Hiram (C. ?) Berdan

[CivilWarTalk]

So, I sometimes do deep dives on Biographies and get stuck on silly things.

This time, it's Hiram's middle initial....

So, many sources don't recognize any middle name, nor do any of his Patents show a middle name or initial, and I haven't seen it in his signature either. No Middle initial on his Military Records, nor on his grave stone.

Yet, the middle initial is pretty wide spread if you search for it.

The extra middle "C." is most prevalent when referenced in discussions about the founding of Civil War era Sharpshooter Companies, but in most other topics about Berdan, it is not.

Did someone long ago goof up and give him an initial he never had?

Or did Berdan have a middle name that he was forever trying to hide?

What's going on here?

I've spent over an hour searching and I'm not any closer to an answer....

I'm starting to think it's "C" for Clandestine...

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

View attachment 372632So, I sometimes do deep dives on Biographies and get stuck on silly things.

This time, it's Hiram's middle initial....

So, many sources don't recognize any middle name, nor do any of his Patents show a middle name or initial, and I haven't seen it in his signature either. No Middle initial on his Military Records, nor on his grave stone.

Yet, the middle initial is pretty wide spread if you search for it.

The extra middle "C." is most prevalent when referenced in discussions about the founding of Civil War era Sharpshooter Companies, but in most other topics about Berdan, it is not.

Did someone long ago goof up and give him an initial he never had?

Or did Berdan have a middle name that he was forever trying to hide?

What's going on here?

I've spent over an hour searching and I'm not any closer to an answer....

I'm starting to think it's "C" for Clandestine...

These 3 sources list no middle name:

A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion
- Brevet Brigadier Generals in Blue
- Heitman: Register of United States Army 1789-1903

 

[DixieRifles]

I searched member's Trees on Ancestry and found many attached documents---headstone application, Census records, etc.
No "C".

Passenger List from 1882 listing Berdan Genl Hiram --- just for info.

 

[Virginia Dave]

View attachment 372632So, I sometimes do deep dives on Biographies and get stuck on silly things.

This time, it's Hiram's middle initial....

So, many sources don't recognize any middle name, nor do any of his Patents show a middle name or initial, and I haven't seen it in his signature either. No Middle initial on his Military Records, nor on his grave stone.

Yet, the middle initial is pretty wide spread if you search for it.

The extra middle "C." is most prevalent when referenced in discussions about the founding of Civil War era Sharpshooter Companies, but in most other topics about Berdan, it is not.

Did someone long ago goof up and give him an initial he never had?

Or did Berdan have a middle name that he was forever trying to hide?

What's going on here?

I've spent over an hour searching and I'm not any closer to an answer....

I'm starting to think it's "C" for Clandestine...

Ok I will enlighten you. It was Connie. Just kidding, but it could be something like that. I have a gguncle middle name Shirley. Not kidding. Just like a boy named Sue. Would you want people to know?

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

Ok I will enlighten you. It was Connie. Just kidding, but it could be something like that. I have a gguncle middle name Shirley. Not kidding. Just like a boy named Sue. Would you want people to know?

Former head football coach Johnny Majors of Tennessee had a dad named Shirley and a mom named John!

 

[CivilWarTalk]

Okay, so at least I can sleep well knowing I haven't missed some simple trivial fact about his middle name that I somehow glossed over.

My further research yesterday has shown no indications of a middle name, nor any initial published during the 19th Century, so I'm fairly certain this is a "20th century invention / false fact".

Unless someone can come up with evidence to prove the opposite.

 

[DixieRifles]

Si!
I agree.
No "C".