Bath Civil War soldier honored on Veterans Day
by Laura Bednar
Veterans Day hit close to home this year with a program honoring Gen. Alvin Coe Voris, a Civil War veteran, Akron Municipal Court judge and Bath Township resident.
On Nov. 10, the court and Glendale Cemetery in Akron co-hosted an in-person tribute to Voris at the Glendale Civil War Memorial Chapel. Dennis Parks, an Akron Municipal Court probation officer, said an event was held last year at Mount Peace Cemetery, and John Frank, board of trustees member for Glendale Cemetery, suggested the court hold something at Glendale.
When the court had to choose a veteran to honor, Parks said, “We thought Alvin would be [appropriate] because he was a Summit County judge.”
During the ceremony, Parks gave an overview of Voris’ life, starting with his birth in Stark County in 1827 and move to Bath Township as a child. He later attended Oberlin College and served as a deputy clerk and acting probate judge in Summit County from 1850-1852. He married his wife Lydia in 1853, the same year he was admitted to the bar.
He entered the service in 1861 as a private in the 29th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was later commissioned a lieutenant colonel and transferred to the 67th OVI. He led the infantry in the first Battle of Kernstown.
While with the troops in South Carolina, Voris was wounded with a bullet to the abdomen during an attack on Fort Wagner. He was nursed back to health by American Red Cross founder Clara Barton and returned home to heal. He rejoined his regimen in 1864.
Voris’ great-great-grandson, Allan Johnson III, attended the ceremony and said the bullet Voris took remained in his abdomen for years before being removed during exploratory surgery. Johnson has the bullet in a jar at home.
When Voris rejoined his troops in the Virginia/Washington, D.C., area, he was promoted to Brevet-Major General. Ted Dudra, local historian and ceremony attendee said, “Voris is the highest ranking military officer to come from Summit County.”
After returning home in 1865 to resume his law practice, Voris was elected to the constitutional assembly and elected judge of the court of common pleas for Summit, Medina and Lorain counties in 1873.
He died in 1904 and is buried at Glendale Cemetery along with his first wife, Lydia. Voris donated a stained glass window to the Civil War chapel in honor of his own brothers, who all died serving their country.
Trustee member Frank gave a history of the chapel, saying it was built in the late 1800s in honor of those in Summit County who served. Following a rehab of the building, he said “It is now a respectable element in this community.”
Bath resident, United States Navy lieutenant and Akron Municipal Court Magistrate Jen Towell spoke at the ceremony and said being part of the tribute to Voris, who shared her hometown, was “Wonderful, especially because we are both in the legal profession. It made it more meaningful.”
Johnson also resides in his great-great-grandfather’s hometown, only a mile away from where Voris lived with Lydia on Ira Road.
Voris rode his horse downtown to the courthouse in Akron every day from his Bath home, which Johnson said likely took hours.
Following the ceremony, attendees were given a tour of the cemetery and Johnson visited Voris’ monument-sized gravestone. He marveled at the age of the stone and said overall, “It was a heartwarming memorial service for him.” Voris’ legacy lives on with a street, community center and Sons of Union Veterans camp named after him. Most notably, a collection of letters he sent to his wife chronicling his time in the service was turned into a book called “A Citizen-Soldier’s Civil War.” ∞
