Alexander & William McIlvaine
Over fifty years ago, there came from Adams Co., Penn. into Richland a family of mother, sons and daughters. The elder sons were stalwart young men and enured [sic.] to work. They had acquired the trade of plasterers and found abundant employment in a growing town and prospered. A younger brother worked with them, but diversified his work and increased his gains by also acquiring the art of the tailor. The mother long since departed to the undiscovered country, but here the sons married and settled, here they took up the duties of citizens. Here they became early in their career citizen soldiers of the independent uniform companies of the militia of Ohio. Here they took an active part in building up the town and here they were active as unpaid volunteer firemen, and here they shared with others the duties and responsibilities of councilmen of the village and of the city, when the incorporated village of Mansfield was advanced to the dignity and grade of a city of Ohio. From here in 1849 one of these brothers was of that little band of the citizens of Mansfield, who, first of all the people of Richland County, traveled by land and by sea to the Golden Gate and engaged in gold mining in California, and after returning again, essayed the journey accompanied by his brothers -- but in time all returned to Ohio. Of these brothers, the youngest still lives, and I will not write of him but of his elders -- both of whom are not, for when the nation decorates the graves of its' gallant dead, the people of Mansfield as they tread the avenues and walks of our beautiful cemetery, tarry first here and then there, and place flowers on the sod covering the mortal part of each of these brothers, both of whom were the friends of my boyhood days. When the tocsin first sounded and the call for defenders of this union in April, 1861, was first made, one of them eagerly sought to be enrolled, and when the next day thereafter Ohio's first troops gathered in Ohio's capitol, Alexander McIlvaine marched as first lieutenant of Co. I, First Ohio Reg't. and with the other 2,000 brave men, comprising First and Second Ohio regiments to the front. Completing the term of service and returning to Ohio he actively participated in recruiting men for the Sherman Brigade and when that organization was completed commanded Co. A of the 64th. Reg't. His heart was in the Union cause. His health was firm and he was gifted as a soldier -- and it was inevitable that such a man must rise in grade, and so it was, and in time he became the colonel commanding that gallant regiment. He was a fearless man, a courageous man, conspicuously so, and by reason thereof he lost his life at Rocky Face Ridge. More than 30 years ago he died, but we would now make note of the man, and perpetuate his memory, so that when three more decades of years have come and gone the services of Alexander McIlvaine, as citizen and as soldier, may still be remembered and appreciated. But may I also write of the brother Captain William McIlvaine of the 120th. Ohio. Younger by a few years than his brother Alexander, and a brainier man also, somewhat taller, more muscular, more angular, more indifferent in dress, less careful of his personal appearance, but possessed of larger will power, and very forceful. Had William McIlvaine been given early advantages, educational and otherwise, few men in our little city would have proven his superiors. His special trade made the summer time, and late spring and early autumn, seasons of work with head and hands, and his energy and industry were such that he accomplished a vast deal when employment was to be had at all, but there were dull years in Mansfield, years when little building was done, and then he did whatever his hands found to do, farm or other work as it could be had, but the long winter nights year after year developed William McIlvaine and he became a student of men, events, books, policies, parties and governmental questions. He was a careful and persistent reader of all that was written of our western country. The explorations of Lewis & Clarke, Fremont Stevens, Hazen and others he was thoroughly conversant with. He was a modest man, but a good citizen and a good soldier. In the fall of 1892, he passed away after a lingering illness, the seeds of which were sown in his campaigning and exposure during the years of his military service in defense of the Union. The sons and daughters of these brothers, Alexander and William McIlvaine, may be glad and rejoice that their fathers performed every duty devolving upon them as citizens and soldiers ably and well while our common country has not forgotten the debt of gratitude to the surviving widows.
From the Richland Shield & Banner, February 8, 1896, Vol. LXXVIII, No. 39