Fourth Generation

8. Abraham WILSON was born on 30 September 1828 in Shade Twsp, Somerset County, PA. He was baptized on 13 Jul 1831 at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Stoyestown, Somerset County, PA. The birthdate given here is from that baptismal record; but, the 1906 History of Bedford and Somerset Counties gives his birthdate as December 12. He died on 21 January 1911 at the age of 82 in Shanksville, PA. He served in the Civil War. He enlisted for a term of three years in Company B of the 54th Pennsylvania Volunteers on 17 Sep 1861 and was promoted to Sergeant on 16 Feb 1862. On October 4, 1862, that entire company (as well as Company K) was captured by Confederate General Imboden at Paw Paw, WV. They were taken to Richmond and held in Libby Prison, separated out and designated as hostages for the release of the large number of Confederate guerilla forces captured in what was then still western Virginia. Judge Black, a neighbor and friend of many of the Somerset County prisoners, after some delicate negotiations with President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton, met with the Confederate Commissioner for Prisoner Exchange and arranged the exchange of the 54th Pennsylvania's companies B and K. That exchange, including Abraham Wilson, took place at City Point, VA on December 1, 1862. The reconstituted 54th went on to fight in the major battles at New Market and Lexington in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia. He was discharged at Harper's Ferry, WV on the expiration of his enlistment, and was given $1.75 for transportation home to Harrisburg, PA. His army discharge describes him as 5' '8" tall with a dark complexion and black eyes.

According to the 1850 census, he was a 22 year-old miller living with (and presumably working for) a miller named Peter Sheffer in Stony Creek Township. In 1870, he was a miller who owned real estate valued at $600 and had a personal estate of $1100. Catharine BALTZER and Abraham WILSON were married on 29 May 1853 in Stoystown, PA.

9. Catharine BALTZER was born on 29 June 1836 in Shanksville, PA.² She was baptized 18 Sep 1836 at the Glade Reformed and Lutheran Congregation, Stoney Creek Township, PA. She was the oldest of 10 children in her family. She died in 1912 at the age of 76.

Children were:

	i.	Miriam A. "Mary" WILSON was born on 31 December 1854 in Shanksville, PA. She died in 1914 at the age of 60 in Shanksville, PA. On 12 Dec 1878, she married Robert P. Brandt (1856-1938), a teacher, in Shanksville, PA.
	ii.	James B. WILSON was born on 30 December 1856 in Shanksville, PA. He died in 1864 at the age of 8.
	iii.	Hester WILSON was born in October 1858 in Shanksville, PA. She died on 27 November 1920 at the age of 62.
	iv.	Daniel S. WILSON was born in November 1860 in Shanksville, PA. He died after 1910 at the age of 50.
	v.	Otis WILSON was born in September 1865 in Shanksville, PA. He died on 13 August 1889 at the age of 23.
4	vi.	Newton B. WILSON.
	vii.	Mabelle WILSON was born in 1871 in Shanksville, PA. She died in 1961 at the age of 90. This was the spelling of her given name according to the 1880 census.
	viii.	Ida Viola WILSON was born in 1875 in Shanksville, PA. She died in 1881 at the age of 6 in Shanksville, PA.
	ix.	Lillian WILSON was born in 1878 in Shanksville, PA. She died in 1878 at the age of 0.