Pvt. William Howard Pressley, USA

Pri Co B PA Res

His parentage is questionable. There is little doubt that he was the son of German-born Phillip Pressley, but while his death certificate lists his mother as Mary (Crossley) Pressley, Frances Agnes (Branyan) Pressley is also reported and was his younger (by two years) sister's mother and the woman present with the family in the 1850 census for Penn Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania. He is not found in the 1860 census but was a laborer presumably still living in or near Perry County. He stood 5' 7" tall and had dark hair and gray eyes.

He married Emma E Manmiller February 15, 1861, in Duncannon, Perry County, and fathered Harry E. (b. 02/07/62, d. 08/23/62), John Phillip (b. 02/01/68), George Washington (b. 11/12/69), William M. (. b 02/21/72), Chester Howard (b. 07/18/75), and Olive Annetta (b. 12/24/78 - married Robert William Stair and Leroy Glosser).

A Civil War veteran, he enlisted either in Perry County or Harrisburg (both locations are reported for virtually his entire company) May 27, 1861. He mustered into state service at Harrisburg June 4, 1861 (oddly, the regiment as a whole never mustered into federal service), as a private with Co. B, 13th Pennsylvania Reserves (42nd Pennsylvania Infantry, aka 1st Pennsylvania Rifles, aka "The Bucktails"), and honorably discharged with his company June 11, 1864.

After the war, he took employment with the railroad and rose to the position of engineer. Cause of his death is listed as a "cerebral hemorrhage." He had been a member of Harrisburg's Simmons Post No. 116, G.A.R.

bio info courtesy of Dennis Brandt

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Apr 30 2022, 19:59:02 UTC