 The below is from "The North Dakota History and People," Volume 3, 1917:
"Captain Cyrus H. [Heman] Culver, who now [1917] makes his home in New Rockford, is one of the honored veterans of the Civil war, in which struggle he won his title. For almost three years he fought for the preservation of the Union and for brave and meritorious service rose from the ranks to captain of his company. He has always been found a loyal and trustworthy citizen and during his residence in North Dakota has done much to promote the interests of the state along various lines.
The Captain was born in Sherman, Chautauqua county. New York, June 5, 1839, [sic] [1838] a son of Heman and Rhoda Jane (Cornish) Culver. The mother was also a native of Chautauqua county, New York, but the birth of the father occurred in Erie county, Pennsylvania. The latter, who was a farmer by occupation, left New York in the fall of 1844, and with his family removed to Boone county, Illinois, where he took up a homestead and engaged in its operation for ten years. He then went to Chickasaw county, Iowa, where he purchased land and followed farming for many years, but at length retired and made his home with his children in Charles City, Floyd county, Iowa. He died in Osage, Iowa, in 1889 and his wife passed away in 1894 [sic] [1901].
In the public schools of Illinois and Iowa Captain Culver obtained his education. At the age of nineteen years he left home and secured work at cutting cord wood in Illinois. On leaving there he went to Oil City, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in the oil business until 1862. Feeling that his country needed his services he enlisted on the 12th of August,
that year, in Company I, [mustered 30 August 1862] One Hundred and Forty-second Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment, with which he served for two years and eleven [four] months. He was promoted from fifth sergeant to orderly sergeant and at the end of a year and a half was made first lieutenant but after serving with that rank for one month was commissioned Captain [Promotions: 1 September 1862 - Sergeant; 12 March 1863 - 1st Sergeant; 15 January 1864 - 1st Lieutenant; 1 May 1864 - Captain] of his company and as such was mustered out at the close of the war. He participated in many hotly contested battles and was several times wounded but not seriously, although at Cold Harbor he was struck by a piece of shell near the backbone and the injury was very painful. In one engagement his clothes were pierced by twenty-seven bullet holes. He was never in the hospital, however, and was always found in the thickest of the fight.
On leaving the army Captain Culver went to Michigan, where he spent one year, and then returned to Chickasaw county, Iowa, where he and a brother bought the father's farm and operated it until 1872. The Captain then went to Central America but during the year spent in that country he lost all that he had previously made. On his return to the United States he located in Henry county, Illinois, where he began life anew by working for others for three years. At the end of that time he returned to New Hampton, Iowa, where he remained two years, and then again went to Michigan, where the following three years were passed.
In 1882 Captain Culver came to North Dakota and assisted in organizing Foster county, which at first extended to the Canadian line. He was appointed assessor of the new county and filled that position for seven years. He filed on land and engaged in its cultivation until 1895, in the meantime adding to his property as he found opportunity until he had eight hundred acres which he still [1917] owns, this being located twelve miles east of New Rockford [his property included parts of Section 27 in New Rockford Township, and parts of Sections 20, 21, 27, 28, 30 of Township 149, Range 64]. On account of ill health he left the farm in 1895 and went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he resided long enough to educate his son at the State University of Minnesota. Later he and his wife lived with a son, who was a physician [Charles] in Barron county, Wisconsin, for three years, but at the end of that time the family removed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where the Doctor is still engaged in practice. After making their home there for three years. Captain Culver and his wife returned to New Rockford, where they now [1917] occupy a fine modern residence, surrounded by all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life.
It was on the 25th of January 1865, that the Captain married Miss Alsina [Alsine] Pettit, a daughter of Seth and Nancy (Millin) [might be Mellon] Pettit, the former a native of Saratoga Springs, New York, and the latter of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Mr. Pettit became a farmer of Erie county, where he continued to make his home until his death, which occurred in 1886. His wife died in l901 at the age of eighty-two years [died 1894, age 81]. Captain and Mrs. Culver had three children: Fred D., who was born January 24, 1867, and is now [1917] extensively engaged in fruit farming in Washington; Charles F., who was born April 3, 1872, and is practicing medicine in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Fanny, who was born January 6, 1876, and died on the 13th of the
following February.
While living on his farm Captain Culver devoted considerable attention to the raising of graded stock. He is now a stockholder in the New Rockford Publishing Company, which publishes the New Rockford State Center, a daily paper, and the Agricultural Northwest, which is a semi-monthly farm paper, and he is also a stockholder in the Equity Cooperative
Exchange at St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Equity Elevator Company of New Rockford, North Dakota, of which he was one of the organizers. For over half a century he has been identified with the Masonic fraternity, has taken the degrees of the Scottish Rite and is a member of the Shrine. The Captain is also a prominent member of the Crand Army of the Republic and every year attends the national encampments of that order. As color bearer for North Dakota, he carried the flag in the procession at Washington, D. C, in 1902 and again in 1915. In religious faith he is a Congregationalist and in politics is non-partisan. He is a man in whom the public have the utmost confidence and he is deserving of prominent mention in this volume as one of the loyal defenders of the Union during the dark days of the Civil war and as one of the pioneers of North Dakota who bore his part in the early development and upbuilding."
Alsine's Burial, Tombstone Photo, Links to Some Other Family Members |