Person:Maberry Willman (1)

Mayberry was born in a stone house on "Mud Lane", running off the Reading Road, a half-mile west of Weaverton (near Amityville). Many of the Willman family at this time were tailors, weavers, and dressmakers. Maberry himself was a tailor up until the war. When the Civil War started he ran across the fields three miles to the enlisting station, at Stonersville Hotel, fearing his mother would change her mind. He enlisted as a private in Co. B of the 93rd Pennsylvania Infantry on 12 October 1861. Co. B was mostly recruited from Berks County while the rest of the regiment was mostly from Lebanon County. The 93rd was commanded by Colonel Rev. James Mayland McCarter of Lebanon Co., Pa. and was in the VI Corp commanded by General John Sedgewick. Maberry fought in the major battles of Fair Oaks (1862), Malvern Hill (1862), Gettysburg (1863), Fisher's Hill (1864), and Cedar Creek (1864). The 93rd arrived at Gettysburg on July 2nd and "made a gallant charge." During much of 1864 Maberry was detailed to brigade forage park with the Quartermaster's Department, so he probably wasn't present with the 93rd when it fought at Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. He was mustered out as a Corporal, after three full years of service, on 27 October 1864 in Strasburg, Virginia just after the battle of Cedar Creek. After the war he moved to Pottstown and married Esther. He spent some time as a bartender, probably at what was then called the Pottstown Hotel (its name changed to Merchants' Hotel in 1902 and then it was demolished in the 1950's). The manager of the Pottstown Hotel was a friend named Augustus K. Lorah. The Lorah's had lived next door to the Willman's in Amity Township. Augustus later opened a grocery store on High and York Streets in Pottstown. Maberry worked as a grocer at this store for a while, but when Augustus retired he and Augustus' son, Charles Van Reed Lorah, took over the grocery and it was renamed "Willman & Lorah Grocery." He was in poor health for many years before his death, suffering from asthma and throat problems. These problems prevented him from performing manual labor so he applied for an invalid pension. Augustus Lorah signed an affidavit saying these health problems "were not the result of vicious habits." For many years he was a member of the Methodist Church but eventually felt that church had grown to cold so he attended Nazarene campmeetings. Maberry called the grandchildren "chill," as in, "Tell the chill's to come to me". Maberry died in Pottstown while riding in a horse drawn wagon. The horses found their way home where the family found him.

1. ↑ Letter from Leon Kurtz Willman (57 North Franklin St., Willkes-Barre, Pa.) to Ruth Maude Dill Gale, October 1934; held by Charles Van Gale Jr.
2. ↑ M. E. Willman File (Co. B 93rd PA Infantry), Pension Records, (Washington D.C.: National Archives),.
3. ↑ M. E. Willman File (Co. B 93rd PA Infantry), Pension Records, (Washington D.C.: National Archives),.