Civil War Soldiers - My Father's Family

As I said in my last blog, I have 8 second or third great grandfathers that were the right age and generation to have fought in the Civil War.  Five on my mother's side and three on my father's.

1. Thomas McHugh. GG-Grandfather - b. 1834. Lived near Greenville, SC.  During the Civil War he served in the Confederate Army as a carpenter. In in civilian life he was a wood worker: 1850 Census -  Cabinet Maker. (age 16), 1860 Census - Mechanic.  He was furloughed on sick leave from Jun 1862 to Feb 1863 and when he returned he was detailed as a carpenter.  During the war his occupation was listed variously as 1.) Carpenter duty (Repairing Wagons), 2.) mechanic, 3.) carpenter.  After the war, he returned to being a cabinet maker (1870). In 1880 he is listed as a farmer.

2. Mumford Stokes McKenzie Sloop. GGG-Grandfather. -b. 1832 (28 when the war started).  I haven't found any evidence that he served in the war. During a Sloop family reunion, one family historian said the Sloops never owned slaves.  Mumford's 1st cousin  Caleb Sloop fled to Illinois to avoid service. I don't have any evidence that Mumford did anything similar.  There are other Sloops who served in the Confederate Army.

3. William "W.D." Tevepaugh. GGG-Grandfather - b. 1833. The National Archives have a record for a W.D. Tevepaugh who was a Confederate soldier, Pvt. in 29th Reg. N.C. Infantry [company not recorded].  (Record downloaded from fold3.com.) His date and place of enlistment are not recorded. He was paroled at Charlotte, N.C. on 24 May 1865. I am hoping to find additional information to collaborate this record.

 W. D. died in 1868. His tombstone reads:

W. D. Tevepaugh
Died January 18, 1868
from a wound in the hand
caused by the accidental discharge of a gun in his own hands
Aged 34 yrs. 8 mos. 11 days

Till next time, keep the blue side up ... Lynn

Civil War Soldiers - My Mother's Family

Most people my age have about 8 second or third great grandfathers that were the right age and generation to have fought in the Civil War. In the south the number is higher because Confederate soldiers' ages had a wider range than Union soldiers. Most Confederate soldiers were between 18 and 39. Although according to some historians it wasn't uncommon to see men in their 50s, 60s, and a few in their 70s.

[Note:  In this blog, I refer to WV as a geography before it was a state because it's helpful to distinguish it from Virginia.]

Below is a brief description of my maternal 2nd/3rd great grandfathers and whether they participated in the war. If I say they "did not serve," it means I have searched for records but there isn't any indication they were in either army.

1. Thomas "T.R." Houghton. GG-Grandfather - b. 1846, WV: Preacher. ; Did not serve. He was a little young and would have only been 15 in 1861. His older brother Jesse served (Confederate) as did his future father-in-law James F. Cochran (Union).

2. James F. Cochran. GGG-Grandfather- b. 1819, WV. 3rd West Virginia Cavalry. Union Soldier. Enrolled: 10 Mar 1864; Died 19 Sep 1864 - probably from infection of a small pox vac. He entered as a private and was at some point promoted to Corporal during his 6 months of service. His daughter Sarah Jane married TR Houghton 11 years after her father died.  The guardian of his children applied for his pension and thus his file contains a significant amount of information about the family.

3. Shelton Rodney Boise Henderson. GG-Grandfather - b. 1843 VA. 36th Regiment Virginia Infantry, Confederate Army. On June 5, 1864 during the Battle of New Hope or Piedmont, VA - near Staunton, VA, he was wounded in the right foot and his leg had to be amputated just below the knee.  His records include an order for his prosthetic leg. Ten years after the war, he married my gg-grandmother, Elizabeth Alice Hanna and had 9 children. (see photo)

3. Adolph Meminger. GG-Grandfather - b. 1844 Baden Germany. Records indicate he arrived around1865 and missed the war. I have been unable to find any immigration records.

4. William Clark Babcock. b. 1843 Michigan. I have not found any indication that he served but according to my cousin Dan Meminger, other Babcock cousins did.

Till next time, keep the blue side up ... Lynn

The Name Game

All genealogists play the name game.  Multiple spellings of our surnames is fairly common.  My great grandfather came from Lithuania with a relatively easy last name. Dausin.  Well, perhaps not that easy.

I have seen so many spellings that I started a spreadsheet to keep track of the various spellings.  Lithuanians add a suffix to the root of their last name which identifies whether the individual is a man,  a married woman, or an unmarried daughter. (See a great explanation here by John Peters, a genealogist who helped many Lithuanian Americans over their brick walls.)

I added the date and source to my spreadsheet; when looking for a new record I usually start my search with the spellings closest to the date of the new source.

	First	Last	Date	Source
1	Joel	Dauzin	1897	Naturalization paper
2	Julias	Dausaunas	1890	Sister Beth's papers
3	Julijonas	Dausinas	1902	Marriage register (Church)
	Julionas	Daunsinos	1902	Marriage license & certificate
4	Julijani	Dausinas	1903	Daughter Bronislava Haimi (?) baptism record
5	Juligan	Dauzen	1904	Son Boleslav's birth certificate
6	Julijano	Dausinas	1904	Son Bolieslaum's baptism record
7	Julius	Dausen	1907	Joseph's birth certificate
8		Dausinas	1904	Boleslav baptism record
9	Julius	Doosen	1910	Census
10	Julius	Dowsen	1918	WWI Draft Registration
11	Julius	Dausen	1941	Anthony's birth certificate
12	Julius	Dausinis	1943	Edward's birth certificate
13	Julius	Dausenas	1952	Death certificate
14		Dausinas	1967	Paulina's death certificate

Turns out, that wasn't enough. Several databases, like Cook County's genealogy site,  let you put in the soundex code. Since most of the spellings had the same sound, I felt they would all have the same soundex code.  Generally speaking, the table below bears that out.  250 without the suffix and 252 with it.  Again, I used a spreadsheet but there are several good soundex converters that will do the work for you.

D	A	U	S	I	N	AS
	O	U	Z	E		IS
		W		AU
		O
D			2		5	2	0	Soundex

That just one of the many name games I've played to find information about my great grandfather.  He didn't leave a lot of information behind.  I'm still searching to find his entry to the US (around 1892) and any information regarding his origins in Lithuania. 

Till next time, keep the blue side up ... Lynn

Mahala Bennett Cochran's life during the Civil War

In March 1864, Mahala's husband James F. Cochran voluntarily enrolled in the Union Army at the age of 35.  She had five children at  home ranging in age from 18 months to 8 years old.  Among them was my gg-grandmother, Sarah Jane Cochran.

I assume James volunteered in order to receive the bounty offered to Volunteers.  Upon enlistment he received $60 and became part of the West Virginia, 3rd Regiment Cavalry. However, by September 1864, James was dead; he died of disease in Clarysville Hospital. According to the Civil War Archive (www.civilwararchive.com) the unit lost a total of 182 men.  136 of those (or 75%) died of disease.  On the Army's record of his death, her post office is listed as Anderson's Store West Virginia. 

What was life like in Anderson's Store at the time?  Perhaps J. Bouse letter asking for protection from raiders provides some insight. The letter is included in: "The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies" (Scott, Robert N. et. al., Editor - found here) .

One more interesting fact.  When the widowed Mahala Bennette Cochran married Adam Wilfong in 1867,  "J. Bouse" married them. 


ANDERSON'S STORE, W. VA.,
January 29, 1864.
To Brigadier General B. F. KELLEY, greeting:
We, your humble petitioners, being all loyal citizens, pray to be heard in behalf of our present perilous situation.

First. We represent that we live immediately on the border. That we are daily, or, more properly speaking, nightly, exposed to rebel hordes of guerrillas, who infest the mountains and pounce upon us when and while we are unable to protect ourselves in any degree. There are several roads leading from the settlements into the mountains, any and all of which are used by them in making their raids among us.

Second. The manner of making their raids: The come in quietly and are received by the rebel sympathizers, and then from 10 to 20 armed rebels dash upon the citizens in the dead hours of the night, robbing them of whatever valuables may be found, consisting of money, bedclothes, wearing apparel, even down to ladies' dresses and children's shoes and stockings. Some families have been reduced to want in this way. They have even taken the last knife and fork in some instances. They begin the work of robbing as they go out of the neighborhood, and before we can possibly get help they are gone. They have already got nearly every Union horse for several miles round where yu petitioners live.

Third. We anticipate worse now soon. We expect the next thing that our cattle will be driven off, as it has been done in the adjoining county (Braxton).

Fourth. The remedy; The only remedy we can conceive of is to have a company or two of men stationed at two points along the line. One company stationed on the head of the West Fork, where they could watch and guard the roads and passes infested by these guerrillas. In like manner let a company be stationed at Centreville, Upshur County, there being a way from that point to the mountains. That is the point of attack where the Upshur County militia were captured.

Fifth. Now let Company A of Tenth Virginia Volunteer Infantry be placed on the head of the West Fork, in Lewis County. That company was mostly raised in that locality, and are well acquainted with the roads leading to the mountains, and can therefore be much more efficient than strangers can be. The same as it regards Company B, same regiment, who were raised in the locality of Centreville. They are well acquainted with the roads and guerrilla haunts.

Lastly, our young and able- bodied men have nearly all gone into the Government service. There are but a very few men, except grey- heads and invalids, left.
Now, we do humbly ask (if it can be done without prejudice to the General Government) you to send the aforesaid Companies A and B to the aforesaid points, and we will continue to show our loyalty, as we have hitherto done, by doing all we can in support of the Government and the suppression of the rebellion.

J. BOUSE, [And 31 others].

Till next time, keep the blue side up ... Lynn