Otto Andreae Nesmith – Captain, United States Army

Otto Andreae Nesmith
New York and California
Captain, Signal Corps, United States Volunteers, 20 May 1898
Honorably Discharged 13 May 1899
Appointed Captain, Signal Corps, United States Army, 2 February 1901.
Born 11 March 1852
Died 23 February 1923 at New York, New York

Alo served as Chief Clerk, Office of the Chief Signal Officer of the United States Army, Brigadier General A. W. Greely.  He was the General’s brother-in-law and he lived at 1610 New Hampshire Avenue, Washington, D.C.  NOTE:  Greely’s wife’s maiden name was Nesmith.

Henrietta Hadson Nesmith married Lieutenant Adolphus Washington Greely in June of 1878 in San Diego, and shortly afterward moved to Washington, D.C., where Lieutenant Greely was in the Signal Service. Earlier Mr. Greely had fought in the Civil War. Mrs. Greely returned to live in San Diego, sometime before 1884, when she left for Washington to join her husband, who had been found by a search party in West Greenland. Her twin brothers Loring and Otto accompanied her. The Greely Relief Expedition had been launched to look for survivors of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition which he led from 1881 to 1884.

Otto first visited San Diego in 1878 accompanied by Loring. In 1884, he accompanied Henrietta and Loring to the East Coast. In 1885, he married Miss Blanche Vangran, an actress from Providence, Rhode Island. At that time it was noted that he was a young lawyer in Chicago. Later, by 1897, he became a resident of Washington, D.C. He died in 1923, in New York City and his daughter, Ottola, was executrix of the will and sole person interested in the estate. She received $3,412 in cash and an undivided ½ interest in Lot “D.”

NESMITH, BLANCHE V W/O OTTO A

• DATE OF DEATH: 03/31/1919
• DATE OF INTERMENT: Unknown
• BURIED AT: SECTION E  SITE 3656
  ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
• WIFE OF OA NESMITH – CAPT USA

NESMITH, OTTO
CAPT USA

• VETERAN SERVICE DATES: Unknown
• DATE OF DEATH: 02/22/1923
• DATE OF INTERMENT: Unknown
• BURIED AT: SECTION EW  SITE 3656
  ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard