The Nankin Township Historical Society

Plymouth Mail , May 17, 1907 Death was in the familial framework of Newburg in the May 17, 1907 edition of the Plymouth Mail . The most prominent one belonging to Emma Smith Knickerbocker who passed way at the age of 55 and was buried in Newburg Cemetery. The Rev. W. G. Stephens eulogized her, reading from John:14:18, "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you." Other names mentioned are Mrs. William King, Mrs. Alan Gier, Mrs. Sarah Royal, Mrs. Walter LeVan, Mrs. James LeVan, Harry Bassett, Mrs. Reuben Barnes and Glenn Smith.

During the Civil War noted poet Walt Whitman visited battlefield hospitals to give comfort to the maimed, including his own brother. He wrote about many of them in his poetry and prose and eventually wrote in his official capacity for the U. S. government on behalf of veterans receiving pensions. One such recipient was a Nankin farmer named Reuben Farwell (or "little Mitch" as he referred to him in his book "Specimen Days".). Several references refer to both Plymouth and Nan kin, of which Plymouth was a part of said township, as his home but Nankin is the preferred location.  They met in 1864 while Farwell was suffering from a crippling foot injury at Armory Square Hospital in Washington D. C. After spending several months there Farwell was released back to the 1st Michigan Calvary where he finished out his enlistment. The men exchanged letters for a short time afterwards and then rekindled their correspondence in 1875 when Whitman began recollecting on his past f...