Emmet County Civil War vets to receive new headstone, flag holder in September

PETOSKEY — In September, two Civil War veterans from Petoskey will receive updates to their resting places — one, a replacement headstone and the other a flag holder. These will be presented in two ceremonies on Saturday, Sept. 30 in which active and retired military, as well as the general public, are encouraged to attend.

The Traverse City-based Robert Finch Camp #14 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, is an organization that preserves the history of Civil War soldiers by maintaining their grave sites and by gathering information about their lives and descendants. They also hold educational events in schools and honor Civil War veterans on Memorial Day.

Pvt. Jacob Konle, 1842-1903, was a German immigrant who served in Company K, 190th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the Civil War, according to an online biography. After the war he settled in Emmet County with his wife Elizabeth and the couple had two children, John and Eva.

Konle died at the age of 60 in 1903 and was buried in St. Francis Cemetery in Petoskey with a military headstone. Now, more than 100 years later, Konle’s headstone is in disrepair and needs replacing.

John Sawyer, a member and senior vice-commander of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War’s Robert Finch Camp, was contacted by the cemetery caretaker about replacing the gravemarker.

The headstone will be provided by the Veterans Administration and will be period appropriate — made of marble or granite, with the specific shape and design for Civil War soldiers.

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“The same type of headstone is used today for veterans of World War II or Korea or Vietnam. They have a little different design on them, but they're the same physical shape,” Sawyer said.

“If you were to look at pictures like of Arlington Cemetery, of the military headstones there, they all look the same until you look at them a little closer and you can see the design or the figure that's put on them that separates them from the Civil War (or other wars), but they're a special way of honoring our military people.”

A ceremony will be held to honor Konle with the new headstone at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30 at St. Francis Cemetery, which will be open to the public.

Konle often does genealogy work in order to find living descendants of the veterans to attend the ceremonies and encourages anyone with known family ties to Konle to reach out.

Later that same day, at 1:30 p.m., another ceremony will be held at Greenwood Cemetery at the grave of the last Civil War veteran in Emmet County. Pvt. Ira Stewart, 1846-1940, was born in Yorkshire, New York and served in the 7th Regiment of the Illinois Cavalry during the Civil War, according to an online biography. He and his wife Lena settled in Emmet County and had one child, their son, John.

Stewart died in 1940 at the age of 94. He will be honored with a flag holder that recognizes him as the last Civil War veteran buried in Emmet County in a ceremony that the public is invited to attend.

Like Konle, descendants of Stewart are encouraged to reach out to Sawyer and attend the ceremony.

“It's important to remember these men for what they did for us, for our country,” Sawyer said.

“It's important to take care of and respect the items that represent them so that our young people know what it took to bring this country about. These events are patriotic in nature and it's an effort to improve morale and patriotism in the local community.”

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Konle and Stewart are two of approximately 1,700 Civil War veterans buried throughout Northern Michigan and about 200 buried in Emmet County, according to Sawyer. Ceremonies like the two taking place in September happen throughout the year across Northern Michigan to honor individual soldiers.

The Robert Finch Camp #14 is the oldest active camp in the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Department of Michigan. It covers 16 Northern Michigan counties.

Camp 14 is part of a statewide effort to document the grave of every Civil War soldier in Michigan. According to the website, it has so far documented over 1,500 graves in the region. The organization compiles these into a database to connect living descendants to their soldier ancestors. Members also visit and maintain the final resting places of the soldiers to record the condition of gravestones and, if necessary, replace damaged markers.

Any living descendents of Konle or Stewart can reach out to John Sawyer via email at sawyertc@gmail.com or go through the camp’s website.

— Contact reporter Tess Ware at tware@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Tess_Petoskey.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Emmet County Civil War vets to be honored in September ceremony