GEORGE and SAMUEL TOMS -- 153rd INFANTRYTWO BROTHERS DISCHARGED FOR DISABILITY - Samuel Toms emigrated fromEngland, came to Boston, married Clarissa Hayward and had a couple ofchildren before moving to Vermont. While in Vermont, he and his wife hadtwo sons, George E. and Samuel H. Toms. The family later moved toClinton County and all three men supported themselves as shoemakers inChazy, NY. The two brothers enlisted in the 153rd Infantry as privatesin the summer of 1862, George in Champlain and Samuel in Plattsburgh.When they left the county, both in Company I, they left their wives andfive children behind.The regiment organized in Fonda, NY, where George was immediatelydischarged for disability on October 18th and returned home. Samuelwas appointed musician on the same day. After serving on provost dutyfor four months, he was discharged for disability on February 11, 1863.George died in November of 1866. Samuel and his family lived inPlattsburgh and in 1871 was appointed as a toll gate minder on theSaranac River Plank Road. He and his wife, Sarah, died in 1873.Another Civil War connection to the family - Samuel Toms, their father,ended up in the Clinton County Poor House where Rev. Francis BloodgoodHall, a chaplain in the 16th Infantry during the Civil War, used tomake weekly pastoral visits. One day Samuel approached him to say thathe thought he was being poisoned. The old man-made Rev. Hall promise tohave an autopsy done on his body. The reverend agreed. When Samuel diedin 1879, the autopsy showed that he died a natural death caused bykidney disease. Doctors Lyon and Kellogg, who conducted the postmortemexamination, concluded that the mind of deceased had become ravaged bythe painful disease.
