page_title: Henry C. Welles
section_title: Presidential proclamation
hierarchical_section_title: Henry C. Welles / Presidential proclamation
caption_attribution_description: English: William H. Burton House, 35 E. Main St. Waterloo This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 96000675
context_page_description: Henry Carter Welles was an American druggist and businessman. He is thought of as one of the founders of Memorial Day, along with former Union General John B. Murray.
  Welles was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut in 1821 to Henry and Sila Welles. She was a distant cousin of her husband and shared the same last name. Henry’s father died when he was young and his mother moved the family to Waterloo, New York where her brother Gardner Welles worked as a physician.
  Welles went into the drug business with his cousin, Dr. Samuel R. Welles by 1855. He married Josephine Shotwell in 1857 and had two children, Sterling Hadley Welles and Helen Lavanche Welles, both of whom died in 1861. His cousin left the firm in 1858 but Henry continued with the drug store until he died in Waterloo on July 7, 1868.
context_section_description: President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed Waterloo the birthplace of the holiday following the passage of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 587 in 1966. The resolution and proclamation were based on research done by eight members of the community who comprised the Research Committee of the Waterloo Memorial Day Centennial Committee. Their purpose was to promote the centennial of the founding of Memorial Day on May 5, 1866. The holiday was supposedly conceived by Welles, who communicated the idea to Murray, the county clerk who helped carry it out.
caption: William H. Burton house, location of the National Memorial Day Museum, Waterloo, New York
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