Charles M. Wyvell was born on November 20, 1839, in Livingston County, New York, to Samuel Wyvell and Mary A. Barnhard. His father worked as a blacksmith, and the family owned $12,500 of real estate and $5,750 of personal property in 1860. He lived in Ossian, New York, until 1852, when his family moved to Alma, New York. Wyvell attended school in Alma before beginning work as a blacksmith.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 3, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company C of the 3^rd New York Cavalry later that day. The regiment spent the next year defending Washington, D.C., before being transferred to North Carolina in 1862. Wyvell mustered out in New Bern, North Carolina, on August 3, 1864, when his three-year term of enlistment expired. He enlisted again on April 10, 1865, and mustered in as a private in Company A of the 3^rd New York Cavalry. He was transferred to the 1^st New York Cavalry on July 21, 1865, and probably mustered out soon afterward.

 

Wyvell returned to his parents’ household in Alma after the war. He married Eugenia Rullifson on December 30, 1867, and they had at least five children: Mabel, born around 1869; Lillian, born around 1871; Helen, born around 1872; Bessie, born around 1875; and Manton, born around 1878.

 

They moved to Portville, New York, in 1869, and he worked as a blacksmith there. In 1870, the family owned $400 of real estate and $550 of personal property. He applied for a federal pension in November 1872 and eventually secured one. The family moved to Rochester, New York, sometime in the 1870s, but they had returned to Alma by 1900. He died in Wellsville, New York, on October 18, 1912.

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