Pvt. David J. Stover's Potential Relation to Pvt. Lewis L. Davidson

Lambofjudah8

Private
Joined
Jul 17, 2020
Hello all. I posted a little while back about my 4th Great Grandfather, David J. Stover. I am still trying to find more about his service. He enlisted in 1862 into Company G. of the 39th Georgia Vol. Infantry, and was marked as absent on October 31 1863. Briefly in 1862, he was a witness for John Colbert's mother to receive her son's pay after he died as a nurse in Tennessee.
The only new lead I have is that he was listed AWOL the same day as Lewis L. Davidson. David and Lewis were from the same company and the same regiment. Sadly, Lewis's record is more bare than David's. I can't even find a grave for Lewis, I only know he moved to Arkansas after the war and had 1, maybe 2 kids with an Eliza Davidson. In the last thread, I remember someone said the 39th's documents are a little sketchy.
Anyone's help with knowledge on the 39th GA Inf. or who may help me find out more about David, and if he had any relation to this Lewis Davidson would be very greatly appreciated! My research keeps only turning up rabbit holes and dead ends.

Thank you!

David's Muster card:
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/76528915

Lewis's Muster card:
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/76503594

Website of their roster
http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~gilmercountyrecords/genealogy/civilwarsoldiers.htm
 
I don't think the date match up with Davidson is significant - it looks like that was the day a muster roll was filed and both men were AWOL for that muster. The record says the document showed payment from March 1, 1863 to August 31, 1863 so I'm guessing David went missing during that time period. He also shows up as AWOL in July of 1862 and there isn't a record of him being paid between that date and the later AWOL dates - perhaps he left not long after he enlisted. This doesn't mean he was truly AWOL - many men who were injured or MIA got marked as AWOL.

We do know from the affidavit that he was in Gilmer County late November of 1862. His testimony was to the fact that Colbert had no wife or children, not to his service so we can't say that he was in Knoxville with him.

The regiment has very little records of its movements. What is on Fold3 shows that they spent much of their first year in Georgia. That would have made it tempting and easy to go home if David had cause to do so. Looking at the regimental history in the Roster of Confederate Soldiers from Georgia, you can track their activities by looking at where men died. But all the activity I can find that way takes place after David appears to have left the unit.

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009535746
 
Have you tried looking at the Georgia Confederate Pension records? Not for David (I checked, he's not there) but in the records of other men in Company G. A lot of the files have affidavits in them attesting to service dates and facts - if David provided that info for someone else it might place him in service for you in some way. This is a huge long shot and very time consuming, but it might give you something.

https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/TestApps
 
Have you tried looking at the Georgia Confederate Pension records? Not for David (I checked, he's not there) but in the records of other men in Company G. A lot of the files have affidavits in them attesting to service dates and facts - if David provided that info for someone else it might place him in service for you in some way. This is a huge long shot and very time consuming, but it might give you something.

https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/TestApps
I'll have to do some looking into that later tonight. I'd like to find out more about the unit if I can't find anything out about either man.
 
You weren't kidding about the 39th barely having anything, and that going through the pensions is exhausting. What few I could find provided very little details on the unit itself. I will continue to search, although the records are quite hard to find I will say. My grandmother is supposed to be sending me some papers about David and other Stovers, so maybe they may divulge more than I can find online.
 
Have you tried looking at the Georgia Confederate Pension records? Not for David (I checked, he's not there) but in the records of other men in Company G. A lot of the files have affidavits in them attesting to service dates and facts - if David provided that info for someone else it might place him in service for you in some way. This is a huge long shot and very time consuming, but it might give you something.

https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/TestApps
I believe I have nailed down for certain that David did in fact desert. In 1910, the census asked people if they were veterans of the Union or Confederate Army/Navy. David did not have a check next to his name, while his brother who served through the war did.
 
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