William A. Hess

1846 - 1868
Hometown: Bath, NY

William A. Hess

He lived in Bath next door or close to the home of R. B. Van Valkenburg.

Hess' father -- Alexander Hess -- was a popular druggist who also kept the Clinton House, used by Sheriff Henry Brother to conduct sheriff sales and may have one time served as a post office as Alexander once ran for that office.

Alexander Hess trained a young, Scottish clerk, John Sutherland, to learn the train of pharmacy. Sutherland was the son of tailor James Sutherland, who was Charley Brother’s boss. When John entered the Civil War with the 107th NY Volunteers, he made strong impressions for his care of the wounded and became hospital steward.

Hess' uniform, according to Civil War Marines historian Dave Sullivan, shows Hess was acting midshipman in the Naval Academy. He was appointed on September 27, 1861, but he resigned.

His father died on April 11, 1862, and perhaps Hess was called back to Bath to care for the family as he had younger siblings or to run the pharmacy.

This photo, part of the archives of Charley Brother, was dated October 1, 1862.

The Steuben Courier obituary for Alexander Hess said that, despite acute suffering,

… he never lost sight of those pure principles which make an honest man, and this tribute arises involuntarily to the lips of all those who by this fatal stroke are suddenly brought to a knowledge that he is among us no more forever.

The Hess family, like the Brother Family, attended St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

In 1865 Charley Brother wrote in his diary that he ran saw William Hess in Bath, at a time when Will was very sick.

He died in September 1868, after Charley had moved to Iowa.