Call Number:

RG-006

Repository:

Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum and Library

Extent:

4.0 cubic feet ((3 volumes in 3 boxes, and 7 binders kept separately))

Language:

English

Date:

1879-1908 (bulk) and 1879-1937 (inclusive)

Creator:

Grand Army of the Republic. Ellis Post No. 6. (Philadelphia, Pa).

Abstract:

The Grand Army of the Republic Ellis Post No. 6 was founded in 1879 by General Louis Wagner in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. The Records of Ellis Post No. 6, Grand Army of the Republic, 1879-1939, consist of financial records, membership records, and war memorial sketch books detailing members' Civil War service.

General Louis Wagner founded Ellis Post No. 6 in 1879. The Post was active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. The post dispersed its funds in 1928 to its remaining twenty-two members, which suggests the beginning of the disbanding of the Post.

The records of Ellis Post No. 6 cover the years 1879 to 1937 (bulk 1879-1908). They are arranged in four series: Financial Records, Membership Records, General File, and War Memorial Sketch Books. The records consist of three bound volumes, one folder, and seven binders. The seven binders contain member applications and are maintained separately from the main record group. It is not known how the G.A.R. acquired the records or if additional records survived or existed.

Series I: Financial Records: The Financial Records series consists of one member account book covering the years 1879 to 1884, with some information that dates to 1904. The member account book lists names of individual members and records their dues payments.

Series II: Membership Records: The Membership Records series consists of member applications that are housed in binders that are maintained separately from the rest of the record group. They member application forms and related records such as transfer cards, applications for admission to the Soldiers and Sailors Home, Proof of Service certificates, and correspondence. The applications document the lives and military service of applicants for membership in the Post.

The records are sleeved, filed alphabetically in binders, and indexed. The Ellis Post No. 6 applications consist of seven binders organized as follows: A-C, D-G, H-K, L-M, N-R, S-U, and V-Z. There are over a hundred applications within each of the binder. There is an index to the series compiled by Eugene Stackhouse. Tipped into the V-Z binder is 1928 correspondence that discusses dividing the funds of the Post to the remaining members, memorial publications for 1921 and 1937, a financial report for 1928, and correspondence.

Series III: General File: This series contains one file of miscellaneous items including a record of which members completed a war memorial sketch form, a newspaper clipping about the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (S.U.V.C.W.), and a program booklet from a May 1917 memorial service.

Series IV: Post History: The Post History series consists of two bound war memorial sketch books. The books record in detail the history of Post members’ service in the Civil War as well as information on their membership in the G.A.R. The information in the sketch books was originally recorded on a memorial war sketch form, which the Post Historian used to compile the memorial war sketch book.

The volumes are entitled Personal War Sketches of the Members of Ellis Post No. 6 of Germantown, Philadelphia. Each volume contains three hundred forms to be completed, but the majority of the pages are not completed. There is an index at the beginning listing the names of members in the volume. Each member has his own page. A few of the original memorial war sketch forms are tipped into the volume. A section of the volume entitled Resolutions contains information on the deaths of members.