After 144 years, veteran William Dean’s resting place is marked.

By KAREN KEHR
Guest Writer

ETNA GREEN — There is a new veteran’s grave marker in Etna Green Cemetery. Even though the bronze plaque is new, the man it honors is not newly deceased. In fact, this marker is 144 years overdue.

William Dean died around 1879 but there is no record of his death or place of burial. His final resting place has been a mystery for many years, and the last person who knew his whereabouts, his adopted son, died in 1931.

I am not related by blood to William Dean. My connection to him is through his guardianship of my great-great-grandfather, James Dean. But William Dean made a great impact on my family and honoring him on Memorial Day seems an appropriate way to thank him for his role and service.

William Dean, 1822-1879

My great-great-grandfather’s story is deeply intertwined with William Dean’s, so I will share some of his story here. James Dean was born to an unknown family in Morrow County, Ohio, in 1848. In the 1850 U.S. Census, he lived with William Dean and his wife, Hannah. His name in the census was listed as James W. Snow. The family story I was told as a child was he was the youngest of nine children of the Snow family. They were pioneers travelling west across Ohio and couldn’t manage the infant so they left him with the Deans.

Hannah and William had just lost a baby so perhaps they were a likely couple to take James. There is no record of a formal adoption, and frankly, I doubt the story of the Snow family At any rate, James spent his childhood with the Deans and by the 1860 census, he was using their last name, so the arrangement was a permanent one.

William Dean enlisted in the 3rd Ohio Calvary Co. M in September, 1861 in Morrow County, Ohio, and he was discharged 15 months later. He was with the 3rd Ohio at the Battle of Shiloh. He was discharged on Dec. 10, 1862, in Nashville, Tenn.

By 1863, William recovered enough, the family could move to Whitley County. William bought and sold several pieces of land in Whitley County over the three years they lived there but they did not settle there permanently.

James enlisted in the Indiana 152nd Infantry in Columbia City on Feb. 22, 1865. William had to vouch for James to join the Union Army, as he was underage. William’s signature appears on James’ enlistment papers and he lists himself as James’ “guardian.” James was discharged in August 1865. By the time James departed to join the 152nd Infantry, the war was over.

Between 1863 and 1866 William and Hannah took in another child, Catherine Hill. Catherine was the only child of Cyrus and Ruby Hill of Whitley County. They were neighbors of Hannah’s sister. Ruby died and Cyrus was unable to care for Catherine, so the Deans raised her until her death in 1873 at the age of 15. She was buried next to Hannah Dean at Etna Green Cemetery. The Deans provided her with a large headstone that has fallen over.

The family moved from Whitley County to Etna Green in 1866. William purchased several lots in the town of Etna Green and 80 acres of land north of Etna Green. He operated a livery stable and a boot and shoe shop, employing two people. He also farmed.

Sixteen months after his discharge and the close of the Civil War, James Dean enlisted again, this time in the U.S. Army 36th Infantry on Jan. 8, 1967. His division followed the construction of the transcontinental railroad over the next three years.

James married Amanda Miller in 1870 and had three children, including John, my great-grandfather. He was a member of Post 126 of the GAR, an organization for veterans. He had the distinction of being the last surviving Civil War veteran of his group.

Hannah Dean died of typhoid in 1875. William put a beautiful marble obelisk in her memory in Etna Green East Cemetery.

Soon after his wife’s death, William sold his lots in town. He apparently retired from his businesses at this time. By 1879, his farm was sold to a local land speculator. The deed was signed by James Dean who signed it with an X. Because of the sale of the farm, I assume that William Dean had died by this time. No will or probate has been found and there is no record of where or when he was buried.

James used his father’s name interchangeably with his own. His middle name was William. In fact, after William’s death, he went by Bill or Billy exclusively. He worked as a field butcher and had a cattle dehorning business.

James’ wife, Amanda, divorced him in 1910. James remarried two more times. He was well known in town and at times the subject of local ridicule due to his tall tales. He lived 83 years, dying in 1931. Given what we know of the colorful but somewhat unreliable James Dean, it seems possible he did not arrange for a headstone or proper remembrance for his adoptive father. My interest in making the arrangements to get a veteran’s plaque for William Dea was to remedy this.

I wish to honor William for his contributions; for raising four orphan children and for providing a home for his wife’s aging mother. He helped soldiers in Union Army hospitals and contributed to his communities in Morrow, Whitley and Kosciusko counties. He was a founding father of Etna Green, a business man, and a farmer. He deserves to be remembered.

I want to acknowledge several deceased family members. My mother, JoAnn (Dean) Kehr, my grandparents, Paul and Hazel (Pippen) Dean, my aunt, Diane (Dean) Rhine and my great-uncle, Thoedore Dean, whose passion of the Dean family story kept Wiliam and his family alive in our memories. I hope William’s memorial honors all
their contributions.

Editor’s Note: Many people helped in making the memorial happen, including the Veteran’s Administration, and many local individuals along with genealogists in many counties and the National Archives.