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Michigan woman honors great-grandfather from Washington County

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The reverse side of the medal Gale Nichols claimed on her great-grandfather's behalf in 2017. West Virginia minted more than 26,000 of these medals in 1866 to honor its Union Civil War soldiers.

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The front of the medal Gale Nichols claimed on her great-grandfather's behalf in 2017. West Virginia minted more than 26,000 of these medals in 1866 to honor its Union Civil War soldiers.

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Courtesy of Gale Nichols

When Gale Nichols began her search for her great-grandfather’s final resting place, all she had to work with was a scrap of paper from the National Archives that did not include his grave number.

In April, Washington County Chief Clerk Cindy Griffin received her first-ever request that the county’s flag be flown over the courthouse. The request came not from someone living in the county, or even in Pennsylvania, but from a woman living in Bad Axe, Mich.

Though the county’s flag is flown from poles on the courthouse complex everyday, Gale Nichols funded the purchase of a new flag that will be hoisted over the building today to honor her great-grandfather, who grew up in Amwell Township and fought in the Civil War.

“Ms. Nichols is very proud of her heritage and her great-grandfather and we share in that pride,” Griffin wrote in an email.

Eight years ago, Nichols did not know her great-grandfather’s name, let alone that he served in two separate cavalry regiments during one of the bloodiest and most divisive times in American history. But in 2010, she embarked on what she calls “the most incredible journey of family” when she began researching her genealogy.

Growing up, Nichols had limited access to information about her mother’s side of the family. Her grandmother died before she was born and her mother did not even know her full name. Still, she was taught to love and respect her family from a young age.

And with nine sisters and four brothers, Nichols had a lot of family to cherish.

She launched her ancestry scavenger hunt with little knowledge of her family’s history but felt driven to learn more about her roots. And with the help of historians and experienced genealogy researchers, she began to discover relatives she hadn’t known she had – something she calls “a true gift and a true blessing.”

As one clue led to another, she pulled together the story of her great-grandfather’s life. Pvt. John Yoders first entered the Civil War when he volunteered with other soldiers from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia to help form a cavalry for West Virginia. It was while fighting alongside these men that he was shot below his right knee joint as he stood on guard duty during the Battle of Kelly’s Ford, an injury which earned him an honorable discharge.

A year later, Yoders rejoined the fight with the 22nd Ringgold Battalion Regiment, where he served under the command of two officers who later received medals of honor. He received his second honorable discharge just before the war came to a close in 1865.

But Yoders died hundreds of miles away from his Washington County home after spending the last eight years of his life in the Government Hospital for the Insane in Washington, D.C., an institution that is now St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. His family could not afford to attend his funeral or have him buried nearby.

When Nichols shifted her familial investigation to Yoders’ military service, the only lead she had was a small scrap of paper from the National Archives that listed the veteran’s final resting place at St. Elizabeth’s Cemetery, but did not include his grave number. This was later provided to Nichols by the great-granddaughter of her great-grandmother’s second marriage, who contacted her through an online gravesite database. Knowing the exact location of her great-grandfather’s burial gave Nichols a sense of closure.

Through her research, Nichols learned West Virginia minted over 26,000 medals in 1866 to honor its Union Civil War soldiers. Since her great-grandfather never claimed his medal, she was able to accept it on his behalf in May 2017.

Receiving this medal in the mail “gave me a profound understanding of country,” she said. “This was his duty, his calling, his country and nobody was going to take that away from him.”

But even after eight years of combing through old letters and records, Nichols has never been able to determine the day her great-grandfather was born. So, she requested that the Washington County flag be flown on her birthday to give her great-grandfather one.

“I don’t mind the least sharing it with him, if it will give him one,” she said.

Nichols also contacted her representatives at all levels of government to have American flags flown today from the Huron County Courthouse, the U.S. Capitol and her local city hall in Bad Axe County and Michigan and Pennsylvania state flags flown from the states’ capitals – all to honor not only her great-grandfather, but all soldiers and civilians who lost their lives in the Civil War.

After they are flown, the flags will be mailed to Nichols, along with letters signed by her state and federal representatives. While she said that all flags will be “safely guarded” in her home, only the Washington County flag will be framed and proudly displayed on her wall. She plans to pin Yonders’ medal to its fabric and hang Griffin’s signed letter alongside it.

“Amwell Township in Washington County was everything to his family,” she said. “It was their home.”

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