Looking for Bondurant information

[DLCO]

As part of tracking genealogy and civil war involvement and having my direct relatives with the surname of London that served in the Union, I have come across distant relatives with the family name of Bondurant that seem to have Confederate connections.

My Bondurant relatives, if I have done the genealogy properly, were originally from Goochland County, Virginia, split from Henrico county on the James river. I have seen the original land grant from around 1700 and references Jean Pierre Bondurant. This name seems very popular in the family over generations up to and maybe through the civil war though it seems the name was anglicized at some point to John Peter (along with Jacque to James). When the names get anglicized it becomes more difficult.

There are some posts in the search here that contain the Bondurant name during the civil war in addition to the Agie family which was anglicized to Agee but I don't see much specific. I do see references to Bondurants Artillery and a Bondurant family from Mississippi which should not be the same as my relatives are from Virginia. Without a good geographic starting point it will be difficult to research. So the question is, where can I find information about the family and CSA involvlement? And I think family members enlisted in the county or very near to where they lived, so is it reasonable without much info, to start with units from specific counties? or is that a needle in a haystack? Are CSA records more sparse than Union?

Any help would be appreciated. These are the first CSA soldiers I have come across.

 

[lupaglupa]

The only way to ensure that you are tracking the correct family (if as you intelligently suspect there are more than one family with the same surname) is to trace them working out from your own family. Find the place these Bondurants intersect with your Londons and build a family tree going up, down and out from that location. You might want to do a new tree with the Bondurant link as the home person if it seems unwieldy to add them to an existing tree. But I don't think you can approach the search in any other way without potentially wasting time looking at a non-connected family.

In terms of finding CSA links, that is not too hard once you have the names and locations in place. CSA service records are actually easier to find than Union records as more of them have been digitized and are online. I think you are right to look for enlistments close to home but having biographical details is important since the records contain misspellings and other errors - the more you know about the individual going in the easier it is to match them to a record.

 

[DLCO]

Thanks. I mostly focused on my family surname and the Bondurants popped up. They, the Agee (Agie), Maxey, and Faure/Farree (anglized to Ford) are the only ones from the south and I have the intersection names with my family. These same families also seemed to intermarry and move together over generations. Additionally, the first names were also anglicized (Pierre to Peter, Jacque to Jack, etc) which doubles the problem when trying to backtrack to the right person. Unfortunately they all seemed to name their children over multiple generations with the same first names. But at least I have names, some birth/death dates and some will/tax names.

So when I get time I will pay more attention to this branch and prove it better. At this point they seem to be Huguenot french with English land titles in Virginia starting circa 1700.

It seems universities seem to have records but ones I have seen reference microfilm roll numbers and have not been able to search them well. Am I looking in the wrong place?

 

[Lusty Murfax]

Was acquainted many years ago with a Martin Bondurant from the Missouri Bootheal, I believe he lived near Dexter. He wan an ag-chem sales rep., had an Agronomy degree from the University of Kentucky and I believe he was born and raised there. I recall he told me his family were derived from French Huguenots. There was also a Bondurant boy on the University of Missouri football team just a few years back and I thing he was from northeast Missouri.

 

[Belfoured]

Was acquainted many years ago with a Martin Bondurant from the Missouri Bootheal, I believe he lived near Dexter. He wan an ag-chem sales rep., had an Agronomy degree from the University of Kentucky and I believe he was born and raised there. I recall he told me his family were derived from French Huguenots. There was also a Bondurant boy on the University of Missouri football team just a few years back and I thing he was from northeast Missouri.

Now you've got my interest. The town of Bondurant WY (pop. still c. 100) was founded in the late 19th century by Benjamin Franklin Bondurant, who was a local rancher and the postmaster. He was born in Harrison County, Missouri in 1861. Seems possible that he'd be connected to the people you mention.

As an aside, if he'd been thinking ahead he'd have arranged for his town to be in Sublette County and not Teton County. Once the kids graduate elementary school they get to bus 42 miles each way to school in Jackson.

 

[lupaglupa]

It seems universities seem to have records but ones I have seen reference microfilm roll numbers and have not been able to search them well. Am I looking in the wrong place?

I was thinking of records from the National Archives, which are often cited by microfilm roll numbers. Many of these are available at the website Fold3, though to access them they require a subscription. You can see what they have at FamilySearch but the documents themselves (in all their handwritten glory) are behind a paywall. Many of us have Fold3 subscriptions so if you have something specific we can look for it.

 

[DLCO]

I was thinking of records from the National Archives, which are often cited by microfilm roll numbers. Many of these are available at the website Fold3, though to access them they require a subscription. You can see what they have at FamilySearch but the documents themselves (in all their handwritten glory) are behind a paywall. Many of us have Fold3 subscriptions so if you have something specific we can look for it.

Thanks, I may have to bite the bullet and pay for Fold3 (I had a trial before). I was hoping that Ancestry and Familysearch would pass through but I always hit the paywall for Fold3. I can't ask any others to plow through handwritten records - it is too time consuming. If I come across a poorly handwritten name, I may ask for help. Thanks again.

 

[lupaglupa]

You might can do another trial. Or just pay for a short time. I've done that before.

 

[DLCO]

You might can do another trial. Or just pay for a short time. I've done that before.

Maybe they will let me do that. I will wait until I have definite names and locations. In relation to another post I was working on, I have found family records which point to one central Bondurant (Ann) and is from Henrico county VA (which changed names). The name ties into other family names that are known. I am going to verify the records with the tree I made and shore it up. Looks like Fold3 is the place for military records.

 

[DaveBrt]

Maybe they will let me do that. I will wait until I have definite names and locations. In relation to another post I was working on, I have found family records which point to one central Bondurant (Ann) and is from Henrico county VA (which changed names). The name ties into other family names that are known. I am going to verify the records with the tree I made and shore it up. Looks like Fold3 is the place for military records.

I did a Fold3 search on Bondurant, Virginia service records and come up with 40 separate names. There is also the Confederate Civilian records and amnesty records if any were well off. Sounds like you need a short subscription.

 

[DLCO]

I did a Fold3 search on Bondurant, Virginia service records and come up with 40 separate names. There is also the Confederate Civilian records and amnesty records if any were well off. Sounds like you need a short subscription.

Thanks. I will give it a try. I think they were a well off family as it seems the King of England granted them 1600 acres on the James river in 1700 and purchased more later. There are alot of them and they inter-married with the same families - Ford (Faure), Maxey, Agee. It will take me some effort to unravel it.

 

[Lusty Murfax]

Thanks. I will give it a try. I think they were a well off family as it seems the King of England granted them 1600 acres on the James river in 1700 and purchased more later. There are alot of them and they inter-married with the same families - Ford (Faure), Maxey, Agee. It will take me some effort to unravel it.

I found much the same with my Colonial ancestors. There must have been such a limited number of families in these coastal settlements during the 17th century. They kept marrying into the same families and repeated the practice for several generations as the families moved westward into Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri. It appeared to be fairly common for first cousins to marry, brothers married sisters (not their own, of course), etc. I am my own cousin several different ways.

 

[lupaglupa]

I found much the same with my Colonial ancestors. There must have been such a limited number of families in these coastal settlements during the 17th century. They kept marrying into the same families and repeated the practice for several generations as the families moved westward into Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri. It appeared to be fairly common for first cousins to marry, brothers married sisters (not their own, of course), etc. I am my own cousin several different ways.

I think in lots of places there were intermarriages. I see it in my family in the really rural areas. I don't have a lot of kin in the West but I bet it happeneing there when the settlements were new. Just not as many fish in a small pool.