Local Civil War Round Table Marks End of Second Year at Dinner Thursday
Union Railroad Superintendent Erasmus Wentz Wound Up in Bay City
April 17, 2005
By: Dave Rogers
Historian and local newspaper reporter Tim Younkman presents program on Civil War railroads to the 7th Michigan Cavalry Civil War Round Table.
The 7th Michigan Cavalry Civil War Round Table, an educational and social organization, completes its second year Thursday with a dinner at the Stein House featuring Abraham Lincoln.
Of course Abe died 145 years ago April 15, but you may thinkhe has come back to life when you see Fred Priebe, one of the nation's top Lincoln re-enactors. Fred will be the speaker at the local dinner, discussing the Presidential election of 1864.
The event starts with cash bar from 5-6, followed by the dinner and program. Reservations are available by calling Dee Dee Wacksman, 892-1136.
The CWRT has had an outstanding series of programs this year, including most recently Leo Najar on Civil War music, Tim Younkman on railroads in the war, Dave Rogers on the Birney family, Dee Dee Wacksman on Confederate raider John H. Morgan and his Ohio raid and Bob Sarow on John Hay, Lincoln's surrogate son.
Mr. Younkman told of Erasmus Livingston Wentz, Union Army railroad superintendent in Virginia, who had worked in the Saginaw Valley and later ended his career in the engineering business here. He lived at 1110 Sixth Street with his sister, Delisle Holmes, until his death in 1900 at the age of 82.
"Wentz was a civil engineer and lived through most of the 19th century, witnessing much of the nation's evolution from a small agrarian economy to an emerging industrial giant," said Mr. Younkman.
His first contact with the Saginaw Valley came in 1837 when he began two years of work on the Saginaw and Grand River Canal. About 20 miles of the canal were built until funds ran out.
He partnered with S.A. VanDusen, who had owned the Fraser House hotel here, in building railroads in Missouri, Indiana and Texas. After the Civil War he was involved in constructing about 2,300 miles of rail line. He moved to Bay City after his wife of 39 years, Elizabeth Lockwood Wentz, died. He came here because two of his sisters, Mrs. Holmes and Delia Stewart, lived here.###