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Emigrants arrival

Belgians in America

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	Enlisted	Oshkosh on September 17, 1861; mustered out On October 14, 1864. Re-enlisted  46th  Wisconsin infantry on February 10, 1865
	Discharged	mustered out September 27, 1865 in Nashville, Tennessee
	Height	5 feet 3 1/2 inches
	Complexion
	Hairs	brown
	Eyes	grey
	Born
	Parents
	Married
	Death
	Children
	Occupation

Biography :

Peter (Pierre François Joseph) Decramer was born January 14, 1833 in Malèves-Sainte-Marie-Wastines, Brabant. He emigrated, 22 y.o.,  in 1855 on Manbhattan arrival in New York on October 2, 1855 with his parents Henry and Marie-Ursule (Dupuis) Decramer. With him, also his brothers and sisters: Jean 20 y.o., Henry 18 y.o., Flora 11 y.o., Charles 10 y.o., Victor 7 y.o. and Anne-Marie 3 y.o. They settled in Red River, Kewaunee County, Wisconsin. 

After the war Peter married Josephine Josette Grignon, born January 1, 1841 at Little Chute, Brown County, Wisconsin. They settled in Oshkosh, Winnebago County.  In 1870 a saw mill worker, in 1880 and in later records,a painter. They had seven children: Mary born 1866, Virginia born 1868, Rosalia Susanna born 1870, Appolina Mariam "Paulina" born 1874, Elizabeth Mariam Matilda born 1876, Josephine Mariam born 1878 and Charles born 1880. 

Peter Decramer lived in Oshkosh till a least 1893 where he is listed in the Oskosh Directory living with his daughter Rosa.  In 1896 he was at the Veteran's home. He is listed at the Veteran's Home in 1900 as "divorced"(?). In 1905 he was living with his daughter Virginia Abbey at Menasha.  In the 1900 census, his wife is listed as living in the town of Grand Chute, Appleton City, Outagamie County with her youngest daughter Josephine.  

His wife died at Menasha on October 30, 1908.  The Oshkosh Daily Northwestern publishing the following affidavit: " Mrs. Josephine DeCramer died this morning at 7:30 o'clock at her home on Tayco street, of dropsy, after an illness extending over a period of fifteen years. Deceased was born at Oshkosh in 1841 and lived there until fourteen years ago[1894], when she moved to Appleton and from that city to Menasha[1899] five years later. Surviving are her husband, Peter DeCramer and seven children as follow: Mrs. Phillip Hoffman, Mrs David Abbey, and Charles DeCramer of Menasha, Mrs. Elizabeth Laux, and Mrs. Martin Cahill of Appleton, Mrs. Frank Harig of Minneapolis, and Mrs. Eugene Ferney of Neenah." She is buried in the St. Mary's Cemetery, Menasha.  The affidavit is wrong on a least one point as Josephine Decramer was living in Appleton in 1900. I supppose she moved to Menasha when Josephine married in 1902 a Philip Hoffman of Menasha. 

Peter Decramer death occurred on march 12, 1911 at the Veterans' Home. He is buried in the Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery at King, section 6, row1, site 3. During the war Peter Decramer wrote a diary from October 1861 through October 1865. The diary provides a daily description of Decramer's movements and his impressions of the war. Peter's Civil War diary is located in the archives of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. A English translation from the original French and transcript is located in the information files of the archives at the Oshkosh Public Museum. On the first page of the diary is a note "given to Virginia Abbey from her father Peter Decramer and now given to Shuley Radtke from her grandma Virginia Abbey".

Sources :
J. H. Mertens : "The Second Battle"
Belgische Emigratie 1855