Dr. George C. Gans, Surgeon
10th West Virginia Infantry

1817-1864

Gans
Dr. George C. Gans
[Image previously owned by Linda Fluharty.]


SERVICE RECORD

Doctor George Custer Gans, practically forgotten in Marshall County, West Virginia history, was a Civil War soldier. He died while in service and is buried at Moundsville, according to the handwriting on the back of his image. His grave has not been located, but it seems possible that he was interred at First Street Cemetery.

During the Civil War, he was a surgeon, in charge of the Post Hospital at Beverly, West Virginia. He was on detached duty, as surgeon-in-chief, at Harrisonburg, Virginia, when he died of disease on or about October 4, 1864.

A resident of Moundsville (Elizabethtown), Dr. Gans practiced medicine there for decades. He is named in the Marshall County 1840 Tax Records, as well as in the 1840, 1850, and 1860 census records, all of which are presented on this website.

1850 Census, Marshall County, Virginia
GANSE [GANS] (1654/1664 - Elizabethtown)
George...$2000...Physician...33-M...PA
Agnes...30-F...PA
Mariah L...13-F...PA
Lydia F...8-F...VA
Henry Clay...5-M...VA
Samuel C...3-M...VA
Mary E...9mo.-F...VA
Calhoun, Darcus...32-F...PA
Calhoun, Mary...20-F...PA

1860 Census, Marshall County, Virginia
GANNS (637)
George C...46-wm...physician...PA
Agnus...45-wf...PA
Mariah L...22-wf...VA
Lydia F...19-wf...VA
Henry C...15-wm...VA
Samuel C...13-wm...VA
Mary E...10-wf...VA
Virginia...8-wf...VA

In addition to the tax and census records that verify his residence in Moundsville, Dr. Gans was actually a key figure in the story of the discovery and mysterious disappearance of the Grave Creek Stone. The stone, containing symbolic figures, was found in 1838 when Abelard Tomlinson, owner of the pre-historic mound in Moundsville, gave permission for the mound to be opened.

Much is written about the Grave Creek stone in the 1879 book, History of the Pan-Handle West Virginia, which was transcribed and presented on this website many years ago. Excerpts from testimonies about the stone:

"In the forenoon they struck the centre of the valley, and brought out decayed wood, stones rings, beads, mica and bones---one skull, nearly perfect, found in Morton's work. Among this dirt was brought out the inscribed stone, and picked up by one of us from the loose dirt. A fraud was impossible. There was no one present who would have done so if he could, or could if he would, while its whole appearance proved its age. After the stone was examined, Mr. Tomlinson handed it carelessly to Dr. Ganns, who had it most of the time, till in 1850 Dr. W. DeHass placed it in the Smithsonian Institute. The fact is, few of us then regarded the stone of much importance, and none of us appreciated its value as a link in the chain of evidence respecting the people and condition of those who built the mound."

"Copies of the stone had been published, and much written upon it, when, some years after, Mr. Squiers, returning to the east to publish the "Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," (of all of value in which he had cheated Dr. Davis, of Chillicothe,) requested me to go with him to Grave Creek, to see the stone. We went; but it had been stolen from Dr. Ganns."

"The stone was doubtless on a shelf in Dr. Ganns' office, where I saw it more than once, and was taken by some loafer and pawned for whisky at a grocery half a mile above Grave Creek. It was perhaps three months after I went down with Squiers, when the grocery-man called to me that he had the stone I had been hunting for, and brought it to me. I paid the 25 or 50 cents the man had pawned it for and took it back to Dr. Ganns. I presume the man knew it was stolen when he took it, and I told him so. I knew it was the same stone I saw taken out, and, it had not been tampered with. It is one of those things you cannot mistake. Every mark on it was a thousand years old. It had been handed to Dr. Ganns when it was found at the mound; afterward it was placed in a case in the mound, and later with other curiosities in Dr. Ganns' office. In 1850, it was taken by Dr. Wills DeHass and sent to the Smithsonian Institute."

"Dr. Ganns has passed to the other shore. He died suddenly while in the Union Army."

Dr. Gans was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania about 1817. His father, William Gans, was a son of George Gans, the progenitor of this branch of the family, who, according to Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania "fled Germany with his brother Joseph to avoid persecution, then rampant in Germany."

The Widow's Pension of Dr. Gans' wife indicates that her name was Agnes Calhoun and she married Dr. Gans on March 20, 1834 at her mother's home in Clarksville, Greene County, Pennsylvania. She died in Moundsville on December 21, 1876.

WIDOW'S PENSION

The death of Dr. George Gans, found in the the West Virginia Death Records, confirms that he was the son of William and Magdaline [Custer] Gans, and his death ocurred on October 2, 1864 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. - The day of death varies in records, but "on or about October 4" is most commonly found.

From his Service Record: "Appointed from Civil life to Asst. Surgeon Feb 9/62; promoted to Surgeon July 1, 1862; died of disease." On May 15, 1863, he requested leave "for the purpose of visiting my home in Marshall County, West Va. to prescribe for and administer to a feeble and sickly wife." "Detailed as Surgeon in Chief of 3rd Brig. Va. infy Div Dept of W.Va. by D. Baguley Medical Director 1st Infy Div, Gen. Order No. 1 July 27, 1864." He died of disease on Oct 4, 1864 at Harrisonburg, Va. One record states that he died of "Obstruction of bowels, with inflammation." He had been "attending to his duties of his office up to within six or seven days of the date of his death - He was taken down suddenly and died soon after the first attack."

From History of the Upper Ohio Valley, Vol. I, posted on this website: ".....Mr. Meighen was married to Lydia F., daughter of Dr. George C. and Agnes Gans, of Moundsville. Her father was a leading physician of Moundsville for many years, and was surgeon of the Tenth regiment, West Virginia volunteer infantry, during the war. He died in the service. Her elder sister Maria L. Gans, was postmistress at Moundsville eighteen years; her brother, Samuel C., is agent of the Ohio river railroad at this place, and has been for years; another brother, Henry C., fought throughout the entire war in Company I, Third regiment, West Virginia volunteer infantry, afterward the Sixth regiment cavalry, and is now cashier of a bank at Owensboro, Ky.; a sister, Virginia D., is the wife of J. C. Wayman, of Chicago, and another sister, Mary E., is the wife of J. R. W. Morris, of South Dakota."

Daviess County, Kentucky Biographies, published by Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co., 1883. -- HENRY C. GANS, son of Dr. George C. and Agnes (Calhoun) Gans, was born in Moundsville, Va., Aug. 5, 1844. He attended school in Moundsville, and was preparing to enter the medical school, but the outbreaking of the late civil war changed his arrangements. He enlisted in June, 1863, in Company I, Third Virginia Infantry, and served till August, 1864. His father was Medical Director in General Harris' Division, Cook's Corps. He died Oct. 4, 1864. After the war he entered Duff's Commercial Business College, at Pittsburg, where he graduated in December, 1864. In February, 1865, he was employed as clerk in the Baltimore & Ohio Railway office at Wheeling, Va. He held offices in different departments of this road (including that of ticket agent) till 1870, when he went to Junction City, Kas., and was employed in the freight and ticket office of the Kansas Pacific Road till June, 1871, when he was appointed Division Clerk for the Niosha Division of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. In January, 1872, was given the Cherokee Division of the same road, with the charge of 360 miles. Owing to ill health, in September, 1882, he resigned and returned to Wheeling, and was afterward employed as freight and ticket agent for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, at Mannington, W. Va. In the spring of 1878 he joined a mining company, and located and bought mining property at the head of Blue River, Summit Co., Col. Mr. Gans was elected manager of the company, and remained there till October, 1880, when he returned to Wheeling. In March, 1881, he was appointed clerk in the controller's office of the L. & N.R.R. at Louisville, Ky., and in June, 1881, was appointed to his present position of Auditor and Treasurer of the O. & N. Ry., at Owensboro. In April, 1871, Mr. Gans married Mary R., daughter of William B. Quarrier, bookkeeper in the old Merchants and Mechanics' Bank, Wheeling, Va. He died in April, 1862. Mr. and Mrs. Gans have had five children, four living - William D., Mary T., Henry H., Hullihen Q. Mr. Gans is a Past Master in Masonry and Past Dictator of the Knights of Honor.


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