Full House For George and Lucy Before He Sailed to War

Researching military ancestors in my husband's family tree, I was a bit surprised to see that his great-grand uncle George Scarborough Handy (1819-1892) joined the Union Navy despite having a house full of kids.

Born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts in 1819, George married Lucy M. Wood (1821-1902) in June, 1841. They settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and had nine children together as he worked as a farmer and a carpenter to support his growing family. At times, it seems he struggled financially: he reported himself to be a laborer with $100 in personal property when enumerated with his wife and 7 children in the 1860 US Census.

Joining the navy

In September of 1861, during the US Civil War, George left his family to enlist with the Union Navy at the rank of ordinary seaman. He served on the Bark Kingfisher, chasing Confederate ships and enforcing the Union's blockade along the Atlantic coast and into the Gulf of Mexico. Scurvy, scarce food and water, and other problems plagued the Kingfisher and other Union vessels constantly on the move.

George had some kind of health crisis because in March of 1862, he was sent to the Naval Hospital in New York with a diagnosis of “deafness and imbecility” as shown in the document above. Among his possessions were 3 jackets, 4 pairs trousers, other clothing, and 1 book. George was discharged due to disability from the Union Navy in April of 1862, and returned home. 

Rejoining his family

Whatever his health condition following his military service, he resumed working as a gas fitter and then as a house carpenter after rejoining his family. He and Lucy had one more child in 1863, who sadly died young. Later in life, George qualified for an invalid pension and after his death in 1892, his widow Lucy received his pension payments until she died of heart disease, age 82, in 1902.

Enumerated as deaf? 

What intrigued me about the hospital transfer was the diagnosis of "deafness and imbecility." To that point, George had been enumerated in the 1850 and 1860 US Census and there was no indication that he was either deaf or imbecilic. Both of those US Census questionnaires have a place in the far right column to show whether a person had such disabilities, but George was not identified in this way. (To see the full questions of each US Census, look at this handy list of viewable/downloadable blank forms at the US National Archives site.)

Was George temporarily deafened by some explosion? Or did he have another injury that caused him to have symptoms of deafness and imbecility? I'll never know...but I do know that he lived to the age of 73, survived by his wife and only 3 of his children.

Full House is the genealogy prompt of the week for #52Ancestors from Amy Johnson Crow.