James Miller Welch

James Welch was the son of George Welch Jr. (1805-1847) and Elizabeth Hartshorne (1808-1860).

As a young man he was a laborer in Pike Township. He enlisted in the Union Army's 42nd Pennsylvania Volunteers, Co. K, on May 21, 1861.

The 42nd "Bucktails" engaged in battles at the Second Bull Run in 1862, at Gettysburg in 1863, and the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania in 1864. He was captured at the Battle of Mechanicsville and was a prisoner of war in Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia. He was paroled after six weeks. At the Battle of Antietam he was wounded in action with a gunshot wound to the left lung. Welch rose through the ranks to become a captain before his discharge in June 1866.

On 1865 he married Mary Ellen Mason of Curwensville, Pa. The couple had five daughters and two sons: Viola, Jessia, Edward, Ruth, Grace, George and Florence.

The family moved to Kansas in 1878 and lived in Wakeeney. In 1895, they moved to Topeka. In Kansas, Mr. Welch was a farmer.

Western Kansas World  11 May 1907