It's been quite some time (almost five months) since I last posted on the blog. It's been a busy time, adjusting to a new infant and managing a rambunctious toddler, but we're finally settling into what will have to pass for a routine under the circumstances.
A major reorganization project in my basement has left my genealogy files in quite a shambles. On the plus side, when the project is done, I will have a better space overall, and I won't have to haul my files and laptop to the kitchen table to work, only to have to hurry to put everything away when my work time is over, so as to keep my files from the clutches of my toddler son. That's progress.
I haven't been completely idle in this intervening time. I've managed to sort a few boxes of loose papers into folders by family so that they are accessible at the appropriate time. And I've continued to integrate the work my wife has done over the past ten or so years into my database, citing sources, organizing the files and figuring out what other documents might be available to tell those stories. I know that there are some interesting stories to be told about her family from helping her with her research over the years, but those stories require information, organiization and documentation to become anything more than just a family legend, so it might take some time before I get them told.
I've also kicked my Twitter usage up a notch, following (with some reciprocity) all manner of interesting genealogy-related people. It's interesting to hear what the genealogical community has to say on all manner of topics. Dick Eastman's feed is particularly illuminating, as it generally links back to articles on his blog. If you are on Twitter, he's worth a follow (@dickeastman).
Updates will be coming more frequently now. Until next time, stay safe and keep climbing those (family) trees.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
A brief note
There hasn't been much activity on the blog the past few weeks and there likely won't be for the next few, probably not until mid-June or so. It would be safe to say that the blog is on a bit of a hiatus. The primary reason is that in the next few weeks, I will be otherwise engaged - first preparing for, then welcoming my new son into our home. He hasn't been born yet, but is due very soon, and adding a second child to the mix is simultaneously exciting and scary. More genealogy stories about the past after I make a story for the future.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Military Monday - William J. Miller
I have at least three direct ancestors that served in the Civil War (all Union), and my wife has at least two that fought for the Union and one that fought for the Confederacy. A few weeks ago, I relayed the story of Isaac Edward Wentz, laid low by poor sanitation conditions in a Confederate POW facility and the runs. Today, I continue the tales of ancestral military woe with William J. Miller.
Willam J. Miller is my third great grandfather, on my paternal grandmother's maternal line. He was born 12 September 1826 in Franklin County, Pennsylvania and died 24 January 1901 in Blair County, Pennsylvania. He married Mary Jane Sneath on 10 July 1850 in Blair County.
In early March of 1865, he enrolled and mustered in to the Pennsylvania, B - 6 Cavalry, and in the few short months before the end of the war, he was transferred to Company F and the Pennsylvania Provisional Cavalry. He saw action in this time, as he suffered injuries that compromised both his health and his hearing. And in July 1865 after the end of the war, he went home, back to Blair County to be with his family, where he lived until January of 1901.
In November 1911, his widow filed for a Widow's Pension under the terms of the 1908 Act, and filed the following Declaration:
Here's a link to a copy of the document you can enlarge.
In December of that year, Mary Jane Miller received a reply
According to the Army, William was a deserter as of 14 July, 1865, and as such, neither he nor his spouse were eligible for a pension.
This prompted some back and forth between the Millers and the Pension's Division, including this letter from the Millers.
It does not appear anywhere in the record that the charge of desertion was ever removed or that Mary Jane ever received a pension.
I'm sure that there are countless other soldiers who suffered the same fate, who simply went home when they thought the war was over and never received a proper discharge and were then denied an invalid's or widow's pension. I sometimes wonder if there is any action I could take to clear the charge of desertion from William Miller's record, or if anyone other than me would even care. For what it's worth, I don't think of William as some sort of criminal or scoundrel, just a man broken by the war and, when hearing it was over, just wanted to go home.
Willam J. Miller is my third great grandfather, on my paternal grandmother's maternal line. He was born 12 September 1826 in Franklin County, Pennsylvania and died 24 January 1901 in Blair County, Pennsylvania. He married Mary Jane Sneath on 10 July 1850 in Blair County.
In early March of 1865, he enrolled and mustered in to the Pennsylvania, B - 6 Cavalry, and in the few short months before the end of the war, he was transferred to Company F and the Pennsylvania Provisional Cavalry. He saw action in this time, as he suffered injuries that compromised both his health and his hearing. And in July 1865 after the end of the war, he went home, back to Blair County to be with his family, where he lived until January of 1901.
In November 1911, his widow filed for a Widow's Pension under the terms of the 1908 Act, and filed the following Declaration:
Here's a link to a copy of the document you can enlarge.
In December of that year, Mary Jane Miller received a reply
According to the Army, William was a deserter as of 14 July, 1865, and as such, neither he nor his spouse were eligible for a pension.
This prompted some back and forth between the Millers and the Pension's Division, including this letter from the Millers.
It does not appear anywhere in the record that the charge of desertion was ever removed or that Mary Jane ever received a pension.
I'm sure that there are countless other soldiers who suffered the same fate, who simply went home when they thought the war was over and never received a proper discharge and were then denied an invalid's or widow's pension. I sometimes wonder if there is any action I could take to clear the charge of desertion from William Miller's record, or if anyone other than me would even care. For what it's worth, I don't think of William as some sort of criminal or scoundrel, just a man broken by the war and, when hearing it was over, just wanted to go home.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Tombstone Tuesday - Christopher and Rosanna McNally
I've got a pair of tombstones to share today - Christopher McNally, who has been discussed at length, and his wife Rosanna (Pearson) McNally.
Christopher:
Rosanna:
.JPG)
I don't have a picture of them together - poor planning on my part, as it would have taken an extra fifteen seconds to line up the shot.
These photographs were taken in October of 2011, during a very brief trip to Altoona last fall. Their graves are at the St. Patrick's Catholic cemetery in Newry, Blair County, Pennsylvania.
In looking at the markers, it appears that Rosanna's marker is original, and in pretty good shape for its age and material, whereas it appears that Christopher's marker is newer and looks like it might be a replacement. I've thought this for years (I first found the graves about ten years ago), but have never bothered to investigate. Perhaps I'll contact the church and find out who would have those records.
Here's a little about what I know about Rosanna. She was born Rosanna Pearson, on 13 February 1831, daughter of Edward and Maria Pearson. The Liebgott Collection (I believe that is spelled correctly, please correct me if it is not) at the Martinsburg Public Library has Edward's wife as one Margaret Bookhammer. I have not confirmed or refuted that name at this time. Rosanna and Christopher married on 6 February, 1861, with Rosanna converting to the Catholic Church for the marriage. She and Christopher raised their six children in a house on Ore Hill Road and were known in the community for their generosity and kindness. As she aged, she lost her hearing, and on 25 March, 1896, while walking along a rail line, she was struck and killed by an ore car from the Duncan mines.
I know that this is just a brief sketch, and expect to see more about the Pearson family in the future.
Christopher:
Rosanna:
.JPG)
I don't have a picture of them together - poor planning on my part, as it would have taken an extra fifteen seconds to line up the shot.
These photographs were taken in October of 2011, during a very brief trip to Altoona last fall. Their graves are at the St. Patrick's Catholic cemetery in Newry, Blair County, Pennsylvania.
In looking at the markers, it appears that Rosanna's marker is original, and in pretty good shape for its age and material, whereas it appears that Christopher's marker is newer and looks like it might be a replacement. I've thought this for years (I first found the graves about ten years ago), but have never bothered to investigate. Perhaps I'll contact the church and find out who would have those records.
Here's a little about what I know about Rosanna. She was born Rosanna Pearson, on 13 February 1831, daughter of Edward and Maria Pearson. The Liebgott Collection (I believe that is spelled correctly, please correct me if it is not) at the Martinsburg Public Library has Edward's wife as one Margaret Bookhammer. I have not confirmed or refuted that name at this time. Rosanna and Christopher married on 6 February, 1861, with Rosanna converting to the Catholic Church for the marriage. She and Christopher raised their six children in a house on Ore Hill Road and were known in the community for their generosity and kindness. As she aged, she lost her hearing, and on 25 March, 1896, while walking along a rail line, she was struck and killed by an ore car from the Duncan mines.
I know that this is just a brief sketch, and expect to see more about the Pearson family in the future.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Christopher McNally, Part III
A number of years ago, on 7 April 2008 to be exact, I posted a query on the McNally message board at Rootsweb. (link here) Here's the content of the post
That post might well represent the most important genealogical action I have ever taken, as it allowed me to connect with quite a few other of Christopher's descendants, many of whom I regularly correspond with to this day. Besides the odd typo, still present in the post, I made at least one mistake with my query. Quite simply, I feel like I didn't make clear in a strong enough fashion that with respect to the names of Christopher's parents, my comments were pure and utter speculation, designed to facilitate a potential line of research and not intended to be taken as fact.
Fast forward to last week. I recently reactivated my Ancestry.com membership, and was taking a look at some of the user generated content, when I came upon Christopher McNally in a tree, listed with "Thomas" as his father and "Mary or Lavina" as his mother. Five minutes investigation revealed five or six trees, all containing similar information. I contacted the various tree owners to see if any of them had documentation confirming Christopher's parentage. A few wrote back, saying that they had taken the information from one of the other trees, some didn't respond, so I couldn't determine the originator or originators of the information, but I have a pretty good idea how it started.
That said, and my feelings about user trees on Ancestry aside (there are some really great, sourced public trees, and there are also quite a few that are rubbish), last week I came upon some information that I thought might be of interest to Christopher McNally researchers.
One of the podcasts I listen to mentioned that the Irish National Archives was actively digitizing and posting Irish church records (both Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland) at the Irish Genealogy web site. I surfed over to the site, and just for fun, put in Christopher McNally into the search box. There was one result in particular that I found interesting - an 1816 Roman Catholic baptismal for a "Christopherium McNally" in the St. Andrew Parish of Dublin, baptised in 1816 with parents listed as "Lavi McNally" for the father and "Mara" as the mother. There was just an abstract, no image or transcription, no further granularity in the date, listing Christopher, his parents and his sponsors (Pat McNally and Joanna McNally).
This piqued my curiosity, and I performed some more searches. I started with McNally as the surname with "Lavi" as the father with no results. I switched to "Mara" as the mother and an additional record fell out, an 1826 baptismal (Roman Catholic, St. Andrew parish, Dublin) for a "Mariam McNally", parents listed as "Laurentii McNally", mother as "Mara Dillon", with "Thoma McNally" and "Rosa Dillon" the sponsors. I feel pretty strongly that the Christopher and Mariam listed are siblings - I think that Laurentii McNally and Lavi McNally are one in the same. These records are in Latin, and in Latin "u" and "v" are represented by the same character ("v"), so it is likely that "Lavi" is really "Laui" - that particular priests Latinized abbreviation for Laurence (the marriage record for Laurence and Mara is for "Laurentium McNally").
So what I have is a Christopher McNally, Catholic from Dublin Ireland, born in approximately the right time frame with a sister Mary, which matches the note in one background document about Christopher that he emigrated with a sister named Mary who ended up in California. I could not locate either marriage or burial record for either Christopher or Mary in the database, but that doesn't mean they don't exist, only that no such record has been abstracted. That gives me a few pieces of circumstantial evidence in support of the possibility that the Christopher I found might be my ancestor.
This circumstantial evidence does not, by any stretch of the imagination, constitute proof that the two individuals are the same, so please don't quote me on this. I have no evidence linking my Christopher in Bedford County, Pennsylvania to the Christopher McNally in Dublin, Ireland. At best, I have a new avenue of research to follow to confirm or refute this conjecture.
I'm going to hold on to these records, keep checking the Irish Genealogy database and gather more information - see if I can unearth any other siblings (another son with an unbroken line of McNally son's would be ideal, as Y-Chromosome testing could be used to confirm or refute a common ancestor). And I'll continue to dig on this side of the Atlantic to see what I can uncover. Because, ultimately, that's what's important - the act of seeking.
Looking for informatin concerning Christopher McNally.
Birth: 25 Dec 1819, Dublin, Ireland
Death: 1903, Bedford County, PA
Married: 1851 - Rosanna Pearson, Blair County, PA
According to his naturalization papers, Christopher arrived in the U.S. in September 1844. The date of birth is from his obituary and is not confirmed by any other source at this time. I've got him well documented once he is in the U.S., but lack any info about his parents, actual date of birth, etc. Possible names for his parenst would be Thomas or his father and Mary or Lavin for his mother (These names are inferred from tradfitional Irish naming patterns - the second son and first daugter match the pattern of being named for wifes parents, and i have no reason to believe that they would have deviated for the first son and the second daughter). Any help or insight would be appreciated. Thanks.
That post might well represent the most important genealogical action I have ever taken, as it allowed me to connect with quite a few other of Christopher's descendants, many of whom I regularly correspond with to this day. Besides the odd typo, still present in the post, I made at least one mistake with my query. Quite simply, I feel like I didn't make clear in a strong enough fashion that with respect to the names of Christopher's parents, my comments were pure and utter speculation, designed to facilitate a potential line of research and not intended to be taken as fact.
Fast forward to last week. I recently reactivated my Ancestry.com membership, and was taking a look at some of the user generated content, when I came upon Christopher McNally in a tree, listed with "Thomas" as his father and "Mary or Lavina" as his mother. Five minutes investigation revealed five or six trees, all containing similar information. I contacted the various tree owners to see if any of them had documentation confirming Christopher's parentage. A few wrote back, saying that they had taken the information from one of the other trees, some didn't respond, so I couldn't determine the originator or originators of the information, but I have a pretty good idea how it started.
That said, and my feelings about user trees on Ancestry aside (there are some really great, sourced public trees, and there are also quite a few that are rubbish), last week I came upon some information that I thought might be of interest to Christopher McNally researchers.
One of the podcasts I listen to mentioned that the Irish National Archives was actively digitizing and posting Irish church records (both Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland) at the Irish Genealogy web site. I surfed over to the site, and just for fun, put in Christopher McNally into the search box. There was one result in particular that I found interesting - an 1816 Roman Catholic baptismal for a "Christopherium McNally" in the St. Andrew Parish of Dublin, baptised in 1816 with parents listed as "Lavi McNally" for the father and "Mara" as the mother. There was just an abstract, no image or transcription, no further granularity in the date, listing Christopher, his parents and his sponsors (Pat McNally and Joanna McNally).
This piqued my curiosity, and I performed some more searches. I started with McNally as the surname with "Lavi" as the father with no results. I switched to "Mara" as the mother and an additional record fell out, an 1826 baptismal (Roman Catholic, St. Andrew parish, Dublin) for a "Mariam McNally", parents listed as "Laurentii McNally", mother as "Mara Dillon", with "Thoma McNally" and "Rosa Dillon" the sponsors. I feel pretty strongly that the Christopher and Mariam listed are siblings - I think that Laurentii McNally and Lavi McNally are one in the same. These records are in Latin, and in Latin "u" and "v" are represented by the same character ("v"), so it is likely that "Lavi" is really "Laui" - that particular priests Latinized abbreviation for Laurence (the marriage record for Laurence and Mara is for "Laurentium McNally").
So what I have is a Christopher McNally, Catholic from Dublin Ireland, born in approximately the right time frame with a sister Mary, which matches the note in one background document about Christopher that he emigrated with a sister named Mary who ended up in California. I could not locate either marriage or burial record for either Christopher or Mary in the database, but that doesn't mean they don't exist, only that no such record has been abstracted. That gives me a few pieces of circumstantial evidence in support of the possibility that the Christopher I found might be my ancestor.
This circumstantial evidence does not, by any stretch of the imagination, constitute proof that the two individuals are the same, so please don't quote me on this. I have no evidence linking my Christopher in Bedford County, Pennsylvania to the Christopher McNally in Dublin, Ireland. At best, I have a new avenue of research to follow to confirm or refute this conjecture.
I'm going to hold on to these records, keep checking the Irish Genealogy database and gather more information - see if I can unearth any other siblings (another son with an unbroken line of McNally son's would be ideal, as Y-Chromosome testing could be used to confirm or refute a common ancestor). And I'll continue to dig on this side of the Atlantic to see what I can uncover. Because, ultimately, that's what's important - the act of seeking.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Tech Tuesday - Dropbox, or How the Cloud Saved My Netbook from Obsolesence
A while back, I was listening to a back episode of Geneabloggers Blog Talk Radio and Thomas MacEntee mentioned this Cloud Computing service he uses called Dropbox for sharing data amongst his various computing devices. I remembered reading an article in a genealogy magazine that mentioned it, so I surfed over to the website, http://www.dropbox.com and gave it a look. I reviewed the site, saw I could use it to share data between my laptop and my Apple devices (iPad and iPhone) more conveniently than iCloud (which is great for sharing among Apple devices but not so much with my Windows PC), so I installed it on my PC and i-devices and it worked as advertised. It didn't hurt that 2GB of storage is free - I'm not sure I would have paid for the service at the time.
Shortly after getting my iPad back in December, I purchased the Families app, designed to work with Legacy Family Tree genealogy software. It was nice to be able to share my family tree data from my PC to my iPad and iPhone, but if I made any edits to the data, it was a pain in the rear to sync the data back up so all of my devices were working with the same data. Plus, data entry in Families is something of a chore and not nearly as robust as in Legacy. The iPad is a wonderful device, with many incredible applications, but it was coming up short in one way I wanted to use it - as an extension of my laptop for genealogy.
Fast forward a few weeks. I had just recently completed the first phase of reorganizing my laptop - cleaning up the desktop, rearranging and organizing files on the hard drive, getting rid of unneeded applications and so on. It's a worthwhile endeavour if you are anything like I am and basically did no maintenance or organization in the three or so years since I originally bought the laptop.
Then, inspiration struck. I looked at my poor, lonely netbook, nearly forgotten in the wake of my new devices. The netbook was slow and underpowered, used primarily for travel and when I rode the train when I lived in D.C. I'd even thought about selling it to get a little value back out. I fired it up and started the process of cleaning it up, jettisoning all sorts of unnecessary and unneeded programs and data, dumping pretty much everything except OpenOffice and a few games. I downloaded Legacy and DropBox, then moved my Legacy files to Dropbox. Now, I had a light-weight device with great battery life that could seamlessly share by genealogy database with my laptop. And after getting rid of the various toolbars that had accumulated on my browser, I could actually surf the web at a reasonable speed. Although the iPad is nice for web browsing, the netbook is better for both HeritageQuest and FamilySearch, both crucial stops on your average genealogical quest.
There's a lot of great technology out there that can make life easier for the genealogist. The Cloud, through Dropbox, has certainly improved mine.
Shortly after getting my iPad back in December, I purchased the Families app, designed to work with Legacy Family Tree genealogy software. It was nice to be able to share my family tree data from my PC to my iPad and iPhone, but if I made any edits to the data, it was a pain in the rear to sync the data back up so all of my devices were working with the same data. Plus, data entry in Families is something of a chore and not nearly as robust as in Legacy. The iPad is a wonderful device, with many incredible applications, but it was coming up short in one way I wanted to use it - as an extension of my laptop for genealogy.
Fast forward a few weeks. I had just recently completed the first phase of reorganizing my laptop - cleaning up the desktop, rearranging and organizing files on the hard drive, getting rid of unneeded applications and so on. It's a worthwhile endeavour if you are anything like I am and basically did no maintenance or organization in the three or so years since I originally bought the laptop.
Then, inspiration struck. I looked at my poor, lonely netbook, nearly forgotten in the wake of my new devices. The netbook was slow and underpowered, used primarily for travel and when I rode the train when I lived in D.C. I'd even thought about selling it to get a little value back out. I fired it up and started the process of cleaning it up, jettisoning all sorts of unnecessary and unneeded programs and data, dumping pretty much everything except OpenOffice and a few games. I downloaded Legacy and DropBox, then moved my Legacy files to Dropbox. Now, I had a light-weight device with great battery life that could seamlessly share by genealogy database with my laptop. And after getting rid of the various toolbars that had accumulated on my browser, I could actually surf the web at a reasonable speed. Although the iPad is nice for web browsing, the netbook is better for both HeritageQuest and FamilySearch, both crucial stops on your average genealogical quest.
There's a lot of great technology out there that can make life easier for the genealogist. The Cloud, through Dropbox, has certainly improved mine.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Military Monday - Isaac E. Wentz
I think that most people, when researching their family tree, secretly (or not so secretly) hope that when they give their family tree a good shake, a war hero will fall out. It's understandable, hoping for a little excitement and deeds of daring-do amongst the dry recitation of names, dates and places that are, by necessity, the staples of genealogical research. And, "Would you like to hear the story of how your great-great-great uncle Hezekiah won the battle of Nobbled Ridge?" is a much better icebreaker to family not familiar with your research than an introduction to pedigree charts and family group sheets. (The battle of Nobbled Ridge never really happened, but Hezekiah would have been magnificent there if it did).
The reality of the situation is that this scenario is almost never the case, and most "war hero" stories suffer from significant embellishment, often growing in magnitude as the story is passed down through the generations. You won't get that here - no embellishment, just the truth as I know and learn it. The truth is that most soldiers that go off to war are lucky (and happy) to get home under their own power with most of their limbs and major organs in
One of my favorite sources of genealogical information are Civil War pension application files, particularly if the application is being made by a widow. Depending on how soon after the War the application was filed, there can be a huge wealth of information, as marriages have to be proved and dates of birth of minor children have to be established. The right application file can crush a brick wall and give you leads to research that can move a live generations back in time. Not all application files are this fruitful, but some are, and they almost all contain some parcel of information worth having (although some might not be worth the $75 that NARA currently charges for the file by mail).
One thing I really like that is often found in these files are bits and pieces of correspondence - letters and notes that add some real depth to the people involved in the process, and that is where the tale of two soldiers begins. On my father's side of the family, I have two known, confirmed civil war veterans, Isaac Edward Wentz and William J. Miller, and I have pension files for both soldiers. Today's discussion is about Isaac Wentz. William Miller's story will have to wait for another day
Isaac Edward Wentz is my great x 3 grandfather (through my father's paternal grandmother). He was born in 1831 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania and married Susanna Fickes in 1857. They had four children - John H. (my great x 2 grandfather), Leah, Rebecca, and Elizabeth. He enlisted in Company E of the Pennsylvania Cavalry and mustered in in early 1864. He saw action, and by his own account was taken prisoner in early 1865. A letter to his wife dated May 4, 1865, posted from Raleigh, North Carolina states:
Dear Wife,
Availing myself of the services of our Chaplin, I hereby inform you that at present I am here in the 1st Division Hospital, 23rd Army Corps, suffering from chronic diarrhea. I came here on the last day of April, and I can not say that I any better yet, though I am able to go about. The weather is very fine & health-inspiring, and I hope by careful attention & medicine soon to recover & return to my ? ?. On the 13th day of April when our cavalry were making a charge on the rebels near Raleigh, I was taken prisoner & I remained in their hands at Greensboro until the 30th of April, when they discharged me, after the surrender of the rebel Gen. Johnston, and sent me down here, where I am now in hospital. The war being now about over, the general impression prevails that we will all soon go home and out of the service. Hoping that you and the children are well, I am ever
Your faithful husband Isaac Wentz
The reality of the situation is that this scenario is almost never the case, and most "war hero" stories suffer from significant embellishment, often growing in magnitude as the story is passed down through the generations. You won't get that here - no embellishment, just the truth as I know and learn it. The truth is that most soldiers that go off to war are lucky (and happy) to get home under their own power with most of their limbs and major organs in
One of my favorite sources of genealogical information are Civil War pension application files, particularly if the application is being made by a widow. Depending on how soon after the War the application was filed, there can be a huge wealth of information, as marriages have to be proved and dates of birth of minor children have to be established. The right application file can crush a brick wall and give you leads to research that can move a live generations back in time. Not all application files are this fruitful, but some are, and they almost all contain some parcel of information worth having (although some might not be worth the $75 that NARA currently charges for the file by mail).
One thing I really like that is often found in these files are bits and pieces of correspondence - letters and notes that add some real depth to the people involved in the process, and that is where the tale of two soldiers begins. On my father's side of the family, I have two known, confirmed civil war veterans, Isaac Edward Wentz and William J. Miller, and I have pension files for both soldiers. Today's discussion is about Isaac Wentz. William Miller's story will have to wait for another day
Isaac Edward Wentz is my great x 3 grandfather (through my father's paternal grandmother). He was born in 1831 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania and married Susanna Fickes in 1857. They had four children - John H. (my great x 2 grandfather), Leah, Rebecca, and Elizabeth. He enlisted in Company E of the Pennsylvania Cavalry and mustered in in early 1864. He saw action, and by his own account was taken prisoner in early 1865. A letter to his wife dated May 4, 1865, posted from Raleigh, North Carolina states:
Dear Wife,
Availing myself of the services of our Chaplin, I hereby inform you that at present I am here in the 1st Division Hospital, 23rd Army Corps, suffering from chronic diarrhea. I came here on the last day of April, and I can not say that I any better yet, though I am able to go about. The weather is very fine & health-inspiring, and I hope by careful attention & medicine soon to recover & return to my ? ?. On the 13th day of April when our cavalry were making a charge on the rebels near Raleigh, I was taken prisoner & I remained in their hands at Greensboro until the 30th of April, when they discharged me, after the surrender of the rebel Gen. Johnston, and sent me down here, where I am now in hospital. The war being now about over, the general impression prevails that we will all soon go home and out of the service. Hoping that you and the children are well, I am ever
Your faithful husband Isaac Wentz
(The images are scans of photocopies and quality-wise, are the best I can do with the materials I have available to me.)
So at the beginning of May, Isaac was laid low with diarrhea, but hopeful that he would be home soon to see his wife and children. This, however, was not to be.
On June 29th, 1865, a Mr. M. H. Hadley posted a short letter to an unidentified "Sir" of Union Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania from the Sick Soldiers Rest in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Dear Sir:
Isaac Wentz of 13th Regt. Penn Cavalry Co. E is nearly dead with chronic diarrhea at this "Rest". He was brought here at 3 o'clock this morning. If he has any friend who can attend to him, he had better come here at once. I do not believe he can live a week, perhaps not three days. He says he has a wife and other friends in your township. Can you notify them?
Yours truly
M. H. Hadley
Supt S.S. Rest, Harrisburg
Isaac Edward Wentz died on 29 June 1865, the day the letter was posted, never making it home to see his wife and children.
The Pension Application file is full of great information, lots of proof of relationship, name and date. But those two letters breathe some life into the story, make Isaac a person, not just a collection of facts.
I have a Pension Application file for William Miller and will be tracking down some others (from my mother's side of the family and my wife's ancestors) the next time I make it to DC and can go to NARA. More stories to be told.
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