Stuart O. Lincoln was born on January 27, 1838, in Pennsylvania to John Lincoln and Millany Huntington. His father was a farmer who owned $1,000 of real estate and $200 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He began working as a teacher and farmer in the mid-1850s, and by 1850, he owned $600 of real estate and $200 of personal property.

 

Lincoln enlisted in the Union army on August 3, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company B of the 50^th New York Engineers on August 16. The regiment took part in the Seven Days’ Battles, the Maryland campaign, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, and the siege of Petersburg. As one writer later explained, his “duty was not to fight, but to build the bridges and breastworks, fort and roads, and [the regiment] was many times exposed to the enemy’s fire.” He was eventually promoted to corporal, and he mustered out in September 1864.

 

He returned to Lebanon after the war and resumed his work as a teacher and a farmer. He married Elvira E. Bolkcom, and their daughter Emma was born around 1868. By 1870, he owned $2,000 of real estate and $500 of personal property.

 

Although his father had been a Democrat, Lincoln joined the Republican Party. According to one writer, he was “frequently called upon to serve in local offices of trust and responsibility.” He served as clerk of Lebanon for at least 28 years, and he became register and recorder for Wayne County, Pennsylvania, in 1893. He moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania, in the late 1800s. He applied for a federal pension in October 1887 and eventually secured one. He died of “chronic cystitis” in Honesdale on September 16, 1911.

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