PVT John Groff
1826-1897
Co. C, 141st Illinois Infantry
CW
Johan Graf was born in Germany, on March 15, 1826, to Adam and Johanna Graf. The family emigrated to America in 1840.
John Groff was a farmer in Elgin when he mustered into Company C, 141st Illinois Infantry Regiment in June of 1864 as one of the “Hundred Days Men”.
As the Civil War entered its fourth year, troops were increasingly difficult to raise in the North, so substantial bounties were offered to induce enlistment and the unpopular draft and substitute system was used to meet quotas. The States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and New Jersey agreed to enlist the state militia into federal service for a period of 100 days to provide short-term troops that would serve as guards, laborers, and rear echelon soldiers to free more veteran units for combat duty, allowing the Union to achieve victory more quickly—hopefully in one hundred or fewer days.
Groff married Wilhelmina “Minnie” Becker in Cook County on March 12, 1874; they raised three children in the Barrington area.
Private John Groff died at his Barrington home on November 15, 1897, and is buried with his wife at Evergreen Cemetery.
-----
Remember. Honor. Teach.
Courtesy of Signal Hill Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
