On 21 Dec 1841, at ten a.m., in Parette, Belgium, Matthias was born to William, age 30, and Anne Catherine, age 27, Dahlem. They were farmworkers, German-speaking and Catholic. Anne Catherine had been born nearby in Ell, Luxembourg, on 31 Dec 1812, to forest guard Jean Marseau and Clare Martens. Matthias’s older siblings were Nicholas, b. May 1837, and Clara Margaret, b. Apr 1839. This family emigrated to New York, where the birth of the next child, John, took place on 15 Jun 1847.

In the city directory of Williamsburgh (a neighborhood now of Brooklyn) for 1847-48, the father William is listed as a mason living on 88 Schols Street. By 1857, both the father William and the son Nicholas were listed at 90 Graham Avemie, as milkmen. The records of The Most Holy Trinity Church show the 1860 marriage of Nicholas to Margaret Bire and the baptisms of their eight children, six of whom, apparently childless, are buried with Nicholas and Margaret in the church cemetery. From 1867 to 1898 the father Nicholas was listed as a grocer. His sons, William and Nicholas, born in 1865 and 1872, left New York at some point and remain a mystery.

Matthias joined the 173rd Regiment of the New York Volunteers, for a three-year enlistment, on 22 Sep 1862, using the surname Darling. He was put in Co. E, stationed at Riker’s Island, and left with his regiment by boat for Louisiana in March, 1863. On 10 Apr 1863 he left without permission. By July he had been arrested and was held in the camp of the 176th NYS Volunteers at Terre Bonne, La. He was transferred to Co. D on 26 Sep 1863. Although his father stated that the family never heard from Matthias after his enlistment, an oral story credits him with bringing back his younger brother who tried to join Matthias in the army.

On 9 Apr 1863 in the Battle at Pleasant Hill, La., he was wounded in the side and thigh. The Confederates took custody of him, and he was most likely put in the field hospital, which consisted of four houses on the edge of the battlefield. He died on the 19th and was probably buried in a mass grave at Mansfield, several miles north. His remains may have been part of the 209 Union soldiers removed to Alexandria National Cemetery in Pineville, La., on 28 Apr 1868, as reported in The Roll of Honor, Vol. III, although his name does not appear on the list of 100 soldiers buried there.

Matthias’s parents moved in 1864 to Kingston in Ulster County, New York. Perhaps in part using money related to Matthias’s death, they bought property on 8 Feb 1865 for $6,000, that became the farm which stayed in the family until just after the 1906 death of Michael, the last in birth and death, of William’s sons. The only sibling of Matthias to have sons other than the eldest, Nicholas who stayed in Brooklyn, was William, the greatgrandfather of the writer. This William’s great grandson, William Dahlem, lives across the river from Kingston, in Poughkeepsie, New York, and has attended the biannual Dahlem family reunion, held in Kingston.

Matthias’s father William was awarded a Civil War pension in 1884, after he submitted his affidavit and that of Peter and Matthias Koeune, prior Brooklyn neighbors, to prove that Matthias never married or had children. William stated his wife had died on 29 May 1878, and that he felt himself in part dependent on his son for support because he had expected Matthias be working the farm with him. William died on 5 Aug 1886, at age 81. He, his wife, and all their children except for Matthias and Nicholas, are buried in two-block-long St. Peter’s Cemetery, Kingston, New York, with numerous other relatives.

Sources : Thanks to the kindness of Sharon M. Carberry who wrote this story of Matthias Dahlem, brother of his great grandfather William.