NY Mustering Terminology

[FloridaRob]

I have distant ancestor relative named Jacob Happy, from Ulster County, NY. His Sept/Oct 1862 muster records & 1 Jul 1863 Draft Registration records are confusing to me (both attached). Specifically:

1) The Sept/Oct 1862 Enlistment & Muster Record has him 27 years old and mustering in in Oct of 1862, but then further down, it says he was "Dropped". So, can we tell if he deserted, resigned, got transferred to another Division or what? In the Remarks, it says, "Not found on rolls subsequent to mfire(?) [...what is that?] Nothing further on Register." (Also, what does E.P. that is written in the left margin stand for?)

2) From the 1 Jul 1863 Draft Registration, it looks like he is still available for military service, but the Column for "FORMER MILITARY SERVICE" says "In Service 3 March 1863". So, between being "Dropped" and "In Service 3 Mar 1863", I am not sure what is going on.

The reason I ask is because the 1 July 1863 record is the last known record of him that I have been able to find, including Military, Census, Marriage or Death records. So, I was hoping someone might be able to shed some light on how to interpret these two documents.

Thanks,

Rob

BTW, There is a Jacob Happy in the Roll of Honor who is buried in the Newberne, NC cemetery, but he was born around 1821 and came from Wisconsin.

 

[lupaglupa]

I think people were dropped from the rolls for all kinds of reasons. It's unfortunate that New York's records aren't fully digitized yet. I did check all of the entries for the Town Clerk's register - that often has additional information for New York soldiers. But if Jacob was dropped quickly he might not have been considered a soldier.

One thought - have you tried searching for him in newspapers? Upstate New York papers are plentiful on the Fulton History website. It's a bit quirky to use but I've had great luck locating New Yorkinfo there.

index

 

[FloridaRob]

Thanks for checking the Town Clerk's register & other suggestions. I do use three newspaper sites to augment Ancestry.com records:
- The Fulton site: https://www.fultonhistory.com/
- This site: https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/ (...not as many newspapers as the Fulton site, but able to narrow search results by NY county and range of dates.)
- Newspapers.com

So far, I have found nothing in the newspapers. His wife Jemima is living by herself with three kids and checks the "Married" column in the Sept 1965 NY Census...when she also has the full option to check "widowed." So, I'm thinking he survived the War. Maybe he was working elsewhere or they were separated or ??? Haven't found him or her yet in the 1870 or 1800 Census. She remarries in 1885.

 

[lupaglupa]

It's so frustrating when people just disappear. He has all the hallmarks for a hard to trace person too - working in 1860 as a day laborer and is illiterate. Unfortunately, poorer, less educated people leave fewer traces.

 

[lupaglupa]

I'm assuming the Jacob Happy who died 6 Apr 1882 (and seems to have left two minor daughters in need of guardianship) is not your guy or you would have found all that as easily as I did

 

[FloridaRob]

Correct, that Jacob Happy is not my guy. His father, Christian Happy, was the brother of my Jacob Happy's father, John Happy.

It was a tough life back then. Two of my Jacob Happy's brothers (James & Alfred) finished out their lives in the Ulster County Alms House in New Paltz.

Question: After someone had been "Mustered In" to the NY Infantry in Civil War, would they have been allowed to change their mind and just leave by mutual consent or is this not possible and that act would be considered desertion?

 

[lupaglupa]

My understanding is that if it's mutual it's not desertion. I'm wondering if it was a health issue and once they realized he couldn't performed they paid him what they owed him and sent him home. That could account for the lack of records of his death too - if he were sent to a hospital and didn't come back. Jemima calls herself married in the 1865, even though Jacob is not there. Interestingly, just like the Town Clerk files, Jacob is not listed in the information about soldiers in the NYS 1865 Census (that I could find).

Do you have a burial site for the child that died? Jacob might be in the same place. They could have been too poor for a stone so Find a Grave might not have him but cemetery records would.

 

[JOHN42768]

I can't help with your question, sorry. Welcome, enjoy

 

[FloridaRob]

I only know that Jacob & Jemima's baby boy was born in May of 1860 in Ulster County and died sometime before the 1865 NY Census...presumably also in Ulster County. Don't know his name. However, the only "Happy's" that are listed among the 22,000+ gravestones in "Old Gravestones of Ulster County" are in the Woodstock Cemetery:

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewe...6;493,1070,704,1123;494,1127,705,1180&pId=394

There are 10 Happy's listed, but not the baby boy or any of Jacob Happy's siblings or parents.

Jacob & Jemima's other children migrated away from Ulster County:
- Isaiah Gritman Happy (1855-1938) moved to Binghamton and is buried there;
- Susan Amelia Happy (1857-1926) married Charles Specht & moved to Emporium, Cameron County, PA & is buried there;
- Lewis Harrison Happy (1862-1926) also moved to the Binghamton area by the 1890's and is buried in a Johnson City, NY cemetery.

Jemima (Kelly) Happy (1835-1933) married George Washington Redmond in 1885 after his first wife died in 1883. For her 98 years, she mostly lived in the Ulster/Delaware County, NY area, but then was buried in Cameron County, PA by her son-in-law Charles Specht.

What I have never found and would be very instructive to have are the 1870 or 1880 Census records for Jemima, Isaiah and/or Lewis. (Susan is a 14 y/o Domestic Servant in Hardenburgh, NY in the 1870 Census and is married and living in Fremont, Sullivan, NY in the 1880 Census.)

Not sure if there are omissions/holes in New York's or Ancestry's census records for some NY cities?

 

[lupaglupa]

Well that certainly tells the story of how poor they were if Susan was sent out to work at 14.