USN 1st Class Fireman Lee Muterspaugh was born in Andalusia, Alabama on May 14, 1894, the son of Benjamin Franklin "Frank" Muterspaugh (1843-1900) and Angeline Malissa Aaron (1860-1941). His father was a Union veteran of the 29th Indiana Infantry Regiment (Engineers) in the Civil War and depending on his enlistment date may have fought in the bloody battles of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga. The family showed up in Pensacola before 1885 and after his death in 1900, Malissa would remarry A. George Ward in Escambia County on March 13, 1911. She would also apply for his military pension in 1916 and move to Portland, in Walton County, Florida sometime before 1920. There is no mention of George with her, however.
As for their son, Lee left his home at 331 East Intendencia Street in Pensacola and made his way to New York. There, he would eventually enlist in the US Navy on December 8, 1917 at the naval recruiting station. In those days, a recruit was sent to a "receiving ship" for basic training before being transferred afterwards to their permanent duty station. However, by this time he had already been promoted to a 1st Class Fireman within a short period of time. Perhaps, he had obtained experience with his brother Arthur Cleveland Muterspaugh, who was a veteran fireman in Pensacola. Regardless, it appears that Lee became involved with heroin, which in turn brought about his death by overdose on February 27, 1918. His family was notified, and his body was shipped to Walton County, Florida. Even though his mother lived in Bay County she chose to bury him beside his father in the Hatcher Cemetery in Freeport.
Angeline would pass away in 1941 in Bay County, Florida but there is no record of her burial site. Another son Arthur Cleveland Muterspaugh (1884-1963) passed away in 1963 and was buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Panama City, Florida.
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