Former Post Master At Clarks Mill, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin & A Union Soldier in 21st Wisconsin Infantry

William and John Hume, originally from Birr in County Offaly, moved to the US in 1852 and settled in Manitowoc County, Minnesota. The brothers would both thrive in the US with John Hume becoming a printer by trade. In 1858 he established a newspaper, “The Chiltern Times”, and would be the editor and proprietor of the newspaper until his death in 1881 at the relatively young age of 45 after a short but unspecified disease. He had been elected Clerk of Court for the area in 1858 and held that position until a few months before his death. He was also a life long member of the Democratic party and in 1872 was a delegate to the National Democratic convention at Baltimore. His death at such a young age in August of 1881 was a big shock to the local community and the obituary, printed albeit in his own newspaper, states:

“It is with deep sorrow that we raise the pen to chronicle the death of the editor of the Chilton Times. His association with the men of prominence not only in this state but throughout the Union, has made him a person of marked distinction whose death our pen is inadequate to fittingly announce.”

William Hume, the elder of the Hume brothers, also became a well known figure in the area serving in several roles in the local community, including as Post Master at Clarks Mill Post Office in Manitowoc County. He had married and was seemingly comfortably settled in the area.

In August of 1862 William chose to enlist in the Union Army and was assigned to Company K of the 21st Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. By November of 1862 his unit had been moved to Lebanon in the state of Kentucky. Lebanon’s location was a strategic point for both Union and Confederate armies as it was located on a vital railway line running from Louisville to Nashville. While stationed at Lebanon several members of William’s regiment came down with a sickness which was spreading like wildfire among the soldiers. Stomach cramps, diarrhea, rash, followed by headaches and high fever, which would eventually lead to the soldiers becoming confused and delirious before eventually some even succumbing to death. They did not know it at the time but these men had contacted Typhoid Fever, a bacterial disease, which spread quickly in contaminated water and in unsanitary conditions. The crowded army camps of the US Civil War were the perfect breeding ground for this, as of yet, relatively unknown disease.

William being initially one of the healthy members of his unit was put to work helping his sick comrades in camp. Eventually and inevitably he began to have the same symptoms as the other men and quickly became very ill. He was eventually moved to the local military hospital in Lebanon where each day his temperature became higher and higher, which was the dangerous symptom of this disease. Some patients would at this stage became more and more confused and delirious and this is exactly what was happening to William.

On 2nd November 1862 William rose suddenly from his sick bed on the third floor of the Military Hospital in Lebanon and walked to the nearest window where he jumped to his death. Reports of his death in the local newspapers state he had gone insane which was brought on by his illness. Whatever the circumstances around his strange death, William Hume was only 27 years of age at the time. He is buried in Lebanon National Cemetery along with many of his comrades who had succumbed to the same disease.

The US National Museum of Civil War Medicine estimate that during the US Civil War there were over 75,000 documented cases of typhoid fever with 27,000 cases resulting in death. It converts to a 36% mortality rate within the Union army and while exact numbers are unknown, the rate is believed to be similar within the Confederate ranks. In the years following the war medical science would eventually discover the bacteria causing Typhoid fever and would develop medicines to to control the spread of the disease. Sadly for William Hume, he had become just another statistic of a disease that would become rampant during the 4 year conflict.

On his death William Hume would leave a wife, Kate (Cunningham) and two children, Thomas and Katherine, in Cato, Manitowoc County to mourn his loss. Unfortunately for his family it would not be the last piece of misfortune they would have to endure. In 1872 a then 14 year old Thomas “Tommy” Hume would drown in the local river while swimming with his friends. Newspapers reports of the time tell of a grief stricken Mother who was said to have had a premonition of something terrible happening just the previous day. Kate Hume would eventually remarry and live to the ripe old age of 94 before passing away in 1923. She is buried in Brown County in Wisconsin.

The Hume Brothers from Birr had both lived short but interesting lives. Both would die young and would be buried in different states in the US but both had left their mark on their communities in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin and many of their descendants are still living in the Wisconsin area today.