Ancestors Followed the Subway Out of Manhattan

1989 map of New York
City subway system

Sometimes a map or multiple maps can help us understand ancestors' movements within a city or region. That's the case with my immigrant Farkas and Schwartz ancestors who lived in New York City around the turn of the 20th century. 

Although they began their new lives in Manhattan, my maternal great-grandparents and grandparents were able to move to less-crowded residential neighborhoods in the northern borough of the Bronx because of the subway.

The Farkas family rode the subway and "the el"

My collection of now-obsolete
New York City subway tokens

My great-grandfather Moritz Farkas (1857-1936) was escaping financial ruin after hail destroyed his crops in Hungary. He sailed to New York and initially was a boarder in someone else's Lower East Side Manhattan tenement apartment. This was in August of 1899, before any modern mass-transit systems were even built. Once his wife, Lena Kunstler Farkas (1865-1938) and their children arrived from Hungary, they moved to an apartment of their own on the Lower East Side.

By 1920, however, Moritz, Lena, and their family (and many of the married children) were living in the borough of the Bronx, just north of Manhattan. This move was made possible by the expansion of the city's subway lines into what was then a much less-populated area. Ironically, many of the subway lines were actually overhead, not underground, and were usually called "the el," short for "elevated."

Now Farkas family members could ride the subway to work and to visit each other, not to mention go to the Bronx Zoo, the Bronx Botanical Gardens, and Coney Island by train! Family stories, corroborated by more than one cousin, say that to save money, Lena sometimes gave her two middle sons only a nickel each per day to ride the subway to work...one way. They had to walk home when the nickels ran out.

Teddy and Minnie never needed a car

My maternal grandpa Theodore "Teddy" Schwartz (1887-1965) also came to New York City from Hungary, arriving in 1902, before the subway opened to the public. He lived as a boarder on the Lower East Side for the first nine years, then married my grandma Hermina "Minnie" Farkas (1886-1964) in 1911. At that point, the subway system was growing by leaps and bounds, reaching far and wide year after year.

With affordable mass transit within walking distance, Teddy and Minnie moved their family from Manhattan to the south Bronx, then a fast-growing residential area with new schools and parks. They settled on Fox Street, directly across from an elementary school, and Teddy opened a grocery store down the block.

Teddy and Minnie never had a car and didn't need one, given the ongoing improvements of the New York City subway system. Here's what the network looked like in 1939. By that time, all three of their children were working--taking the subway into Manhattan and back to the Bronx on every business day. The price was right and the subway was the fast track to better-paying jobs in the heart of New York City.

"On the map" is the #Genealogy prompt for week 38 of the #52Ancestors series.

Adding Context for 3D View of Ancestors, Part 2

In part 1 of my series, I looked at how analyzing an ancestor's family situation can provide valuable context for seeing that individual in three dimensions.

In part 2, I look at how analyzing an ancestor's community can add depth and context to that individual's life from our perspective in the 21st century.

Community context: County history books

Those wonderful late 19th century and early 20th century county history books really come in handy for community context. You can find some of these as links from the FamilySearch.org state/local pages, in the Ancestry catalog, in the MyHeritage catalog, by searching Hathitrust, and by searching with the place name (as I did with: "History of Fayette County, Indiana"). 

Despite the boosterism, such books provide fascinating background on not just local history, but topography, natural resources, industry, civic life, culture, and much more. Many include "reminiscences" of early settlers and veterans, a bonus for getting a sense of what the community was like, first hand.

Case study: Ira Caldwell

Ira Caldwell (1839-1926), my husband's 1c3r, served in Company I of the 84th Indiana Infantry during the Civil War. He was mustered in during 1862 and mustered out during 1865, marrying two years after leaving the Union Army. What could I learn about his life from looking at his communities?

Here is just some of what my "community" research uncovered to help me better understand his life:

• Where born - Ira and his siblings were all born in Indiana not very long after it became a state. Reading History of Fayette County, Indiana (from 1885) I learned that his Caldwell family was among the founders of very rural Posey township in Fayette County, arriving even before statehood. 
• Growing up - Ira witnessed the first roads, first schools, and so on as the local population doubled from 1830 to 1840 and beyond. Maps in the county history book helped me envision where he grew up on the family farm. The county history makes it clear that this was both an exciting time and a challenging period for pioneer farmers. 
• Transportation and technology - During Ira's youth, Indiana became part of new canal systems and new railroad networks, transforming the way people and goods were moved. Ira's farming community would have known about newly-invented threshers and grain elevators, among other key inventions. By the time he died in 1926, electricity, telephones and radios were commonplace technological changes that had a profound effect on everyday life. 
• Moving on - Tracking Ira in the US Census as he married and had children, I found him in 1880 as a farmer in Harrison County, Missouri. I located a digitized History of Harrison County, MO from 1921 and discovered that Ira left Indiana in the 1870s, spent four years farming in Illinois, and then settled in this Missouri county. See excerpt in illustration--this county history book was a gold mine of information! I would never have known Ira Caldwell won a solid silver cup for exhibiting the "best fat cow" at the Indiana State Fair in 1857 but for reading this book.

Adding Context for 3D View of Ancestors, Part 1

Last week, I finished a 40-page booklet about hubby's 18 Civil War ancestors. Even though these ancestors died generations ago, each lived a unique life that I wanted to honor and memorialize in this family history booklet.

Yet when I sat down to write, I had only bare-bones facts from the US Census, Civil War pension records, and similar sources.

To engage my readers (younger relatives of today and descendants in future generations), I needed to flesh out these skeletons beyond just names and dates. My goal was to provide a more three-dimensional view of each ancestor's life.

This first part of my new blog series examines how an ancestor's family situation can add an important dimension to understand his or her life. Later posts in this series will look at community, society, and history as context for understanding ancestors.

Ancestors in Context: Family Situation

Here are some of the elements of family situation I examined to understand the life of Benjamin Franklin Steiner, born in 1840 in Crawford County, Ohio. He was my husband's second great uncle, and he served for nearly three years in the 10th Ohio Cavalry, fighting for the Union side.

• Birth order - He was the seventh of nine children, and the fifth of six sons. But since his father was a tailor, not a farmer, having a lot of boys didn't necessarily help the household prosper. It probably meant mouths to feed. Perhaps this is why I found Benjamin not at home in the 1860 US Census but living 40 miles away with a carpenter's family, and working as a laborer at the age of 20. Then I looked further.

• Parents - Benjamin's mother was listed as head of household in the 1860 US Census, no occupation. Benjamin's father died before the Census. Still at home with his Mom were a 25-year-old son who was a carpenter; a 21-year-old daughter whose occupation was "sewing;" and three children under the age of 15. I think this explains why Benjamin wasn't living at home--he needed to board elsewhere and make money while one of his brothers remained at home to be the chief breadwinner for the family.

• Siblings - One brother was a carpenter, one a plasterer, one a grocer, one a butcher, and one a farmer. After serving in the Civil War, Benjamin first started farming. With his second family, he tried brick and tile making before returning to farming. Both of these occupations he would have seen first-hand. Interestingly, none of the children chose to be a tailor like their father.

• Spouse and children - In 1861, Benjamin married a farmer's daughter. He was 21, she was 23. They had one son before Benjamin went to war in October, 1862. It must have been difficult for his wife and child, on their own, financially and emotionally, while Benjamin was in the military. When he returned, he and his wife had two more children. Only months after the third child was born, Benjamin's wife died. He remarried three years later, to a widow bringing up three children on her own. Now Benjamin was supporting a wife, two children, and three stepchildren, which may be why he changed occupations to try brick and tile making. Once the children were all grown and gone, he went back to farming in his later years. 

Benjamin's life took many twists and turns, with both ups and downs, I realized as I looked at his changing family situation. This gave me a better appreciation of who he was and the decisions he faced--fleshing him out as a 3D human being, beyond the basics of birth, marriage, and death.

More about context in Part 2.

School Photos, Back in the Day

This week's #52Ancestors prompt is "back to school."

Following the lead of my UK pal Paul Chiddicks, who posted old school photos on his genealogy blog, I'm posting two photos from my school days.

At left, a high school photo.

My "groovy" purple dress is a good fashion clue to the period when this photo was taken. Lots of groovy music back in the day!

Here's a photo from my junior high years (now known as middle school). I removed the year to protect the innocent, but left the place (Olinville Junior High School #113 in the Bronx, New York).

See the boys in jackets, white shirts, and really narrow ties? Those styles help narrow down the period. Many girls (including me) are wearing pleated skirts with wide belts, more fashion clues. In those days, we had to iron our white cotton blouses--no such thing as "wrinkle free" fabric, not till many years later.

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for this weekly #Genealogy blogging prompt for week 37.

Authentic or Enhanced Images in My Family Histories? Yes!

Sgt. Dorothy Schwartz, serving in WACs, 1942

Currently, I'm working on a dual family history of my mother (Daisy Schwartz Burk, 1919-1981) and her twin sister (Dorothy Schwartz, 1919-2001).

My goal in writing and printing family history booklets is to introduce my relatives and ancestors to future generations who never knew them in person.

Authenticity AND clarity

Authenticity is very important--but so is clarity. Enhancing the scanned versions of creased, faced, or out-of-focus photos doesn't change the original. In my view, enhancement helps my readers (and the readers who will see this booklet in 10 or 25 years) see these ancestors more clearly, more vividly. Better digital images make ancestors look like real people without damaging the originals.

The above digitized snapshot shows my Auntie Dorothy in her WAC coat and hat during World War II. Doesn't her face look clearer in the photo on the right? I used MyHeritage's photo enhancement to make my aunt's facial features less fuzzy. The effect is subtle but makes all the difference.

Who's hiding in that photo?

After Vivid-Pix enhancement: Dorothy Schwartz
in flapper costume (and surprise! her mother is at right)

Here's the enhanced "after" version of a snapshot from the late 1950s that shows a different side of my aunt's personality. She's dressed as a flapper for a family masquerade party. Staring at the "before" image, Sis and I strongly suspected the face at right was Dorothy's mother, our grandma Minnie Farkas Schwartz.

So I used Vivid-Pix's Restore software to rescue the faces and the costume from near-oblivion, and was able to confirm that Grandma was most definitely in the picture.

The "after" version is far better and can now be inserted into the family history booklet, along with the story of the party, for posterity. Of course, the original photos are all sitting untouched in archival envelopes, carefully stored and ready for future genealogists of our family.

I don't feel I have to colorize the b/w and sepia photos to catch my reader's eye. There are more modern, full-color photos to scan and sprinkle throughout the booklet--after being digitally enhanced to correct the faded colors and give these ancestors a true-to-life look.

Finishing Touches for Family History: Think Like a Reader!

Top, snippet of front page of family history booklet. Bottom, index of names in the booklet

This summer's genealogy project was writing about my husband's 18 ancestors who served in the Civil War. Although most were fighting for the Union, thanks to a wonderful Wood cousin, I had a head-start researching the distant cousins on the Confederate side.

Every man who served had a fascinating and often poignant story. I researched and wrote about their lives and families before the war, what their military units did during the war, and the course of their lives and families after the war. My research showed that only two ancestors died during the war--both of disease, not wounds. This was a sadly common pattern during the Civil War.

Now, to add finishing touches that make this booklet as appealing and accessible as possible, I needed to think like a reader!

Finishing touch: Catch the eye

From experience, I know that the next generation enjoys a pop of color to catch the eye. So I found a colorful and evocative free photo to illustrate the first page (thanks to Pixabay), as you can see at top of this post.

In fact, every ancestor profile has some illustration, whether it's an excerpt from a pension record, a letter from the man's military files, or an illustration from an out-of-copyright mug book. My goal is to keep the reader's attention or at least intrigue the reader enough to look further.

Finishing touch: Did you know...

My first page also contains a few highlights and spoiler alerts. After all, when I pick up a book, I read the inside flap or back cover to see what's inside. That's what my highlights/spoiler alerts page is all about.

I explained that some Wood ancestors were in hotly-contested battles like Chickamauga...in famous engagements like the Monitor vs. the Merrimac...came from all walks of life before the war (blacksmith, farmer, tinsmith, mariner, doctor-in-training, career military). This is my way of saying to my audience: Read on for even more interesting details!

Finishing touch: What's in it for me?

I also needed to answer the unspoken question from every reader...what's in it for me? Well, one ancestor might be a distant cousin, one might be a 3d grand uncle, but all are related to you. The surnames are also a tipoff that these people were in our family tree.

My table of contents lists each man (and his birth/death dates) and indicates whether he served for Union or Confederacy (yes, I used color to make the words stand out). Next, I list the full name of his wife or wives, and their dates. Then I show the exact relationship to my husband and to the next generations.

So Lemuel C. Wood, Jr., who was in both the Union Army and the Union Navy, was a 1st cousin, 3 times removed to my hubby and his siblings. Their relationship to Dr. Thomas Fanning Wood, who served the Confederacy, was much more distant: he was their 6c3r.

Finishing touch: Find an individual quickly

Thinking like a reader, I realized someone might want to find a particular person or family quickly. In a 40-page family-history booklet, that's not possible without an index. With an index, if readers are curious about only the Larimer ancestors, they can look at the Larimer names in the index, for instance. Or if readers want to look up a name that's familiar, they can browse the index.

See part of the first page of the index I prepared for this booklet at top. Every family or associate name mentioned in the book appears in this index. I indexed women by their maiden names, showing married names in parentheses. In this Mayflower 400 year, I mentioned when a Civil War ancestor was descended from a Mayflower or Fortune passenger--and indexed those names as well.

The only people not indexed are Civil War figures like Stonewall Jackson. They're not part of the family, and are mentioned so often that the index alone would balloon to 5 pages.

Quite a labor of love for my family, but well worth the time I invested now that the youngest generation has expressed interest in the Civil War. And being close to home during this pandemic has allowed me large blocks of time to concentrate on the research and writing.

Bigger than bite-sized but achievable little by little

This is a longer but worthwhile "bite-sized project" that can be accomplished by researching and writing a brief bio of one ancestor at a time. I repurposed some of the bios by posting them on genealogy sites to share with more people. Little by little, I completed each bio and eventually assembled all into a booklet that has been shared (printed and digitally) with the Wood family.

Free! RootsTechConnect, Feb 25-27, 2021

RootsTechConnect registration confirmation--I'm attending!

Family Search announced today that its 2021 RootsTechConnect conference will be all-virtual and entirely free! Mark your calendar for February 25-27, 2021.

The world's largest and most exciting genealogy conference will have something for everyone, everywhere.

Don't miss this opportunity to see some of the genealogy world's brightest stars, and learn new tricks and techniques while sitting at home in your bunny slippers.

Registration is entirely free. Just click here to go to the website for more info and to register. See you there!

Pandemic Pastime: Painted Rocks

Painted rocks - my pandemic pastime!

This week, Randy Seaver issued a "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" to describe hobbies or pastimes, other than genealogy, that we're currently enjoying or have enjoyed in the past. Randy, I accept your challenge!

During the pandemic, I've been trying my hand at rock painting. The bottom rock is an early try, using a stencil and a specialty brush. Then I began browsing Pinterest for more elaborate designs and found lots of inspiration.

The top two rocks are critters I painted more recently, based on designs pinned to Pinterest.

None of these rocks is larger than 4 inches long. It doesn't take long to paint one, and with a top-coat for protection, they look great as decoration or ornaments in house plants.

Yes, I actually had to buy smooth rocks suitable for painting, but this is not an expensive hobby. And yes, some painted rocks (or painted coal lumps) may find their way into Christmas stockings this December ;)

Unforgettable Stories of Civil War Ancestors

From Library of Congress, sketch showing aspects of region surrounding Gallatin, TN

I am almost finished with my family history booklet about the 18 ancestors in my husband's family tree who served in the Civil War. Of the 18, 15 were fighting for the Union and 3 were fighting for the Confederacy. (Thanks to hubby's wonderful cousin L, who originally researched those 3 Confederates.)

Each of their life stories is unique and many are unforgettable. Let me share the story of two brothers who didn't survive the war.

Students Against Slavery

Isaac Larimer Work and John Wright Work were born in Ohio but moved with their pioneering family to Indiana when very young. The brothers were starting their first year of college prep at Hillsdale College in Michigan when the Civil War broke out. Hillsdale College was then quite well-known for its anti-slavery position, and students resolved to do their part in the fight against slavery.

In the spring of 1862, hundreds of students left campus and returned home to enlist for the Union--including Isaac and John, who both joined Company I of the 74th Indiana Infantry. The unit quickly moved into position for the Union, pursuing Confederate General Bragg and his forces through Kentucky. It fought in the Battle of Perryville, which the Union won but which caused heavy losses on both sides. Toward the end of 1862, the 74th Indiana Infantry marched to Gallatin and Castillian, Kentucky, to regroup and care for sick and wounded soldiers.

Dying of Disease, Not Wounds

Alas, Isaac and John both succumbed to chronic diarrhea at Gallatin not long afterward. Isaac was only 24, and his brother John only 22. The brothers had been in the Union Army for less than six months. They were my husband's first cousins, 4 times removed.

Their infantry unit actually lost many more men to disease than to battle: 91 officers and soldiers were killed or fatally wounded during fighting, while 2 officers and 181 soldiers died from illnesses like diarrhea. The prevalence of death by disease was the reality for both North and South throughout the War.

Knowing that these idealistic young men died only weeks apart, not from wounds but from disease that is today very treatable, made their story unforgettable for me.

RIP, Isaac Larimer Work (1838-1862) and Jacob Wright Work (1841-1863).

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

Happy 12th Blogiversary

My genealogy blog is entering its 13th year and I'm still climbing my family tree.

In nearly 1,300 posts over 144 months, I've examined methodology, brick walls, breakthroughs, and intriguing family stories.

Lots of ancestors found, lots of cousins connected, and looking ahead, more genealogy adventures are in my future.

Thank you to my incredible family, my dear readers, and the wonderful genealogy community for your support and interest!

Who Tells Your Story? Choosing to Be Family Historian

With a nod to the now-iconic musical Hamilton, I've been thinking a lot lately about the question: "Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?"

Long after my grandparents and parents were gone, I chose to be the family historian. I was curious about all those stories I didn't hear (or didn't pay attention to) when I was growing up. And I was especially motivated to dig out the stories NOT told, about my family and my husband's family. Remember, I married him for his ancestors ;)

By the time I chose our families as my focus, there were faces I could not recognize in old photos. There were important family stories and cousin connections that had somehow been forgotten.

I chose myself to tell the stories of who lived and who died--and that's how I came to understand that their stories are our stories, too.

Honoring the memory of ancestors, finding "new" cousins

My paternal grandfather Isaad Burk died years before I was born. Only after years of research did I come face to face with his face, on his naturalization papers. That clue helped me identify him in other family photos.

I really don't want to be the last person on Earth to recognize grandpa. In addition to captioning, I wrote a brief booklet about Isaac and his wife, my grandma Henrietta Mahler Burk, whose face I did recognize. This honors their lives and preserves their stories for future generations.

Happily, my family history activities put me in touch with delightful cousins from the Burk and Mahler families. The same happened when I investigated my Schwartz and Farkas family tree--I forged new and treasured connections with cousins near and far.

Forgotten heritage, now preserved

Hard as it was for me to believe, my husband's Wood family somehow didn't inherit the knowledge of their Mayflower ancestry. Only thanks to my hubby's 2c1r did we find out about 5 Mayflower ancestors in his Wood family tree: Degory Priest, Isaac Allerton, Mary Norris Allerton, Mary Allerton, and Francis Cooke. Needless to say, I'm not letting family forget this story, especially during this year of Mayflower 400 remembrances.

My research also led to uncovering the tragic story of many Schwartz family members killed in the Holocaust. I watched my mother's first cousin tell that story on video for the USC Shoah Foundation project. Her courage and survival against all odds gives me hope.

It's up to me, as guardian of family history for both sides of the family tree, to document who lived, who died, and to tell their stories.

--

"Chosen family" is Amy Johnson Crow's prompt for week 34 of #52Ancestors.

The Women Married to Civil War Ancestors

Excerpt from Wood Civil War Ancestors booklet

In researching and writing about my husband's Civil War ancestors (both blue and grey), I'm making sure to document the lives of the women they married.

Some wives outlived their Civil War veteran husbands, by a few years or decades; some wives died while their husbands were away at war; some wives died soon after the vets returned home. Each has a story and I want to be sure their lives are remembered, along with their husbands.

Here's my plan for writing "cradle to grave" about each veteran and his wife or wives:

• Head the first page with veteran's full name and dates. 
• Explain the veteran's relationship to readers in the next generation.
• List the full name of his wife (or wives) and her dates. 
• List the units in which the veteran served (blue indicates Union, red indicates Confederate).
• First paragraphs summarize the man's family background (parents, siblings, birthplace, movements, occupation). This is the "cradle" part of "cradle to grave" in a nutshell.
• Emphasize "story" part of family history by adding a dramatic hook early in the veteran's life narrative. Here, I say that this man and two brothers were all in the Union Army, but their lives diverged after the war was over.
• Include at least one illustration, such as a newspaper obit or a Civil War Pension card. 
• Say when and where the man got married, and any special circumstances. In the excerpt above, John N. McClure married Rebecca Jane Coble only 3 days after he enlisted in the Union Army, just before he shipped out with his unit. Quite a start to their married life.
• Describe the wife's life as well as the veteran's life to add context to the family tree overall. 
• Say when and where (and why) the veteran and his wife died and were buried, the "grave" part of this "cradle to grave" profile.

What's in This Family History Booklet?

My booklet will have a table of contents, a listing of Civil War military units in which the men served, and possibly the key battles or actions in which they participated. 

This is a work in progress, having grown from the quickie booklet I originally envisioned, so I may decide to add an index. After all, I'm profiling 19 men and their wives/families. That's a lot of names. I want to make it easy for descendants to look up any particular ancestor by checking the table of contents and/or the index.

Highlight the Drama: Spoiler Alerts Wanted!

I'm going to write a page highlighting "not to be missed" dramatic or interesting details about some key ancestors. Spoiler alerts will actually whet my readers' appetite for more. 

For instance, Robert Crooke Wood was the next generation's 4c5r and a senior U.S. Army surgeon. He married Ann Mackall Taylor, the oldest daughter of Major General Zachary Taylor--yes, the U.S. Army veteran who later became the 12th U.S. president. Zachary Taylor's daughter Sarah married Jefferson Davis. Yes, that Jefferson Davis. So Robert Crooke Wood's father-in-law was a future U.S. president, and his brother-in-law was a future Confederate president.

The Civil War intensified the family drama: Two of Robert Crooke Wood's sons fought for the Confederacy, while their father remained on active duty in the Union Army. (Many thanks to my hubby's wonderful cousin L for sharing his knowledge of this distant part of the Wood family tree.)

Don't you think such spoiler alerts will get my readers' attention?

Trouble Finds Lemuel C. Wood Senior and Junior

Neither Lemuel C. Wood Senior (let's call him "Capt. Wood") nor his son, Lemuel C. Wood Junior (let's call him "Junior"), actually made trouble for anyone, except for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Unfortunately, trouble came looking for them.

Capt. Lemuel Wood, Sr. (1792-1870) Hubby's 3d great uncle

Capt. Wood was a successful mariner based in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, at the major whaling port of New Bedford. He also owned 13 acres of farmland and livestock worth about $9,000 in 1860 (nearly $280,000 in today's dollars), according to that year's Census.

Sadly, the captain's first wife, Mercy Bowditch Taber, died of consumption in 1856. A year later, in 1857, he married Rosetta Howland Ellis, who died of either consumption or palsy in 1859 (records are inconsistent). One year after that, he married Julia Lambert Sampson--and she survived him by 21 years. In order to collect his Civil War pension, she had to prove that her first husband died (at sea during a whaling trip) and that Capt. Wood's previous two wives had died. Quite a fat file of paperwork and a lot of trouble, but she won her case.

Capt. Wood answered the call for Union service during the Civil War. According to some war records, he was commander of the USS Daylight. (Other pension records call him the "acting master" of the Daylight.) He was already in his 60s, with decades of experience on the water.

The USS Daylight sailed along the coast of Virginia and North Carolina, part of the Union blockade against the Confederacy. After the ship was damaged by Confederate gunfire, she was repaired and reassigned to the James River from October, 1864 to May, 1865, after the war ended.

Doctor's note attesting to Sarah H. Wood's deadly illness

Capt. Wood returned home at war's end. In 1870, a few months before he died at the age of 78, he told the Census his occupation was "mariner." He left his widow Julia an estate of $13,450--worth more than $270,000 today.

Lemuel C. Wood, Jr. (1828-1898) Hubby's 1c3r

The Captain's son and namesake, “Lemuel Junior,” first went into business as a merchant. At the age of 28, he married Sarah Howland Wood, on June 26, 1856. By the time their first child was born in 1857, the birth record recorded Junior’s occupation as “gentleman.” He and Sarah had four five children in all, but only two survived to adulthood. Two died within weeks of each other, one of "brain fever" and one of consumption. So tragic.

At the start of the Civil War, Junior became an acting paymaster for the Union Navy. He resigned that post in June of 1862. On September 22, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company I, 3d Massachusetts Infantry, and was mustered in the next day. At the time of this enlistment, he said his occupation was “farmer.” On December 3, 1862, Junior was working as a hospital steward at Plymouth, North Carolina, according to his Civil War records.

Trouble hit Junior's family while he was at war in North Carolina. His wife Sarah was fatally ill with consumption. Letters written to her husband’s commanding officers requested that Junior be given a month of furlough to be at her side.

After weeks of letters back and forth, Junior was granted a month's furlough on April 5, 1863. It was just in time: His wife Sarah died on April 14th.

Junior returned to North Carolina after his furlough. His nine-month service with the 3d Massachusetts Infantry ended when he was mustered out on June 26, 1863. Then he joined the 23d Unattached Company Massachusetts Infantry as a sergeant for 100 days. According to the 1890 Veteran’s Schedule, he had dysentery and was “brought home sick.” From April to September of 1865, Junior was an acting assistant paymaster for the Union Navy, stationed aboard the USS Nantucket.

When he first left the service, Junior took a job as a grocery clerk and hired a housekeeper to care for his children. Eventually, he remarried in 1894, to Emma Louise Small Sherman, listing his own occupation as nursing (remember, he was a hospital attendant during the Civil War). Junior died four years later, at the age of 70, in Fairhaven, his birthplace.
--
You know I married my husband for his fascinating ancestors! This week's #52Ancestors blogging prompt is "troublemaker."

Looked for Rachel Jacobs, Found Jane and John Doe

Death certificate from December 8, 1915

I've been taking a fresh look at the life and death of Rachel Shuham Jacobs, my paternal great-great-grandmother. She was born in Lithuania and widowed there. Her two adult children brought her to New York City in the 1880s.

Rachel didn't leave much of a paper trail, and what she left was filled with strange clues.

Rachel Was a First-Time Mother at Age 11?

Only once can I find Rachel enumerated in a census with her family. The US Census of 1900 listed Rachel as "mother-in-law" in the household of Meyer Mahler, who married Rachel's daughter Tillie. Tillie and Meyer (my paternal great-grandparents) had 7 children, so there were 10 people crowded into this apartment at 88 Chrystie Street on the Lower East Side, where many immigrants lived. In fact, Rachel's son Joseph lived in the apartment next door.

Supposedly Rachel was born in February of 1849 and was therefore 51 at the time of this Census. Yet Rachel's daughter Tillie was supposedly born in August of 1860, when her mother would have been 11 years old. No wonder I'm a bit skeptical of the accuracy of this Census data.

Rachel Died in Bellevue Hospital

There was a different age estimate on Rachel's death certificate (excerpt shown above). She died in Bellevue Hospital in New York City on December 8, 1915, at about age 70. I say "about" because there is no birth date on the certificate. If she was 70 in 1915, her birth year would be about 1845.

Causes of death were numerous, including chronic liver problems, chronic heart problems, and double hydrothorax ("water on the lungs"--often associated with liver and heart problems). The cert says that her former or usual residence was 47 Allen Street in Manhattan. That's also on the Lower East Side, just three blocks from where she was living 15 years earlier. Both apartments are a very short walk from today's Tenement Museum.

In the Hospital with Jane Doe and John Doe

Where was great-great-grandma Rachel between 1900 and 1915? She was not living with her son or daughter. I triple-checked. No New York City directory listings seem to fit my Rachel. She didn't die until the end of 1915, so where was she living for 15 years?

Possibly Rachel's chronic health problems, listed on her death cert, are important as clues to this mystery. I twice found a Rachel Jacobs as a patient at Manhattan State Hospital at Ward's Island in Manhattan. This institution was originally designated as an insane asylum for immigrants, but it also housed some medical patients. 

In 1905, the Rachel Jacobs in this hospital is listed as 60 years old, meaning a birth year of 1845. In 1910, the Rachel Jacobs in this hospital is listed as 61, meaning a birth year of 1849. Both times, Rachel is listed as from Austria, which wasn't the case.

All the info came from the hospital administration--that's clear because patients are listed in strict alphabetical order. Despite the inconsistencies, these two Census records are probably for my great-great-grandma.

Sadly, in browsing through the records for the Manhattan State Hospital, I saw not one but three Jane Doe listings and not one but three John Doe listings, as shown in the excerpt above. Several were listed as "unknown" nativity. One John Doe has no age even guesstimated.

Although I'll never know the truth, I imagine that great-great-grandma Rachel's health kept deteriorating and the family couldn't afford treatment or palliative care. That's most likely how she wound up in a big NYC public asylum/hospital with Jane Does and John Does. Rachel's son was in poor health himself, and died of Parkinson's disease only three years after his mother died.

Louisa's Cause of Death Was . . . It's Complicated

Indiana Death Certificate #17600 for Louisa Jane Austin McClure

Union Army veteran Theodore Wilson McClure (1834-1927) was my husband's great-great-uncle. He married Louisa Jane Austin (1837-1924) in Wabash County, Indiana, in 1858.

In researching great-great-aunt Louisa's death at age 87, I had two small surprises.

Surprise #1: Louisa Jane Austin McClure had two death certificates, both signed by the same doctor, both listing the same undertaker and same burial date/place. This is undoubtedly the correct person--husband's name is same on both, parents' names are same, same birth date, same occupation ("housewife" and "housekeeper").

Surprise #2: Louisa Jane Austin McClure had two different causes of death, both listed by the same doctor.

Apoplexy and Bright's Disease

On the lower-numbered cert, shown at top, the doctor listed the cause of death as apoplexy (cerebral) with Bright's disease as contributory. Her age is listed as 87 years, 1 month, and 28 days. She had been under Dr. Stewart's care from December 1, 1923 to her death on May 11, 1924.

General Debility with Weak Heart

On the higher-numbered cert, shown below, the doctor cared for her from November 24, 1923 to her death on May 11, 1924. The cause of death on this cert was general debility with weak heart. The apoplexy listed on the first cert would suggest a stroke, which could definitely lead to debility. The Bright's disease listed on the first cert is a kidney problem often accompanied by heart disease.

Louisa Died on a Sunday

My guess is that Louisa's death on a Sunday meant that the paperwork didn't flow as smoothly as it would ordinarily. The time of death is missing from the second cert, whereas on the first cert, it appears to be 11-something p.m.

Do these small discrepancies matter? For genealogical purposes, not really. But in 22 years of family history research, this is the first time I've seen two death certificates for one person. I sure hope it will be the last time.

Indiana Death Certificate #17869 for Louisa Jane Austin McClure

"Small" is the #52Ancestors prompt for week 32.

Writing About a Civil War Ancestor to Engage Readers

Union Christian College

Researching my husband's Union Army ancestors, I'm trying to wring every detail from every source to make these brief family history profiles come alive and engage readers.

Even though my main focus is their Civil War experiences, I want to portray them as real people with real lives and show descendants how family history and American history are intertwined.

Jacob Wright Larimer's Early Years

Today I've been looking at Jacob Wright Larimer (1846-1876), who was my husband's first cousin, four times removed.

From Census documentation, land records, vital records, and newspaper research, I learned Jacob was the next-to-youngest child of Moses Larimer and Nancy Blosser Larimer. Moses was himself the son of an "Ohio fever" pioneer, going on to become an Indiana pioneer farmer.

Unfortunately, Moses died at age 53, leaving his widow Nancy with two teen sons and two teen daughters at home. Seeing a non-family "farm laborer" also in the household during the 1860 Census, I conclude that the Larimers hired someone to help Jacob and his brother work the land.

Civil War History and Family History

According to Civil War chronology, President Abraham Lincoln called for more Union recruits in December of 1864. Jacob and his brother were among the Hoosiers who responded: They enlisted in January of 1865, among the 1,013 men who formed the new regiment known as 151st Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

I consulted multiple sources to follow Jacob and learn what this Union Army regiment did during the Civil War: Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana; Wikipedia; Indiana Historical Bureau; National Park Service; and Fold3 records.

Jacob and his regiment never engaged in any battles, although the 151st Indiana Infantry did serve on patrols and on garrison duty in Tennessee. Jacob was mustered out in Nashville in September of 1865.

For other ancestors who had extensive Civil War experience, I've pieced together their military actions in a way very similar to the case study provided by NARA here.

Jacob's Post-War Life

From BMD and Census records, I found that Jacob returned home and married Susanna Puterbaugh on November 25, 1866. The couple, both in their twenties, had a son and a daughter (plus a third child who didn't live to adulthood). They made their home in Peru, Indiana.

The 1870 Census showed Jacob working as a sewing machine agent. This was interesting because he came from a long line of farmers. On the other hand, sewing machines for the home were fairly new and increasingly popular, so this sounds like a good career move.

Another clue was more surprising: Through Ancestry, I found Jacob listed in the 1871-1872 yearbook for Union Christian College. UCC was a coeducational college that offered four courses of study: academic  (literature, math, history, writing), classical (Latin, Greek, related history, higher math, earth sciences), scientific  (chemistry, physiology, higher math, languages), and music (primarily piano but "vocal music is taught gratis.")


College and Civil War Pension

How did a married man with a family find the money and time to pursue an academic course of study at college? According to the yearbook, tuition for one term was $6 (worth $126 in today's dollars).

In addition, the yearbook states: "Soldiers who were disabled in the defense of our Government, during the late rebellion...are entitled to instruction free of charge."

Even though I have no record of Jacob Wright Larimer claiming invalid status, it is possible he could demonstrate to the college that he was disabled and therefore entitled to free tuition. And then there's a question about distance: Using online mapping, I calculated that the college was 180 miles from Jacob's home. Would Jacob really be able to remain away from his family for months at a time in the early 1870s, when his children were under the age of ten?

Sadly, Jacob died at the age of 29 in May of 1876. His Civil War Pension record indicates that his widow Susannah filed for his benefits. Given Jacob's early death (alas, no death cert and so far, no obit), I wonder whether some disability stemming from his military service contributed to his early death.

Soon, widow Susannah found work as a seamstress. Knowing that her late husband's occupation was sewing machine agent, perhaps she used one of his sewing machines to support her two children?

Dancing the Night Away in New York City: May, 1941

Revlon Products 4th Annual Dance in New York City, 1941

This large (20 inch by 12 inch) and wonderfully sharp photo has been safely rolled and stored in a sturdy mailing tube for nearly 80 years.

The occasion was the Revlon Products Corporation 4th Annual Dance at the glamorous Hotel Roosevelt in New York City. Art Paulson & his orchestra entertained (they're shown at top right of photo).

The face in the green oval is my Mom, Daisy Schwartz Burk (1909-1981). She wore a flowery dress and a corsage to this Saturday night dance held on May 17, 1941. Mom was 21 years old, working as a secretary/typist to help her twin sister through college.

I noticed the man in uniform at the far left front of the crowd, apparently a U.S. Army private. America had already instituted a peacetime draft, in anticipation of possibly entering World War II. After Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into the war, my mom's twin sister Dorothy Schwartz enlisted as a WAC, even as several first Farkas cousins joined the U.S. military. Soon Daisy and Dorothy's older brother was drafted. No doubt many of the young men at the Revlon dance also served in the military.

When this photo was taken, Revlon had only recently changed its corporate name as it expanded beyond its well-known nail polish into lipstick and other cosmetics. The New York-based company, founded in 1933, was also involved in patriotic activities during World War II.

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The #52Ancestors genealogy blog prompt for week 31 is: LARGE.

Beyond Civil War Service and BMD

Searching for Larimer name inside
"History of Miami County, Indiana"

I'm still working on my booklet about my husband's Civil War ancestors. In addition to birth, marriage, and death dates plus considerable readily-available information about their military service, I want to paint a fuller picture of each man's early life. That means going beyond the basics, beyond the Census, to learn more.

The Larimer Brothers Enlisted Together

For instance, I'm writing a page each about Harvey Heath Larimer and Jacob Wright Larimer, brothers who enlisted together in the 151st Indiana Volunteer Infantry in 1865. Harvey was the baby of the family, barely 17 when he left Indiana with the infantry regiment. Jacob was not even 19 at the time. Both came home safely--their regiment was never in a formal battle!

I knew these young men were born in the 1840s and grew up on their father's farm in Miami County, Indiana. I have their Census info, but little else for the early years and the immediate aftermath of their service. So I wondered: What was the area like? What was the Larimer family's involvement in Miami County during that period?

Adding Local Color

A simple online search turned up an 1887 history of that county, available for free and name searchable. Not only does the book describe the county's development over time, it also features a number of Larimer entries (see excerpt at top) from the period I'm exploring. The content is quite informative, although the exact dates are not always accurate (I compared with other documentation).

Thanks to this book, I learned more about Harvey and Jacob's father as an early settler...about their mother joining the first Methodist Church...about sister Sarah's marriage, one of the first in their township...about brother George building the first hotel in town as the railroad was being completed. And so on.

Interesting background (taken with a grain of salt) that helps me write an engaging narrative which I hope descendants will actually want to read!

Creative Thinking Solves an Immigration Mystery

Scheine "Jennie" Birk is on line 18

Today, a UK cousin solved a long-time mystery in my Burk family: Exactly when did my great aunt Jennie Birk (1890-1972) arrive in the Big Apple from her native Gargzdai, Lithuania?

In 1910, Jennie was living as a boarder in the New York City apartment of the Mahler family (actually, they were in-laws of Jennie's brother Isaac Burk, my paternal grandpa). She told the Census enumerator she came to the United States in 1909.

Searching Creatively

For weeks, my cousin and I have been searching for "Jennie Birk" and various creative spelling variations in the Ellis Island passenger lists. We even looked at arrivals to different East Coast ports, just in case.

Then my cousin had the really creative and brilliant idea to search according to her Hebrew name. Jennie's gravestone shows her name in Hebrew as Shayna (I'm using the phonetic spelling here).

Sure enough, he found "Scheine Birk" on a list of detained aliens held from the S.S. Rotterdam. The date was September 7, 1909. The list is shown at top, and you can see Scheine (Jennie) on line 18. She was discharged to her older brother Isaac, meaning my Grandfather Isaac! Before doing the happy dance, I wanted to take a closer look.

Checking Both Pages of the Passenger List

My next step was to find Jennie's full entry in the two-page passenger listing. After patiently browsing for 15 minutes, looking page by page through the Rotterdam's passengers, I found Scheine Birk.

On page 1 of her two-page entry, I learned that she had most recently lived in Gorscht and her father was Elyl Birk, in Gorscht, Kovno (meaning Lithuania, which is correct). She was 20 years old, single, no occupation, final destination New York City. Overwritten in dark ink above her entry was a series of numbers--corresponding to her naturalization from September 14, 1942.

On page 2 was a physical description: 4 feet 11 inches tall, brown eyes, brown hair. Birthplace: Russia, Gorscht.

She said she was going to her brother, Mayer Berg, at 205 E. 106 Street in Manhattan. Uh-oh. Now I had an inkling of why she was detained.

Correlate Known Facts with Possibilities

Checking what I already know about the Burk family in New York City, I confirmed that Mayer Berg (1883-1981) still lived in Manhattan, just not at that address. He had married three years earlier and moved with his bride to another apartment several blocks away.

Surely Jennie was detained because Mayer didn't come to collect her at Ellis Island. At that time, women who arrived alone would only be discharged to a male relative, for their own safety and protection.

However, Ellis Island officials must have notified the family. According to the record of detained aliens shown at top, my grandpa Isaac Burk actually collected his younger sister.

Grandpa Isaac gave his address as 77 E. 109 Street in Manhattan. This was the exact home address where my Dad (Harold Burk) was born just weeks later.

Unquestionably, Scheine Birk is Jennie Birk, my great aunt. My cousin's creative thinking solved this long-standing immigration mystery!

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.

Old Country Images as Cousin Bait

Excerpt of results from image search for "Ungvar"

My maternal grandfather Theodore "Teddy" Schwartz (1887-1965) was born and raised in Ungvar, Hungary--known these days as Uzhhorod, Ukraine. He left in 1902 and he never returned to the "old country," although his son visited twice during the 1930s.

Ungvar was a bustling market town--really a city, and so well documented! A simple search for images of Ungvar turned up hundreds of vintage photos, old and new postcards, travel posters, vacation photos, and much more. Actually, any image tagged as Ungvar wound up being included in my search results.

Ungvar Tag as Cousin Bait

At top, a snippet of the images in my pages of results. These results included numerous old photos I have posted in blogging about ancestors from Ungvar. In this small excerpt, you see a photo of one of my Schwartz great aunts and her husband, along with a link to my blog as the source.

Could such images, tagged as Ungvar, serve as cousin bait for distant relatives researching the "old country" where our mutual ancestors lived? That's my hope.

The Kossuth Connection

Kossuth Lajos "space" in Ungvar, 1915

The 1915 photo above was among the first results in my search. I smiled when I read the name of this wide street, as printed on the postcard: Kossuth Lajos. Kossuth was a legendary politician and orator who advocated for Hungarian freedom.

In 1905, my Schwartz and Farkas ancestors organized a benevolent society in New York City, named for Kossuth's son Ferenc, also a freedom fighter.

The 1915 street scene gives me another sense of connection between the old country of my grandfather's birth (Ungvar) and his home in the new world (New York City).

"Old Country" is this week's #52Ancestors prompt. Thank you to Amy Johnson Crow for these thought-provoking genealogy prompts!

Hubby's Ancestors in the Civil War: Part 3, Teenaged Thomas

After taking steps to identify potential Civil War veterans in my hubby's family tree, I found 21 likely possibilities to investigate.

I used Ancestry's Civil War collections, Family Search records for Massachusetts, state records, newspaper databases, city directories, and other sources to get a better picture of these ancestors' lives.

One by one, I'm writing about these ancestors for a family history booklet for the grandsons who are riveted by the Ken Burns Civil War documentary.

My first ancestor of focus was a teenager from the Wood branch of the family tree.

Thomas F. Wood of New Bedford

Thomas F. Wood (1843-1925) was my husband's 1st cousin, twice removed. He was born and buried in the whaling center of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Pvt Thomas F. Wood
Civil War documentation

The son of tinplate worker Isaiah Wood and Mary T. White, Thomas also became a tinplate worker during his teenage years. When the Civil War erupted, Thomas took up arms (with his parents' permission, as shown on the documentation at right).

Private Thomas F. Wood of the Militia 

Searching local newspapers of the time, I found Thomas listed as a private in a local volunteer militia group called the New Bedford City Guards.

This militia was soon recruited into the Union Army for a nine-month enlistment. Thomas joined Company E of the Massachusetts 3d Infantry Regiment. He was mustered in on September 23, 1862 at Camp Joe Hooker, Lakeville, Mass, 20 miles north of his home in New Bedford. (This camp, named for "Fighting Joe" Hooker, even had its own newspaper, the Camp Gazette!)

Civil War Service in the Mass 3d Infantry Regiment

Thomas and his fellow soldiers were moved further north to Boston, where they boarded steamers and disembarked days later at New Bern, North Carolina. His regiment made several expeditions in the area, including Foster's Expedition to Goldsboro, North Carolina in December of 1862. This operation successfully burned down a bridge to disrupt key supply lines of the Confederacy.

In April of 1863, Thomas and his regiment helped to provide relief to Union Army troops at Little Washington, North Carolina. According to another Union soldier's diary of the time, the massed Union forces engaged with the Confederate Army on April 9, 1863 and used artillery to push back the Southern troops.

Thomas was mustered out of the 3d Regiment on June 26, 1863, again at Camp Hooker in Lakeville, Massachusetts. But that wasn't the end of his Civil War service.

Civil War Pension Card for Thomas F. Wood
of New Bedford, Massachusetts

Civil War Service in the 15th Unattached Company

Thirteen months after Thomas left the 3d Mass Infantry Regiment, he enlisted as a sergeant in the 15th Unattached Company. This 100-day enlistment began on July 29, 1864. He was mustered out on November 5, 1864.

Sgt. Wood served with the 15th at Fort Warren on George's Island, an important post guarding the entrance to Boston Harbor.

Post-War Life

After his military service, Thomas returned to civilian life. In the 1865 Massachusetts Census, he was again a tinplate worker, living at home with his parents. He married Ellen L. Dean in 1868.

Changing his career with the times, Thomas became a steam and gas fitter (according to 1900 Census). His Civil War pension card indicates that he filed for invalid status in 1905.

In his 60s, he was a partner in a steam factory (1910 Census). He did not list any occupation in the 1920 Census, when in his mid-70s, but he did say he owned his New Bedford home "free"--without a mortgage.

After Thomas's death in April of 1925, his widow Ellen L. Dean Wood received his Civil War pension until she died on July 1, 1926. Her death date was shown in the city directory of New Bedford, Massachusetts (see below).

From 1926 City Directory of
New Bedford, MA

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!