Hubby's Ancestors in the Civil War: Part 2 (Mayflower Connection)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower

In Part 1 of this series, I applied multiple criteria to screen for potential Civil War ancestors in my husband's family tree: (1) organizing male ancestors according to birthdate to identify those of military age in the 1860s, (2) eliminating men who died before the war and who were not in America at the time, and (3) prioritizing ancestors closer to the main tree.

This reduced the number of possible Civil War veterans to research from 71 men to 33 men.

Next, I peeked at the 1910 U.S. Census to see which ancestors said they were veterans--a clue, not definitive evidence. This gave me positive clues for a good number, but what about those not alive in 1910?

Quick-and-Dirty Search for Civil War Activities

For ancestors who died before the 1910 Census, I did a quick-and-dirty search on Ancestry. Did these men register for the Civil War draft? If so, did they actually serve?

Between checking the 1910 Census and my quick-and-dirty search, I reduced the number of possible Civil War veterans from 33 to 20 [correction: 21, now that I've identified Lemuel C. Wood, Jr. as a vet]. This list included great-great uncles, cousins of various types, and two men married to great-great-aunts.

Mayflower Connections 

Along the way to profiling my husband's Civil War veterans, I filled in many blanks on the family tree and looked at family connections to prioritize my research.

A name that made the initial list due to his birth year was Thomas F. Wood (1843-1925), my husband's 1st cousin, twice removed. He was born and died in the whaling center of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the son of Isaiah Wood and Mary T. White.

As I climbed Thomas's family tree, I saw that his grandfather Isaiah Wood was descended from Mayflower passenger Mary Norris and her husband, Thomas Cushman of the Fortune. Thomas's grandmother Harriet Taber was descended from Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke.

Having made these connections, I immediately determined that Thomas F. Wood was to be the focus of my first Civil War investigation. More in Part 3!

Which of Hubby's Ancestors Were in the Civil War? Part 1

The 1910 US Census asked about veteran status.
UA = Union Army service during the Civil War.

Thank you, Ken Burns, for getting the younger generation interested in ancestors who fought in the U.S. Civil War!

A young relative just mentioned watching the popular Ken Burns documentary series The Civil War for the first time.

Me: "Hey, I'm writing a family history booklet about your Civil War ancestors."

Young relative: "Wow, we had ancestors in the Civil War?"

Me: "More than one! Wait till you hear their stories." [Doing the genealogy happy dance--a descendant asking about ancestor stories!]

First Step: Who Was Old Enough to Serve?

From previous research, I'd already identified 10 ancestors of my husband who served in the Union Army. That was just a start.

Now I needed to go through his family tree in a systematic way to see who else might have served in the Civil War. Given the migration patterns in my husband's family (including Ohio Fever that attracted Northeastern ancestors to settle the Ohio River area), I expected to find NO service for the Confederacy, only for the Union side.

My first step was to use RootsMagic7 to sort the family tree by birthdate. I printed the report and used a red pen to mark men eligible for the draft or enlistment. As a rough guide, I was going to investigate those born between the mid-1820s and the late 1840s.

The initial list included 71 men of eligible age for military service.

Second Step: Ancestral Relationship and Location

After deleting a few male ancestors who died just before the Civil War, I examined ancestral relationships and locations. My goal was to eliminate men who had an indirect connection to the family tree and men who lived in another country during the Civil War years.

Name by name, I dropped ancestors such as "father-in-law of niece of 1c2r" as well as ancestors who arrived in America after 1865.

This shortened the list to 33 male cousins and great-great-uncles of eligible age who were living in the United States from 1860 to 1865.

Third Step: The 1910 US Census Clue

Before doing serious Civil War research, I took a quick shortcut to see, as a clue in the 1910 US Census, which of the men on the list had indicated they were veterans.

This clue only works if the male ancestor was still alive in 1910 (he served as late as 1865, so he would not be a spring chicken). And of course it only works if the man or his relative knew enough to tell the enumerator about his military service. Remember, this is a CLUE, still to be verified by further research.

See the snippet at top? The 3d column from the far right on the 1910 Census was a question about whether the person was a veteran.

For Union Army veterans, like my husband's ancestor in this example, the enumerator would write "UA." The National Archives posted this list of veterans' codes for 1910:

• "UN" for Union Navy
• "UA" for Union Army
• "CA" for Confederate Army
• "CN" for Confederate Navy

In Part 2, I'll describe my next steps in determining which of my husband's ancestors were in the Civil War, where, and when.

The 1903 Marriage of Mary Amanda and August Jacob

Marriage record of Mary Amanda Wood and August Jacob Carsten

My husband's first cousin, once removed, married exactly 117 years ago today.

Mary Amanda Wood (1884-1917) married August Jacob Carsten (1884-1975) on June 3, 1903, in Toledo, Ohio. Above, their marriage record, indicating that the groom had his father's consent to marry. (Mary Amanda was named for her grandmother, Mary Amanda Demarest, who was married to Thomas Haskell Wood.)

Mary Amanda was the daughter of a house painter and granddaughter of a carpenter/coach builder. Her intended husband was a carpenter, the son of a carpenter. Both bride and groom were over the age of 18.

Why Did August Jacob Need Consent?

In Ohio at the time of Mary Amanda's marriage, females over 18 were allowed to marry without parents' consent but males needed parents' consent until the age of 21.

That's why August Jacob Carsten's father actually made the marriage application on behalf of the son!

How Many Children Ever Born?

Often I've said how much I love the 1910 US Census, which asks women how many children they have ever had and how many are still living. That year, Census Day was in April.

Interestingly, in the 1910 Census, Mary is shown with her husband (married 7 years, they told the enumerator) and two of their children. However, she didn't answer the question about how many children she's ever had and how many were still living.

Mary's first child had been born in 1904, her second child in 1906. Now, in April of 1910, child number three was on the way (born before Christmas of 1910). 

Were other babies born in between, and did they die young? A search on Ancestry, Family Search, and Find a Grave turned up no infant deaths for Mary Amanda and August Jacob.

Why they didn't answer the "how many children ever born/how many now living" questions, I simply don't know. Everyone else on that page answered in 1910.

Mary Amanda's Death

Sadly, Mary Amanda Wood died while pregnant with her fifth child in January of 1917. Later that year, August Jacob remarried, giving his four young children a step-mother. He and his new bride, Matilda Kohne, had two children together.

Today, I'm remembering my hubby's 1c1r, Mary Amanda Wood Carsten, on her wedding day of 117 years ago.

The #52Ancestors prompt for this week is "wedding."