Tintype photograph marked Sewall Batchelder. He was a Civil War Veteran, in Co. G. 2nd NH Infantry
The faces of Sewall D. Batchelder and his first wife, Rebecca Page Kilborn gaze out from their photographs with serious faces. Oh yes, I know that in those days people rarely smiled for their formal portrait, however the intensity of these faces seem stronger than usual to me.
In Sewall’s case, perhaps he was a serious man because he had experienced the horrors of the Civil War. He enlisted at the tender age of 18, in Company G, New Hampshire 2nd Infantry Regiment on 21 April 1863. He was mustered out on 19 December 1865 at City Point, VA, still only 20 years old. For much of his life he worked at the serious job of “gate tender” for the railroad. People would die if he was not attentive to his duty. Hand cranked railroad gates started in the year 1874–it was mechanical with chains and cables underground. During his lifetime Sewall spelled his surname various ways, as Batchelder, Bachelder and Bachellor. He was also possibly a bigamist. Continue reading
