| The son of
Solomon Waite, Jr. and Eliza (Smith), Alvah was
born in Saratoga Co., New York on 29 Jun 1847. At
the age of 17, he joined the U.S. Army during the
War of the Rebellion and served with Co. E of the
57th Illinois Infantry. According to his Civil
War Detail Report, Alvah was a resident at
Galesburg, Knox Co., IL at the time. He was
listed as five foot ten inches, dark hair, black
eyes and light complexion. At the time he joined
on 10 Feb 1864, he was a farmer. Mustered in at
Chicago by Captain Kenyon for a period of three
years, Alvah served until the end of the war and
was discharged in July of 1865. He did not marry until he
was nearly thirty-one years of age. On March
21st, 1878, in St. Clair Co., Missouri, he took
as his wife, Mary Susan Metcalf. Mary was the
daughter of the Rev. John T. Metcalf and his wife
Susan (Marshall). She was born on 02 Nov 1859 in
the county of her marriage, her father having
been a merchant in Roscoe who became ordained in
1860.
Alvah and Mary
were the parents of seven children: William E.,
Luther A., Hettie, Charles, Edgar, Norman and
Bessie Wait. The left Roscoe sometime after 1910
and went west to California. Mary died in Los
Angeles on 11 Nov 1922 and Alvah on 13 Jun 1934.
They were both laid to rest at Inglewood Park
Cemetery.
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