Any tips for common last names?

[lupaglupa]

At one stage their officila designation was "dismounted cavalry" - I think they just didn't have the horses and gear they needed

 

[RobertP]

At one stage their officila designation was "dismounted cavalry" - I think they just didn't have the horses and gear they needed

Came across this video from @Championhilz on the experience of the 38th at Vicksburg from a diary of one of its soldiers. Turns out Jeff had family members serve in the regiment, did his Masters thesis on it and later wrote a book about, so he's the go-to guy.

 

[lupaglupa]

@Championhilz is a go to guy for lots of good info!

 

[Championhilz]

Barney Smith's Mississippi Confederate Grave Registration Card. I think the person who gave the information for the card must have been mistaken as to the unit he served in. There is no evidence he served in the 36th or 11th Mississippi. So far the best bet appears to be the soldier in the 38th Mississippi.

 

[lupaglupa]

A good example of why everyone needs to double check records and be certain before they accept any fact.

 

[GregM]

Wow, gotta know where y'all are finding this stuff. Hitting archive reseaech rooms or is any of this online.

 

[RobertP]

Wow, gotta know where y'all are finding this stuff. Hitting archive reseaech rooms or is any of this online.

For me it's online. Fold3, Ancestry, Find a Grave, etc. Others do more sophisticated searches.

 

[lupaglupa]

Everything I did here is online. I have done onsite research in things for my own family and you may also want to do that. But it's amazing how much you can find online.

@GregM you earlier said some of the new info we found didn't match up with what you previously knew. Where, aside from the tombstone, are the mismatches?

 

[GregM]

Mostly going on the widow's pension above... by the time it got to our generation we just knew he was a soldier in the war and a state legislator and that was it. So it'd be real nice for pension, tombstone, and muster rolls to all line up and point at the same place.

 

[lupaglupa]

Mostly going on the widow's pension above... by the time it got to our generation we just knew he was a soldier in the war and a state legislator and that was it. So it'd be real nice for pension, tombstone, and muster rolls to all line up and point at the same place.

The tombstone being out of step is frustrating - especially as it is the one most folks will see. The pension applications don't match up, which could explain the confusion that led to the tombstone. The service records do match the one pension application.

Have you tried newspapers? An obituary would be helpful.

 

[RobertP]

Mostly going on the widow's pension above... by the time it got to our generation we just knew he was a soldier in the war and a state legislator and that was it. So it'd be real nice for pension, tombstone, and muster rolls to all line up and point at the same place.

As I was trying to find the answer I did run across some information that indicated his father died when he was 11 IIRC and that his mother died a year later. I felt as though he had a tough road as a youngster.

 

[GregM]

The tombstone being out of step is frustrating - especially as it is the one most folks will see. The pension applications don't match up, which could explain the confusion that led to the tombstone. The service records do match the one pension application.

Have you tried newspapers? An obituary would be helpful.

Need to find what papers were running then and who may hold copies. Was hoping an article on the election he was in would clear it up.

 

[lupaglupa]

Need to find what papers were running then and who may hold copies. Was hoping an article on the election he was in would clear it up.

I did a quick search at newspapers.com and did not find anything that mentioned his service. There were a few nice things printed when he ran for office.

I was thinking about this yesterday and I wondered - the card requesting the tombstone has a hand written note stating they got a statement from a "comrade" in 1930. It appears that this was needed to confirm the claim (because obviously there were no clear records, just as we found). @Bob Velke do you know if NARA would have kept that statement?

 

[Bob Velke]

I was thinking about this yesterday and I wondered - the card requesting the tombstone has a hand written note stating they got a statement from a "comrade" in 1930. It appears that this was needed to confirm the claim (because obviously there were no clear records, just as we found). @Bob Velke do you know if NARA would have kept that statement?

I've never seen the collection (M1916) to contain anything other than the cards. No supporting documents. Could the comrade's statement be attached to the original? I think it is unlikely but, having been digitized, the originals were either destroyed or stored in "the vault". Retrieving it from there would require a very compelling argument and something akin to a Presidential Proclamation. That may be an exaggeration ... but only slightly.

 

[lupaglupa]

I've never seen the collection (M1916) to contain anything other than the cards. No supporting documents. Could the comrade's statement be attached to the original? I think it is unlikely but, having been digitized, the originals were either destroyed or stored in "the vault". Retrieving it from there would require a very compelling argument and something akin to a Presidential Proclamation. That may be an exaggeration ... but only slightly.

Hmmm.... that seems an unlikely avenue to pursue. I'm not sure it would be worth trying since the memories of a former soldier written 65 years after the War might not be perfectly accurate.

 

[lupaglupa]

I had the bright idea that there might be an obituary in Confederate Veteran magazine but I checked 1896 and 1897 and didn't see him.