George Nelson Spates

I’ve been “conversing” by email with a wonderful new friend for a month or two now. His aunt had done a lot of work on the Turner genealogy, and he has continued that work. We swapped information on some of the family genealogy, and I got the better end of the deal. Just today he wondered about the date of death of Hannah Turner’s husband George N Spates, and I decided to do some research since I didn’t have an exact date on that. A couple of hours later, I have that information and quite a bit more. I hope this helps my friend, since he’s helped me so much.


George Nelson Spates was born on 2 April 1845 in Eastport, Maine, the son of Unknown Spates (possibly another George Nelson Spates) and Sarah B (possibly Reynolds). He had two sisters, and a younger brother named Simon Reynolds Spates.

On 13 Nov 1863, at the age of 17, he enlisted in Co K, Maine 29th Infantry Regiment. He served as a private in this unit during the Civil War. He mustered out at the end of the Civil War on 22 August 1865.

At some point in time he lost his right leg because of the war, as noted in the 1880 census. In August of 1894 he entered the US National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers at Togus. Kennebec, Maine. In Sept of 1895 he was transferred to the NW Branch Home at Milwaukie, Wisconsin. In Nov of 1904 he was again transferred to the Mountain Branch at Johnson City, TN. He was there until March 5, 1908, when he died at the GHI (Government Hospital for the Insane) in Washington, DC, where he was buried. Whether his body was later moved or that was originally a part of Arlington, he ultimately was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, site #17367.

Again, answers bring questions. His date of death on the papers from the Soldiers homes is 5-3-1908. Normally in military lingo that would be May 3, 1908, but if written or read wrong would be 5 March, 1908 which is the date given on the National Cemetery information.

The papers from the Soldiers homes give his height as 5’ 9” and blue eyes. He is listed as married, but gives his nearest relative as Simon R Spates, his brother, of Markville, Minnesota.

He applied for a military pension in September of 1865 (app# 89.487, cert# 257.040). Hannah applied for a pension on April 28, 1908, which answers the question of when he died. It would have to have been March 5, 1908, because May 3 would have been after her pension application date. Her application number was 891.140, and she received pension cert#668.073.