Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
Morning Star, May 29, 2016, pg. 21 Be sure and visit Riverside Cemetery this Memorial Day. A lot of work goes into preparing the grounds for this holiday remembrance at the Veteran’s Memorial Stage. There are many out-of-town former Albion residents or their descendants who come here to place flowers on the graves of their ancestors during this special weekend. Show them our Albion hospitality and welcome them back to town if you run into them. Each year at this time we feature one of Albion’s Civil War veterans, who observed Decoration Day many years ago. Levi Warren (1844-1922) was a prominent Albion citizen in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A native of Fenton, Michigan, he graduated from Flint high School. Levi attended the University of Michigan but left that institution in 1862 to join the 4th Michigan Cavalry, Company F. He was in active service until May 18, 1864 when he was wounded in battle at Kingston, Georgia. His horse was shot dead underneath him and he suffered injuries with a gunshot in the left leg. Levi was thereby transferred to the 27th Michigan Infantry where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, and was a member of the regiment that captured Jefferson Davis. Levi served until the end of the War and left the service with the rank of Captain. Following the War, Levi married Mary Garrison of Marshall in 1866. He held several newspaper, and administrative, and public jobs for several years thereafter. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1873, and subsequently practiced in several places. He came to Albion in 1891 and continued his practice of law, combining it with real estate. His law office was located upstairs in the Irwin Block above the Commercial & Savings Bank on the southeast corner of Superior and Erie Sts. He was elected Albion’s Justice of the Peace in 1899 and served in that position for several years. In 1905-06 he served as the United States Special Pension Agent in Tiffin, Ohio and returned to Albion in 1907. Levi was on the personal staff of the Hon. Washington Gardner of the Grand Army of the Republic, and served as the national GAR inspector-general for one year beginning in1914. He was commander of our local E. W. Hollingsworth post No. 210 for five terms, and served in several positions in the state GAR organization. He passed away at his home, 105 E. Oak St. on Sunday, January 8, 1922, with burial in Riverside Cemetery in Block 113, next to his wife who had passed away in 1920. From our Historical Notebook this week we present a photograph of Levi Warren wearing his GAR hat. Levi Warren 1844-1922)
All text copyright, 2024 © all rights reserved Frank Passic
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