Tombstone Tuesday - John Henry Gauslin

This is the very first tombstone photo I ever took in my genealogy research, back in July 2007. It belongs to my great-great-grandfather John Henry Gauslin. John was born to Canadian immigrants John Baptiste Gauslin and Elizabeth "Eliza" (Christian) Gauslin on October 7, 1843 in Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts. John and his family lived in West Troy (now Watervliet), Albany County, New York before moving to Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin in the 1850s.

John in 1912.
Photo via John's
great-grandson James Nault.

In 1861, John enlisted in the Union Army, one of three of my direct ancestors who served in the Civil War. He was described as being five feet and six inches tall, with hazel eyes, light brown hair, and a light complexion. His unit fought at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, where John became severely ill due to the cold and swampy conditions where fighting took place and was sent to a hospital for several months before being granted a medical discharge, although his health remained poor for the rest of his life. Even so, John reenlisted in June 1864 along with his brother George Ambrose Gauslin, and they served until that September before returning home.

John married Mary Jane Montgomery on January 26, 1867 in Green Bay, Brown County, Wisconsin. They had nine children: John Henry Gauslin, George E. Gauslin, Louisa George Anna "Georgie" (Gauslin) Mann, John Henry Gauslin, Robert A. Gauslin, Mary Evelyn "Eva" (Gauslin) Martin, Peter Herbert Gauslin, Edith Anora (Gauslin) Nault Moore, and James Coville Gauslin. They lived in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan until Mary died in 1889. Sometime in the 1890s, John moved to Everett, Snohomish County, Washington, where his brother Joseph D. Gauslin briefly owned a lumber company. John moved around frequently after that. In 1910, he lived in Port Orchard, Kitsap County, Washington; in January 1920, with his brother Anthony John Gauslin and his family in Trona, San Bernardino County, California.

Parading through Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington during the encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Washington and Alaska, June 1913. This photo was sent from John to his daughter Edith. John is the man in the lower right corner.

In October 1920, John was back in Washington, and applied for admittance to the state soldiers' home. He was later admitted to the Wood Veterans Home in Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin on July 17, 1924, where he died on December 9, 1924. John was buried in the neighboring Wood National Cemetery, which today is next to Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team.

The view from John's grave to Miller Park. The building between the cemetery and the stadium was a part of Wood Veterans Home.

John's Find A Grave entry is #86382712.