The Gales of Volo

I found out how the brother of Henry Wallace Gale died. I'm not ready to reveal it yet as it is a mind blower and goes along with the rest of the history of Volo and similar towns across America after the Civil War.  I'm still fleshing out the details and have now committed myself into writing a 2nd book about the Gale family of Volo which will discuss the history of the town and what happened to the Gale family after the Civil War and up until today.

My goal is to eventually find a picture of the family of Gardner Gale and so far it has proven to be a very hard task.  When my research is ready, I will reveal more surprising history of the Gale family and pioneer days of Volo.

How I found Henry's Name

The mystery of H. Wallace Gale's name was a tough nut to crack at first since all of his records referred to him as H. Wallace Gale.  Even his cenotaph (with an error in his death age - should be 20 years old and not 21 years old) referred to him as H. Wallace Gale.  For some reason, it was important for H. Wallace Gale to use his middle name more than his first but he included the initial to his first name always.  This made him unique.  He was referred to as H. Wallace.  It took me a while to find out what the H stood for, but with the help of the National Park Service, I was able to find out his name was Henry.   Here are the screenshots from their website, that helped me crack the mystery.

https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/index.htm

Volo Auto Museum & Haunted Tour

I've been to the Volo Auto Museum multiple times with family and highly recommend it. They have a host of various exhibits and cars ranging from classics to hollywood to historical cars. There is a bit of history in each car they display.  In addition to the cars, they also have a Military Museum with many original artifacts.  It's very good as well.  The grounds have a lot of room to walk around or sit and they have a pizza cafe (ShowBiz) on site as well.   Often times, they have live events (bands, sleep-overs, etc.) and are open most of the year.

http://www.volocars.com/

In addition to their museum, the antique barn and antique malls have many things to look at and purchase.  I've never seen so many interesting things and each time I go, it seems there is something always new.

But, as I have already discussed, their antique barn seems to be haunted by a Civil War ghost and possibly others as well.   I wrote a book about my research and experiences there.  In addition to the stories and the old cemetery across the street, the Volo Auto Museum does a haunted trolly tour in the fall.  Last year I took this tour in October.   It was quite interesting.  I won't give too much away, but the most interesting thing of all was a display case (shown only on the tour) that showed the items found under the floorboard in the old farmhouse.  It included an old Civil War knapsack, a gun, some letters, and a case.  Here is a picture of it:

At the time I went on the tour, I hadn't received the federal records regarding Henry Wallace Gale, yet. After I received them, I was surprised to see what was listed as returned to the Gale family. It included clothing, a knapsack, and a few other written items I could not read.  Here is a copy of that record:

After a lot of research,  I believe one of the items listed that was hard to read, was a Walch gun. This Civil War era gun was commonly purchased by Union soldiers at the time and a picture of it found online seems very close to what was in the case.

I would highly recommend that the Grams family continue to look under the floorboards in the old farmhouse for Henry Wallace Gale's clothes and perhaps they could use a noninvasive method to find them without lifting up all the wood (or look near where the knapsack was found).

Here are some more pictures from the Volo Auto Museum:

A Branch From the Tree

After a recent visit to the Volo Cemetery,  I noticed that a branch from the old, lovely tree next to H. Wallace Gale's cenotaph had broken off, fallen down, and had knocked over another tombstone nearby.  The large branch was lying next to Henry's cenotaph and I couldn't help but think of the symbolism of the situation.  The tree represented his family and his death was symbolized by the lost branch of the tree that would be forever gone from that family line (bummer).   His death also affected those nearby and not just his family.  It was a loss for all of us.   It is a message to us to remember what our ancestors went through and how many came before us and how many will come after us.

The Gale Family and Education

In addition to being staunch abolitionists, the Gale family was not only involved in farming, law, and politics, but also in education.  Later on as the Civil War progressed, their cousin in Wisconsin was involved in Sanitation which was very much needed due to the number of Civil War deaths involving water and food contamination.   

Judge George Gale was a third cousin of Henry Wallace Gale per my preliminary research from ancestry.com.  Judge George Gale was one of the founders of Galesville, Wisconsin and Gale College.  He was a member of the Free Soil Party, a lawyer, a judge, and an educator.  He also wrote a book on the Gale family history.  Here is what Wikipedia says about him:

George Gale (November 30, 1816 – April 18, 1868) was a Wisconsin pioneer, judge, and legislator.  Born in Burlington, Vermont, Gale was admitted to the Vermont bar. He then moved to Wisconsin Territory, where he practiced law in Walworth County, Wisconsin serving as District Attorney and as a member of the second Wisconsin Constitutional Convention of 1847-1848.^[1]In 1850-1851, Gale served as a Free Soil Party member of the Wisconsin State Senate's 14th District.^[2] Gale moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he became a Wisconsin county judge and then was elected a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge. Gale bought land north of La Crosse and helped plat the city of Galesville, Wisconsin in order to found Gale College; he is responsible for the creation of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin.^[3] During the American Civil War, Judge Gale served with the United States Sanitary Commission. He died in Galesville.^[4][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gale_(Wisconsin_politician)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galesville,_Wisconsin


Here is a picture of him, courtesy of
 http://www.wisconsincentral.net/Towns/Towns/Galesville.html

Judge George Gale

With this picture, you can see the characteristic Welsh Gale family long face, curly hair and taller, slim features of the Gales.

There is also a Galesburg, Illinois that was involved with the underground railroad and was founded by another George Gale as well who was also involved in education and the founding of Knox College.  I have not yet concluded his family relationship to the Volo Gales.   Per Wikipedia:

Galesburg was founded by George Washington Gale,^[3] a Presbyterian minister from New York state who dreamed of establishing a manual labor college (which became Knox College). A committee from New York purchased 17 acres (0.069 km²; 0.027 sq mi) in Knox County in 1835, and the first 25 settlers arrived in 1836. They built temporary cabins in Log City near current Lake Storey, just north of Galesburg, having decided that no log cabins were to be built inside the town limits.

George Washington Gale (fair use)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galesburg,_Illinois

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Gale


As I have revealed in my book about Henry Wallace Gale, he was a teacher.  I did find an old school in Volo that was converted to a business.  I am still trying to research and determine if this was the school he taught at and it appears it may be as it is not very far from the Gale home in Volo, IL.  I took a few pictures of the old building that was modernized and it still has the old chalkboards inside.  The inside of the old Volo School that has now been converted in to a business

https://pixabay.com/en/old-school-room-school-room-527044/

It also appears that H. Wallace Gale's family were the pioneers in Volo, Il (Forksville, IL.), but whether they were the first is something I am still researching.  Without a doubt, the Gale family had their act together for the times, and were organized with a large number of family members and a method that involved their participation in education, politics, law, sanitation, farming, and finally soldiers of the Union.  We can learn a lot from the Gales.  Too bad, there are not a lot of them around, today because we are indebted to them for our quality of life in America.

Civil War Reenactment in Lake County, IL.

Enjoy history.  If you allow those in power to erase your history, whether it's politically correct at the current time or not, you have allowed them to erase you and your ancestors and your descendants. Never give them an inch to do so.

Henry Wallace Gale

Henry Wallace Gale was a few months shy of his 21st birthday when he died of Typhoid Fever in Tennessee during the Civil War.  His family owned the farm land that is now the location of the Volo Auto Museum.  He is said to be haunting the land, but he is not the only one.  There are stories of a young woman and a little girl that are also seen in the Antique Barn of Volo.  I believe they are the Ida Gale sisters that were cousins to Henry Wallace Gale.  Read more about his life in my book:

Henry, you and your fellow soldiers (both Union and Confederate) have not been forgotten:

Civil War Soldiers of Volo

There are nine Civil War Union soldiers buried/honored via cenotaph in the Volo Cemetery (maintained by Wauconda Township).  Four died during the war (three from disease and one in battle), one died shortly after returning, and the last four returned to live out their lives.

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H. Wallace Gale:

The first that soldier that has been studied was a young man who lived on the farm owned by his family that is now the Volo Auto Museum.  His name was Henry Wallace Gale (H. Wallace Gale).  He died at the age of 20 from Typhoid fever, in a hospital, on February 16, 1863 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Eleazar Graves:

Eleazar Graves died at 21 in a hospital on July 13, 1863 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Burr Ackley:

Burr Ackley died at 29 in battle as a seargent in the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia on September 20,1863.

Nelson Huson:

Nelson Huson died at age 22, in  a hospital on January 04, 1865 in Columbia, Tennessee.

Lewis Weatherly:

Lewis Weatherly made it home but died shortly afterwards (probably due to a disablity acquired during the war).

Robert E. Walton:

Robert E. Walton made it home to live out his life.

John H. Walton:

John. H. Walton made it home to live out his life.

Andrew J. Raymond:

Andrew J. Raymond made it home to live out his life.

Amelius Ames:

Amelius Ames made it home to live out his life.