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James Outwater

Born 1846 Died 1924

Red Church Cemetery, Tivoli; Large granite marker in Section B, second row north of the south entrance near the receiving vault, midway in the row.

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Carpenter, Farmer & Union Veteran

For someone who spent most of his life as a farmer, carpenter, and family man, James Edmund Outwater’s life may look like a simple one at first glance. Service in the New York Volunteers 128th Co. C when he was 18 may have caused him to desire a less chaotic future if he survived. When he mustered out, he moved back to the Tivoli area, married, and lived as a farmer in the Tivoli area into his late seventies. 

Outwater seemingly would have relished adventure, if we look to his father, James, (March 27, 1800 - August 8, 1862) who was an entrepreneur and ran a shad and herring business into a thriving livelihood, with $20,000 in real estate and $20,000 in personal wealth in the 1860 Census.¹ James Outwater had three sons named James: James (1835-1835), James Augustus Outwater (1836-1838), and our James Edmund who survived into adulthood and his son with Maria C “Martha” Minkler.² When his father passed away, neither James nor his mother Martha was named as administrator of his estate; apparently James was not raised in his father’s household (not surprising given the elder James Outwater was listed as living with his wife Eliza in the 1860 Census). Our James was living in his mother’s household with her parents.³

Outwater enlisted in the NY 128th Company C on May 9, 1864, and mustered out on July 12, 1865, in Savannah, GA.⁴ He then rejoined his mother’s household in 1865, and then their roles switched.⁵ By 1880, James was the head of the household with his wife Emily, son Barton, daughters Ethel and Clara, along with his mother and uncle.⁶ Both his mother and his wife who predeceased him are buried in the Outwater plot. In 1908, he was described as a retired farmer who lived near the Red Church.⁷

By the time Outwater died in 1924, his estate was valued at more than $4,800, and he was survived by his son Barton J. Outwater from his first marriage to Margaret Miller (b. 1848) and his two daughters Ethel Adelaide Outwater Lynch (1877-1927) and Clara Bell Outwater Unangst (1879-1951) with his second wife Emily Sagendorf Outwater (1848-1918).⁸ A son with Emily, James Watts “Wattsie” Outwater (1889-1893), predeceased his parents.

Notes

  1. Tivoli Revisited: A Social History by Richard C. Wiles (1981)

  2. Findagrave.com. Clermont Cemetery, Clermont, Columbia County, NY. “James Outwater,” memorial 53291203. “New York, Births and Christenings, 1640-1962,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal/MM9.1.1/FDRC-85D: accessed 27 June 2012), James Outwater in entry for James Edmund Outwater, 1845. This shows Maria Minkler naming James Outwater as her son’s father when he was christened at Christ’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germantown, Columbia County, NY, on April 16, 1846. Via Ancestry.com.

  3. “James Outwater” in New York, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999. “Letters Testamentary and of Administration, Vol 0008-9. Probate was dated 14 Aug 1862, and named Eliza Outwater and Sarah A. Outwater, both of Red Hook, who were named executrixes of the will. Via Ancestry.com.

  4. “James Outwater” in the U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865. New York: Report of the Adjutant-General 1893-1906 via Ancestry.com.

  5.  U.S. Census 1865

  6.  U.S. Census 1880

  7. “When Taps Were Sounded for a GAR Comrade in Tivoli.” Poughkeepsie Journal. Sun., Jan. 15, 1950, page 1C. accessed 24 April 2024. Newspapers.com.“$4,800 Estate Disposed in Outwater Will.” Poughkeepsie Eagle-News (Poughkeepsie, New York), Fri. Apr. 18, 1924, page 6. Downloaded Jul. 8, 2024. Newspapers.com.