I Could Use Some Help...

[That Private From Texas]

I've been trying for a while now to find my ancestry in the civil war. Being adopted I've worked with my biological father (tracking him down was a quest in and of itself) quite a bit trying to figure out where my ancestors were during the civil war. I've managed to narrow it down on at least my great grandmother's side to the last name Moore and a location of Clay County, Missouri. It would've been her grandparents to have fought in the war...

I've spent a lot of time sifting through records and searching around just to figure out what companies were enlisted out of the county. The problem is, it's hard to find muster rolls at least I've found it hard to do so. And NPS database doesn't narrow it down to a company level which makes the names it gives me unreliable.

I could either use some advice on where to go from here with this. Or help looking all this up. I'd do a full genealogical search, but my situation being both a minor (15 y/0) and adopted makes it extremely hard to get all the information needed to do so. I can't type my own name into ancestry and start working from there, because my name was changed when I was adopted. It's just all kind of confusing...

Sorry if this comes off as me being stupid or ignorant. I've never tried to do any of this kind of stuff before so I'm sort of figuring it all out. If the answer is obvious I'd still appreciate it being given to me. Thank you for reading I really appreciate it.

 

[chellers]

I've been trying for a while now to find my ancestry in the civil war. Being adopted I've worked with my biological father (tracking him down was a quest in and of itself) quite a bit trying to figure out where my ancestors were during the civil war. I've managed to narrow it down on at least my great grandmother's side to the last name Moore and a location of Clay County, Missouri. It would've been her grandparents to have fought in the war...

I've spent a lot of time sifting through records and searching around just to figure out what companies were enlisted out of the county. The problem is, it's hard to find muster rolls at least I've found it hard to do so. And NPS database doesn't narrow it down to a company level which makes the names it gives me unreliable.

I could either use some advice on where to go from here with this. Or help looking all this up. I'd do a full genealogical search, but my situation being both a minor (15 y/0) and adopted makes it extremely hard to get all the information needed to do so. I can't type my own name into ancestry and start working from there, because my name was changed when I was adopted. It's just all kind of confusing...

Sorry if this comes off as me being stupid or ignorant. I've never tried to do any of this kind of stuff before so I'm sort of figuring it all out. If the answer is obvious I'd still appreciate it being given to me. Thank you for reading I really appreciate it.

We are glad to help in any way possible. Those of us interested in family history were all beginners at one time so we, too, had to ask a lot of questions.

I empathize with your adoption issues/court records/name changes. It is quite a challenge. I am missing 50% of my family history as I will never know with certainty the identity of one of my parents.

Please ask about anything you do not understand or cannot locate. We have several members who are very generous with
their assistance.

Respectfully,
Chellers

 

[Rutherford Co NC CSA]

Greetings "That Private from Texas"


It would be a great help if you have a full name and possibly date born and died for search assistance.

http://files.usgwarchives.net/mo/clay/

http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm

269

"Moore" Clay Co., Missouri

Tommy

 

[AndyHall]

From here:


https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Clay_County,_Missouri_Genealogy#Military

Regiments. Service men in Clay County, Missouri Genealogy served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Clay County, Missouri Genealogy:

- 11th Regiment, Missouri Infantry (Union), Company F
- 12th Regiment, Missouri Cavalry - Confederate, Company F
- 12th Regiment, Missouri Cavalry - Confederate, Company I
- 12th Regiment, Missouri State Militia Cavalry (Union), Company G
- 48th Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia (Union), Captain Wiley C Snail's Company
- 48th Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia (Union), Company C
- 48th Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia (Union), Company D
- 48th Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia (Union), Company E
- 48th Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia (Union), Company F
- 48th Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia (Union), Company I
- 48th Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia (Union), Company K
- 4th Provisional Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia (Union), Company L
- 5th Provisional Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia (Union), Company F

 

[Allie]

Hi there! You being a minor please get your legal guardian's permission first before posting any info about your family, but then I'll be glad to do what I can as far as lookups using Ancestry and fold3. What about your bio mother's side, any chance of ancestors who were in the war there?

Ancestry's databases are set up so it's much easier to find information on people who were born before 1940 and are deceased now, so I usually like to start with the first generation that meets these criteria and work back, in most cases the four grandparents or 8 great-grandparents. This also has the advantage of being far enough back to preserve the person's privacy. So if you'd be willing to share as much information as you have about that generation, I'll see what I can do from there.

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

I've been trying for a while now to find my ancestry in the civil war. Being adopted I've worked with my biological father (tracking him down was a quest in and of itself) quite a bit trying to figure out where my ancestors were during the civil war. I've managed to narrow it down on at least my great grandmother's side to the last name Moore and a location of Clay County, Missouri. It would've been her grandparents to have fought in the war...

I've spent a lot of time sifting through records and searching around just to figure out what companies were enlisted out of the county. The problem is, it's hard to find muster rolls at least I've found it hard to do so. And NPS database doesn't narrow it down to a company level which makes the names it gives me unreliable.

I could either use some advice on where to go from here with this. Or help looking all this up. I'd do a full genealogical search, but my situation being both a minor (15 y/0) and adopted makes it extremely hard to get all the information needed to do so. I can't type my own name into ancestry and start working from there, because my name was changed when I was adopted. It's just all kind of confusing...

Sorry if this comes off as me being stupid or ignorant. I've never tried to do any of this kind of stuff before so I'm sort of figuring it all out. If the answer is obvious I'd still appreciate it being given to me. Thank you for reading I really appreciate it.

Welcome ! Clay County, Missouri, is the birthplace of Jesse James.

https://www.claycountymo.gov/Historic_Sites/Jesse_James_Farm

 

[AndyHall]

Thank you, @Allie for stepping up. If Allie can't find someone, they probably didn't exist.

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

I've been trying for a while now to find my ancestry in the civil war. Being adopted I've worked with my biological father (tracking him down was a quest in and of itself) quite a bit trying to figure out where my ancestors were during the civil war. I've managed to narrow it down on at least my great grandmother's side to the last name Moore and a location of Clay County, Missouri. It would've been her grandparents to have fought in the war...

I've spent a lot of time sifting through records and searching around just to figure out what companies were enlisted out of the county. The problem is, it's hard to find muster rolls at least I've found it hard to do so. And NPS database doesn't narrow it down to a company level which makes the names it gives me unreliable.

I could either use some advice on where to go from here with this. Or help looking all this up. I'd do a full genealogical search, but my situation being both a minor (15 y/0) and adopted makes it extremely hard to get all the information needed to do so. I can't type my own name into ancestry and start working from there, because my name was changed when I was adopted. It's just all kind of confusing...

Sorry if this comes off as me being stupid or ignorant. I've never tried to do any of this kind of stuff before so I'm sort of figuring it all out. If the answer is obvious I'd still appreciate it being given to me. Thank you for reading I really appreciate it.

Clay County, Missouri has a monument to U.S. Veterans from there killed in America's wars. There is a William Moore listed among the Civil War Veterans :

He was 42 when he enlisted in Company I Union 33rd Missouri Infantry at Benton Barracks, Mo. He was wounded 7/14/1864, his left leg amputated. He died 7/27/1864.

Clay County also has a monument to over 200 Confederate Veterans from there. Reportedly, the Confederate flag flew over the Courthouse for years after the war.

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

I've been trying for a while now to find my ancestry in the civil war. Being adopted I've worked with my biological father (tracking him down was a quest in and of itself) quite a bit trying to figure out where my ancestors were during the civil war. I've managed to narrow it down on at least my great grandmother's side to the last name Moore and a location of Clay County, Missouri. It would've been her grandparents to have fought in the war...

I've spent a lot of time sifting through records and searching around just to figure out what companies were enlisted out of the county. The problem is, it's hard to find muster rolls at least I've found it hard to do so. And NPS database doesn't narrow it down to a company level which makes the names it gives me unreliable.

I could either use some advice on where to go from here with this. Or help looking all this up. I'd do a full genealogical search, but my situation being both a minor (15 y/0) and adopted makes it extremely hard to get all the information needed to do so. I can't type my own name into ancestry and start working from there, because my name was changed when I was adopted. It's just all kind of confusing...

Sorry if this comes off as me being stupid or ignorant. I've never tried to do any of this kind of stuff before so I'm sort of figuring it all out. If the answer is obvious I'd still appreciate it being given to me. Thank you for reading I really appreciate it.

Welcome to the forum! I'd be happy to assist in anyway I can. I have access to Fold3, Ancestry, and a newspaper archive. When you have permission give us more information and I'm sure between everyone we'll be able to help out. Also, we were all new at this at some point muddling through databases and archives confused and frustrated by what looked like dead ends.

If you're interested in genealogy and just starting out head over to Family Tree Magazine. They have a bunch of free resources on their site and listings of various helpful websites for conducting research. It's well organized and has lots of tips, especially for those beginning their research.

 

[Patrick H]

Welcome from Missouri (a few counties east of Clay County). I think you'll find lots of help here. Best of luck to you!

 

[Suzanne A]

Searching for an ancestor of appropriate age by name is the way to go rather than by location of recruitment of the various companies. Especially so in Missouri which as a "border" state in the Union in which slavery was legal contributed soldiers to both the Union and Confederate Armies,as well as to state militia organizations of both Union and Confederate allegience.

To trace your grandparent back in time, enter his or her name in a search box at www.familysearch.org along with what you believe their state of residence to be and an educated guess as to their birthdate. If this person was born in the US before 1940, they are likely listed by name in the federal censuses and you can see who they were living with on the census date and their approximate age. Correct the age you used in this search and make another search for this person, or his or her parents if you were lucky enough to find them in the first census match you found. In this manner you can trace family born and residing in the US back to 1850, which is the first year household members were all listed by name in the federal census. Look for marriage records in your state in this search process to learn female ancestors' maiden names -- this information is often the hardest of all to come by in genealogy.

Also a parallel approach that is free is to look up a known blood relative on www.findagrave.com or www.billiongraves.com. Volunteers in both organization post gravesites to these databases and people make memorials to their deceased family members that mention or link parents, spouses and children and sometimes include military service or there will a photo of a tombstone that contains reference to the deceased's military service. If you are fortunate enough to find an ancedtor's memorial, follow the links on the memorial or use the side menu to search the same cemetery or county for other memorials with the same last name, sometimes these people can be identified as relatives or a spouse of your ancestor.

You do not anyone's permission to look at these records, you are not revealing any personal information linked to yourself.

Typically a Civil War ancestor, if not a commissioned officer but an enlisted man, was born between 1820 and 1850, with the average birthdate about 1840. There are exceptions, I have CW ancestor who was older who enlisted under unusual circumstances. But as you see male relatives in the census you might pick those within these age parameters and look them up in the National Parks Service Soldiers and Sailors database by entering their name (I often use only first initial in the first name box), the state of their residence between 1861 and 1866. In your case because you are dealing with Missouri, I would do two searches for that info, one Union and one Confederate.

Get someone (possibly a teacher or librarian at your public library) to help you with these instructions. And all along the way, check your results to see that the details of a suspected ancestor are for the most part consistent with what is known of your family members, e.g. right race, right approximate age, right state of birth, (altho censuses can be in error here), and right location of residence, although these people did move with some frequency, and same names repeated in family listings.

In some cases www.familysearch.org will mention Civil War service in a general search of a name of the appropriate time period, read through the results of your searched.

And following the instructions of other members above, get more help here.

Good luck!

 

[That Private From Texas]

@Allie Unfortunately I have almost no information on that generation. My dad is not old enough to know himself, my grandparents are alcoholics which makes that whole thing hard, and my great grandparents suffer from mental and medical issues that make it hard.

On my mother's side very few of the family is even alive currently and if they are they are not in a place mentally to speak on things so unfortunately I may never know much there. I do know the last name but not where they would've lived at that time.

In terms of posting information, I am sort of living on the edge of being on my own, and my guardians wouldn't care about me posting this information since it doesn't effect them at all. On that note my biological family doesn't really care. I'm just interested in finding where I came from and what the family history is. Though if I had my choice I'd cut the last 3 generations out of it.

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

@Allie Unfortunately I have almost no information on that generation. My dad is not old enough to know himself, my grandparents are alcoholics which makes that whole thing hard, and my great grandparents suffer from mental and medical issues that make it hard.

On my mother's side very few of the family is even alive currently and if they are they are not in a place mentally to speak on things so unfortunately I may never know much there. I do know the last name but not where they would've lived at that time.

In terms of posting information, I am sort of living on the edge of being on my own, and my guardians wouldn't care about me posting this information since it doesn't effect them at all. On that note my biological family doesn't really care. I'm just interested in finding where I came from and what the family history is. Though if I had my choice I'd cut the last 3 generations out of it.

Hmm...this does pose a quandary of sorts. But even with very basic information such as a name and rough idea of birth year and location they lived at some point would be helpful when starting a census search (or even a city directory search), which often will lead to finding other people in the family.

I had a similar problem with my father's side of the family as they weren't on speaking terms (long story), so doing research was difficult with just bits and pieces of only a few family member's names and locations of birth, etc. and in turn I was able to cobble together an amazing family tree. Granted it took a while and I hit a lot of brick walls in the process as I lacked vital information at certain points during my research - but it's not impossible.

In regards to your situation in general, I do find it wonderful that you want to find out your family history despite everything. You may not have the funds for it at the present, but down the road DNA testing through Ancestry might be a great option for you. I've done it and found it to be a very handy tool. The added bonus is if you find another person's tree that you share DNA with and have common relatives, they might be able to help as well, of course providing they are interested and willing to help, which most people are in my experience.

 

[Allie]

@Allie Unfortunately I have almost no information on that generation. My dad is not old enough to know himself, my grandparents are alcoholics which makes that whole thing hard, and my great grandparents suffer from mental and medical issues that make it hard.

On my mother's side very few of the family is even alive currently and if they are they are not in a place mentally to speak on things so unfortunately I may never know much there. I do know the last name but not where they would've lived at that time.

In terms of posting information, I am sort of living on the edge of being on my own, and my guardians wouldn't care about me posting this information since it doesn't effect them at all. On that note my biological family doesn't really care. I'm just interested in finding where I came from and what the family history is. Though if I had my choice I'd cut the last 3 generations out of it.

Understood. I have some members of my family who are better skipped over as well. Unfortunately you have to go through the past three generations to get to the ones before them!

I can do a lot starting with the names and a guess at the date and place of birth of your grandparents. Possibly even your dad if he shows up in the city directories somewhere.

As far as posting information, the main thing is to be careful giving out personally identifying info or details on the internet which pose a security risk - for example "mother's maiden name" is often a security question for bank accounts. But since you were adopted that info would probably pertain to your adoptive family anyway. If you can post the info on this thread, more people can help, or if you're not comfortable with that, PM me.

 

[That Private From Texas]

I'm fine with posting it here. In terms of family info like that I have very little. I have no idea on names or place of birth for grandparents. In terms of great grandparents I know my great grandfather's last name is Shepherd and my Great Grandmother's maiden name is Wilma Moore. Clay County, Missouri is where they both were from. Outside of that I have nothing.

 

[Allie]

I'm fine with posting it here. In terms of family info like that I have very little. I have no idea on names or place of birth for grandparents. In terms of great grandparents I know my great grandfather's last name is Shepherd and my Great Grandmother's maiden name is Wilma Moore. Clay County, Missouri is where they both were from. Outside of that I have nothing.

Would your Wilma have been born about 1918? Possibly moved to San Bernadino?

 

[Allie]

Okay, if Wilma H Moore is the correct Wilma to be your ancestor, it appears her grandfather was Dudley Mitchell (middle name appears variously C or N) from Kentucky, who enlisted with Captain Aston Madeira's company, 2nd Kentucky Mounted Infantry (CSA). He was at Shiloh and Ft Donelson before being captured and sent to Ohio, where he escaped from prison and disappears from the record. He had previously told his captors of his intent to escape and rejoin the rebels by any means necessary.

Dudley Mitchell's Missouri-born wife Frances had a brother, James Reece, who also appears to have been a rebel - he enlisted with the 2nd Missouri Cav.

 

[That Private From Texas]

@Allie That sounds correct to me at least the moving to San Bernadino but the 1918 sounds way older than she would be, but maybe not. She is still currently living which is why that doesn't line up, but I'll try to confirm that with my dad.

 

[Allie]

@Allie That sounds correct to me at least the moving to San Bernadino but the 1918 sounds way older than she would be, but maybe not. She is still currently living which is why that doesn't line up, but I'll try to confirm that with my dad.

The Wilma I have has some trees which say she died in 1966 but I have been unable to find a source for that, so who knows - wrong dates end up on trees all the time. There are some sources which put her birth as late as 1925 but several censuses have 1918.

I've been unable to find a Wilma Moore / Shepherd marriage but there are so many ways to spell Shepherd that the search engine may be missing it.

 

[civilken]

good luck to you what will you do if you find out they were abolitionists and Yankees you never know.