Heritage \ Writings \

Thomas E. Webster (1848-1940)
Bay County Probate Judge and last Civil War veteran to die.

Contributed by Alan Flood. (Apr. 2005)

Bay City Times – Monday, September 16, 1940 (Page 1) Dies In Florida. Rites Held for T. E. Webster. Was Last of City’s Civil War Veterans. ----------- Thomas E. Webster, former Bay county probate judge and last of Bay City’s Civil War veterans, was buried today in Elm Lawn cemetery. He died Friday in Lake Worth, Fla. Of the effects of a fall. He was 92 years of age. Mr. Webster left Bay City last fall to spend the winder in Florida. He had intended to return here in the spring, but suffered a fractured pelvis in a fall at his home there in May. He never recovered from the injury. The body arrived here by train at noon today and was immediately taken to the cemetery for simple burial services. Last of G. A. R. Not only was he the last war veteran but he was the only remaining member of the Grand Army of the Republic in Bay county. His death brought to a close a chapter of local history. Mr. Webster was born in Otsego county, New York, Sept. 11, 1848, the son of Ebon and Margaret Webster. He ran away from home in 1864 to enlist with Co. E. 2nd New York heavy artillery. Upon being honorably discharged from the army, he entered the Delaware Literary institute in Franklin, N. Y. Two years later, he entered Cornell university as a member of its first freshman class. Ill health forced him to leave Cornell after three years but he returned to his studies at the University of Michigan law school. Came Here in 1874. He came to Bay City from Ann Arbor in 1874 and became associated with the late Windson Scofield being admitted to the bar in 1875. After being with Scofield for three years, Mr. Webster was made a member of the firm and shortly afterwards was elected probate judge. He held the office for two terms and at the same time serve on the Bay City board of education. When the Mutual Building and Loan association was incorporated in 1890, he became its secretary and in 1910 was appointed attorney for the association serving in both capacities until several years ago. He lived for 45 years in a home he built at 900 Fifth Avenue. Mr. Webster was married, first in 1897 to Ella Howell, daughter of the late Dr. Charles Howell of Bay City. She died four years later leaving two sons, Charles D. Webster, of Sacramento, Cal., and Warren Webster of Lake Worth. He married again in 188, this time to Isabel Ingraham, of Brooklyn, N. Y. A daughter, Mrs. Amelia McKinley, of Bay City, survives. Other survivors include three grandchildren.