMSTEAD died in Brooklyn, N Y, from cerebral hemorrhage on the 22d of December, 1893, aged 55 years. He was the fourth son of the late Dr. Hawley Olmstead (Y C, 1816), and was born in Wilton, Conn., Aug. 9th, 1838. He obtained his preliminary education at Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, Conn., of which his father was long the Rector.

After graduation he traveled in Europe, visiting the principal hospitals and studying their methods. He returned home soon after the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion and entered the volunteer service on Sept. 11th, 1862, joining the 170th New York Volunteers (Corcoran's Irish Legion). He was commissioned as assistant surgeon by Governor Morgan, Nov. 10th, 1862, and went to the front with his regiment. He served in the Department of Washington and Virginia, was with the army of the Potomac, and took part in the following battles: Blackwater, Suffolk, Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna, Tolopotomy Creek, Cold Harbor, Petersburgh, Boydston Road, and Deep Bottom. He was wounded on the field of battle while in the discharge of his professional duties, and on recovery was detailed for duty at the Depot Field Hospital at City Point, where he served during the three months ending Dec. 1, 1864. On that date he was commissioned and mustered into the service as Surgeon, and rejoined his regiment in the field, remaining with it during all the active service of the army in the closing scenes of the war. He was honorably discharged with his regiment, July 15, 1865, and was commissioned as Brevet Lieutenant Colonel by Governor Fenton, May 12, 1866, "for faithful and meritorious service during the war".

Dr. Olmstead was married, Oct. 19, 1869, to Sarah F. Decker of Brooklyn, who survives him. He left no children. He was an active member of King's Co. Medical Society, The American Legion of Honor, and also a consistent member of the South Congregational Church in South Brooklyn, in which he found time to second all efforts for its progress. He was devoted and enthusiastic in his profession, ready to serve rich and poor alike. One of his last acts was to go at much inconvenience to visit one of his charity patients.