Joseph Alonzo Stratton was born on October 16, 1831, in Athol, Massachusetts, to Joseph Stratton and Martha West. His father was a shoemaker who owned $1,000 of real estate in 1850. Stratton grew up and attended school in Athol, and by 1850, he was also working as a shoemaker. He married Harriet Adams in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, on April 17, 1855, and they had at least five children: Emerson, born around 1856; Edgar, born around 1858; Edith, born around 1863; Estell, born around 1868; and Adell, born around 1870.

 

They moved to Poland, New York, around 1857, and Stratton worked as a farmer there. By 1860, they owned $100 of personal property. He enlisted in the Union army on August 31, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company G of the 49^th New York Infantry on September 10. According to his service records, he was 6 feet, 2 inches tall, with dark hair and blue eyes. The regiment took part in the siege of Yorktown, the Battle of Williamsburg, the Seven Days’ Battles, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, and the siege of Petersburg. He was discharged for disability on March 16, 1865.

 

He returned to Poland, New York, after the war and earned a living working in a sawmill. By 1870, he owned $200 of real estate and $135 of personal property. The family moved to South Valley, New York, sometime in the 1870s. He applied for a federal pension in April 1877 and eventually secured one. They moved to Illinois in the late 1800s, and he died there on July 15, 1899.

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