Elliott, Zira
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MILITARY SERVICE Age: 21, credited to Starksboro, VT Unit(s): 6th VT INF Service: enl, 9/30/61, m/i 10/15/61, 1SGT, Co. A, 6th VT INF, pow, Savage's Station, 6/29/62, prld 8/3/62, wdd, Savage's Station, 6/29/62, dis/dsb 10/12/62 See Legend for expansion of abbreviations VITALSBirth: 1821, Starksboro, VT Death: 12/20/1902 Burial: Lee Cemetery, Lincoln, VT Marker/Plot: Not recorded Gravestone photographer: Alan Lathrop Findagrave Memorial #: 40204546 MORE INFORMATION Alias?: None noted Pension?: Yes, 3/23/1863 Portrait?: Unknown College?: Not Found Veterans Home?: Not Found (If there are state digraphs above, this soldier spent some time in a state or national soldiers' home in that state after the war) Remarks: None DESCENDANTS (Are you a descendant, but not listed? Register today) |
BURIAL: Copyright notice  Lee Cemetery, Lincoln, VT Check the cemetery for location/directions and other veterans who may be buried there. |
Obituary
Lincoln
DEATH OF ZIRA ELLIOTZira Elliot, one of Lincoln's venerable men and a soldier defender of the republic, died suddenly Saturday morning, Dec. 20, 1902 of general debility and valvular heart disease, aged 80 years. Mr. Elliot had been seriously ill nine weeks, but the immediate cause of death, which was valvular heart disease. Consciousness was retained till the death coma came.
Zira Elliot was a son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Sherwood Elliot and was born in Starksboro April 22, 1822. He attended the common schools and worked as a young man on farms and in mills. On Jan. 3, 1841, he married Mary Gould of Starksboro, who died in June, 1900, and to them were born nine children – five sons and four daughters – Warner C., Elizabeth., wife of I. A. Colby of Lincoln, Warren J., Celia, Edwin, Frank, Thalia, Luella and Herbert, of whom only one son, Warren J., and two daughters, Elizabeth and Thalia, survive. Mr. Elliot enlisted in Co. A, Sixth Vermont volunteers in 1861 and served till the close of the war, about four years. He was an orderly sergeant some time and was a prisoner at Libby and Belle Island and there contracted diseases from whose effects he never fully recovered. When Garfield Post was established he became a charter member and had held the offices of commander and chaplain. After the war he was ordained a minister of the gospel by the Christian church and preached several years in this vicinity. Though of independent mind, Uncle Zira, as he was affectionately called by the younger people, was highly respected as a kind neighbor, and as a soldier of the republic, a soldier to whom the flag was dear as the symbol of that liberty of mind and conscience for which he and his beloved son Warner had fought. He bore the excruciating pains of a long illness with patience, because he believed that this life is merely the gateway to a higher progression in all that makes a soul triumphant. The following lines, entitled “Home,” written some months ago, seem really prophetic and illustrate his undying belief in the immortality of the soul -
We are building our home on eternity's shore,
While we dwell in our structure of clay. We are shipping the materials onward before,
With the close of each hastening day.
We are sending the thought that our spirit has wrought
In the wonderful glow of the brain,
And the timber is grown from the seeds we have sown
'Mid the shadow of sorrow and pain.We are building our home on the beautiful street,
While we dwell in the bi-way of fears;
And the roses that bloom there, so pure and so sweet
Must be watered and nourished by tears;
And the light that shall shine in a glory divine
Must be found ‘mid the darkness and gloom,
and the foundation laid in the cloud and the shade
Of the road that leads down to the tomb.We are building our home in the valley of life,
By the side of eternity's shore:
And the work that we do ‘mid the scenes of earth's strife Shall decide what that house is to be.
Every thought leaves its trace on the wonderful place,
Every deed, be it evil or fair.
And the structure will show all the life lived below -
All the singing, and sorrow, and care.
We are building our home – may the angels of light
Bring us wisdom wherever we stray,
That the mansions eternal be fashioned aright,
And the sunlight of truth be its day
May the rainbow of love form the arches above,
And our spirit be blest by the glimmers of rest
We have sent to our home in the sky.
The funeral was held Tuesday at 2 o'clock in the Union church and largely attended, a number from out of town being present. Lucius Colburn of Essex Junction officiated. Thomas Dupont had charge of the arrangements and the singing was under the direction of B. J. Gove. The bearers were Thomas Smith, Edward H. James, Nelson Miner and Jesse Cota. Burial in Lee cemetery.
Source: Bristol Herald, December 25, 1902.
Courtesy of Tom Boudreau.