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

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

Follow the Records

At times I can be very focused on a task.  On occasion I have searched for a single record for several hours.  However, at other times, I'm all over the map.

This morning, for example, I was finishing some research regarding the burial location of my 3rd great grandfather, James F. Cochran, who died while enlisted in the Union Army. I found a record of James Cochran buried in 1864 in Grafton National Cemetery, WV and a J. F. Cochran, Cprl, buried in Antietam (photo right). I believe the latter is correct. 

While looking for more information on ancestry.com, I noticed in the member connect section that someone downloaded some info from my tree on Thomas Richard Houghton who married James F. Cochran's daughter Sarah. Thomas and Sarah are my 3rd great grandparents. I looked at the tree and found it had Cochran information I've never seen.  It provided info on James F. Cochran's father (also James) and his grandfather (Thomas).  On Thomas Cochran's page, there was an image of a transcription for the 1st Census of Greenbriar County, Virginia.
 



 I knew the 1790 US Census for had been destroyed so I googled " 1790 Virginia census" and an interesting result came back:

1790 / 1800 Virginia Tax List Censuses - Binns Genealogy 
www.binnsgenealogy.com/VirginiaTaxListCensuses

This free site provides an index and original images to the 1790 and 1800 Tithable lists.  When I think "Tithable," I think of Elijah Houghton.  Elijah, born about 1746, is my 6th great grandfather. He's a major brick wall.  I've used transcripts of British Tithable lists for clues to his origin.  These were helpful because they show an Elijah Houghton living with a Joseph Houghton in Loudoun County, Virginia, in the 1700s. I believe Joseph is Elijah's father. However, I had only seen transcripts, not original documents or images. There's something very exciting about seeing the actual doc or an image of it -- and Binns Genealogy delivered.

Anyway, Elijah later moved to Culpeper County, Virginia - but I don't know when. I had it narrowed down to somewhere between 1789 and 1810. The new Binn Tithable records show him in Loudoun in 1789 and in Culpeper by 1801.

1789 Loudoun County Tithable List

After saving the images and documenting this new information in my Roots Magic database, I uploaded the docs (with source information) to my ancestry.com tree.  Then I emailed the info to a cousin I met on-line.  Sharing is everything.

Wait, what was my point? I'm meandering. Just like my research.  I wonder if other genealogists do this? Let me pause to write a blog about it called Follow the Documents (done!).  James F. Cochran's burial research will sit on the back burner until another day.  Speaking of back-burner, that reminds me ......

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