Gebhard Carl Bartley |
Born: 11 December 1844
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Died: 07 October 1919
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Gebhard was the eldest of three children of Gebhard Bertele and his first wife, Josephine Ganter. His death certificate records his year of birth as 1845, but the Friedrichshafen parish records, as well as his tombstone, provide a date of 1844.
By the early 1850s, the family was living in Ravensburg. Gebhard emigrated as a child of eight with his parents and two younger brothers. They departed from the port of Antwerp on the Colombo. The ship left Flushing on 18 July 1853 with 258 passengers. It arrived at New York City on 29 August 1853, so the voyage took six weeks.
The family first settled in Perrysburg in Lucas County, Ohio, but moved after two years to Oregon Township. His mother died when he was fifteen.
Gebhard enlisted in the Union army at the age of nineteen. He entered service in Toledo, Ohio on 2 May 1864, and became a private in Company A of the 130th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. This was one of the "One Hundred Days" regiments organized to perform picket and garrison duty, so that veterans performing such tasks could be made available for Grant's and Sherman's offensives. (His name in the regimental records appears as "Gilbert Bartlett.") The 130th was organized into ten companies, and numbered over a thousand men.
The regiment left Toledo on 12 May 1864, and reported at Sandusky for consolidation and muster in. The regiment guarded prisoners of war on Johnson's Island in Sandusky Bay until 4 June. The regiment was then ordered to Virginia. It moved by rail to Washington City, and to Bermuda Hundred on 8 June on the transport George Weems. The regiment reported to General Butler, and was attached to the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 10th Army Corps, Army of the James.
On 7 June the regiment was ordered to Point of Rocks, on the Appomattox River, where it engaged in drilling, digging rifle-pits, and picketing the lines. The unit had an engagement with the enemy on 16 June. On 21 June the regiment marched to Deep Bottom on the James River, where it was assigned to picket duty. On the following day, the unit participated in a skirmish, and one soldier was wounded.
On 11 August, the regiment marched to Bermuda Hundred, and proceeded on transports to Fort Powhatan, where it performed duty in lines until 16 September. Gebhard was mustered out with his company at Toledo on 22 September 1864, on expiration of the term of service. The regiment had lost 23 men (one officer and 22 enlisted men), all to disease.
Gebhard reenlisted in the Union army on 8 February 1865, this time under the name "Gebhard Berthely." He became a corporal in Company B of the 189th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was to serve for one year. This was the last of the Ohio infantry regiments in which Lucas County was represented. Company B was mustered in on 4 March at Camp Chase (Columbus), Ohio.
The regiment was ordered to report to General Thomas at Nashville, Tennessee, where it arrived on the 9 March. It was assigned to duty under Brigadier-General Van Cleve, and ordered to Murfreesboro, where it remained about two months. It was then sent to Tullahoma for garrison and outpost duty. In July the unit was ordered back to Nashville, where it was mustered out on 28 September 1865.
Gebhard returned home and married a year later. His first wife was Mary B. Tierney (1846 - 5 January 1873). She was one of six children. Her father, Owen, had emigrated from England. The marriage took place on 25 September 1866 in Lucas County.
Gebhard and Mary had three children between 1867 and 1872:
On 9 October 1871, Gebhard bought a 60-acre farm at the northeast corner of Corduroy Road and Wynn Road. This was a mile west of a settlement that came to be called Momeneetown.
Mary died at the age of 26, just two weeks after the birth of Anna. The cause, therefore, may have been complications from childbirth. She was buried in St. Mary's cemetery in Toledo; this later became part of Mt. Carmel cemetery.
Gebhard remarried to Margaret Deppman on 12 June 1873 at St. Mary's in Toledo.
Between 1874 and 1891, Gebhard and Margaret had ten children, including Agatha Johanna (Agnes) Bartley.
Gebhard was active in the community and served as a school director. He was also an active member of St. Ignatius Church. He served as a trustee of Oregon Township in the 1870s and as a trustee of the Board of Education in the 1890s. He also served as the administrator for the estate of his brother-in-law, John B. Deppman, after he died in 1889.
On 19 October 1898, Gebhard became a naturalized US citizen. Around this time, oil was found on his property, and the proceeds enabled the family to move into Toledo to 15 West Bancroft Street. In 1900, Gebhard and his family were recorded as living at the Bancroft Street home; the census taker recorded that he had "no business." He leased out his farm to tenants and, for a while, to his daughter Agnes and her husband, Bernard Noe. Apparently, Gebhard promised the farm to the Noe family upon his death. The farm, however, was ultimately sold to a neighboring farmer.
Gebhard joined Ford Post No. 14 of the Grand Army of the Republic in Toledo, and filled various offices in the post. He was often a delegate to Department Encampments, and at the time of his death he filled the position of Officer of the Day. He received a pension for his service in the war.
According to his pension file, Gebhard was 5 feet 6½ inches tall, had a light complexion, hazel eyes, and light hair.
Gebhard died at age 74 from a cardiac dilatation at his home on Bancroft, and was buried on 9 October 1919 in St. Mary's cemetery (later part of Mt. Carmel) in Toledo. His tombstone also marks the graves of his two wives and mother.
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