William H Berger Obit 1933

SHAMOKIN NEWS-DISPATCH
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1933

DEATH ENDS LONG CAREER OF COMRADE W. H. BERGER

William H. Berger, until yesterday one of the five remaining comrades of the Civil War, esteemed member of Lincoln Post, No. 140 Grand Army of the Republic, and oldest member of St. John's Reformed church, gallantly responded to the final summons of the Great Commander at 11:08 last evening, at the home of his son Charles, well known mail carrier of 43 North Marshall street.

A man of vigor and activity despite his advanced years, Comrade Berger had been suffering from illness for the past five weeks, and on October 11, entered the Geisinger Hospital for two days observation, accompanied by his granddaughter, Dorothy, a trained nurse who rendered devoted attention at the bedside during the recent illness. Returning from the hospital, he was compelled to take his bed last Wednesday. Complications developed the patient passing peacefully to rest last evening, a short time after the Rev. Edward O. Butkofsky, pastor of St. John's Reformed church, had voluntarily appeared at the home and offered a prayer.

Actively employed for many years following his honorable discharge from army service, the deceased retired from employment in 1918. Few could relate more thrilling experiences of the conflict between the North and South, his stories of the Civil War heard with keen interest by adults and friends of the younger generations.

Had it not been for a pen knife he carried in his trousers pocket Mr. Berger might have died on the field of battle during one of the major skirmishes between the North and South in 1864.

A bullet from an enemy rifle struck the knife Mr. Berger was carrying in his pocket and shattered it to bits. For eight months he lay in an army hospital, the knife having been removed from his thigh in the meantime in ten pieces and the bullet in three.

He occasionally exhibited the bits of knife to friends. The thirteen pieces were Mr. Berger's most cherished possessions. He kept them in a small snuff box, bound with a rubber band, which he removed with steady fingers when he showed the articles to inquiring friends.

Mr. Berger went into the service with Company F, 148th Pennsylvania Infantry, in 1863 and served for more than two years, including the time he spent in the hospital after receiving the bullet wound which surgeons told him might have been fatal if the force of the leaden pellet had not been broken by the pen knife.

His brother, who was beside him when William was shot, died later from starvation while being held prisoner in the Andersonville prison. Jacob, who was captured during the battle of Cold Harbor, in June, 1864, passed to eternal life the night before Christmas, while William was convalescing in the hospital.

The latter's war record follows:

William Henry Berger responded to the call of Abraham Lincoln by enlistment at Troy, Pa., on October 7, 1863, for three years duration of the war, as private in Captain Celon's Co. F., 53d Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. Col. James A. Beaver was in high command.

Assigned to the First Brigade, 2d Division and 2d Corps, with the Army of the Potomac, he participated in the following engagements: Fair Oaks, June 1, 1862; Gain's Mills, June 27; Peach Orchard, June 29; Malvern Hill, July 1; Antitem, September 17; Snickers Gap, November 4; Fredricksburg, December 14; and Chancellorsville, May 1, 1863.

On April 28, 1863, the regiment was assigned to the 4th Brigade, 1st Division of the Second Corps, serving at Gettysburg, July 1-3. Spotting this battle Comrade Berger was the first man wounded by a rifle ball wounds in the right and left leg.

He was confined at Lincoln Hospital, Washington, for three weeks then taken with other wounded in railroad box cars to Governors Inland Hospital, New York. He later served in the following battles: Petersburg, Boydtown, on the Peninsula in the seven days retreat that formed the rear guard at Chancellorsville.

After participating at the Grand Review of federal troops at Washington, D. C. he was honorably discharged from service on June 16, 1865.

Mr. Berger, who came to Shamokin from Danville in 1866, was the oldest living member of St. John's Reformed church on North Eighth street and was janitor of Shamokin high school for 28 years, being retired since 1918.

He became a member of St. John's Reformed church shortly after moving here in 1866, helped complete the old church building on Grant street, which was finished in 1866, and was janitor of the church for about 16 years. He regularly attended the services at St. John's during the ministry of six pastors.

Mr. Berger was born in Berks county, January 4, 1844, a son of Joseph Berger, with whom he moved to Shamokin 22 years later. Mr. Berger lived with his father until he was married on December 24, 1867, to Miss Harriet Templin, a native of this section. Mrs. Berger died in 1919, one year after he was retired as janitor of the high school.

To Mr. Berger went the honor of opening the first cigar store in Shamokin. That was shortly after his arrival here in 1866. He was a cigar maker by profession in his younger days. He quit his business after about one year and went to work on the old Northern Central Railway, which is now the Pennsylvania. Later he helped grade the right-of-way for the present Reading line through part of the state.

After years of work on the section, Mr. Berger went to the collieries where he was employed until 1890, when he went to work as janitor of the high school, which was then in the old Academy building. He worked in that building until 1894, when another high school building was erected, and then continued as janitor there. He served as janitor for three years in the present new high school building before he was retired.

A member of the surviving group of Civil War veterans, the passing of Comrade Berger reduces the thinning ranks to four, as follows: George Liebig, George Eby, William Startzel, and Thomas Goheen.

The immediate survivors are a family of nine children, as follows: Mrs Charles Derr, Philadelphia; Mrs. Ray Bolinger, Wilson and Minnie Berger, of Pittsburgh; Mrs. Charles Zimmerman, of Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Byron Finn, Mrs. Clayton Harris, Charles F., Robert B., and Earl R., of this city.

Two brothers also survive, as follows: Charles F. Berger, of Philadelphia, and Jefferson, of this city.

The surviving descendants include 30 grandchildren and 20 great grandchildren.

The funeral services will be conducted with military honors on Friday afternoon at 2:00, with the Rev. Edward Butkofsky, pastor, officiating at the services in St. John's Reformed church.

The last sad rites will be concluded at Shamokin cemetery with military honors, when the body will be placed at rest beside the beloved wife who preceded him in death fourteen years ago.

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Comments

It is obvious that, as stated in the obituary, the civil war service record of William H. Berger is contradictory. The obituary states that he was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, which occurred in July 1863, but that he enlisted in October 1863.
The service history is that of the Pennsylvania 148th Infantry which he joined, but not his own. The official service records from the National Archives indicate that William H. Berger enlisted at the age of 19 yrs. 9 mos. on October 7, 1863 at Troy, Pennsylvania as a substitute for Samuel Werkheiser. He was wounded May 10, 1864 at the Battle of Po River, which was an early skirmish of the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. He was later transferred to the PA 52nd shortly before he was discharged.

There were ten surviving children, not nine, as the "Wilson and Minnie Berger" listed are a son and daughter, not a son and daughter-in-law. The ten surviving children are:

1. Mrs Charles Derr, of Philadelphia (Anna Gertrude Berger married Richard Derr)
2. Mrs. Ray Bolinger, of Pittsburgh (Sarah Emma Berger married Ray Bollinger)
3. Wilson Berger, of Pittsburgh
4. Minnie Berger, of Pittsburgh
5. Mrs. Charles Zimmerman, of Washington, D. C. (Susan Cordella Berger married Charles Zimmerman)
6. Mrs. Byron Finn, of Shamokin (Elizabeth May Berger married Byron Finn)
7. Mrs. Clayton Harris, of Shamokin (Elsie Leah Berger married Clayton Harris)
8. Charles F. Berger, of Shamokin
9. Robert B. Berger, of Shamokin
10. Earl R. Berger, of Shamokin

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