Help with an obituary?

Michael O'Neil

Michael O'Neil

Private
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Location
Liverpool, UK
Does anyone have access to copies of the New York Herald? Have tried a few sources but it appears that some periods are more difficult to find than others. I'm looking to get a copy of the obituary or death notice for the following that I found in the index listings on ancestry.

O'Neil, John USN 06/23/62.

My ancestor John O'Neil died on the USS Port Royal and was buried at Calvary Cemetery 06/24/1862. I'm sure the notice was for him
 
Thanks a lot for that - I'd not seen that site - pity about the date though. I've had real difficulty finding anywhere that has a complete or nearly complete set - and going through each places indexes can be difficult. Someone on Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness checked at NY Public Library which is 'supposed' to have a lot but all of June 1862 was missing!
 
O'Neill gravesites!!!

See Link to O'Neill gravesites including John O'Neill and his father James O'Neill

http://genforum.genealogy.com/ireland/cork/messages/2328.html

USS Port Royal picture at
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-p/portroyl.htm

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is for male descendants of Union Veterans
http://www.suvcw.org/member.htm

Since your ancestor was a resident of New York-Consider joining NEW York Camp?
http://suvcw.org/ny/deptny.htm

Membership at large:
http://suvcw.org/mal.htm

DUVCW {Daugthers of Union Veterans of the Civil War} Female descendants of Union Veterans
http://www.duvcw.org/membership.html
 
Hi Noman,

Thanks for the links - the gravesite info on find a grave is mine. A lady called Donna had created the site with basic dates but I already had all the info from death certificates and from Calvary so we put 2 and 2 together and she gave me the site to maintain - which I expanded with the rest of the details and someone on RAOGK took the photos. I've been doing the family tree for years and knew about John's burial at Calvary but had never worked out how he came to be buried there (thought casualties would be buried near to battlefield, etc) plus I'd been unable to find any military records or branch of service. Stroke of luck - his mother made a pension application and I discovered 140 pages of genealogical gold at footnote including his short service details (died 2 months after enlisting of typhoid) and a death certificate by the assistant surgeon.

The Port Royal images are the ONLY ones that seem to exist - I've been through any photographic collections I can find in case it appears in the background or as an unidentified ship - alas no joy.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War info, in particular New York is interesting as someone pointed out that an application could be made for a headstone/marker but I'd need help in NYC (I'm in Liverpool, UK) and that they or a Veterans Association might be a party who could assist. I'm not sure how much work this would entail or if it's necessary. The marker that is there was erected by the mother who died in 1883 - it's a family plot of 2 graves - mother/father in one and 6 siblings in the other. I get the impression that the simple "O'Neil" engraving is possibly a statement to say this is as much as she wanted - so a case of best left undisturbed?

Maybe documentation on a National Register would suffice.

Anyhow I'll keep trying to get a copy of hopefully what is an obituary from the New York Herald. I'm absolutely sure the index reference is about him but it may be just be a simple notification - date of death, time and location of funeral.
 
Maybe the Indiana State Library can help you:

http://www.archive.org/details/newyorkherjul241862newy

The New York herald (1840)
Volume: July 24, 1862
Publisher: New York [N.Y.] : James Gordon Bennett
Language: English
Call number: 71200908500567
Digitizing sponsor: State of Indiana through the Indiana State Library
Book contributor: Lincoln Financial Collection
Collection: lincolncollection; americana
Notes: Damaged paper and faded print.

Description
Issues for Sept. 22, 1840-Jan. 31, 1920 called also whole no. 1566-30,476
Weekly eds.: Weekly herald (New York, N.Y. : 1836), 1840-<1888>, and: Dollar weekly herald (New York, N.Y.), <1849>, and: Family herald, 1857-<1862>
Steamer eds.: Herald for Europe, 1846-<1848>, and: California herald (New York, N.Y.), 1848-<1849>, and: New York herald (New York, N.Y. : California ed.), <1852-1858>, and: New York herald (New York, N.Y. : Pacific ed.), <1864-1865>
Merged with Sun (New York, N.Y. : 1916) to form Sun and the New York herald
18
 
Before I start did anyone see this on another thread - brilliant:

http://localhistory.morrisville.edu/sites/miller.html

I notice the link sent was for 24 July 1862 - I'm after 23 June 1862 - the closest so far has been atuttle32's 26 June 1862.

As for the indexes at Indiana State Library I'm afraid it's the same as most places I've checked. The indexes will say for example they hold editions from 1848-1852 and 1860-1895 but when you go deeper one finds they only hold say so many from one year, then a full year, one edition for another year, etc and each site's index I've checked doesn't come close to having complete holdings for June 1862. As I said earlier even the NY Public Library which is 'supposed' to have a lot has all of June 1862 missing!

In addition - believe me Borderruffian - I'd already gone through page after page of the casualty lists published in the NY Times - boy that was painstaking given the font size. I'd done this because prior to last November when I found the pension application confirming he served in the Navy, my only confirmed fact was that my ancestor was buried 24 June 1862 at Calvary and that he was a Civil War casualty. I didn't know then what branch of service but I'd wrongly suspected Union army thinking he and two brothers had enlisted together (I knew one of the brothers was in the Army from his obituary). I'd gone through all the lists I could find for the 2 months prior to burial and checked the Civil War Soldiers indexes on Ancestry to find a John O'Neil confirmed as dead from a NY regiment during the same period - found one possibility, ordered the file but couldn't be sure as there was no corroborative evidence in the file I could link to the family - address, relative, etc. Plus I could never work out in my mind how he actually came to be buried at Calvary - surely he'd have been buried at a battlefield cemetery - would the army have shipped bodies back to NY City? I'd even checked the lists for injured soldiers sent back to hospital thinking maybe he died in NY but there was no death certificate for him in both NY City or State which would have been the issuing authority had that event occured.

Anyhow there's certainly no obituary for him in the NY Times. I could try the Gaelic American which was a NY publication that I know the family used for other purposes but I thought I'd ask about the NY Herald one first given I have an indexed reference for it.

I never thought it would be this tricky!

Cheers once again folks for the replies.
 
Okay, maybe this will help, maybe not. You've mentioned that John O'Neil contracted typhoid and was transferred from Port Royal to Ben Morgan. At that time Ben Morgan was at anchor at Hampton Roads serving as the Naval Hospital for the Norfolk Yard while the Army used the shore Norfolk Yard Hospital.. She stayed a Hampton Roads until sometime in June of 62, when she was given over to ordnance and supply storage and the Navy Medical staff converted a warehouse on the yard to a Naval Hospital.

Sick and wounded were often transferred to Steamships of the U.S. Sanitary Commission that plied between Fortress Monroe NY and Hampton Roads/James River/Pamunkey River there is a possibilty that O'Neil could have been transferred to a Sanitary Commission Vessel such as SS Daniel Webster and died enroute to New York or shortly after arriving in New York which would explain why he's not buried in Virginia, and being from New York his body was released for burial to family or friends.

USSC links:

http://legacy.www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/faids/usscrg12.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_Ships_of_the_Sanitary_Commission

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/on-the-homefront/culture/nurse.html

http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofuniteds00stiluoft/historyofuniteds00stiluoft_djvu.txt

Records of death could also be attested by Military Surgeons, Naval Surgeons and USSC Surgeons, if this was the case the attestation would have been logged in the ships log or Fortress Monroe Records or the parent command records. They didn't always gain certification by the state unless needed and applied for by next of kin for tax purposes etc. A Surgeons declaration was all that was needed for pension.
 
Hi Borderruffian - thanks for the info - interesting reading - just where do you dig up this obscure and quite specific info ???

Anyhow as regards John's death, the attestation of J.H. Macomber, Assistant Surgeon, USN is that he was admitted to the Ben Morgan on the 15th June 1862 from the Port Royal where the 'hospital ticket' showed he'd first been admitted ill on the 10th June 1862. "He died on the 20th day of June 1862 at 4.30 O'clock PM"

That's pretty detailed so I know for certain where and when he died. As I said earlier during my previous research when I never knew what branch of service John had been in, I never had a satisfactory explanation (in my mind) as to how he'd come to be buried at Calvary. Compare what happened during the early stages of WW1 with the British. In the beginning casualties were shipped back to the UK for burial but this soon stopped for two reasons - firstly it was bad for moral and secondly there were logistical implications and given the increasing numbers during that horrific conflict one could understand why. So casualties were buried were they died. In my case once I found out that John had been in the Navy and I had the attestation of death I considered my quest complete but I suppose the question could still be asked. Did the Navy deal with their own different to the Army? Did the family make their own arrangements? Is John's case that unusual? I don't know - I'm just grateful I know as much as I do.

Lastly, I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into this but I notice that the attestation in the pension file was made by J.H. Macomber. He hasn't dated it and there's no date stamp on it indicating when it was added to the file but I can see from the documents that the application was first made by John's mother in October 1873 and awarded late 1877 - 11 years after John's death. J.H. Macomber was the actual Assistant Surgeon on the Ben Morgan in 1862 and so he would most likely have been the person to filled in the original death record. I have been in touch with descendants of J.H. Macomber and forwarded them a copy of this attestation purely for their family connection given that it is in his handwriting. So was he still Assistant Surgeon 11 years later, would he have been required to have transcribed the info from the original Ben Morgan log into an attestation, could not a clerk have done this or was it just luck that it was the same person. Not really important questions - just curiosities.

Anyhow thanks again for the info.
 
It appears Macomber was a Passed Assistant Surgeon by 1865 aboard the St. Louis.

http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/cw/sasquad1.htm



ST. LOUIS, (3d rate.)

Commander, G. H. Preble.
Lieutenant, William F. Stewart.
Acting Master, S. W. Hadley.
Acting Ensigns, Hazard Marsh, Henry Pease, jr., S. S. Minor, and Fred. Wood.
Acting Master's Mate, F. L. Bryan.
Passed Assistant Surgeon, J. H. Macomber.
Paymaster, J. S. Post.
Acting Boatswain, George Brown.
Gunner, G. P. Cushman.
Sailmaker, I.E. Crowell.
 
Hi Borderruffian,

The following is a selective extract of the log of the Port Royal sent to me by M.E. Wolf on another thread (he sent the log in it's entirety). I've no doubt you folks have had previous correspondence!

Navy O.R.-- Series I--Volume 7 [S# 7]
North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
From March 8 To September 4, 1862. pp. 696-750
Abstract log of the U. S. S. Port Royal.

June 11.--At 5:30 a.m. a small skiff, containing four sailors, came down the river; deserters from Drewry's Bluff; were sent on board the Galena.
June 16.--At 8:30 a.m., steaming up the river in company with the Galena, were fired at from rifle pits, which we returned with howitzers. At 4:10 p.m. fired rifle gun to drive rebels from their position in the woods. Came to anchor below City Point.

I've compared the log of the Port Royal with the attestation signed by J. H. Macomber, who was the Assistant Surgeon on the hospital ship USS Ben Morgan.

The attestation says: His hospital ticket states that he was admitted to treatment on the 10th of June 1862 on board the Port Royal and that the disease originated in the line of duty.
He was admitted to the Ben Morgan on 15th of June from the US Steamer Port Royal affected with Febris Typhoides. He died on the 20th day of June 1862 at 4 half O'clock PM. So he's definitely on the Port Royal on the 10th June until 15th June when he was transferred.

Inconveniently there's a gap in the Port Royal log between May 28 and June 11 so for the date he was admitted sick June 10 - still on the Port Royal the closest date is:
June 11.--At 5:30 a.m. a small skiff, containing four sailors, came down the river; deserters from Drewry's Bluff; were sent on board the Galena. So one day after being admitted sick on the Port Royal they encounter deserters who were sent on board the Galena. What position were these two ships - sailing up or down river?

And then the date he was admitted to the Ben Morgan June 15 the closest date is:
June 16.--At 8:30 a.m., steaming up the river in company with the Galena, were fired at from rifle pits, which we returned with howitzers. At 4:10 p.m. fired rifle gun to drive rebels from their position in the woods. Came to anchor below City Point.

I know that for this period the Ben Morgan was anchored back down river in Hampton Roads.

Theory one:
At first glance it looks as if June 11th the Port Royal and Galena are sailing 'up' river as they meet deserters coming 'down the river' - i.e. in the other direction. Then between this date and 15th June they turn back and sail down river to Hampton where on the 15th June O'Neil is transferred to the Ben Morgan. Then on 16th June the Port Royal is again up river with the Galena near City Point. O'Neil could have been transferred early on the 15th June giving the Port Royal time to sail back up river either with the Galena or at least to rendezvous with her if it was only the Port Royal that sailed back down river.

Theory two:
The Port Royal and Galena never sailed back down river at all and that casualties/sick were transferred by other transports going down river.

So I need to check how far up river City Point is to see if theory one is viable and also to check the log of the Galena to see if it contains it's positions for this period - hopefully it will say whether it was with the Port Royal. For what it's worth (being ex Royal Navy and a native of Liverpool) I might check to see how affected the James River is by tides - the river here in Liverpool has an average tidal difference of 8 metres meaning the large ships can't make it up river to some of the docks until the tide permits - not sure if the vessels concerned here had such deep draughts for this to be a major factor.

Finally as for J. H. Macomber - I've found various references to him - NY Times, local history - even a descendant with whom I've passed on the attestation - I think he was originally from Maine and he appeared to have been a very humane and compassionate man.
 
Thanks Borderruffian for the charts and the ebook info. I knew I'd seen the latter somewhere before but could I find it again! Anyhow I've gone through it all and based the following on the info contained.

Right the distance as crow flies from Fort Monroe (Hampton) to City Point is 58 miles (doesn't look that much less than the river distance so the following is there or there about). The Port Royal's maximum speed (Wiki) is given as 9 knots (10.5 mph) which I doubt she'd sail at given navigation channels, blockages and the circumstances of war. Even so this journey would take approximately 5-6 hours at this speed. At a more realistic 5 knots (nearly 6 mph) we are talking about 10 hours - both options would still give her time to be at Hampton on the 15th and to have made rendezvous with the Galena on the 16th.

Had a quick look at the tide chart and saw a mean rise and fall of around 3 feet for the whole river which given the river depths would only come into effect around the shoal areas and some of the channels. The Port Royal had a draft of 9 feet (Wiki) so add on the mean 3 feet and we're talking about avoiding areas of the river with a depth of only 12 feet. The Port Royal in this navigable waterway would try and maintain an average draft to make up for times when she was fully laden or light - they achieve this by taking on ballast. The bottom line (naval pun intended) is that it's safe to say that the tides had little or no affect other than increasing or reducing speed whereas the navigation channels did. When the Aroostook, Monitor, Port Royal and Noagatuck moved up river around May 16th they were reported as 'getting aground several times'. This makes me think that they would have sailed at a more cautious 5 knots (or less).

As for the Port Royal's position - it's still unclear as to her movements and we'll probably never know. Looking at the deck reports/correspondence for the Galena we have the following:

May 24th at City Point.
June 7th at Sturgeontown (but it's clear she is in need of repairs and that they want to take her to sea to Wilmington but that they require favourable weather for this).
June 17th still at Sturgeontown where she is relieved by the Monitor which has been ordered up river on the 14th - setting sail the 15th. The Galena's log says she is accompanied by the Port Royal on the voyage back 'down river' (so after the 17th).

The Monitor's log does not mention whether she sailed 'up river' with the Port Royal 15th - 17th June.

So a discrepency - on the 16th the Port Royal's log says she was steaming 'up river' with the Galena and yet accoring to the Galena's log the Galena was at Sturgeontown from the 7th to the 17th after which she sailed 'down river' with the Port Royal.

One thing seems apparent - the Port Royal appears to be sailing up and down river quite frequently - some references talk about her having only one day's coal supply and the need to keep her fully stocked with ordnance.

My gut feeling is that John O'Neil was probably taken directly off the Port Royal rather than by another transport however it depends on the interpretation of the phrase "admitted to the Ben Morgan on 15th of June from the US Steamer Port Royal" in J. H. Macomber's attestation. It could mean directly from or if by means of another transport simply that that was the ship he was assigned to/from.

Anyhow given the few gaps in all the logs I've been unable to say which for sure.
 
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