Archive:Civil War Pension File, William James Berner
From the Civil War Pension File of William J. Berner Company H, 17th Indiana Infantry Invalid Application #121459, Certificate #97928 The National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.
Elements of the early life of William James Berner, known to all as “Otto”, are captured in his application for U.S. citizenship, which he filed on 4 July 1879 from the Arizona Territory. He emigrated with his family from Germany through the Port of New Orleans in 1844. He had been born on 28 July 1839 in Hanover, Germany. In 1879 he is a rancher, residing in Bernsey Canyon, Herrford, Arizona Territory.
Otto was the son of Ernest Victor and Anna Marie Louise Berner. He and his parents resided outside the limits of the City of St. Louis, Missouri, although they are not found in the censuses. Ernest was the sexton of two cemeteries owned by churches south of the city. At the age of 19, Otto left the home of his parents. He has no records to document his birth, but had seen them in his childhood, as they were in the possession of his parents.
On 24 May 1861 Otto enrolled as a Private in Co. H, 24th Indiana Mounted Infantry. He re-enlisted in the same company on 4 January 1864 at Pulaski, Tennessee. On 2 April 1865 he received a gunshot wound in the left leg, about two inches above the ankle, at the battle of Selma, Alabama. He was honorably discharged on 8 November 1865 as a corporal. He had been cared for at numerous military hospitals, and upon discharge went to his home near St. Louis, MO, where he was cared for by his mother and sister.
On 31 August, 1865 in Olney, Illinois, Otto married Melissa Rebecca Whitney. Melissa had been born in Port Gibson, Mississippi on 11 November 1839, the daughter of Nathan and Mary Jane (Moore) Whitney. They had three children:
Lillie Nora Berner, b. 27 February 1868
Arthur Lyons Berner, b. 23 December 1869
Walter Emit Durward Berner, b. 23 September 1871.
They resided in Independence, MO in 1865, then removed to Lee Summit, MO. There, Otto was in the boot and shoe making business until 1871, when the business failed.
On 1 January 1872, Otto deserted his family, never to see his wife or his birth family again. The reason for the desertion was in contention, but they both agreed that they were never legally separated or divorced. Otto claimed that he left because the wet, cold winters in Missouri caused him great discomfort from his war wound and other disabilities. He sought the warmer, dry weather of the southwest. Melissa claimed he was disheartened by the loss of his business, and he claimed he would send for her and the children when he established a new home. He never sent for them or provided money to them. Melissa and the children had to move back from Lee Summit to Olney, IL to be with her friends. There, she did laundry to support her family.
On 19 June 1880, Melissa filed a claim on the Civil War pension of her husband, thinking him dead, since she had not heard from him since 1873, when he resided in Sherman, Texas. The claim was abandoned because Otto was located in Tombstone, Arizona. He had applied for benefits in 1865 in Independence, MO. Melissa would successfully obtain half of her husband’s pension benefit.
Otto Berner went on to develop a resort in Hereford, Cochise Co., Arizona Territory. Melissa Rebecca (Whitney) Berner died in St. Charles, Missouri on 15 Sept 1915. She is buried in Haven Hill Hill Cemetery in Richland, Illinois. Otto Berner died at the Soldier’s Home at Sawtelle, California on 18 Dec 1922. He is buried in the Los Angeles National Cemetery, Los Angeles, California.
