Looked for Civil War Service, Found Flu Victim

Civil War record of John W. McClure - including date/place of death

In my quest to investigate the Civil War veterans in my husband's family tree, I spent hours tracking down the Union Army service of his Indiana-born 2d great-uncle, John N. McClure (1840-1919).

John, his older brother Theodore Wilson McClure (1834-1927) and his younger brother Train Caldwell McClure (1843-1934) all enlisted in the Union Army. My research shows that their lives diverged after the war.

Initially, I had few specifics about John's military record, let alone his post-war experiences. The trail had gone cold after 1910, when he told the Census he was a Union Army vet. His wife was a widow in 1920, living in the Indiana State Soldiers' Home. This helped me narrow his possible death date to after April 15, 1910 (Census Day) and before January 1 of 1920 (Census Day)

I used a wide array of resources to dig into his history, including Ancestry, Indiana state military databases, Find a Grave, Family Search, Fold3, and newspaper databases. I needed every one of those resources to uncover his past, trace his movements, and learn where, when, and why he died.

Civil War Records

John enlisted as a private in Company A of the 89th Indiana Infantry on December 28, 1863. This was the same regiment in which his brother Train served. Three days after enlisting, John married Rebecca Jane Coble (1846-1928) before shipping out with his unit.

The 89th Indiana Infantry was involved in the Battle of Nashville; the siege and occupation of Mobile, Alabama; the Red River campaign to take Shreveport; and the capture of Fort Blakely, Alabama. According to Indiana's Civil War database, John later transferred to Company E of the 26th Indiana Infantry (which occupied Mobile, Alabama) and was discharged on January 15, 1866.

Shown at top is the best Civil War record I found. It reported his invalid status in 1874 and . . . his death date and place in 1919. This allowed me to find John's obit and then his Find a Grave memorial.

From the Hoosier State to the Beaver State

The obit published in the Oregon Journal of April 30, 1919 was headlined: "Civil War Veteran of Forest Grove Dies at His Home." In addition to providing an exact birth and death date, and confirming his military service with the 89th and 26th Indiana Infantries, the obit said he had moved to Oregon eight years earlier. No cause of death listed, and only one son mentioned in the obit.

What was he doing in Oregon? Looking at his children in the 1910 Census, I noticed his youngest daughter was in Oregon. So that's most likely why John and his wife Rebecca moved to there.

There was NO John N. McClure on Find a Grave in the cemetery mentioned in the obit. There was a John V. McClure. Turns out, his gravestone is incorrectly marked but this is definitely the correct man. Thanks to the kind Find a Grave volunteer who created John's memorial and fleshed it out, I now could see his death certificate.

Death During the Pandemic

I was surprised to learn what happened to this ancestor in 1919. The date should have been a clue, given that we are currently living through a pandemic being compared to what happened a century ago.

John N. McClure died of influenza, at age 78, in the midst of the flu pandemic of 1918-9. 

This ancestor grew up in the early settlements around Wabash, Indiana, survived dozens of Civil War battles, returned to farming, later worked as a railroad engineer, and was part of the boom times in Oregon. RIP, Great-Great-Uncle John, you will not be forgotten.