Lorenzo D. Calkins was born around 1830 in Erie County, New York, to Felix and Jane Calkins. His father was a farmer who owned $1,000 of real estate in 1850. Calkins probably grew up in Ellicottville. He married a woman named Malvina around the mid-1850s, and they had at least two children: Clara, born around 1854; and Harriet, born around 1858. The family lived in Ellicottville, and Calkins worked as a farmer. By 1860, he owned $200 of real estate. He enlisted in the Union army on December 7, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company D of the 105^th New York Infantry on December 17. The regiment took part in the Battle of Cedar Mountain, the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. He transferred to Company K of the 94^th New York Infantry on March 10, 1863. He was arrested as a deserter on September 1, 1863, and sentenced by court martial to “make good [the] time [lost] while absent” and remain in federal service until December 31, 1865. Army officials, however, apparently eventually relented, and he mustered out on July 18, 1865.

 

Calkins returned to Ellicottville after the war, and by 1870, he owned $1,800 of real estate. He applied for a federal pension in December 1874 and eventually secured one. The family moved to Franklinville, New York, sometime in the early 1870s, and Calkins was working as a carpenter by 1875. He may have died sometime in the 1880s.

SOURCES