Simon P. Van Pelt
One of the distinguished veterans of the Civil War who has answered the last roll call is Simon P. Van Pelt, who spent his entire life in Concord township, Fayette county, Ohio. As a citizen, as a soldier and as a public-spirited man of affairs he performed his every duty in a way which brought him the hearty commendation of his fellow citizens. For four long years he served his country faithfully and well. In the tented camp, on the battle field, by day and by night, the debt which the American people owe to those gallant boys in blue can never be repaid, but a grateful people honor the living and remember those gone with reverence.
Simon P. Van Pelt was born on the 8th day of November, 1836, and died at his home in Concord township, January 2, 1913. He was the son of Peter and Mary (Row) Van Pelt, natives of New York and early settlers in Ross county, Ohio. Subsequently they moved to Fayette county, where they lived the remainder of their days. Twelve children, all of whom are deceased, were born to Peter Van Pelt and wife: Russell, Andrew, William, Charles, Simon, Oliver, Mrs. Sarah Craig, Mrs. Mary Johnson, Anna, Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe, Mrs. Susan Post and Jane.
Simon P. Van Pelt spent his entire life upon the farm with the exception of the four years which he spent in the service of his country. As a youth he attended the short winter terms of school in the rude log school houses of his home neighborhood, and this meager education he supplemented with wide reading in after life, so that he was always regarded as an exceptionally well informed man. At the opening of the Civil War, he enlisted with hundreds of other young men from Fayette county and bore his share of the terrible burdens of that struggle with a fortitude which marked him as a man of bravery and endurance. He enlisted at the opening of the Civil War in the Seventy-third Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was mustered in as a musician in Company I. He served the full four years of the war, and then returned to his farm and resumed the peaceful pursuit of civil life. He remained at home until his marriage in 1871, and then began to farm for himself and for fifty years he led the simple life of a plain and unostentatious farmer, doing his every duty as he saw it and living a life which commended him to his neighbors and friends.
Mr. Van Pelt was married in 1871 to Martha Eldrick. the daughter of Bernard and Sarah ( McClure) Eldrick. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania and first located in Leesburg. Ohio, where he found employment on the boats plying up and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He was a hatter by trade and subsequently became a merchant. In the latter part of his life he engaged in farming, and at the time of his death was the owner of a well improved farm of one hundred acres. There were seven children born to Bernard Eldrick and wife, Mary, James, John, Mrs. Emma Love, Mrs. Martha Van Pelt, Etta and Mrs. Anna Leverton. All of these children are now deceased with the exception of Martha and Anna. Mr. and Mrs. Van Pelt reared a family of two children, Mary and John E. Mary is the wife of Charles Mark, and has one son, Marion, who is now being educated at Staunton, Ohio. John E. is managing the home farm.
Politically, Mr. Van Pelt was a Republican and, while interested in local politics, yet was never an active party man. He always took an active interest in the affairs of the Grand Army of the Republic, and belonged to the John Bell Post for many years. He with his family were loyal members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Thus, in brief, is the sketch of the life of the late Simon P. Van Pelt, a man who was admired for the life he lived and a man in whom everyone placed the utmost confidence.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)