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 Warren Washington Walbridge was born September 15, 1835, in Forestville, a small town in the county of Chautauqua, New York. He was the sixth child (the youngest) of James Walbridge and Cynthia Judson, and had one older brother and four older sisters. James Walbridge was a farmer in the community of Sheridan. He moved there before 1830 and was still living there in 1840.
James Walbridge married Sophia Blood, and in the early 1840s moved his family to Cedar county, Iowa. Warren appears with the family in 1850 and 1856 censuses, and then apparently returned to Chautauqua county.
 On September 24 1857, Warren married Eliza Jane Guy at the Presbyterian Church in Silver Creek, another small town in Chautauqua county. He was twenty-two, she was 27. Eliza had been born in the village of Warbleton, Sussex, England and came to America with her parents when she was three years old, settling in Herkimer county, New York.
The first of five daughters, Ada V., was born eleven months later, August 9, 1858. She was followed by Anna E., March 19, 1860, and Carrie I., February 8, 1862.
Warren earned his living as a farmer. The 1860 U.S. census shows him living in Norway, Herkimer County, New York. Living with him, Eliza and their two daughters were Eliza's widowed mother Ann Guy, Eliza's sister Martha Guy, 17, and a John McAvoy,14, a student born in Ireland. One of his Affidavits concerning his pension claim says he lived at Fairfield, a larger town near Norway for five years preceding his enlistment. On August 30, 1862, in Fairfield, New York, Warren joined Company F of the 152nd Regiment of New York Volunteers, commanded by Capt. David Hill, to fight in the Civil War. When his unit was near Blackwater in Virginia about May 15, 1863 he "contracted a severe attack of fever caused by the severe march in pursuit of Longstreet's forces, wading in the swamps--exposed to heavy rains--and sudden cold weather. He was taken sick and sent to hospital where he remained until his discharge. Also, while in the Hampton General Hospital he became reduced and debilitated with chronic diarrhea and hemorrhoids and was in consequence of the disability transferred to 32nd Company 2nd Battalion Vet Res Corps." Warren was discharged from service at Fortress Monroe, Virginia on July 3, 1865.
 Following his discharge, Warren and Eliza settled at Newark, Wayne County, New York. In February 1866 they moved to Pioneer, Cedar County, Iowa. Here their fourth daughter, Mary E. was born on March 21, 1867. In November 1867 they moved to near Anamosa in Jones County, Iowa. Liona Levisa was born in Cass, Jones County, Iowa on March 21, 1869.
Warren was 44 years old when he applied for a disability pension from the War Department in 1880. He was five feet, six or eight inches tall, with a light complexion, brown hair and blue eyes. A statement from the Adjutant General's Office, issued September 11, 1882 outlines his service, including periods of absence for sickness beginning in June 1863, and says, "The records of this office furnish no evidence of alleged disabilities."
 After moving to the Anamosa area, Warren was treated by several doctors, including Dr. Adair who had participated in the unsuccessful amputation of Benjamin Harrison's leg. A "tendancy to heart disease" was pronounced. In 1889 Warren spent some time in Kansas for his health.
Warren filed many affidavits and petitions concerning his disabilities over the years, and apparently a pension was granted. On February 5, 1903, when he was 67 years old he applied for an increase from the $14 per month he was receiving. During all this time census records indicate he was a farmer.
Eliza Jane Guy Walbridge died July 31, 1909, the result of "softening of the brain," an antiquated term for stroke. Warren lived on until January 4, 1916. A questionnaire from the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Pensions filled out by him in March 1915 shows the effects of a stroke on his handwritting.
It was said in his obituary, "He never attained riches in the way that riches are computed by the business world, but nature had endowed him with a heritage which money can never buy--a pleasing personality, and the faculty of making fast friends of those whom he met. He did this without compromising his own beliefs in any way, holding fast to those beliefs while in broad minded way, extending to others their individual rights." |
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