Charles Royal Tyler 1821-1878
Posted April 27, 2021
Charles Royal Tyler
1821- 1878
Woodlawn Cemetery
Good Day fine citizens of Brown County, my name is Charles R Tyler. I was born in 1821 in Canandaiqua, New York. In my early 20s, I heard about an up and coming community in Wisconsin Territory called Green Bay. So, like many, I packed up my belongings and took my savings and headed by steamer to Green Bay. I was shocked when I first landed in my new home, the docks had grass growing between the board and the town was not as large I had thought. I decided to stay and took my savings and opened a general merchandise store, which I did a fairly good business. I soon sold that store and invested my money into exporting fish and other items back east.
On September 10, 1846, I married a beautiful woman named Elizabeth Cotton, the oldest daughter of Captain John and Mary Cotton and we began our family. When lumbering started to take off in the 1850s, I purchased a sawmill in the small community of Bay Settlement. When the American Civil War broke out, I wasn’t sure how I would help in the war effort. One day I was talking with Morgan L. Martin, and he was going to into service as a pay master for the army. He convinced me to enlist and work with him. After I enlisted, I became an Assistant Quartermaster stationed near Baltimore. I was in charge of distributing goods to soldiers and their companies.
After my first year in service, I was missing my family, so I had my assistant travel back to Green Bay and escort my family to stay with me in Baltimore. Which upset my oldest daughter Augusta, since she could not see her boyfriend. He surprised us by traveling to visit her in Baltimore, and it was there that my dear daughter got married. Maryland was also the place where we lost one of our daughters, Julia, she passed away, after being with us only a few years. Eventually the family moved back to Green Bay, and I continued my duties in the Quartermaster Department.
I returned to Green Bay in 1866 and soon after became the city’s postmaster, a position held until 1872. My health started to fail and passed away on August 7, 1878, and was buried in the family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery.