Henry Clay Van Vorhes was born on April 18, 1839, in Athens, Ohio. His father, Abraham, was the postmaster in Stillwater and Henry worked there prior to the war. He was 22 years old when the war began. He enlisted in the First Minnesota Infantry on Apr 29, 1861. Henry, often called "Hank", stood 5' 6 1/4" tall. He had a light complexion, gray eyes and brown hair. He was appointed to the rank of corporal in Company B. He was discharged for disability in St Paul on July 21, 1862.

After his discharge he worked a s a clerk in a dry goods store in Stillwater for a man named Thorne. He met Emma Mower about a year before they were married. On Feb. 9, 1865, they were married in Arcola in Washington County. It is seven miles from Stillwater and was where her parents had their home. Henry and Emma had four children, Albert(1866), Edwin(1868), Willis(1870) and May(1872).

His brother, Capt Andrew J Van Vorhes, was a quartermaster at Fort Ridgely, MN. Henry worked there as his deputy for six months after he and Emma were married. Then they returned to Stillwater. Henry was one of the 34 members of Company B who formed the Last Man's Club. Henry was the first man in the club to die. He worked as a clerk in a store and then went to the City Treasurer's office and worked there as a deputy for about two years prior to moving to Alaska.

Emma later wrote, "Henry C. Van Vorhes was not very energetic or ambitious and did not care very much. He didn't get over $60 a month at Stillwater. We had three children then and he was not able to support his family. My mother had been helping me. About a year before he went to Alaska, I went to live with my mother at Arcola, and he continued to live in the home-really my house- in Stillwater. The home was in his name and he failed to keep up the taxes and father paid acculmulated back taxes with the understanding that it was to be put in my name. It was not done, and Henry C. Van Vorhes sold the place without my knowledge and he took the money and went to Alaska."

Henry E. Hayden and his family lived in the house where Henry lived after Emma and the children had moved out. After Henry had sold the house he went with the Hayden family to Sitka, Alaska. He received an appointment as a deputy US Customs Officer, under Henry Haydon, who had become the secretary to Alaska Governor A. P. Swineford.

Henry returned to Minnesota briefly. In the summer of 1877, Henry and his 17 year old son, Willis, traveled from Stillwater to Sitka.

During the month of November 1887, Henry contemplated taking a trip to the Yukon Territory, apparently to establish a gold mining claim. Willis had been with him for three months, but the trip necessitated that he return home. Henry put Willis aboard a steam ship, and sent him home to his mother, brother and sister.

Having sent Willis home, Henry did begin his trip, with two other men, to the Yukon. Dr. C. H. Vorhees, who may have been a relative, was working as a physician and surgeon, for the government at Sitka. Dr Vorhees last spoke with Henry on January 12, 1888, before the trip began. Unfortunately, during the trip, Henry and the two men drowned on the Yakutat River in Alaska. It is believed that this occurred on or about March 26, 1888. They were in a boat, which must have overturned resulting in all of them drowning. After a long time had passed and they had not returned, people in Sitka became concerned. They sent Indians along the river and they found pieces of the boat the men had used. Back home in Stillwater, Adam Marty noted in his notebook just that Henry was "lost at sea".

Sources:

History of the St Croix Valley, p42.

Roster of the First Minnesota Infantry, 1910.

Muster Out Roll of Company B, 1st Minnesota Vols since the War, Compiled in 1919 by Adam Marty, Secretary.

Widows Pension File, Henry C Van Vorhes, National Archives, Wash DC.