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Hi-- thanks for the add to this site. Just discovered CW vet 2nd Gr. Gpa. on Ancestry.com. Stumbling around internet for more info., relatives, & especially any pics. Here is the info I have, both military and general. Any tips. insights, etc. appreciated.

John Dunivan, b.1831, in KY. Signed up with 4th regiment, Calvary, Kentucky (Dec. 1861?) (Last name could have alt. spellings: Donovan, Donovon, Dunnivan, Dunavin) Seems he also lived Missouri for a time, where there were many Dunivans. The only other record I found on him is the 1880 census, showing him still in KY, working as a farmhand w/ a young son (Andy C. Dunivan), no wife.
 
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Welcome to CivilWarTalk, from Wet (and Cold!) Texas.

John Dunivan's Compiled Service Record in the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry (Union) refers back to the file of John Donovan -- but there are two men of that name listed for that regiment, one 21 years old and one 38 years old, neither of which squares with a birth year of 1831.
 

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Hi-- thanks for the add to this site. Just discovered CW vet 2nd Gr. Gpa. on Ancestry.com. Stumbling around internet for more info., relatives, & especially any pics. Here is the info I have, both military and general. Any tips. insights, etc. appreciated.

John Dunivan, b.1831, in KY. Signed up with 4th regiment, Calvary, Kentucky (Dec. 1861?) (Last name could have alt. spellings: Donovan, Donovon, Dunnivan, Dunavin) Seems he also lived Missouri for a time, where there were many Dunivans. The only other record I found on him is the 1880 census, showing him still in KY, working as a farmhand w/ a young son (Andy C. Dunivan), no wife.
Is Andy C. your ancestor? Do you know his mother's name and when she died? Given that Andy has found records for more than one soldier by that name in this regiment, we're going to need more information to figure out which record, if either, is the correct one for your John.
 
John Dunivan, b.1831, in KY. Signed up with 4th regiment, Calvary, Kentucky (Dec. 1861?) (Last name could have alt. spellings: Donovan, Donovon, Dunnivan, Dunavin)
Welcome to the forums.

As Kentucky was a border state, was he in the 4th Confederate or 4th Union KY Cavalry ?

Edited to add:
I just read Andy's post & noticed the same age discrepancy during a very quick search on fold3.
 
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Oh my gosh! For some reason, I never saw the replies here from y'all. Can I set it up to send a notice to my main email? So sorry! Thanks much for the warm welcome!

Well, it's Springtime in the SF Bay area here and I'm finally jumping back to my Dad's line after getting some major finds on my Mom's side earlier this year via Ancestry (and insomnia). To answer questions above, sorry, I did forget to add that it was the Union Calvary, 4th regiment.

I, too, ran into the "other" John Dunivan, a hotel manager . I mistook him as the direct ancestor at first, but then did some more digging and he is not the right one. I know my Dad's family was also in MO, so I'm not sure if this John Dunivan is the exception, and how he ended up in KY. It appears from record that he was born there, however the illiteracy factor and mistakes by census takers has taught me that sometimes what you see is what you get, and sometimes it is totally wrong. The timing does appear to work out according to main records I found with John having an 1831 birth date and 1860 or 61 enlistment date. It seems he mustered out a year or so later. There is a suggestion I came across for the CW record, with a "Dunnivan" spelling. Not a lot to go on.

I do not have ANY info on Andy C.'s mother, nor any birth records for his father John. Only the census and military record. It's a little strange. I suspect the mother may have died in childbirth, given the era. John had a small child as a farmhand in KY after the Civil War, living with the farmer and wife. Not sure if he was dealing with PTSD issues but after looking into the battles fought by his regiment, he was in the early part of the war. Not that any of them were good!

A few of my cousins came to the same brick wall in their searches. Andy C. went on to have several wives and many children, one of whom was my paternal Gpa, Gilbert. He was born in MO, as were his brothers. It leads me to believe that there probably were some relatives in MO that Andy C. knew. It's a guess at this point, I will need to follow that trail.

In general, there is a family story that there were several brothers who came from Ireland but have been in the US for many generations. I'd love to find out more. The many spelling variations, and other circumstances, have left little to go on. I have been reassured by one family member that our name was NOT ever spelled with "O"s (i.e.
Donovan, Donovon).

So that's all I know. Any insights, leads, ideas, etc. on John Dunivan or any aspect of this family line are appreciated!. I was quite excited to see a record one of my ancestors in the CW. My Dad is getting older, and doesn't know much of anything about his roots, as his own Dad ran away from Andy C. when he was a young teen. He had no idea about his Great-Gpa's service.

Thanks everyone!
 
Hi & Welcome!

It's really tough if you only have one census records to go on. If you haven't already done so, I'd suggest seeing if you could order a copy of Andy C's death certificate. Sometimes you get lucky and find a correction name for the mother.

I looked around a bit and there's an Oct 5, 1865 marriage record in Stoddard County MO transcribed as John Dunaven and Emily Nations.
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2Z1-2D1

On the 1850 and 1860 census you can hunt up Emily Nations born about 1844 who is a daughter of George W. Nations in Pike Township, Stoddard County Missouri. Pike township is adjacent to Wayne township in Bollinger County where John and Andy C look to be in 1880. You can track her siblings going forward on Ancestry, but she drops out of sight. I have no idea if it's her, but if you've got nothing else, it's worth looking.

Do you have information from the family that he was in the Civil War, or are you just going by the same name on the record?
 
Hi & Welcome!

It's really tough if you only have one census records to go on. If you haven't already done so, I'd suggest seeing if you could order a copy of Andy C's death certificate. Sometimes you get lucky and find a correction name for the mother.

I looked around a bit and there's an Oct 5, 1865 marriage record in Stoddard County MO transcribed as John Dunaven and Emily Nations.
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2Z1-2D1

On the 1850 and 1860 census you can hunt up Emily Nations born about 1844 who is a daughter of George W. Nations in Pike Township, Stoddard County Missouri. Pike township is adjacent to Wayne township in Bollinger County where John and Andy C look to be in 1880. You can track her siblings going forward on Ancestry, but she drops out of sight. I have no idea if it's her, but if you've got nothing else, it's worth looking.

Do you have information from the family that he was in the Civil War, or are you just going by the same name on the record?


Thank you! I will follow the links. Find a Grave has a pic of Andy C. Dunivan, but the name is spelled really differently that we knew it to be. So the trail would be to get a death certificate from the County offices in the county where he is buried?
So I did a gen'; Ancestry search for Andy C. (my Great Gpa), and it led to the one Census and also his Father, John's name popped up. The two points of connection I have is the military record of John Dunivan from the Civil War, then it is connected to the one census you also saw where he and Andy C. are living in as boarders on a farm in Kentucky. Hope that helps. Another separate question for you, my maternal, ,maternal great gma came from England as a Mormon missionary. is familysearch.org the best place to search for her line? I have her written pedigree chart but thought perhaps it was also in church records. Thank you !
 
Thank you! I will follow the links. Find a Grave has a pic of Andy C. Dunivan, but the name is spelled really differently that we knew it to be. So the trail would be to get a death certificate from the County offices in the county where he is buried?
So I did a gen'; Ancestry search for Andy C. (my Great Gpa), and it led to the one Census and also his Father, John's name popped up. The two points of connection I have is the military record of John Dunivan from the Civil War, then it is connected to the one census you also saw where he and Andy C. are living in as boarders on a farm in Kentucky. Hope that helps. Another separate question for you, my maternal, ,maternal great gma came from England as a Mormon missionary. is familysearch.org the best place to search for her line? I have her written pedigree chart but thought perhaps it was also in church records. Thank you !

Yes, check with the county where he died. You often can find ordering information on the county clerk's website. It's sometimes easier to order them from the state--try searching for the state's vital records. Sometimes there are restrictions in place, such as not releasing death records for 50-75 years after a person's death without proof of family connection.

As for your maternal great grandmother, I'd definitely try both Familysearch as well as Ancestry since it sounds like you're already plugged in there. Also don't discount google searches--I've had a couple of really big breakthroughs by piecing clues together from google searches, and then going to the records for verification.

If you hit a roadblock, the site Find My Past is a good resource across the pond. http://www.findmypast.com/
 
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