Laurens W. Wolcott
Laurens W. Wolcott was born on February 8, 1843, in Warsaw, New York, to Nelson and Alvina Wolcott. His father was a merchant who owned $10,000 of real estate by 1850. The family lived in Attica, New York. By the early 1860s, he was working as a clerk in Batavia, Illinois.
 
He enlisted in the Union army on September 10, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company D of the 52nd Illinois Infantry on November 19, 1861. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 8¾ inches tall, with black hair and black eyes. The regiment took part in the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign. He was promoted to sergeant on December 15, 1863, and then to 1st lieutenant on November 19, 1864. He mustered out on July 6, 1865.
 
After leaving the army, Wolcott studied law at the University of Michigan. By 1870, he was working as a lawyer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He married Lucy Gallup around 1873, and they had at least two children: Ellen, born around 1874; and Catherine, born around 1878. A local writer described him as “one of the most brilliant attorneys at the Kent county bar.” He applied for a federal pension in February 1907 and eventually secured one. He died in Portland, Oregon, on March 29, 1909.
5022
DATABASE CONTENT
(5022)Wolcott, Laurens W.1843-02-081909-03-29
  • Conflict Side: Union
  • Role: Soldier
  • Rank in: Private
  • Rank out: 1st Lieutenant
  • Rank highest: 1st Lieutenant
  • Gender: Male
  • Race: White

Documents - Records: 1

  • (4242) [writer] ~ Laurens W. Wolcott to Sister, 28 March 1865

People - Records: 1

  • (5023) Wolcott, (?) is the [sibling of] (5022) Wolcott, Laurens W.

Places - Records: 2

  • (3091) [birth] ~ Warsaw, Wyoming County, New York
  • (1700) [death] ~ Portland, Washington County, Oregon

Show in Map

Regiments - Records: 1

  • (1120) [enlisted] [D] ~ 52nd Illinois Infantry
SOURCES

1850, 1870, 1880, and 1900 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; Oregon State Deaths, 1864-1971, available from Ancestry.com; Databases of Illinois Veterans Index, 1775-1995, available from Ancestry.com; General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, available from Ancestry.com; School Catalogs, 1765-1935, available from Ancestry.com; Kent County, Michigan, Marriage Index, 1842-1929, available from Ancestry.com; Detroit (MI) Evening Times, 1 April 1909; Proceedings of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Annual Meetings of the Michigan State Bar Association (Marquette, MI: n.p., 1910)