Could this be the same soldier?

MSchalow

Cadet
Joined
Oct 3, 2019
I'm currently researching an ancestor by the name of Ephraim G. Staples who was in the Civil War.

He was born in Bytown, Canada about 1841; family moved to Fayette, Iowa in 1860.

I found two records of an Ephraim G. Staples that could be him but then both are dead-ends.

#1 Record
Enlisted as a Private on 18 May 1861 at the age of 19
Enlisted in Company A, 3rd Infantry Regiment Iowa on 10 June 1861
Received a disability discharge on 22 November 1861 in St Louis, MO

#2 Record
Enlisted May 19, 1862 at Dubuque, Iowa
12th Infantry C
Deserted Sept 3 1862
No age or birth location is listed on his enlistment record

Additionally, there is an Ephraim G. Staples that enlisted in Ohio a year later:

Enlisted as a Private on 06 April 1863 at the age of 20
Enlisted in Company H, 124th Infantry Regiment Ohio on 06 April 1863
Killed on 19 September 1863 in Chickamauga, GA
Cannot verify birth place

Any thoughts as to finding this guy? I can't find him in census records or any death record for him. Could they all be the same guy?

Thanks in advance! Marla
 
I'm currently researching an ancestor by the name of Ephraim G. Staples who was in the Civil War.

He was born in Bytown, Canada about 1841; family moved to Fayette, Iowa in 1860.

I found two records of an Ephraim G. Staples that could be him but then both are dead-ends.

#1 Record
Enlisted as a Private on 18 May 1861 at the age of 19
Enlisted in Company A, 3rd Infantry Regiment Iowa on 10 June 1861
Received a disability discharge on 22 November 1861 in St Louis, MO

#2 Record
Enlisted May 19, 1862 at Dubuque, Iowa
12th Infantry C
Deserted Sept 3 1862
No age or birth location is listed on his enlistment record

Additionally, there is an Ephraim G. Staples that enlisted in Ohio a year later:

Enlisted as a Private on 06 April 1863 at the age of 20
Enlisted in Company H, 124th Infantry Regiment Ohio on 06 April 1863
Killed on 19 September 1863 in Chickamauga, GA
Cannot verify birth place

Any thoughts as to finding this guy? I can't find him in census records or any death record for him. Could they all be the same guy?

Thanks in advance! Marla
Hmm From a quick search, it looks like guys were recruited from Fayette into both of those regiments, though the second one might be the most promising. 12th Regiment, Company C was recruited out of Fayette, according to family search.


My instinct is the Ohio man is likely not him, but I wouldn't completely rule him out. I had an ancestor from Maryland who served in a Missouri regiment, and I still can't puzzle that one out. It's a shame there's not more to go on to confirm.

Have you requested all 3 CSRs?

Have you found any evidence he was married?
 
Well, the short answer is yes, it could be the same guy. But you'd have to do some work to either prove or disprove it. It's not unheard of at all to have a guy desert one regiment and then re enlist in a different regiment. I looked around on Fold3, but there's no way of knowing from there if he was the same guy or not. He didn't have an entry in the pension index, likely because he died during the war and was unmarried at the time.

I looked through the roster books for Iowa and Ohio, and found him in both. Looks like he enlisted in Iowa when he was 19, and in Ohio when he was 20. (I found no reference of him being in the 12th Iowa though). The Iowa roster says he was born in New York, but the Ohio book doesn't give that much detail.

There are some other resources that could be helpful, but they're not online. You could get the service records for both men. They often will tell the age of the soldier at enlistment and other biographical information on them.

If he deserted, there is a possibility that he was court martialed, so you could look into those to see if there are records of that too.

I would normally suggest looking at census records from before the war to see if there were two men of the same age-- one in Iowa and one in Ohio. You should check the 1860 and 1850 censuses if you haven't already.

--Brian

His entry in the 3rd Iowa Roster first, and then the Ohio roster below it:
Staples, Ephraim A 3 IA.jpg

Staples, Ephraim H 124 OH.jpg
 
Thanks Zella - I have found no evidence that he was married. The only info I have is the 1850 Canada Census, 1860 Iowa census and then the roster lists. Plus, a newspaper blurb saying that he died (if he indeed is the Ohio soldier). My thought is that he joined the war in Iowa and then was discharged due to disability. Then he joined again and deserted. Then, he joined again in Ohio and was killed. It's possibly. His father and three brothers were in Civil War units. Maybe he felt guilty and rejoined. TBD.
 
I had an ancestor from Maryland who served in a Missouri regiment, and I still can't puzzle that one out.

I had one who was living on 5th Ave in NYC who served in SC!
(Granted, he was born in SC but they moved to NYC when he was pretty young...)
 
There’s an 18 year old with that name from Eliot, ME who got badly hurt at the Navy dry dock in NH in October of 1862.
 
Back
Top