Thursday, May 7, 2020

1864/1865 Payments on Behalf of Parents in Robbinston, Maine, of Civil War Soldier Frank R. Leach; in 1860s/1870s Ledger of Financial Transactions of Robbinston


Frank R. Leach, age 23; then serving in Company D of the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery; payments made in 1864 and 1865 on behalf of his mother and sister in Robbinston, Maine.

Found on numbered page 26 in a ledger of Robbinston, Maine, financial transactions from the mid 1860s to the 1870s.

Payments were made on behalf of:

Franklin Rodney Leach (1840-1912), "Frank", was the son of Seth Harris Leach, who died when Frank was young, and Sarah (Sibley) Leach (1802-1879).  

Frank has FindaGrave memorials for sites in both Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was living in the Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers until his death in 1917, and Robbinston, Maine, where his family is buried. Either his body was brought home and reinterred in Robbinston at some point, or the marker in Robbinston is a cenotaph.

Maine, Civil War Enlistment Papers, 1862-1865: Frank R. Leach
  • born in Calais, Maine; resident of Robbinston, Maine, at time of enlistment
  • age 21, single and farming at time of enlistment
  • volunteered 24 July 1862
  • sworn and subscribed at Bangor, Maine, on 9 August 1862
  • 6' tall with brown eyes, black hair and dark complexion

  • rose in rank from private to corporal
  • age 21 when he enlisted for a 3 year period; born in Calais, Maine
  • Company D of the 18th and 1st Maine Heavy Artillery
  • enlisted 24 July 1862; mustered in at Bangor, Maine, on 21 August 1863
  • discharged to, or at, Cony Hospital at Augusta, Maine, on 5 May 1865 - reason of disability

  • Franklin R. Leach of Robbinston, Maine, and Miss Amelia Pettigrove of Calais, Maine
  • certificate to marry dated 17 August 1868 by Robbinston, Maine, Town Clerk Cyrus Balkam

Mary Amelia (Pettigrove) Leach (1845-1888), a native of New Brunswick, Canada, was the daughter of Capt. Joshua Pettigrove and Pamela (Hewes) Pettigrove.  Frank and Amelia had 3 children, one of whom died fairly young.

U. S. Federal Censuses 1870-1910
  • 1870, Robbinston, Maine [click to the next image to see the rest of the family] - a grocer
  • 1880, Robbinston, Maine [notes his arm amputation] - a grocer and trader
  • 1900, Robbinston, Maine - a widower, no longer working; living with his son George Brewer Leach (1876-1924)
  • 1910, Leavenworth, Kansas - inmate in the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers

  • enlisted 21 August 1862 at Bangor, Maine
  • corporal in Company D of the 18th Maine Infantry
  • discharged 5 May 1865 at Augusta, Maine
  • wounds received during or as a result of service: loss of right arm; injury to cornea; cystitis
  • admitted on 8 November 1909
  • died of acute catarrhal enteritis on 17 September 1912
  • information tallied during his stay at Leavenworth:
    • age 69
    • 6' tall
    • fair complexion, brown eyes, gray hair
    • widower; Protestant; can read and write
    • nearest relative: son Seth H Leach, 306 W 8th Street, Kansas City, Missouri  -  Seth Harris Leach 

  • born 25 January 1840 at Calais, Maine
  • burial 17 September 1912 in the Picnic Hill Cemetery [perhaps now known as the Brewer Cemetery]. However, this marker may be a cenotaph as there's a FindaGrave memorial for Frank, buried in the Leavenworth National Cemetery, Section 11, Row 16, Lot 5 in Leavenworth, Kansas
  • enlisted 24 July 1862 at Bangor, Maine; discharged 5 May 1865
  • corporal in Company D of 1st Heavy Artillery Maine Volunteers

If you have information on the family of Frank R. Leach, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

The ledger measures about 13" by 8" by 1/2" and contains entries for almost 50 families and many pages of other financial transactions. About half of the 178 numbered pages have entries. The ledger is missing its covers; the first page of what remains is shown below.


Soldiers and sailors listed in the ledger
  • The numbers in parentheses indicate specific pages in the ledger.
  • Many of the men listed below were born in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia and may have returned to Canada after the War.  See the map below to see how close New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were, particularly in the Age of Sail.
  • If you have information on any of the men listed below, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

The List, Alphabetized
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