James Nolan

Name: James Nolan Company: I Veteran; promoted Corporal, Sergeant
Birth Date: July 10, 1844 Place: Quebec, Canada	Mustered In Date: December 24, 1861 Rank: Private Age: 17 Residence prior to military service: St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota
Death Date: Place: Burial:	Mustered Out Date: September 6, 1865 Rank: Sergeant Age: about 22 Residences following military service: St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota; 259 Cedar Avenue, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota; St. Peter (Oshewa Township), Nicollet County, Minnesota Vocations following military service: detective, policeman, laborer

James Nolan Biography and Civil War Narrative

James Nolan was born to Irish parents on July 10, 1847, in Quebec, Canada. From about 1857 to 1861 he lived with his parents in St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota.

On December 24, 1861, he enlisted as a Private in Company I of the 5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. During his service he participated in the Sieges of Corinth, Vicksburg, and Richmond, and the Battle of Nashville, as well as many other skirmishes. Despite his youth he was promoted to Corporal and then to Sergeant. He signed on as a veteran in 1864, and was discharged with the Regiment on September 6, 1865.

From 1871 to 1872 James Nolan served on the police force at St. Paul, Minnesota. He also served as a detective on the St. Paul and Duluth railroad one year.

About 1873, James Nolan married Annie E. Dickson, born April 1850 in Indiana to a Scottish father and Irish mother. James and Annie had three children: William, Mary, and James Edward.

In 1878 Nolan was appointed to the police force in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. The 1880 U.S. Census shows James (age 34), Annie (age 29), son William (age 6), daughter Mary (age 4), and son James E. (age 2) living at 259 Cedar Avenue, Minneapolis. The 1883 Pensioner Roll for Hennepin County lists James Nolan with "sunstroke & brain dis." as the cause for pension.

In 1900, census records show the James Nolan household in Minneapolis as including James (age 55, married 27 years, working as a Laborer), wife Annie E. (age 50), son Edward J. (age 21, born June 1878 in Minnesota, working as a Printer), and daughter-in-law Lucille E. ("Elizabeth,"
age 25, born August 1874 in Massachusetts). Edward and Lucille had been married one year.

Between 1900 and 1910, James and Annie Nolan moved to St. Peter (Oshewa Township), Nicollet County, Minnesota. Son James Edward and his family moved with them.

By 1920, James Edward and his wife Elizabeth had moved back to Minneapolis. Sergeant James Nolan's wife was now a widow and lived with James E. and Elizabeth. On September 9 in the same year, Anna Nolan died in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

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This page is maintained by Tim Bode (timbode@juno.com ). Created on 8/22/08. Last modified on 4/19/09.