Born 1843 Died 1928

Old Red Church Cemetery, Tivoli. Southeast of the Boyce Mausoleum, towards Rt. 9G.

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Walking onto the grounds of a cemetery, one of the first things we notice are the gravestones—oftentimes many stones with the same last name when we come upon a family plot. Once May comes, small American flags flutter next to the tombstones of our neighbors who served in the military. George W. Minkler’s marker exemplifies both of these characteristics. He was from a large family, and he was a veteran; reading about his service in the Civil War, especially when we contemplate the words he shouted in the heat of battle, causes us to reflect on how many lives he intersected with.

Nine Tivoli Civil War veterans, c. 1908, Photo credit: www.photosbygibson.com

Minkler’s life began on December 7, 1843, when he was born to George (1814-1857) and Catherine Moore Minkler (1814-1894) in Tivoli. He was the brother of Matilda Minkler Moore (1833-1920), Daniel Minkler (1835-1916), John Stephen Minkler (1840-1901), Amanda Minkler (1850-1920), Hannah Minkler Gruntler (1846-1925), Zachariah Minkler (1848-1915), Wallace Minkler (1851-1931), Mary Minkler (1852-1938) and Letitia Minkler Terwilliger (1857- unknown).

He was a Civil War Veteran for Company C, the 128th Infantry Regiment of New York, out of Hudson, NY, August 18, 1862, according to FindaGrave.com, which goes on to state Minkler was discharged on May 20,1865, for wounds received during the war.

At the inauguration of the Defenders Monument in Tivoli on November 28, 1866 John Watts DePeyster remembered Minkler’s service:

“On this occasion George Minkler, from near our old ‘Red Church’ won for himself the sobriquet of ‘Lieutenant’ by his coolness. As our boys charged up the heights, George sang out, ‘Don’t get excited, boys! The Rebs are going; we’ve got them! Don’t fire high. Aim low and we’ve got them!’ The event corresponded with his clear judgement. George was badly bit at Cedar Creek. A ball went through his head diagonally, entering near the right ear and coming out on the side of the hose, injuring but not quenching the left eye, leaving an ugly but honorable scar.”

The Defenders Monument still stands proudly today in Tivoli for the men of the Tivoli/ Madalin area who served in the Civil War.

Minkler married his first wife Margaret S. Stickle, and they had three children: Frederic George Minkler (1871-1918), Jennie Minkler Lucas (1878-1961) and Paul Barton Minkler (1880-1918). In the 1880 census he is listed as working for the railroad. He then married his second wife Lizzie M. in 1895. There were no children from this union.

Minkler lived another 20 years; sadly his sons Frederic and Paul predeceased him in 1918. His daughter Jennie Minkler Lucas (1878-1961) married Ulysses Grant Lucas (1869- 1943), who for a time was the proprietor of Tivoli’s The Times-Journal and for a time the publisher of The Red Hook Times. The Lucas family moved to Connecticut where Ulysses Grant Lucas worked for the New Britain Record and Herald for 25 years. After Lucas’s passing, Jennie Minkler Lewis married Nye Downer of New Britain. CT, where she lived for 35 years before returning to Red Hook for the last 11 years of her life. She was survived by her husband, her son Paul Lucas, and her grandchildren.

George W. Minkler’s final resting is surrounded by the graves of many, many Minklers in the Red Church Cemetery grounds. The inscription on the tombstone of his grandparents Daniel Minkler and Mary Sherman Ellsworth Minkler reminds us: “Remember me my children dear/Now all as you pass by,/As you are now so once were we./As we are now so you must be,/Prepare for death and follow me.”