Phil Kearney Post 1 G.A.R.  [Biography],  Newark, New Jersey

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KEARNY POST, No. 1, has the proud pre-eminence of standing at the head of the list of posts organized in the State of New Jersey .  On the 20^th of October, 1866, about fifty  veterans met at the newly-instituted Soldier’s Home, and were mustered in by Gens. Bramhall and Jardine.  Kearny Post was then organized, with Maj. Alfred F.   Sears, Commander; Richard Hopwood, Quartermaster; Samuel H. Baldwin, Adjutant; Rev. Samuel T. Moore, Chaplain; John A. Rodrigo, Quartermaster-Sergeant.  A charter was   granted on Dec. 6, 1866, by the Grand Encampment to Ezra A. Carman, William Ward, David A. Ryerson, Samuel H. Baldwin, John F. W. Crane, Alfred P. Sears, James H. Close, John K. Simon, Richard Hopwood, William A. Henry, John A. Rodrigo, John R. Decker, John Kehoe, Amos H. Van Horn, John F. Chase, Samuel S. Moore, A. J. Clarke, A. W. Woodhull, and their associates and successors.  Of the fifty members whose names appeared on the original roster only two remain as of this date, viz., John Rodrigo and Isaac Tuttle.  Many have died, and others have joined new posts from time to time, or left the city and connected themselves with posts in different parts of the country.  

  Kearny Post has a fine room, handsomely furnished and equipped, for its headquarters, at No. 194 Market Street , where its encampments are held every Wednesday   evening. The officers for 1884 are: Robert Kiersted, Commander; Terrence Reilly, Senior Vice-Commander; J. E. Marsland, Junior Vice-Commander; C. H. Rosseter,  Adjutant; W. H. Howard, Quartermaster; Albert Oss, Surgeon; Henry Stivers, Chaplain; Samuel Knott, Officer of Day; John Hubman, Officer of Guard; Dennis Cahill,   Sergeant-Major; William P. Daily, Quartermaster-Sergeant.  Past Commanders, F. H. Harris, William A. Smith, John A. Rodrigo, R. S. Brown, William R. Williams,    Dennis Cahill, Felix W. Branigan and I. W. Townsend. THE LADIES’ LOYAL LEAGUE OF KEARNY POST meets in the same rooms, No. 194 Market Street ,  and numbers some forty members, with Mrs. S. Crane, President; Mrs. Esther Woodland, Vice-President; Mrs. Samuel Knott, Junior Vice-President; Mrs. Lease,   Chaplain; Miss Ella Hatfield, Secretary; Miss Lottie Steel, Treasurer. The ladies have given many entertainments, both literary and musical, the proceeds 

      of which have generally found their way into Kearny Post in the shape of useful presents, and  by their untiring energy and devotion to the Grand Army   of the Republic have done much towards strengthening the cause and promoting the interest and good feeling existing in the ranks.

         Information from: Andrew Burnett, Francine Camp 7 SUVCW Extracted from:  History of Essex and Hudson Counties - Chapter XLII.  Societies of Newark

                                                                                                                                                   Shaw, William H.  1884.  History of Essex and Hudson Counties , New Jersey .  Everts & Peck, Philadelphia , PA.   Vol. 1.  Pages 540-542.

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