Rickvox79, Civil War Ancestry

Doing a little more digging on my cousin James Forman I found this link talking about his death and funeral which appear to be taken from the Louisville Journal. A sad tribute...

http://baconcreekstationcelebration.blogspot.com/2011/06/colonel-james-brown-forman-1842-1862.html

Journal 1/12/63

The remains of the late Colonel J. B. Forman, of the Fifteenth Kentucky Infantry, and Captain A. B. Ferguson, both of whom lost their lives in the recent battles near Murfreesboro, were interred yesterday; the former from the resident of his brother-in-law, Mr. W. J. Anderson, and the latter from his Walnut Street M. E. Church. In both instances the usual military escorts were in attendance and large concourses of mourning friends followed the remains of the gallant dead to their final rest.


Journal 2/63

THE LATE COLONEL FORMAN

To the Editors of the Louisville Journal:

January 26, 1863

GENTLEMEN: If you do not deem it too unworthy, will you publish one more humble tribute to the memory of Kentucky's youngest Colonel, James B. Forman, from one who knew him?

He showed, from early youth, remarkable promise. Always seeking the society of, and appearing equal to, those much older than himself, no one ever imagined, until told, how young he was. From the age of sixteen, indeed, he seemed -- in conversation, in business capacity, in intellect, and in strength and decision of mind -- a man, and won "golden opinions" of his ability from his superiors in age and experience. His principles were firm and unwavering. He understood perfectly his own disposition and capabilities, and thus anything he undertook was successfully performed. His influence over those for whom he cared was unbounded, and his insight into the characters and motives of those he met was so keen and true that it was marvellous. He detected the fallacies in the "doctrine of secession" from the first, and what is more noticeable, he never for an instant succumbed to the insidious and -- to so many young Kentuckians -- irresistible appeal to their love for the South. It is well known that sectional attachment is especially characteristic of the young; they are never cosmopolitan in feeling; one section, one place is home, and is better than all others to them. This is one reason why the cry of "The South" has attracted some of them more than that of "The Union." Many said, "We think the so-called right of secession radically wrong, but we are Southerners -- we love the South, whatever her faults, better than the North, and, if war comes, we will be on her side, right or wrong."

But young Forman's words were (in substance): "I love and sympathize with the South as much as you, but I am a true Southerner. If the South does wrong, I say, try to win her back with kindness. But -- that failing -- I am ready to go with sword in hand, though still with love in heart, to force her to submit to rightful authority." I shall never forget once hearing him read to a party of young friends Daniel Webster's immortal speech on the “American Union." As he read that closing sentence of matchless eloquence commencing:

"When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and disordered fragments of a once glorious Union," his voice trembled with emotion; and as he finished with the soul-inspiring "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable," it was full of triumphant enthusiasm. His hearers were many of them Southern sympathizers, but not a word was spoken -- all were impressed. When Kentucky, having tried in vain to mediate, declared herself unconditionally and unalterably for the Union, and called her sons "to arms" to enforce the laws, and drive the invaders from her soil, he obeyed the call. Giving up home, friends, and all the comforts to which he was accustomed, he went to serve his country, actuated by the purest and highest patriotism. An article has already been published in your columns, narrating his successful career in the army. He gained quickly the love and respect of his comrades in arms; and was rapidly promoted until he attained, shortly before the battle before Murfreesboro, in which he fell, the high position of Colonel of the 15th Kentucky, as a reward for distinguished ability and personal bravery. His name will be always associated with the battle of Chaplin Hills, in which he played so noble a part. How were the hearts of his friends thrilled with pleasure and exultation as they heard the story of his daring courage in the rescue of the flag of the regiment on that memorable day! And now that in this, his second battle, he has lost his life, let us not "mourn as those without hope," but, while sincerely lamenting his early death, remember that he himself was willing to lay down his life even for his country's welfare. "Life is noble only when it is held cheap by the side of honor and of duty."
 
I just added a pretty cool member to my Ancestry family:

Grant.JPG


When I first started doing family ancestry research back in 2011 one of the first families that my grandmother told me about was the Scudder family. I have mentioned them previously on my ancestry thread here but I had read that the Scudders were related to Ulysses S Grant. I finally decided to try and track down that thread and how he might be related to me. After doing some research it appears that his 4th great-grandmother Elizabeth Scudder is my 9th great aunt....I think. Seems to be some confusion whether Elizabeth's father was Thomas Scudder or John Scudder. Ancestry.com seems to have Thomas Scudder as her father but then I see findagrave.com has John Scudder. If her father was Thomas Scudder then he would be my 10th great-grandfather and his son Thomas (2nd) would be her brother my 9th great-grandfather.

Well as I was typing I dug around and there is a Scudder Association that has a website and they have the following:

Scudder Lineage from Kent, England
Our association includes persons who can trace their lineage to three Scudders who came from Kent, England in the 1600s.

  • Thomas Scudder who arrived in Salem, Massachusetts by 1632
  • John Scudder, cousin of Thomas, who arrived in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1635
  • Elizabeth Scudder, cousin of Thomas Scudder, who arrived prior to November 28, 1644, the date of her marriage to Samuel Lathrop in Barnstable, Massachusett
So it sounds like they are saying Elizabeth and Thomas were cousins. So that would change things making him a more distant cousin for me than 6th possibly. I'll have to keep searching because there seems to be conflicting info but I guess it gets tougher to track things with exact certainty when you start getting into the 1600's. Either way it is a nice find that I'll have to keep researching.
 
I just added a pretty cool member to my Ancestry family:

View attachment 62886

When I first started doing family ancestry research back in 2011 one of the first families that my grandmother told me about was the Scudder family. I have mentioned them previously on my ancestry thread here but I had read that the Scudders were related to Ulysses S Grant. I finally decided to try and track down that thread and how he might be related to me. After doing some research it appears that his 4th great-grandmother Elizabeth Scudder is my 9th great aunt....I think. Seems to be some confusion whether Elizabeth's father was Thomas Scudder or John Scudder. Ancestry.com seems to have Thomas Scudder as her father but then I see findagrave.com has John Scudder. If her father was Thomas Scudder then he would be my 10th great-grandfather and his son Thomas (2nd) would be her brother my 9th great-grandfather.

Well as I was typing I dug around and there is a Scudder Association that has a website and they have the following:

Scudder Lineage from Kent, England
Our association includes persons who can trace their lineage to three Scudders who came from Kent, England in the 1600s.

  • Thomas Scudder who arrived in Salem, Massachusetts by 1632
  • John Scudder, cousin of Thomas, who arrived in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1635
  • Elizabeth Scudder, cousin of Thomas Scudder, who arrived prior to November 28, 1644, the date of her marriage to Samuel Lathrop in Barnstable, Massachusett
So it sounds like they are saying Elizabeth and Thomas were cousins. So that would change things making him a more distant cousin for me than 6th possibly. I'll have to keep searching because there seems to be conflicting info but I guess it gets tougher to track things with exact certainty when you start getting into the 1600's. Either way it is a nice find that I'll have to keep researching.


It can get fun pretty quickly when you start going past first cousins. I don't typically "claim" them after first since it is so distant but I have found Thomas Jefferson, James K. Polk, Admiral David Porter (Yankee, wouldn't claim him anyway :sneaky:) Gov. Joseph Brown, and James Longstreet in my far distant cousins.

I figure once you get that far out everyone is related to everyone. I also started finding common names in common areas as my wife's tree so I noped out of going further... :hot:
 
It can get fun pretty quickly when you start going past first cousins. I don't typically "claim" them after first since it is so distant but I have found Thomas Jefferson, James K. Polk, Admiral David Porter (Yankee, wouldn't claim him anyway :sneaky:) Gov. Joseph Brown, and James Longstreet in my far distant cousins.

I figure once you get that far out everyone is related to everyone. I also started finding common names in common areas as my wife's tree so I noped out of going further... :hot:

Yeah, it is pretty fun to see what you can find when you start searching cousins. When it comes to Civil War relatives I've mostly stopped around 3rd cousins although I'm sure I haven't come close to finding all of those because it starts to get more difficult sometimes. I found this that makes it a little easier to see where Grant links up with the Scudder family.

Grant line.JPG
 
My rule on cousins is, if it's someone famous, I'll do it for fun, but they don't really "count" unless my ancestors at the time had some idea they were related.

Grant is definitely a fun one!
 
COUSINS!

I don't know about the rest of you involved in Civil War family research but it sort of seemed like a dreaded word for me. I believe I dreaded it because after starting family research in 2011, I came to realize how much more work would be involved in correctly connecting the dots and finding 1st, 2nd or even 3rd cousins that fought in the war. Up until this week I believe I have found around 37 relatives that had fought on both sides of the war, leaving some room for error of course. Out of all those I had found about ten 1st cousins with the rest being mostly great-uncles and great-grandfathers.

I had sort of hit one of those walls where I had stopped doing research for a few months. But for some reason this week I decided to start digging some more and I definitely dug up a lot more information. For some background my last name is Fox. Much to my disappointment I had not been able to find a direct Fox descendant that had fought in the Civil War. To delve a little further in my family history on the Fox side. My ancestors were from Germany and actually it was spelled "Fuchs" (sorry no profanity intended haha) before they switched to "Fox" after moving to America. My 6th gen great-grandfather Joseph Fox was born in Mt. Bethel, Northampton Country, Pennsylvania, from what I have learned is an area where a lot of Germans settled during the 1700's. One of my first finds back in 2011 was Joseph's gravemarker and it showed that he had fought in the Revolutionary War. Now that was a great find for me!

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Joseph Fox and Christina Reimel had 13 children. Their son Joseph had a son George who is my 4th generation great-grandfather. He was born in 1819, probably too old to fight in the war and I never found anything. He did have a son born in 1845 but I found nothing indicating he had served. His son George (my 3rd gen GGGF) was born in 1851 so obviously too young to serve. So for some reason I kind of stopped there and didn't dig much further into the Fox family. I was kept pretty busy with my grandmother on my Dad's side where I found most of my Civil War relatives (mostly from Alabama) and sorta gave up on the Fox's.

I guess you could say I got a second wind this week in my search and decided to first start looking at the 13 children of Joseph Fox and see what I could find. That started to open the floodgates for sure. It wasn't really Fox's but the children of the daughters of Joseph Fox that started pulling up cousins that served. One of the first I found was Rosina Fox Shaffer. She was one of the older daughters of Joseph Fox, she had married a Shaffer and low and behold after some research I found her son Adam Shaffer and found only the second picture I have of any of my Civil War relatives. Now that was exciting! My new forum avatar is his picture. He fought in the 78th Pennsylvania Inf Reg and died not long after the Battle of Stone's River. I soon found 3 more cousins, this time 2nd cousins, that fought in the 78th also. Finally I found a Fox relative named Thomas Jefferson Fox (1st cousin) that fought in the 52nd Pennsylvania Inf Reg.

After tracking the Fox family from Joseph Fox, I decided to go back and check his wife and my 6th gen great-mother's family Christina Reimel. I was able to confirm one 2nd cousin Jeremiah Reimel who was a Commissary Sgt. in the 153rd Pennsylvania and is buried at the national cemetery in Gettysburg. I found two other Reimel's that were also in the 153rd Jacob (he was killed at Chancellorsville) and John (died from wounds suffered at Gettysburg) but have not found an exact tie to them yet. What I did find out about the 153rd was that it was made up of men from the Northampton County area. Joseph and Christina were from Mt. Bethel township and the companies I found them in were from Mt. Bethel. Considering how many of the Reimel's settled there I'm thinking there is a good chance I am related to them, just have to keep researching to find out exactly how I am. I found a Moses Fox in the 153rd, again from a company out of Mt. Bethel but haven't found an exact link to him yet either, but thinking there is a good chance I am related to him.

It has been a revelation this past week for me, finding not just Civil War relatives but pictures of uncles and cousins that I had never seen or knew of before. It definitely has me excited to keep researching to see what I can find although I admit as I go through ancestry.com sometimes I get some deep into it, with 2nd cousins and 3rd cousins, I have to go back some to remember how I'm related to them! Here is my list of new cousins I have found so far, some aren't confirmed as I mentioned above but I think there is a good chance I'll find a connection.




Shaffer Family
Adam Shaffer GGGC Union
78th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry B Private
Lewis C. Shaffer GGG2C
Union 78th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry G Private
John C. Shaffer GGG2C
Union 78th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry G Private
Israel Shaffer GGG2C Union 78th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry G Private
John H Shaffer GGG2C Union 78th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry A Private

Reimel Family
Jeremiah Reimel GGG2C Union 153rd Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry F Comm Sgt
Jacob J Reimel ?????? Union 153rd Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry F Private
John Reimel ????? Union 153rd Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry K Corporal


Fox Family
Thomas J Fox GGGC Union 52nd Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry C Private

Long Family
Israel P Long GGG3C Union 190th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry F Private
Wilson Long GGG3C Union 7th Regiment, Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry (36th Volunteers) F Corporal

I recently learned that Jeremiah Reimel is NOT buried at Gettysburg but died and is buried in Erie, PA at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery. He died at the Soldiers & Sailors Home there in Erie, PA.
 
After about a year off from doing any ancestry research I decided to pick it up again at the beginning of April. It seems that if you keep digging eventually you'll find something interesting and in this case I ran across something that is interesting but disturbing at the same time. On my mother's side I found three 1st cousins that served in the war. One was actually a Chaplain with the 42nd Indiana but the one that was really interesting was William Ford Chapman (pictured below):

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He fought in both the 14th Indiana and 20th Indiana, being transferred to the latter after the 14th was disbanded from what I can tell. I found a genealogy site that said he was wounded in the arm at Spotsylvania but haven't seen anything official verifying that yet. The sad information that I found was that he was murdered by his wife in 1882, the details of which are the disturbing part I mentioned above. Per newspaper articles I read from the town he was living in at the time, his wife had been in and out of mental institutes for years. It seems that he would go get here from time to time, maybe hoping she was better, and then end up putting her back. It looks like the last time he got her it went terribly wrong because she ended up slitting his throat while he was asleep. Here are several newspaper articles I found detailing the event:

The Terre Haute Express
Terre Haute, Indiana, Saturday, August 26, 1882
From Ear to Ear
Horrible Deed of a Crazy Wife at Worthington
She Carves Her Husband in His Sleep, Severing His Windpipe at the First Stroke
Special Dispatch to the Express

  • Worthington, Indiana, August 25 - William Chapman of this place, was murdered by his wife this evening at about half past eight o?clock. She is crazy and had been at the Insane Asylum several times during the past ten or twelve years. During all this time she has declared that she would kill her husband. They were lying in the back room, and it seems as though she had the razor concealed about her person. She cut his throat from ear to ear, severing the windpipe at the first stroke. He had been watching her for several days and nights and must have been very sleepy and thus put off his guard. The papers were made out to put her away, but she did the work as she said she would. He was a very inoffensive gentleman, and many mourn his sad end. Two of his daughters were sleeping in the next room. They heard the blood dropping on the floor, got up and went to the door, it was locked. She told them that if they came in there that she would kill them. They alarmed the neighbors and when they came, the door was forced open. She had him pulled across the bed and the blood was running in her lap. She said she was fighting for the devil and Lord Jesus Christ and the devil triumphed.
The Terre Haute Express Morning News of 27 August 1882
  • William Chapman, of Worthington, paid the penalty of his life for keeping a maniac wife at home when she ought to have been in the asylum. She had long threatened to make away with him and the cunning of these demented creatures can sometimes discount the best laid plans of the sane. Mrs. Chapman, however, seems to have had sense enough to know that in her case the Devil had triumphed. There was no claim about being ?God?s man? as one of her distinquished contemporaries was wont to remark.
From the Athens Messenger, Athens, Ohio, Thursday, 31 August 1883, page 1, column 3
  • General News of the Week
  • Last Friday night at Worthington, Indiana, William Chapman, quite an elderly gentleman, was murdered by is insane wife. Her husband had been watching her for several days and it is supposed that he was so fatigued that he fell asleep, when she cut his throat from ear to ear with a razor.

The Bloomfield News of 1 September 1882

  • William Chapman Murdered By His Wife
  • About half past eight o?clock Friday evening, at Worthington, Mr. William Chapman was murdered by his wife, who is insane. She has been at the insane asylum several times in the last few years. She had expressed a determination to kill her husband and on last Friday night fully carried out the desire of her crazed mind. They were laying in a back room and it is supposed she had a razor concealed and while her husband was sound asleep, she cut his throat from ear to ear. He had been watching her closely for several days but at last had fallen into a sound sleep, from which he never awoke. The papers were made out to send her away. Two of his daughters were sleeping in the next room and heard the noise of the blood running down to the floor, went to the door which was locked. She told them not to come in or she would kill them. they gave the alarm and the neighbors came in, forced the door open. She had her husband across the bed and the blood running in to her lap. One of the daughters was here attending Normal and received the sad news Saturday morning. Mr. Chapman was well esteemed by all his neighbors. The girls are endeavouring to educate themselves and deserve the sympathy and kind treatment of all to help them to bear up under this severe trial.

Sentinal 27 August 1882
The Worthington Tragedy
Special to the Sentinal

  • Worthington, Indiana 26 August - In the Chapman murder case, the coroner today rendered a verdict that the deceased came to his death from having his throat cut by a razor in the hands of his wife. The verdict further finds that Mrs. Chapman is of unsound mind. The coroner turned the body over to the care of the Trustee for burial.


Several disturbing aspects of this but the daughters being in the house close by adds to that element. I had to think it was amazing that this man survived the battles he did only to be killed by his wife in his sleep nearly 20 years later. It goes to show that you never know what surprises you'll find, both good and bad, when you start researching your family's past.
 
There was a thread recently in the General section that asked about Union regiments from southern states. It got me thinking about my 3rd generation great-grandfather William Thomas and his brother in law my 4th generation great uncle Harvey Gatewood. I posted a little bit about them serving in the 1st Florida Cavalry (US) on that thread and another one several years ago with some information. Unraveling that mystery took some time and left me pretty stunned when I discovered the truth. I started doing ancestry research at the beginning of 2011 with the intent mostly being to discover ancestors that fought in the Civil War. As I started making discoveries I would talk to my Dad about what I had found because he was interested as well. My paternal great-grandmother on my grandmother's side was originally a Thomas so I did some initial digging and found her grandfather William Thomas living in Covington County, Alabama in 1860 and was 23 at the time. Doing a little more digging I found enlistment cards for him and 2 of his brothers in the 23rd Alabama. There were very few cards though and two mentioned absent due to sickness. My first thoughts were perhaps they deserted and that was the end of it.

Unfortunately my great-grandmother died when my dad was only 12 but my Dad told me that in 1991 or 1992 he and my grandmother went to visit cemeteries where our relatives in the Thomas family were buried lower Alabama. They also stopped and talked to distant relatives that were much older but still living at the time. They reminisced about knowing my great-great grandparents. But they also said that one of our relatives had fought for the Union and it was a scandal in the community at the time. My Dad also told me that my grandmother told him how her mom would talk of stories that her grandmother told her of going to visit her grandfather at Fort Barrancas (in Pensacola, FL) while he served there. That made no sense to me, I found nothing that showed the 23rd Alabama at Barrancas, nor could I find much proof that he even served that long in the 23rd Alabama. My first thought was these were just second hand memories from 20+ years ago at best, so obviously they were wrong! Besides, I have the internet! How could I be wrong?

Oops.....

One day I was researching William Thomas again and found a pension to his wife and my 3rd generation great-grandmother Elizabeth Thomas. The strange thing was it said it was for the 1st Florida Cavalry. I went to the NPS civil war soldier database search site and found nothing under the 1st Florida for a William Thomas. I dismissed it as maybe a different William and Elizabeth Thomas. That found though I decided to start researching Elizabeth Thomas' family. She was originally a Gatewood and I found a brother named Harvey Gatewood that would have been old enough to fight but I couldn't find anything even with a name that wasn't really be as common like a "Thomas" would be. Strangely enough I found Harvey Gatewood's burial site on findagrave.com and he had a marker that clearly said "1st FLA Cavalry" on it. This didn't make sense, I couldn't find anything on the NPS civil war soldier database for a Harvey Gatewood in the 1st Florida Cavalry. The problem was, I had been using the search criteria of "Confederacy" when doing the search. When I finally just did a general search, I was shocked to see there was a 1st Florida Cavalry on the Union side. Low and behold I find both Harvey Gatewood and William Thomas in the 1st Florida Cavalry (US).

The initial idea and shock of it all had me reeling. These men were from extreme lower Alabama, just north of the Florida line. How could they have been a part of a Union Cavalry Regiment? Wouldn't they have been shot on sight for joining the Union in this part of the south? As I did some more research about the war in those counties though it began to make some more sense. When the Confederates retreated out of Santa Rosa County they burned the lumber mills in Bagdad, workers homes, building etc. Also, as I had discovered, William Thomas was shown to have enlisted in the 23rd Alabama. Maybe he did it out of fear from conscription or maybe he was conscripted but he obviously deserted or didn't show. By 1863 the Union had a pretty strong foothold in the northwest Florida area including control over Fort Barrancas again, perhaps he was afraid of repercussions of being a deserter or heck maybe he just had love for the Union, I guess I'll never know. But now the stories of visiting Fort Barrancas made sense because the 1st Florida was stationed there after the Confederates retreated out of Pensacola.

I found this blog yesterday from 2009: http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/2009/02/08/soldiers-deserters-and-turncoats/

It seemed to give a story that was probably similar to my great-grandfathers. The man mentioned in the blog served in the 15th Confederate Cavalry before deserting and joining the 1st Florida Cavalry (US). Ironically I had another 3rd generation great-grandfather (Seaborn Elliott) that was in the 15th Confederate. To add the cherry on top of this story, Seaborn Elliott's daughter and William Thomas' son were married. Can you imagine those family get togethers and what the dinner table conversation may have been? I'm surprised no one was killed!

So there you go (if anyone actually made it through the whole story haha), a little bit of an ancestry story with some twists and turns but one to remember for sure.
 
Sadly, a few months back, my last living grandparent passed away. Recently my mom and her brothers and sisters had decided to sell my grandparents house, so of course that meant going through all of their belongings to decide whether to keep or sell certain things. This past weekend I was there helping them load up items they were keeping when my mom handed me a stack of papers she thought I would be interested in. When my grandmother was still living she had given me copies of letters that my 3rd great grandfather John Scudder had written to his wife during the Civil War. He was a surgeon attached to the 65th Indiana. I have posted some of those letters in this thread before but the stack she handed me I had not seen before.

I made copies of all of the letters before I left. There were quite a few, but most seemed to be of a personal nature and didn't mention the war or his part of it in detail. However, I did find 3-4 letters that I thought might be interesting reads for forum members. I took pictures of the copies of the letters and will post them here over the next few days probably. The first letter says it was written on January 23, 1863 in Ramsey, Kentucky. He talks about going down the "Green River" on a steamboat, making daily stops and tending the wounded at each stop. He mentions "just after the great battle I had a big job on my hands". With the date being Jan 23, 1863 and the places he mentions in the letter I'm assuming the "great battle" he mentions is Stones River. He also mentions how great many wounded had not had their wounds dressed since Nashville, so leads me to believe he was probably treating wounded from Stones River. He also talks about a boat that had 300 Confederate prisoners and treating a "rebel sergeant" that was pressed into service "against the flag he loved". He also had some words with a "trio of Lieutenants" that I thought was amusing.

IMG_4979.JPG
 
I found another letter that I thought was interesting and parts amusing as well. He tells the story of attempting to take over a courthouse but runs into stiff resistance from the Judge. "They locked the doors against me and told me if I went in I would have to break the doors, and do it under protest of their judge. I told them that I did not propose to break the locks of any house, either public or private, until I had positive orders to do so which I recrossed the river to get, which orders Major Brown readily gave me, telling me to 'take it peacably if I could, but forcibly if I must.' He then goes on to finish the story by talking about bringing a Captain and five privates along with his Aide de Camp who was "carrying a broom and bringing up the rear" haha! It's funny to hear individual stories that like this that happened during the war. I'm sure there are many many more than will forever go untold.

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When I started doing Civil War ancestry research back 6 years ago one of the first relatives I discovered was my great-great-great uncle Henry Van Trees in the 6th Indiana Infantry Regiment. That discovery and realizing that the 6th fought at Shiloh, Stones River and Chickamauga really helped push my interest in learning more about those battles and visiting the battlefields. A few years back I discovered that he had a site on findagrave.com, which had a few pictures of him. Interestingly it turned out he was buried in LA National Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Seemed like a long way from home for an old Indiana boy but doing more research I found that he ended up in an old soldiers home there. Researching the cemetery I discovered there were quite a few Civil War Veterans buried there, including Medal of Honor recipients from the war. Unfortunately there were no pictures of his tombstone that I could find, I was able to find the exact location where he was buried there from the cemetery's website and I posted a photo request on findagrave.com. Well what do you know, a week later it was posted:

Expired Image Removed


The internet certainly has its down sides but when it comes to ancestry research and people willing to help like on findagrave.com, it gives me hope for the world and opens the door to learn so much more about your past, while honoring some who may have been long since forgotten.
 
When I started doing Civil War ancestry research back 6 years ago one of the first relatives I discovered was my great-great-great uncle Henry Van Trees in the 6th Indiana Infantry Regiment. That discovery and realizing that the 6th fought at Shiloh, Stones River and Chickamauga really helped push my interest in learning more about those battles and visiting the battlefields. A few years back I discovered that he had a site on findagrave.com, which had a few pictures of him. Interestingly it turned out he was buried in LA National Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Seemed like a long way from home for an old Indiana boy but doing more research I found that he ended up in an old soldiers home there. Researching the cemetery I discovered there were quite a few Civil War Veterans buried there, including Medal of Honor recipients from the war. Unfortunately there were no pictures of his tombstone that I could find, I was able to find the exact location where he was buried there from the cemetery's website and I posted a photo request on findagrave.com. Well what do you know, a week later it was posted:

Expired Image Removed


The internet certainly has its down sides but when it comes to ancestry research and people willing to help like on findagrave.com, it gives me hope for the world and opens the door to learn so much more about your past, while honoring some who may have been long since forgotten.
I've had very good luck with photo requests on findagrave! When I was looking for one of my boys from the 7th TN Cav CSA who died at Bolivar and made a photo request, I had a volunteer actually go out into a field of weeds with a metal rod, poke around until he found the buried stone, dig it up, clean it, photograph it, and contact someone local to mount it properly!

Los Angeles, never would have thought to look there. I'm glad you know where he is now.

Incidentally, my husband's people lived in Sullivan county, Indiana, and while researching them I've bumped into articles about your relative's murder several times. It's kind of funny to read something that long ago and think, "Oh, I know that guy."
 
I've had very good luck with photo requests on findagrave! When I was looking for one of my boys from the 7th TN Cav CSA who died at Bolivar and made a photo request, I had a volunteer actually go out into a field of weeds with a metal rod, poke around until he found the buried stone, dig it up, clean it, photograph it, and contact someone local to mount it properly!

Los Angeles, never would have thought to look there. I'm glad you know where he is now.

Incidentally, my husband's people lived in Sullivan county, Indiana, and while researching them I've bumped into articles about your relative's murder several times. It's kind of funny to read something that long ago and think, "Oh, I know that guy."

Haha yeah, and what a frightening story it is. Survive vicious battles during the Civil War only to be cut down by your wife years later. Family history has some interesting stories to dig up, some good and some bad.
 
I've had very good luck with photo requests on findagrave! When I was looking for one of my boys from the 7th TN Cav CSA who died at Bolivar and made a photo request, I had a volunteer actually go out into a field of weeds with a metal rod, poke around until he found the buried stone, dig it up, clean it, photograph it, and contact someone local to mount it properly!

Los Angeles, never would have thought to look there. I'm glad you know where he is now.

Incidentally, my husband's people lived in Sullivan county, Indiana, and while researching them I've bumped into articles about your relative's murder several times. It's kind of funny to read something that long ago and think, "Oh, I know that guy."

I've done a lot of photo requests for findagrave and documented two local historic cemeteries. I got into it after I, too, found it to be very helpful with my family research. Your volunteer sounds like a real find but he did violate findagrave rules which say don't even touch a stone. I hope he knew how to clean the stone properly (we do that at the historic cemetery where I volunteer and I've seen some damage from those who don't know what they're doing) but am happy to hear something that was lost is now found and restored.
 
I've done a lot of photo requests for findagrave and documented two local historic cemeteries. I got into it after I, too, found it to be very helpful with my family research. Your volunteer sounds like a real find but he did violate findagrave rules which say don't even touch a stone. I hope he knew how to clean the stone properly (we do that at the historic cemetery where I volunteer and I've seen some damage from those who don't know what they're doing) but am happy to hear something that was lost is now found and restored.
Yes, he's done several restorations. In this case I knew from records that the person was there somewhere, and it seemed likely he was near other family members, but the whole cemetery had been neglected since the death of the person who used to care for it. There's a local history group which got involved and fixed it up.
 
I'm still on the hunt for my 3rd generation great-grandfather Isaiah Boles' gravesite. I'm afraid he may have been buried on his own land, which will make finding it more difficult. I won't give up though.
 
I'm still on the hunt for my 3rd generation great-grandfather Isaiah Boles' gravesite. I'm afraid he may have been buried on his own land, which will make finding it more difficult. I won't give up though.

I am also on the hunt for Isaiah Boles as well as Elijah. They are my 3rd and 4th great grandfathers on my dads side. My father is a Boles.
 
Sometimes ancestry information comes when you're not even looking for it. I received a message on Ancestry from someone saying that they had found a picture of Jasper Boles and did some searching and saw that I had mentioned him before. He asked for my email address so he could send me the picture and then sent it my way. William Jasper Boles was the younger brother of my great-great-great grandfather Isaiah Boles. He served in the 53rd Alabama Partisan Rangers along with Isaiah, so it was great seeing a picture of him, since I had never seen a picture of him or Isaiah.

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Interestingly enough he also found a letter written from Jasper to a woman who was definitely not his wife and it seemed to indicate he had some feelings for her. So Jasper may not have been totally faithful to his wife, but they are buried together in a Florala, Alabama cemetery so who knows! I had started to give up hope I would ever find a picture of Isaiah Boles, but getting one of his brother is still almost like hitting the jackpot for me and my Civil War ancestry research. It definitely will help me hold out hope that I'll find a picture of Isaiah Boles somewhere and hopefully find where he is buried one day as well.
 
I had mentioned Seaborn Elliott in my Ancestry thread before. He was my 3rd generation great-grandfather that fought in the 15th Confederate Cavalry with his older brother William Elliott. They were mustered out of Mobile, Alabama and had skirmishes around that area and Northwest Florida. Seaborn worked for his younger brother Charles Elliott pushing lumber down creeks, rivers and flumes around the Milton, Florida area. Milton and Bagdad had several lumber mills back in the day. Family lore has it that Seaborn killed two men while working this job down by one of the rivers and fled the area to Texas. He left his wife and children (one of which was my great-great grandmother) and only came back years later when his wife died to attend the funeral. Supposedly they ran him off by throwing rocks at him when they saw him pull up after years of being gone.

Friends of mine had told me recently about a historic site only 6-7 miles from my house called Arcadia Mill. There was a boardwalk and trails you could take that showed where the old Mill had been built back in the early 1800's. I was off work for a week so thought it would be a good chance to get the kids outside and do a little walking so we drove over and walked the site. There is nothing there now other than some bricks left that were laid down back in the 1800's but they had a lot of markers showing where the old sawmill, dam and textile mill used to be. One note in the timeline talked about how the dam was destroyed in the 1860's by either Union or Confederate troops but was unknown exactly who did it. My guess would be it was probably Confederate soldiers to keep the area out of Union hands. I believe they torched a lot of the lumber mills around Bagdad as they retreated from the area so I wouldn't be surprised if they destroyed the dam there as well.

As I was walking with my children looking at the different historical markers I did a double take when I saw one with the title "Elliott's Flume" at the top.

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When I read that my first thought was "Charles Elliott?! As in my great-great-great uncle Charles Elliott?" From all I know about Charles Elliott and his work with logging and my grandfather Seaborn working for him, I felt almost certain this was him. Interesting that he was contracted to connect the old Arcadia Mill to Bagdad where the larger lumber mill was located. My great-grandfather Brady Boles actually worked at the lumber mills in Bagdad in the early 1900's before they were eventually shut down. So it's not everyday that you take your kids for a small hike and run across a historical marker mentioning a relative. Now I'm just hoping it wasn't the same place where their 4th gen great-grandfather killed 2 men....allegedly.

Here are a few other markers that make some small mention of the Civil War.

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