William Dingavan was born in 1833 in the state of  Rhode Island. Records reveal he was employed as a blacksmith before the war and resided in the town of Westerly, Rhode Island. He first enlisted, at age 28, into Company I of the 1st Rhode Island Detached Militia, on April 17, 1861. The Rhode Island Regiment was made up of volunteers organized by the Governor at Providence, Rhode Island, under the command of Captain Henry C, Carr, for a three months tour of duty; and reverted back to a militia status when the term expired.  The regiment went to Washington D.C, from April 20th through the 24th of 1861 and served camp duties at Camp Sprague until July 16th, attached to Burnside’s Brigade, Hunter’s Division, McDowell’s Army of Northeast Virginia. In June and July it advanced on Manassas, from July 16th through the 20th, participated in the Battle of Bull Run on July 21st and left for home on July 25th; mustering out and being honorably discharged at Providence, Rhode Island on August 2, 1861.

During August the 3rd. Rhode Island Heavy Artillery was organized at Providence as an official Infantry Unit; later reorganized at Hilton Head, South Carolina, on December 19th. On August 20, 1861 Dingavin enlisted in the 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery and was mustered in as a Sergeant; seeing service in the states of South Carolina, Florida and Georgia. He was listed as being on furlough from December 13th through January 13, 1862, sick in Florida from November 24, 1863 until February 1864, on May 31, 1862 he was promoted to Sergeant Major, on April 9, 1864 commissioned a Second Lieutenant and served with Company D from April 1864. He then served special duty as Provost Marshall from July 31, 1864 until September 1864, was again reported sick from April 1864 until January 1865, transferred to Company A on October 6, 1864, was on detached service at Beaufort, South Carolina in January 1865, on detached duty at Pocataligo, South Carolina in March 1865 and mustered out on August 4, 1865.  Pension records reveal Dingavan contracted malaria during his service in the southern states, which afflicted him later on in life.

Before the war Dingavan married Margaret Conway, who died in Westerly, Rhode Island in November 1861 and he remarried, on February 7, 1866, to Hanna Netherwood from Westerly at the Christ Church Rectory in Westerly, Rhode Island. William and Hanna had a daughter, Hanna Croft, who was born on March 1, 1870 in Putnam, Connecticut.

Sometime after 1870 William and Hanna made the decision to relocate and in 1877 Dingavan arrived in Sydney, Australia with his family, aboard the “Sierra Nevada”, worked in a baking powder factory and as a grocer's assistant in Goulburn, New South Wales. The Goulburn directories for 1882 and 1883 also list Dingavan as having at one time been a local letter carrier. On January 22, 1881 the “Goulburn Herald” news reported that Dingavin had been struck down by severe heat and was forced to terminate his employment. By 1890 they were residing in Newtown, today’s Sydney, and was reportedly in poor health; suffering from fever, ague, an enlargement of the liver and malarial poisoning contracted while in South Carolina during the war. He had been under constant treatment for it for some thirteen years, by Doctor Leslie Hollis and Doctor Gentle. In 1890 William Dingavan and Mrs. H. Gavin were shown living on Bailey Street in Newton; their occupation listed as that of “confectioner”.

William’s wife Hanna made a declaration to the U.S. Invalid Pension board that William had been suffered for some 25 years and had been unable to stand without her assistance. She stated that from September 1890 he had been unable even to undress himself and was totally dependant upon her alone. William was granted a pension, certificate number 669128, which ptovided a small income for him until the U.S. Consulate in Sydney informed the Commissioner of Pensions that William Dingavin had died; on April 5, 1903, in Redfern, Australia. He was buried in the Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney in Section 4, grave number 3859 with his wife Hanna, who had previously died on November 5, 1898.

Dorne Saunders, New South Wales

 “Goulburn Directories”,  1882 and 1883

 “Goulburn Herald”, newspaper, 1881

 National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database

 Rhode Island  Commandery of MOLLUS

 “Sands Directory”, 1890

 Sons of Union Veterans, Rhode Island

 State Records Authority of New South Wales, Shipping Master's Office