Great-granddaughter of Confederate soldier laid to rest with Civil War fanfare
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
Beacon Journal staff writer
Civil War enthusiast Katherine Louise Dooley Seibert is carried by pallbearers (from left) Curtis Early, Lou Beck, Chris Beck, George Shrader, Kevin Sain and Ron Bush at the Bacher Funeral Home on Thursday in Coventry Twp., Ohio. The men in uniform and one gentleman in a light shirt at the right are members of the Lt. General James Longstreet Camp 1658, Sons of Confederate Veterans. (Paul Tople/Akron Beacon Journal)
COVENTRY TWP.: The roots of families go deep.
That was proved Thursday at a funeral home here.
Born in Tennessee, Katherine Louise Dooley Seibert moved to Ohio at age 3 but grew up with stories of the Civil War.
The New Franklin woman had ancestors who fought on each side of the War Between the States.
But at her funeral Thursday, it was the gray side of the family that was recalled. Four men dressed in Confederate uniforms served as pallbearers for the 90-year-old woman who died this week.
At Bacher Funeral Home on Manchester Road, members of the Lt. Gen. James Longstreet Camp 1658, Sons of Confederate Veterans based in Tallmadge, carried Mrs. Seibert’s casket to the waiting hearse and again to the service at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Akron.
The four uniformed pallbearers were joined by two others not in uniform, one a member of the Longstreet Camp, and the second representing his son, who is a member.
Katherine Seibert was the great-granddaughter of William Thomas Daniel of the 6th Georgia Cavalry. His unit rode with Nathan Bedford Forrest, Joseph Wheeler and Wade Hampton at Chickamauga, Atlanta and Bentonville in the Army of the Tennessee CSA.
All five of Daniel’s sons served on the Confederate side, one of whom joined at age 11 and was with Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, Va., at the signing of the surrender, said her son, John Rix Seibert II.
“Her family was from Georgia, and we are honoring the Southern side with this burial,” he said.
Her husband’s great-grandfather, Charles Rix, served in the Union Army with the 49th Indiana Infantry, Company C, her son said.
Mrs. Seibert moved to Ohio in 1926, met her future husband, John Rix Seibert Sr., on a blind date in 1939 and married him in 1943, before he left to serve in the Pacific with the Army Air Forces.
She worked in the Firestone Chemistry Lab and later joined her husband in his private law practice as a legal secretary.
Her husband died in October 1999 at the age of 80.
The story of William Thomas Daniel’s service is told in The South’s Last Boys in Gray, by Jay S. Hoar, Seibert said. Mrs. Seibert was the past secretary of the Cuyahoga Valley Civil War Round Table.
“She was a great lady,” said the Rev. Dennis Woodruff, of Akron General’s Hospice of Visiting Nurse Service. He said she was proud of her family’s history.
During the service, two of the members of the Confederate group stood at attention next to the casket. To the side of the casket was a painting of Mrs. Seibert’s great-grandfather, William Thomas Daniel.
In uniform serving as pallbearers were Ron Bush, 65, of Willowick; George Shrader, 56, of Akron, commander of the camp; Curtis Early, 67, of Willowick, a descendant of Lt. Gen. Jubal Early; and Chris Beck, 34, of Medina.
Shrader said it was an honor for camp members to take part in the funeral.
“We would do anything for our fellow compatriots,” he said.
Members of the camp must be descendants of Confederate soldiers.
To find out about the group, email Shrader at gshrader1@neo.rr.com.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/great-granddaughter-of-confederate-soldier-laid-to-rest-with-civil-war-fanfare-1.402082#.UjJwmIfKZBg.facebook
That was proved Thursday at a funeral home here.
Born in Tennessee, Katherine Louise Dooley Seibert moved to Ohio at age 3 but grew up with stories of the Civil War.
The New Franklin woman had ancestors who fought on each side of the War Between the States.
But at her funeral Thursday, it was the gray side of the family that was recalled. Four men dressed in Confederate uniforms served as pallbearers for the 90-year-old woman who died this week.
At Bacher Funeral Home on Manchester Road, members of the Lt. Gen. James Longstreet Camp 1658, Sons of Confederate Veterans based in Tallmadge, carried Mrs. Seibert’s casket to the waiting hearse and again to the service at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Akron.
The four uniformed pallbearers were joined by two others not in uniform, one a member of the Longstreet Camp, and the second representing his son, who is a member.
Katherine Seibert was the great-granddaughter of William Thomas Daniel of the 6th Georgia Cavalry. His unit rode with Nathan Bedford Forrest, Joseph Wheeler and Wade Hampton at Chickamauga, Atlanta and Bentonville in the Army of the Tennessee CSA.
All five of Daniel’s sons served on the Confederate side, one of whom joined at age 11 and was with Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, Va., at the signing of the surrender, said her son, John Rix Seibert II.
“Her family was from Georgia, and we are honoring the Southern side with this burial,” he said.
Her husband’s great-grandfather, Charles Rix, served in the Union Army with the 49th Indiana Infantry, Company C, her son said.
Mrs. Seibert moved to Ohio in 1926, met her future husband, John Rix Seibert Sr., on a blind date in 1939 and married him in 1943, before he left to serve in the Pacific with the Army Air Forces.
She worked in the Firestone Chemistry Lab and later joined her husband in his private law practice as a legal secretary.
Her husband died in October 1999 at the age of 80.
The story of William Thomas Daniel’s service is told in The South’s Last Boys in Gray, by Jay S. Hoar, Seibert said. Mrs. Seibert was the past secretary of the Cuyahoga Valley Civil War Round Table.
“She was a great lady,” said the Rev. Dennis Woodruff, of Akron General’s Hospice of Visiting Nurse Service. He said she was proud of her family’s history.
During the service, two of the members of the Confederate group stood at attention next to the casket. To the side of the casket was a painting of Mrs. Seibert’s great-grandfather, William Thomas Daniel.
In uniform serving as pallbearers were Ron Bush, 65, of Willowick; George Shrader, 56, of Akron, commander of the camp; Curtis Early, 67, of Willowick, a descendant of Lt. Gen. Jubal Early; and Chris Beck, 34, of Medina.
Shrader said it was an honor for camp members to take part in the funeral.
“We would do anything for our fellow compatriots,” he said.
Members of the camp must be descendants of Confederate soldiers.
To find out about the group, email Shrader at gshrader1@neo.rr.com.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/great-granddaughter-of-confederate-soldier-laid-to-rest-with-civil-war-fanfare-1.402082#.UjJwmIfKZBg.facebook
