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MAHONEY, PATRICK E.
St.
Patrick's Cemetery
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MAHONEY, PATRICK E.
St.
Patrick's Cemetery
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MAKINSON, HENRY
HARRISON
Spouse
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End Comes to Veteran of Civil War Day After 96th Birthday
Henry H. Makinson, Butte’s oldest resident and one of the few
survivors of Lincoln post of the G.A.R., answered his last call
yesterday, one day after his ninety-sixth birthday.
The man who marched away to help Lincoln preserve the Union in
’61 died without a struggle at the home of his son and
daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Roy G. Makinson, 1739 Wall street.
Death came at 1 o’clock p.m.
The grand old man was up and
about on his ninety-sixth birthday, but without his usual vigor.
Yesterday morning he remained in bed but gave no evidence of his
approaching end. Shortly
after noon those at his bedside became alarmed at his unusual breathing
and called his son from work. The
latter arrived home within a few minutes and sought to give his father
some little attention. “I’m Too Tired.”
“Oh! I’m too tired,”
said the old veteran. These
were the last words he spoke. He
turned on his right side and slept peacefully away within a few minutes.
Those close to him sensed
several days ago that the sands of life were running low and kept a
close watch over him. Usually vigorous and animated in his conversation,
Mr. Makinson slowed up perceptibly in the past month, members of his
family stated. His eyesight
began to fail rapidly. Two
days ago—on the eve of his birthday—he showed little interest in
achieving another milestone. In
former days, however, he had often jocularly predicted that he would
live to be 100. Picks Out Headstone
Many years ago Mr. Makinson
picked out a headstone that he wished to be placed over his grave in the
old soldiers’ plot in Mount Moriah cemetery.
In line with a rule of the government, every soldier is provided
with a marble stone to mark his last resting place.
Mr. Makinson remarked that marble would eventually crumble and he
wanted granite. “It will
last at least 100 years,” he said.
Accordingly he purchased a granite stone from a local firm and
had it properly inscribed. All
that is lacking is the date of his death.
The stone was put in the old soldiers’ plot at the time of its
purchase, there to await final placement at its owner’s death.
Mr. Makinson often visited the old soldiers’
plot—particularly on Memorial day, and was often noticed gazing on the
stone that would some day mark the end of the trail. He was a
great admirer of Abraham Lincoln. In
this connection it was recalled yesterday by the man who sold him his
headstone that Mr. Makinson often expressed the wish that a memorial in
the shape of a broken tree could be erected in the old soldiers’ plot
typifying the manner in which Lincoln’s life was cut short. Word Spreads
Word of Mr. Makinson’s death
spread about the city in remarkably short time and was received with
expressions of regret on all sides.
His was a familiar face in the Mining city.
His age, his long years of constructive effort in this community,
his connection with patriotic societies, his general optimistic demeanor
and his service to his country marked him as one for universal respect.
Although missing on the
streets in the past few years, it was learned yesterday following his
death that he had made a trip uptown last Friday, remaining only a few
minutes to complete an item of business.
In former years he was a familiar figure about town, particularly
in the days when he made his home on East Broadway and before going to
spend his last days at the home of his son. Here 50 Years
Mr. Makinson came to Butte a
little more than 50 years ago. Hs
first work was on construction of the old smelter in Anaconda.
He was a cabinet make and millwright by trade and built several
small gold mills in the Butte area.
He also constructed the gallows frames at the Berkeley and
Mountain Con mines. He had
the reputation of being a master craftsman.
Goes
to Nevada
The end of the war saw a great
movement west and Mr. Makinson became one of those who left to seek his
fortune in the land where an empire was in the making.
He went to Nevada and California where he worked as a carpenter.
He made one trip back home but stayed only a short time.
On his return west he heard at Salt Lake City about the Butte
camp and came here. He
immediately entered into the spirit of the community and became an
integral part of it. Outside
of his daily work he took a deep interest in patriotic endeavor and
early became a member of Lincoln post of the G. A. R.
Here he married and became the father of two sons, one of whom,
Harold, lives with his wife and family, at Akron, Ohio.
Two
Members Left
In the death of Mr. Makinson,
Lincoln post of the G. A. R. is left with two members who are residents
of Butte. They are Peter
Green and Thomas Bainbridge. Mr.
Green has not attended a meeting in several years, due to failing
health. He was 92 years of
age last Memorial day. Mr.
Bainbridge is still in good health and active.
A few years ago it was necessary to call in members from Anaconda
to help fill the various offices of the post.
Accordingly, the post in that city was disbanded and the
remaining members became identified with the post here.
Since then the Anaconda members have passed.
They were John Marchion and D. I. Breneman.
Butte members who died in recent years were Simon Hauswirth and
C. S. Shoemaker. Appears July 4
His last public appeara
Surviving relatives are his
wife, Mrs. Caroline Makinson; a son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs.
Roy G. Makinson, 1739 Wall street; and son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and
Mrs. Harold Makinson, Akron, Ohio; a granddaughter, Emmy Lou Makinson;
grandson, David Makinson; nephews, Murl Gidel and Grant Beer, both of
Butte, and a nephew Frank Beer, of Los Angeles.
After Mr. Makinson retired
from the field of industry he devoted much of his time during the summer
months to carding for the graves of departed comrades and friends who
were not buried in the G. A. R. plot. Visits
Cemeteries
It was not unusual to see him
board a street car with a small garden rake, spade and sprinkling can to
visit one of the cemeteries. There
he worked form morning till night.
Although his legs gave him
considerable trouble, he seldom complained when the weather would permit
visit to the graveyard. And
almost invariably he paused to polish his own headstone.
On last Memorial day his first
concern, upon reaching the G. A. R. plot, was for his stone, which had
been removed from its customary place near the center of the lot.
Poses for Picture
After the exercises—he
attended those of all organizations—he returned to the Mount Moriah
chapel to find the stone. It
was at that time that he posed for a picture beside it.
“I had this stone made,”
he remarked, “because it will last for hundreds of years.
It is a good stone. Those
provided by the government will crumble through time and will be blown
away, while mine will stand. The Montana
Standard |
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BELOVED WARRIOR SLEEPS
Wafted away on a gentle
zelphyr at the end of summer, a sturdy soul has gone to its celestial
reward. A staunch and
adventurous heart, gnarled with age, has paused and ceased its beat.
It’s time to run, like the waxen taper that flickers gently,
its flame dimmed—and then is gone.
And so Henry H. Makinson, whose jaunty step and clear eye, for so
many years bridged for Butte people the today with a long yesterday, is
no more. With his passing
the age which produced him, the times which needed him, the national
crisis which he helped to save, recedes a step farther from our
consciousness.
When we, who are graying with
advancing age, were youths with life’s full span and all its mysteries
ahead, there were many like Henry Makinson.
They were vigorous men the, proud of their past, confident of the
future, serene in the knowledge of their magnificent service to home and
country. They were the
members of the Grand Army of the Republic; the American Legion of a
previous day. There are but
few of them left today. Only
two remain in Butte, since Henry Makinson, after his ninety-sixth
birthday, closed his tired old eyes in eternal sleep.
Death was not hard for him, nor was he afraid.
In his youth, on the battlefields of his country’s greatest
travail he had seen the Grim Reaper many times face to face and he
carried in that small, proud, erect body of his a bullet from one of the
war’s early battlefields, constant reminder that death rides closely
beside each one of us.
Makinson served the full four
years of the Civil war. Lincoln
was his hero of heroes. And
he served a lifetime as an example for each new generation of loyalty,
of devotion, of service, He loved his country; he offered his life in
its service. He believed,
and often said, that devotion by all the people would prove a cure for
the petty evils, a remedy for this incidental problems that befall each
succeeding generation.
Butte loved him well, because
like the remainder of that little group of which he was a member, Butte
looked upon him as a proud tradition; his handclasp bound us closer to
the immortal past. He was
one of those who had forged for this nation ties that will never part.
With fond memories and loving
thoughts Butte will attend him at the last bugle call in Mount
Moriah’s Grand Army plot which he loved so well and where he mused so
often over the memory of departed comrades.
There is but a single wish;
may he meet in that last bivouac all those intrepid souls he knew who
answered Lincoln’s anguished call; may they all be there in happy
reunion with their great leader and in the shadows of the camp fires may
they all partake of that incense of pride and gratitude with which a
united and indissoluble nation regards their memories. The Montana
Standard |
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BUTTE VETERANS HONOR
“BOYS IN BLUE”
The three surviving members of Lincoln
Post, Grand Army of the Republic, pictured above, were honored guests
today at Memorial Day services conducted by Butte veterans’
organizations. As history goes it’s been quite some time since
millions of marching feet kept time to the stirring music of the
“Battle Hymn of the Republic” but to these Civil war veterans it
seems only yesterday. The
Post cameramen caught the three old soldiers talking over some of their
Civil war experiences yesterday. Tom Bainbridge (left) is telling Peter Green (center) and H.
H. Makinson (right) about some of the major engagements in which his
outfit took part in the civil conflict.
Bainbridge is the youngest of the three veterans and Makinson is
the oldest. He is 96 and was
honorary marshal of today’s parade. The
Montana Standard |
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DECORATION DAY RITES
COLORFUL Services at G.A.R. Post
The first services were held
at G. A. R. plot. H. H.
Makinson, past commander of Lincoln post, opened the ceremonies and read
the ritualistic charge.
Almost at his feet lay a
tombstone on which is inscribed: “H. H. Makinson, Company B Lieutenant
Artillery, Prunell Legion, Maryland” and the date of his birth, 1840.
The date of his death is left blank.
The stone reads that he died in “in 19…..” The oldest
member of Lincoln post and one of the oldest men in the state, Mr.
Makinson read his charge in a clear strong voice while overhead
airplanes soared, dipped, banked and circled and dropped flowers on the
last resting place of the veterans of the war between the states. Excerpt
from |
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MALLAHAN (O'MALLAHAN), WILLIAM OSCAR
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MANCHESTER, PERRY H.
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