Foot Soldier

This sitter’s intense gaze is what caught my attention.  He is identified on the reverse of this carte de visite as Mr. L.G. Fisher.  From the other notations (see below) it appears this image was sent to a photographer to be enlarged.  I suspect it was for use at his funeral.

Born in 1836, Linas lived his entire life in the Almont, Michigan area, as did his children, Samuel, Herbert, and Nettie.  He and his wife, Mariah (nee Starmer), who married in 1860, had a fourth child in 1873, a little boy who died at two-months-old of congestive chill, an old medical term for malaria which is a mosquito-borne disease.

More than 250 men from Almont, Michigan joined the Union Army during the Civil War. Sixteen of those men were killed in action and 19 died of disease.  Linas served in Company F of the 10th Infantry Regiment for eight months during 1862 and was one of the lucky men who returned home.  Benjamin Cummins, about 24 years of age, was a soldier in Linas’ regiment.  Benjamin died of typhoid fever in August 1862 and is buried in Evansville, Indiana where he perished.  I wonder how well the two knew each other.

When Linas returned home, he went right back to farming, which was also the profession of his father, Abner.  In fact, farming must have been in the Fisher family blood, as Linus’ sons became farmers and his daughter married a farmer.

Courtesy of Images of America, North Lapeer County, by Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

I was thrilled to find the above photo of Linas, just four years before his death which occurred in 1904.  His wife passed away in 1898, so at the time this image was captured, Linas was a widower.  According to census records, Linas lived near the Rupert blacksmith shop and I bet he was a regular visitor.  You can see that he’s holding crutches.  I wonder if this was the result of an injury or illness.

In 1904 Linas was laid to rest beside his wife in the Dryden North Cemetery.

Sources:
Census records
Find A Grave
U.S. Civil War soldier records and profiles
Michigan, county marriage records
Michigan death records
Images of America, Eastern Lapeer County, by Catherine Ulrich Brakefield, 2014
1890 Veterans Schedule
Tri-City Times