Missing soldier

[ethos92]

Okay @Fairfield - I'm adding possible ESP connection to my list of zany problem solving techniques!

@ethos92 - we tend to use a sliding scale of most likely to least likely in cases like this. Based on typical patterns of behavior from the time your ancestor's most likely scenario looks to me like: husband goes to war, falls ill, goes in and out of hospital without ever making a full recovery, dies in service at a time when he is not in a situation to have his death recorded (for instance, he is released from hospital and told to return to his unit but he never makes it and his death happening while he is between the hospital and his company leaves him without a record). Then his widow dies in the decade after the War, leaving her daughter to be taken in and raised by a close family member. As she has no husband at the time no one has money for more than a burial and she remains without a tombstone, so there is no lasting record of her death. Any and all of this would make sense and be similar to other stories from the time.

Scenarios like - he went west, he came home but didn't leave a record, etc. are possible but much less likely. Just as his widow remarrying but not keeping her daughter with her. That did happen, but it was less likely.

The fact that there were pension applications filed, even though not granted, does mean that the applications still exist. Those have a lot of information on them. Have you gotten a copy from the National Archives?

There are two resources that I would say to look at, if you haven't already.

1. Newspapers from that era published a lot of small town local news. As @Fairfield alluded to above, you may find a record of the wife's death by examining records of her family members. A simple line in the local news such as "Mrs John Smith was in Jonesville for the funeral of her sister last week" could be a valuable clue to the date of the widow's death. The daughter may show up in the paper winning an award in the spelling bee at school and you would know when she had transitioned to the new household.

2. Diaries and letters from soldiers serving with your ancestor likely exist. They might just have a clue in them. Both of these options take a lot of searching. But sometimes they do yield valuable results where other methods failed. There are collections online, some of which are searchable by place. Local history organizations often know where diaries and letters from their area are held.

I realize I am giving more work to do instead of an answer! But unfortunately that's often the best we can do.

I have checked newspapers pretty extensively, but haven't come across any other soldier's letters as of yet. That would be quite a find if I can! Thank you for looking at this and the helpful suggestions!

 

[ethos92]

Cases like your ancestor's are not unusual. In 1865 Clara Barton created the Missing Soldiers Office in an effort to help families who had a missing soldier. By the time she closed the office in 1868 she had identified thousands of Federal soldiers who had simply disappeared and whose families had inquired regarding them. Her office is open in Washington, DC, as a museum, and I would refer you to their web page https://clarabartonmuseum.org/ Your ancestor may be on one of the lists of the missing she published, meaning that someone in his family was looking for him in the immediate post-war period.

Regards,
Don Dixon

He doesn't appear to he on Ms. Barton's missing men rolls, unfortunately. Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[WMW1861-1865]

I've started the reading already. General Sheldon is a pretty entertaining writer lol.

Re: Nicholas' age. This is another bit of mystery surrounding him. The lone census I have him on gives a birth date of 1824 and that's what he used when he signed up for the army, but I have reason to believe that he was a bit older than that. Oddly, just before signing up for the 18th MO, he had enlisted in the 13th Illinois Cavalry but seemingoy never served in that unit. I suspect he either bounty jumped, or maybe more likely, he was dismissed due to his age/physical condition. I think the 18th MO was quite in need of volunteers at that time and probably weren't going to question someone much if they just said they were 40. Even if he wasn't in the best of shape at the time, he was already a veteran of the Missouri Militia, so could probably be useful in helping steer some of the youngsters and draftees.

If this is your guy, his age is listed as 35 on the enlistment paper included in the carded service records for Nicholas Clark 18th Missouri Infantry. Good luck in your search. Should I find anything relevant, I'll be sure to report back.

 

[WMW1861-1865]

In the event you have not seen this, a copy of the widow, Mary F. (Perkins) Clark pension application from the Family Search records. It gives a date and place of death, but doesn't give the source of that information.

 

[ethos92]

If this is your guy, his age is listed as 35 on the enlistment paper included in the carded service records for Nicholas Clark 18th Missouri Infantry. Good luck in your search. Should I find anything relevant, I'll be sure to report back.

View attachment 525362

Hey thanks for looking into it for me!

I do have these documents from Nicholas' pensions file. I ordered the entire pension file some time back. The thing with his age is, I'm not sure he even actually knew how old he was for sure. A month before he wrote 35 on that document, he had written that he was 40 when signing up for another regiment. In the 1860 census he said he was 35. I have reason to believe he may have been even older, possibly born in 1813 or 1814.

For the date and place of death, I know that he wrote to his wife and said he was in the hospital at Marietta in August of 1864, but I do not know where she got the death date of November 10th from.

I recently had a researcher look up his medical records at NARA. There were a few cards from 1863 during his time with the 9th Missouri Cavalry, but nothing from his time with the 18th Missouri in 1864. It's good though because I know now why he was discharged early from the 9th M.S.M.! He fell from his horse in April 1863 and apparently hurt himself pretty badly.

 

[Northstep]

Hey thanks for looking into it for me!

I do have these documents from Nicholas' pensions file. I ordered the entire pension file some time back. The thing with his age is, I'm not sure he even actually knew how old he was for sure. A month before he wrote 35 on that document, he had written that he was 40 when signing up for another regiment. In the 1860 census he said he was 35. I have reason to believe he may have been even older, possibly born in 1813 or 1814.

For the date and place of death, I know that he wrote to his wife and said he was in the hospital at Marietta in August of 1864, but I do not know where she got the death date of November 10th from.

I recently had a researcher look up his medical records at NARA. There were a few cards from 1863 during his time with the 9th Missouri Cavalry, but nothing from his time with the 18th Missouri in 1864. It's good though because I know now why he was discharged early from the 9th M.S.M.! He fell from his horse in April 1863 and apparently hurt himself pretty badly.

Did not know you already have the full pension record. One CMSR card shows Mary applied for a pension 4 Sept 1865 with no reference to the above application dated 28 Jan 1865. Obviously, Mary had no witness or anyone else to prove the 10 Nov 1865 death date. Affidavits would be among the pages in the pension file. It's very interesting that the Nov/Dec muster roll is missing, according to the Sept/Oct muster roll notation. The fact Nicholas remained on the muster rolls for Jan - July 1865 created a big problem. Also, the card in Nicholas's CMSR that shows a synopsis of his service is very confusing and contradicts some of the other cards. For whatever reason, the copyist thought he was correct.
Like so many others, you and I have questions related to our ancestor's CW service that will likely never be answered simply because the records no longer exist or there is conflicting data. The best you can do is present the evidence in your genealogy record and make a reasonable assumption, stating it as such.