Adam Beattie

Who was Adam Beattie?

Adam Beattie was the captain of the New York 26th Independent Battery, Light Artillery Barnes’ Rifle Battery during the American Civil War. His parents were John and Nancy Beattie.

On November 28, 1862, Beattie was mustered at the age of 29 into the New York 26th Independent Battery as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was promoted to Vice First Lieutenant, then Captain of the Battery, by George W. Fox on March 29, 1863. He was honorably discharged on September 12, 1865 and mustered out at New Orleans. He returned to his family in Seneca, New York. He and his first wife, Mary E. Johnson, had a son, Willard Grant Beattie, in 1865.

Along with many residents of Seneca Falls County, New York, Beattie made his way to Ovid, Michigan where he was a grocer, ran for school board, and became Ovid's postmaster. His Civil War friend George Fox followed him to Ovid. On February 13, 1871, Fox was the master carpenter on a 22-man team building Ovid's First Congregational Church. The church was moved by oxen in 1899 and turned to face Main Street where it stands today as a residence.

Adam Beattie was married three times: first to Mary E. Johnson, then to Kate A. Hann on November 1, 1869 ; and finally to Mary E. Hagin on April 3, 1883. Adam Beattie died at age 59 on June 26, 1893. Adam Beattie, George Fox, Mary E. Hagin, and Kate A. Hann are all buried in Ovid, Michigan's Maple Grove Cemetery; as some of the first settlers to the area to die, their tombstones are near the front entrance. Adam shares a large granite monument with his second wife Kate. His third wife Mary E. Hagin is buried nearby in an unmarked grave.