Civil War Records of Defiance American Legion Preserved

Updated May 18, 2008

Copies of Civil War Veterans of Bishop GAR Post 22 now available for purchase (Information provided by the Defiance Veterans Office).

In the summer of 2005, Charles Duerk of the Defiance American Legion Post #117 and Tanya S. Brunner of the Defiance Veterans Office teamed up to preserve the historic documents of the Legion Post. The Legion had custody of the GAR records (Grand Army of the Republic - Civil War Veterans). The Grand Army of the Republic was organized in 1866 with the Defiance membership organized in 1879. In 1897 there were 225 names on the Defiance rolls. Record books, membership rosters, and photographs of the Bishop Post were photocopied and the copies were sent to the Defiance Public Library for safekeeping.

On one of Tanya’s visits to the Legion Memorial Hall at 648 South Clinton Street, she noticed a sizable picture on display about four feet long and two foot wide. It was a compilation of 176 individual head photos of members of the GAR post. Minute books from the organization would reveal that the photos were commissioned by the post during several different years-- 1908, 1909, 1911, 1919, and 1922. At one time the photos may have been in different frames before being compiled into one large display.

Tanya Brunner enlisted the assistance of Glenda Matney, a professional photographer with Van Ausdale Image Center of 220 Clinton St. in Defiance. Glenda took photographs of the veterans in several small groups that would enable the photos to be put into a book format. Glenda donated her talents and the American Legion membership voted to finance the development and printing of the photos at a cost of $202.30.

The Defiance Public Library purchased archival quality materials to hold the copied photos. Tanya Brunner of the Veterans Office assembled two identical books. Both were donated to the library-- one for public use and one to be kept in library storage as a backup copy. Each of the photo pages is numbered and anyone wanting a copy of the photos may go to Van Ausdale and ask for a print for the pages they would like for a fee. (Van Ausdale Image Center of 1431 N Scott St Napoleon, OH).

The following are the Civil War veterans whose photos are available with the page they are now found on and the year the photo was taken.