Found one....

[lupaglupa]

I guess if the marriage was common law or non-existent it would make sense for the kids to keep their mother's name and not put their father on any records. I would love to find something somewhere official that linked Melger to the family.

But - as fascinating as all this is - we haven't gotten to the original issue which was some record that linked Melger to military service. That I cannot find.

 

[Cactus Jack]

Ok, thanks.

 

[3rd North Carolina]

i know that with my ancestor he he fought under a different name that person that could not fight for whatever reason

 

[Fairfield]

I guess if the marriage was common law or non-existent it would make sense for the kids to keep their mother's name and not put their father on any records. I would love to find something somewhere official that linked Melger to the family.

But - as fascinating as all this is - we haven't gotten to the original issue which was some record that linked Melger to military service. That I cannot find.

There have been cases of children's names being changed to the mother's for reasons of inheritance as well. If the parents were divorced, the mother may have needed financial support from her own family--and that support may have come with a catch.

Melger Ward is on the 1860, 1880, and 1890 (vets) in Wayne County, Missouri. He doesn't appear on the roster of the "regular" 8th MO cavalry--so his unit may have been the 8th MO state cavalry unit (partial roster available through a Family History Center: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/1389671?availability=Family History Library)

Cletis Ellinghouse in Old Wayne identifies Melger McIntyre Ward as a member of the 8th MO. Of course, this is a secondary source and Mr. Ellinghouse's bibliography doesn't seem to be available online. The entire books is available as an EBook for $10 (which is money wasted if the bibliography is vague) but probably can be obtained via inter library loan. Or it might be possible to contact Mr. Ellinhouse (via Xlibris Books) to ask why he was able to make such a statement--he must have had some kind of documentation.

 

[lupaglupa]

There have been cases of children's names being changed to the mother's for reasons of inheritance as well. If the parents were divorced, the mother may have needed financial support from her own family--and that support may have come with a catch.

Melger Ward is on the 1860, 1880, and 1890 (vets) in Wayne County, Missouri. He doesn't appear on the roster of the "regular" 8th MO cavalry--so his unit may have been the 8th MO state cavalry unit (partial roster available through a Family History Center: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/1389671?availability=Family History Library)

Cletis Ellinghouse in Old Wayne identifies Melger McIntyre Ward as a member of the 8th MO. Of course, this is a secondary source and Mr. Ellinghouse's bibliography doesn't seem to be available online. The entire books is available as an EBook for $10 (which is money wasted if the bibliography is vague) but probably can be obtained via inter library loan. Or it might be possible to contact Mr. Ellinhouse (via Xlibris Books) to ask why he was able to make such a statement--he must have had some kind of documentation.

I agree with you that Melger would have been in the state unit - and looking at the service cards for them any number of people could have served and not had it noted. In the 1890 Veterans Census he gives 6 months as his service which is just the sort of short term we sometimes see in these local units. I see this all the time in the South where partisan ranger groups formed during Union occupation
and the men who served in them have no official record.

It's always really hard to decide what the standard should be. I put stuff in my family tree with a concrete record whenever I can. When I have anecdotal records I add those with a note to the effect. The story is always out there so I just keep hoping a better fact will turn up.

 

[Fairfield]

I agree with you that Melger would have been in the state unit - and looking at the service cards for them any number of people could have served and not had it noted. In the 1890 Veterans Census he gives 6 months as his service which is just the sort of short term we sometimes see in these local units. I see this all the time in the South where partisan ranger groups formed during Union occupation
and the men who served in them have no official record.

It's always really hard to decide what the standard should be. I put stuff in my family tree with a concrete record whenever I can. When I have anecdotal records I add those with a note to the effect. The story is always out there so I just keep hoping a better fact will turn up.

That FHS site does have partial rosters of the state milita. I did find a GenWeb/MO listing for Melger Ward--but, alas, I no longer have the notation and Ancestry has redone those RootsWeb sites. (But, if Missouri is like Maine, those GenWeb sites may now be elsewhere; I found it once so I'll keep looking).

My software system has the ability to "grade" the source: (0 for absolutely horrible to 5 for rock-solid). Unfortunately I didn't start off using this mechanism--and it is far too late to rehash it all by this point--but I have color-coded information with less solid sources. Also, I can look at a data source and pretty well judge it's reliability. It is hard to decide on a standard because even primary sources can be wrong. Genealogical standards no longer permit "overwhelming evidence" (though, to be honest, I have used it in very early cases).

 

[Cactus Jack]

Guys I greatly appreciate all the help I'm getting. Thanks!

 

[jarstet]

Having looked over what is on the Web, I'd say that your problem is not the lineage (which seems clear to me) but in the surnames used. The book on Google calls the family's surname "Ward" while there are records that indicate they used "Clubb" (the mother's name). The same people, apparently. This may mean that there was no legal marriage or that, for some reason, the mother's name was preferred; neither would be unusual.

If I were you, I'd say that this is the time to do some local research. Online, look at https://raogk.org/missouri/wayne-county/ (incidentally, if RAOGK) has a physical presence in Wayne County, you're in luck. Another great site for local research is the GenWeb project--the one you want is at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mowayne/ (warning: this organization is strictly volunteer and puts up only what the volunteers are interested in. Ideally, you may need to go there yourself but, if a trip to Missouri is out of the question, you might check with the local historical society (https://www.facebook.com/HistoricalWayneCountyMissouri/) or genealogical society (couldn't find a web site but there are references to it).

Wayne County--who has which records: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Wayne_County,_Missouri_Genealogy

After doing a little searching and reading some of the book mentioned above "Old Wayne: British Memoir" my theory (along with family history knowledge) is that because the Clubb family were either outright slave owners or *Edited* and because Melgar McIntyre Ward served on the Union side, this is why the children took the Clubb name, whether it was for inheritance reasons or not I'm not too sure; all sources say MMW was definitely the father and it was well known and there were several children so maybe it was both. Sarah Clubb had sisters who had children who ALSO took the Clubb name.

At the time Confederate and Union families lived side by side in the Missouri Ozarks and the relationships were splintered. Sarahs children became very well known carpenters in the Wayne County area and there is a small village named Clubb there.