William Henry Olds was born on May 13, 1840, in Ohio to Zenas Olds and Susanna Ford. His father was a farmer who owned $2,200 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property in 1860. He grew up and attended school in Concord, Ohio, and the family moved to Thompson, Ohio, sometime in the 1850s. By 1860, Olds was working as a farmer.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on September 9, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Battery C of the 1^st Ohio Light Artillery on October 8. The battery took part in the siege of Corinth, the Battle of Perryville, the Chattanooga campaign, the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign. Olds was promoted to corporal on November 1, 1862, and he mustered out in Camp Cleveland, Ohio, on June 15, 1865.

 

He returned to Ohio after the war. He married Jannette Stearns around 1865, and they had at least three children: Stella, born around 1868; Forrest, born around 1871; and Alma, born around 1879. The family settled in Windham, Ohio, and Olds worked as a cheese maker. In 1870, he owned $200 of personal property, and his cheese factory employed at least four people.

 

They moved to Thompson, Ohio, sometime in the 1870s, and by 1880, Olds was working as a farmer. He applied for a federal pension in May 1889 and eventually secured one. Jannette died in 1914, and by 1920, he was living with his daughter Alma’s family in Plainesville, Ohio. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage there on February 23, 1922.

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