Historical Documents and Artifacts:

Front of Ezekiel Philbrook's Business Card 1895 Letters from wife of Seth J. Philbrick The PPFA was recently able to purchase a set of letters written by the wife of Seth J. Philbrick to her husband. The letters were acquired from a dealer who had them for auction on Ebay.com. The PPFA would like to thank those who sent donations to assist us in this acquisition. This is the first set of original 1800’s era letters that we have found. "Lizzie" Philbrick's 1895 envelope (click on photo to see larger version) The letters date from November and December 1895. The first letter was written in pen on Nov. 30, 1895 and was written on stationary with a matching envelope. The other letters were written in pencil and are on various size pieces of paper, most looking like cut scraps of paper. Seth’s wife signed her name as "L.O.P." and "Lizzie." We have been unable to identify the heritage of either Seth or his wife at this time. The handwriting on the first letter is mostly legible, however subsequent notes/letters are more erratic and difficult to read. Unknown words will be noted by brackets in the transcription. Some punctuation has been added for clarity. Spelling errors are left as is. The first letter reads: Wakefield N.H. Nov 30th 1895 Sat eve 7. PM My Dear Husband I am sitting in Dell’s room waiting for the room to get warm for me to take a bath, She and Harvey have gone home so I am to sleep in their room so if the Dows want anything in the night they can call me. I guess they would have a job if they only knew it don’t you? Dell wanted me to tell you she wished you could plan to come and stay with me the nights they are away, for we can have a fire and sleep in their bed. That would be just gay wouldn’t it? I wish you were here tonight we would have a fine time, better than we did last week. But I was not fooling you by any means, I don’t deny that I have done it but I did not that time. How did you get home? I watched you up over the hill I mean the long one up by Jim Hills. I wish it had been your turn up in Effingham. Today it is so fine, I am afraid next week will be a blizzard for I expect they will begin sometime. Dell said today that she wished father would stay at home and let you and I come down here to work this next year they would hire us both and we could begin right away. I wonder what he would say, I reckon he would open his eyes to think we could "make a dollar" as well as himself don’t you? It cost John Mee 66 dollars the other day to settle the margage on the house the old one was margaged as well as the new one, and he said George and Will together could not raise 200. I should think they was hard up. They both told him . [Before?] they went over to Libbys that there was no claim on the house in any way. I should think they would have felt cheap when they got caught shouldn’t you. I wonder if you are writing to me now or [snareing?] the latter I presume. Well I must get up and wash now I did intend to write to Sadie and Mrs Dicy tonight but guess I will have to give it up for I am so sleepy now. Good bye my Darling I {Inverted at bottom of page} PS. Don’t you think I am [ _____ ] in writing lazy letter? Have ever sent to Mary about her [ ___ ] if not why don’t you the next thing she will be somewhere else and you will love it. I can’t bear to lose a cent for seems to me it means for me to be so much longer away from home and you. 1895 Letter of "Lizzie" Philbrick (click on photo to see larger version) {Page 2}, No 2: Well my Darling it is _ past 3 P.M and I have got through with the formidable job of getting dinner myself. Got along nicely went down to the junction with Mrs Dow and Miss Anna to church. This morning enjoyed the service much indeed, if we lived near I should go there all the time. I like better than any other church service I ever saw. Today was communion day so I saw that with the rest. I guess however goes to the depot in the morning will have to go in a storm by the appearance this afternoon. Dell thinks Ethel got Hannie down here to get a fellow. She says she don’t think it was any thing else in the world but I don’t know who she can get unless it is Fred and I don’t think he will catch easily. Do you know some times when I see Ethel and Eli she makes me think of what I have heard you say about Abbie H I think it is to bad for a "good girl to do lots of things for fellars they like. Would think more of them if they did different (wouldn’t they?) and some times it makes me glad to think we have no little ones of our own. At the same time I don’t want Mr. Mees folks to let Ruth come her much for you don’t know what a feeling I have, I want to steal her and run away. Just you think of it [and?] it [careful?] Tell mother I saw Alice. She is better if her cold but not well and her mother has not been out yet. Do you hear from Edd Gibs and wife. I bought me a pair of shoes this week and some [garters?] paid a dollar and a quarter for the shoes. Now my darling good bye I hope to get a letter from you tomorrow. When you go up in town Sat bundle up warm and wear rubbers for I am so afraid you will get sick for I never should forgive my-self if you did not. Give my love to Father and Mother and much for yer self. L.O.P. (Next month’s issue will continue with the other letters – RWP)

William Byron Philbrook and the First Minnesota Infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg This month (July) is the 138th anniversary of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War which took place at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania between July 1st and July 3rd, 1863. Many of our Philbrick & Philbrook cousin ancestors fought at this decisive engagement, which was considered the turning point of the war. On July 2nd, William Byron Philbrook (see Chapman #124-V. on page 139) and his comrades of the 1st Minnesota Infantry would take their place in history against Confederate troops from Alabama. On the second day of the battle, the 1st Minnesota, was part of Wm. Harrow’s 1st Brigade, (2nd Division, II Corps.) During the battle, a gap opened between the Union forces at the north end of the battlefield (along Cemetery Ridge) and those in the south (along and near Little Roundtop). Major-General-Winfield Hancock, commander of the II Corps spotted the gap and a brigade of Confederate troops heading right for it. Hancock realized that if the Confederate brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General Cadmus Wilcox , reached the gap, the Rebel Army could divide the Union forces in half. Hancock ordered two of his Divisions to fill the gap, but there was not enough time to get such a large force there before Wilcox’s men. Recalling the event, Hancock said, "In some way five minutes must be gained or we were lost." Scouting around, Hancock spotted the closest regiment to the gap. Hancock rode over and called out, "What regiment is this?" It was the 1st Minnesota who was supporting an artillery battery. Colonel William Colvill, commander of the 1st, looked up at Hancock. The Major-General asked Colonel Colvill if he could see the advancing battle flags of Wilcox’s Alabama units. Colvill said he did, and Hancock replied, "Then take them!" Over 30 years later Lieutenant William Lochren, of the 1st Minnesota, recalled in a speech during a reunion at Gettysburg, "… every man realized in an instant what that order meant. Death or wounds to us all - the sacrifice of the regiment to gain a few minutes time and save the position and probably the battlefield. And every man saw and accepted the necessity for that sacrifice. Responding to Colvill's rapid orders, the regiment in perfect line, with arms at right shoulder shift, was in a moment down that slope directly in the enemy's center." The Minnesota men moved forward without hesitation or stopping to fire. The Alabama units, seeing the tiny regiment charging them, began to fire. "Silently, without orders and almost from the start, double quick had changed to utmost speed, for in utmost speed lay the only hope that any of us would pass through that hurricane of lead and strike the enemy." Some of the men in Blue began to fall. Colvill’s men leveled their bayonets and attacked "at full speed." The Rebels began to break as the 1st Minnesota charged into their ranks. Fighting was fierce as soldiers North and South closed on each other in mortal combat. Sometime during the engagement, William Philbrook was hit by a musket ball in his right leg and fell wounded while an officer in his company, Lieutenant Farrar, was killed near by. Lochren further recall’s the sacrifice the 1st Minnesota made, "...What Hancock had given us to do was done thoroughly. The regiment had stopped the enemy, and held back its mighty force and saved the position. But at what sacrifice! Nearly every officer was dead or lay weltering with bloody wounds, our gallant colonel and every field officer among them. Of the two hundred and sixty-two men who made the charge, two hundred and fifteen lay upon the field, stricken down by rebel bullets, forty-seven were still in line, and not a man was missing." General Hancock would say of the 1st Minnesota after the battle, "There is no more gallant deed recorded in history. I ordered these men in there because I saw I must gain five minutes in time. Reinforcements were coming on the run, but I knew that before they could reach the threatened point, the Confederates would seize the position. I would have ordered that regiment in if I had known every man would have been killed. It had to be done. I was glad to find such a gallant body of men at hand willing to make the terrible sacrifice that the occasion demanded." The Confederates were thrown back, but only temporarily. They returned with stronger forces but by that time, Hancock’s other troops had filled the gap and the line held. The 1st Minnesota had paid for those five minutes with their lives. In those desperate moments of the struggle William Philbrook along with 82% of his regiment became casualties in their heroic charge. No other Union regiment would suffer a greater number of proportionate losses at Gettysburg than the 1st Minnesota. Official records would record the 1st Minnesota loss at 50 men killed and 173 wounded during the 3-day battle, most on the second day’s charge against Wilcox’s Brigade. Gravestone of William Byron Philbrook (click on photo to see larger version) William survived his wound, but was disabled for the remainder of his service until mustered out with his company on May 5, 1864. After the war, William would marry twice. First to a woman named Lucy of which he had two children, Rowena Aurora Philbrook & Lucy Belle Philbrook. With his second wife, Margaret Dillman, he had Arthur Byron, Don Lyman, William Cyril, Clarence Clynton and Samuel Ray Philbrook. William Byron Philbrook’s son Cyril would follow in his father’s footsteps. Cyril served during World War I and is the grandfather of PPFA member Jennifer Philbrook-Sheehan. William Byron Philbrook died on August 30, 1901 and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, Red Bluff, California. His wife Margaret A. (Dillman) was born January 4, 1854 and died at Santa Rosa, California on May 22, 1936. Sources: National Archives: Pension records of William Byron Philbrook, 1st Minnesota Infantry Philbrick & Philbrook Families by Jacob Chapman The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Gettysburg 1863 by Carl Smith Gettysburg: The Confederate High Tide by Champ Clark (Time-Life Books) St. Cloud State University (Minnesota) website: www.condor.stcloudstate.edu Also see: The Last Full Measure: The Live and Death of the 1st Minnesota Volunteers by Richard Moe available at amazon.com.

1850 New Hampshire Census – Coos Co. The following is a list of Philbricks & Philbrooks who are found in the Coos County, New Hampshire Census for 1850. It is arranged in the following order: Last name, First name, Age, Sex, Occupation, Birth Place, Location that the person is living at in 1850, census page number, Jacob Chapman’s # if identified*, and Notes. Subsequent newsletters will list other 1850 Census records for New Hampshire Counties. *If under the JC column, the space contains the letter "D" followed by numbers, this indicates that person in the census is a descendant of the "numbered" person found in Chapman’s book.

NAME	AGE	SEX	CAREER	BP	LOCATION	PG#	JC#	NOTES
Philbrick, Hiram	28	M	Farmer	NH	Bartlet	14	Unknown
Philbrick, Margaret	25	F		NH	Bartlet	14	Unknown
Philbrick, John	6	M		NH	Bartlet	14	Unknown
Philbrick, Catharine	4	F		NH	Bartlet	14	Unknown
Philbrick, Mary	3	F		NH	Bartlet	14	Unknown
Philbrook, George	40	M	Shoemaker	NH	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Abigail	42	F		ME	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, George H.	19	M	Laborer	NH	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Laurilla A.	17	F		NH	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Lysander	15	M		NH	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Levi M.	13	M		NH	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Leland B.	11	M		NH	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Robert F.H.	4	M		NH	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Harry (Harvey)	34	M	Drover*	ME	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.	*Cattle/ Sheep Driver
Philbrook, Susanna	36	F		ME	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Arabella	15	F		ME	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Samuel	12	M		ME	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, John M.	10	M		NH	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Charles	8	M		NH	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Edward	4	M		NH	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.
Philbrook, Fanny	1	F		NH	Shelburne	96	D.23-V.