Clermont County, Ohio, to Margaret Eveline Waitslicense 16 November; married by James Perrin, J.P.; Delos aged 29, Margaret “Evalin” 22
Draft registration
June 1863
Green Township, Brown County, Ohiolisted as “Delaris C. Malott,” 38, farmer, born in Ohio, among the Class II men (those over 35 and married) of Ohio’s Sixth Congressional District
Drafted
14 May 1864
Hillsboro, Ohio, 126th Ohio Infantry
Hospital
19 July 1864
Douglas Hospital, Washington, D.C.
Discharged
8 October 1864
Douglas Hospital, Washington, D.C., for disability
Residence
1870
Green Township, Brown County, Ohioaged 46, a day laborer, with his wife Margaret E. and children David D., William S. and Sarah M.; he could read but not write
Died
29 June 1889
Eastwood, Brown County, Ohio
Buried
Greenbush Cemetery, Green Township, Brown County, Ohio
Birthplace, death, marriages and children from Lucille, a descendant of Prather and Sarah (Reeves) Malott through their son Andrew Jackson Malott, in a 1996 letter to Mark Malott, drawn from the Malott family book she published in 1986. Military dates from his service records.
Research note: the Malott neighbors
In the 1870 census, next door to Delos, lived Calvin Malott, 34, a day laborer, with Isabel, 33; Viola, 15; a daughter of about 13; James P., 9; and Jackson M., 6. A few doors farther on lived Theodore Malott, 54, a farmer with land worth $1,400, with Temperance, 50, and Eliza, 19. Neither is yet on this site. A Theodore born about 1816 fits well as a son of Delos’s father, Prather Malott, by his first wife, Susannah Armstrong, which would make him Delos’s half-brother; Calvin, born about 1836, could be a younger brother or a nephew. The census does not state relationships, so these are leads only. In 1850 Prather’s household held his wife Sarah and three younger children, Holly A. (18), Decatur W. (17) and Hugh C. (14). Hugh C., born about 1836, is very likely the Calvin Malott, 34, living next door to Delos in 1870, going by his middle name: that would make Calvin Delos’s younger brother. Delos himself, 26, was no longer at home in 1850; he had married Rachel C. Davidson that August. The 1860 census of Green Township should help confirm it.
A third Green Township Malott appears in the June 1863 draft registration, listed on the line just above Delos: “Launer” Malott (the name is hard to read and may be Lawner, Lanier or Lorenzo), 38, a carpenter born in Ohio, who had already served 13 months in the infantry. The same age as Delos and listed beside him, he may be a brother, half-brother or cousin. The Ohio rosters of Civil War soldiers should name his regiment and give his full first name.
Living with Delos and Margaret that year were Susan Waits, 25, and her four young children, Harvey M., William, Catharine E. and Mary S. Waits. Margaret was born a Waits, so Susan was surely family, perhaps the widow of one of Margaret’s brothers.
Sources: 1850 U.S. census, Green Township (District 13), Brown County, Ohio, page 419, dwelling 2051, family 2057, lines 10–14, enumerated 29 October 1850; Consolidated list of Class II persons subject to military duty, Sixth Congressional District of Ohio, June 1863, No. 18, lines 6–7 (U.S. Provost Marshal General’s Bureau); 1870 U.S. census, Green Township, Brown County, Ohio, page 15, dwelling 123, family 115, lines 6–15, enumerated 16 August 1870 (post office Five Mile).
Civil War service
Delos was drafted into the Union Army at Hillsboro, Ohio, on 14 May 1864, to serve three years as a private in the 126th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The muster roll describes him as a farmer, born in Brown County, Ohio, aged 38, five feet eight inches tall, with blue eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion. He was paid a $100 bounty, with another $100 due.
He was sent to Washington with a detachment of drafted men, but he seems never to have joined a company. On 19 July 1864 he was admitted to Douglas Hospital in Washington, D.C., suffering from chronic liver disease. His hospital card gives his home as Union Plain (probably Union Plains), Brown County, Ohio, and names his wife as Mary Eveline.
On 29 September 1864 the hospital’s assistant surgeon certified that he had been unfit for duty for 60 days because of chronic hepatitis, “existing for several years previous to enlistment,” and that he was not fit even for the Veteran Reserve Corps. His disability was rated at one half. He was discharged at Douglas Hospital on 8 October 1864, after less than five months in the Army. His discharge paper, signed by Assistant Surgeon William F. Norris, has been passed down in the family ever since; see the original discharge below.
Nearly twenty years later, in the summer of 1883, War Department clerks searched the records again to confirm when he entered the hospital and when he was discharged, most likely for a pension claim.
Research note
Two of these records give his age as 38 in May and July 1864, which suggests he was born about 1825 or 1826 rather than 1824.
The Douglas Hospital card names his wife as Mary Eveline. Family records give her full name as Margaret Eveline Waits, so the clerk simply wrote down her middle name. She was his second wife; his first, Rachel C. Davidson, whom he married in 1850, was the mother of his daughter Nancy Jane.
Some family records place him in the 125th Ohio Infantry, but his discharge papers, his hospital records and his headstone all say the 126th.
The Patterson Park Hospital card in Baltimore is filed with his papers, but it describes a “D. C. Malott” of the 126th Ohio who was 17, single and living in “Tioga Co.,” admitted on 24 June 1864 with a back injury. That does not match Delos, who was 38, married and from Brown County, so it may belong to another soldier.
Headstone
Mark Malott and his brother Dave combed the cemeteries of Brown County looking for this grave. They had been told it was in Greenbush Cemetery, and that is where they found it. The stone is so old and worn that it is hard to read.
The stone spells his name Mallott, with two l’s. That is hard to make out in the photos, but Mark has examined the stone in person. Not that spelling always matters, but nearly every document spells the name Malott. Why the stone is different is anyone’s guess.
The grave is in the same cemetery as that of his grandfather, Theodore “Dory” Malott, who served in the Revolutionary War. The edge of the cemetery is eroding, and there is a worry that the grave may one day wash out. Mark plans to honor his ancestor with a new stone someday.
Local members of the Mount Orab VFW, Wilson Sroufe VFW Post 9772, mark veterans’ graves like this one with American flags.
The flag holder at his grave is the star of the Grand Army of the Republic, marked “GAR 1861–1865.” The GAR was not the Army itself but the brotherhood of Union Army veterans, founded in 1866. Any Union soldier, sailor or marine who served in the Civil War and was honorably discharged could join, and the GAR star is still used today to mark their graves. Delos served from May to October 1864 and was discharged for disability, so he was a Union veteran of the war. Whether he joined a GAR post is not known.
His military headstone at Greenbush Cemetery, with a flag and veteran’s marker.The worn lettering: “D. C. MALLOTT.”“126TH OHIO INF.”The back of his marker, at the brushy, eroding edge of the cemetery, with flags and a GAR star.The Grand Army of the Republic flag holder, “GAR 1861–1865.”
This is Delos’s own discharge paper, the one the Army handed him in 1864, and the family has kept it ever since. Delos gave it to his son William Samuel Malott. William gave it to his son George Dewey Malott. George gave it to his son Leroy Joseph Malott, and when George passed away, Leroy gave it to his youngest son, Mark Malott, the youngest grandchild of George and Mildred. Mark has it today.
“Know ye, That Delos C. Malott, a Private… 126th Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, who was drafted on the Fourteenth day of May… Sixty-four, to serve Three years or during the war, is hereby Discharged from the service of the United States, this Eighth day of October, 1864, at Washington, D.C., by reason of Surgeon’s Certificate of disability.” Signed by Wm. F. Norris, Assistant Surgeon, U.S.A., in charge of Douglas Hospital. The original, handed down in the family.
Marriage record
The marriage register, entry 543 (page 138): license issued 16 November 1853 to “Delos C. Malott, 29, to Margaret Evalin Waits, 22,” with the certificate of James Perrin, J.P., that he married them on 17 November 1853.
Census
The 1870 census, Green Township, Brown County, Ohio: Delos C. Malott’s household (lines 6–15), with Calvin Malott (lines 16–22) and Theodore Malott (lines 35–38) nearby.
Civil War records
These records are copies from the National Archives, obtained by Mark Malott at his request.
The June 1863 draft registration (Schedule II, Class II), Sixth Congressional District of Ohio, dated 26 June 1863: “Malott, Delaris C.,” 38, farmer (line 7), listed just below another Green Township Malott, “Launer,” 38, a carpenter who had already served 13 months in the infantry (line 6).Muster and descriptive roll of drafted men for the 126th Ohio Infantry, Columbus, Ohio, 2 June 1864. It gives his birthplace as Brown County, Ohio, his age as 38 and his occupation as farmer.Douglas Hospital, Washington, D.C., admission card, 19 July 1864. Diagnosis: chronic hepatic (liver) disease. It names his wife as Mary Eveline.Certificate of Disability for Discharge, Douglas Hospital, Washington, D.C., signed 29 September 1864. He was discharged on 8 October 1864.Casualty sheet recording his discharge at Washington, D.C., in October 1864.A War Department records query about his service, 27 July 1883.A reply of 13 August 1883 confirming his admission to Douglas Hospital on 19 July 1864 and his discharge in October 1864.Patterson Park Hospital, Baltimore, card for a “D. C. Malott” of the 126th Ohio, 24 June 1864. See the research note below.
