Friday, September 30, 2011

My Place by Ramana Rose Russell

The following poem was written by my niece and sent to my mother who then passed a copy on to me. 
Thank you Rose!

My Place
by Ramana Rose Russell

I touch the ancient lace of my Mother’s family kept in a chestnut drawer.
I think back on that pathway of ancestors who have brought me to this point.
The ships sailed from England to America full of antiquities for sale.
I think of how my family has grown and expanded since my youth,
and how we are all family somehow.
The bravery of my family reflects the bravery of yours.
I look at my pet bird and wonder how many animals have graced us with their camaraderie
Through all of those ages.
And what is my place here?
Like fresh cut roses and teddy bears and sippy cups, my place is the same as all others;
To bloom and to brighten.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Joseph Davis

Anyone that's visited my home page will probably notice that it is dedicated to Joseph Davis who served during the American Civil War.  Shortly after the site went up, my brother emailed and asked who this Joseph Davis was and why the site was dedicated to him.

Growing up I was always interested in history, especially military history, especially Civil War history.  In my early teens I saw an ad or got a letter from the Military Book Club ready to give me 4 books for only $1.  Man was I hooked, immediately joining and buying book after book, I'm sure they loved me.  I sure cut a lot of lawns to buy those books.  Most of those books, those that can fit, still sit on the bookshelf in my office.  They are primarily biographies of the Generals or books about specific battles.

Anyway, I was pretty engrossed in the Civil War period when in 1978 my grandfather's distant cousin wrote looking for information on the family.  Among the things she sent to him were three letters written by a young soldier named Joseph Davis.  I was immediately engrossed in reading them and trying to get every detail of what he wrote.  They were addressed to his uncle, Wm. D. Russell, who was my great-great grandfather.  It was thrilling, here was my very own Civil War soldier, he was part of my family and he was there for that great conflict.  Remember, I was in my mid-teens and it was all so romantic and glorified, it was just so cool!  And then there was the tintype (I use that term very loosely).  When going through the old photographs with my grandfather we found wrapped in newspaper a 'tintype' of a soldier who appeared to be from the Civil War era.  My grandfather didn't know who it was, but it was obvious to me that this was Joseph Davis.  So now I had the letters and a photograph it all fit together so well.

Jump ahead three or four years and I'm now in college in Illinois.  I was taking a class on the Civil War and my professor gave us an assignment to look at deserters from Illinois units.  He showed us that the majority of most companies were formed from a county or adjoining counties, so we could pick a company from our home county if we wanted to.  Recalling the letters, I asked my professor if he could give me any advice on how to determine which unit my relative had been in.  You see Joseph never mentioned his unit, just some specifics on where he was and what battles he was in.  My professor asked me some basic questions  and then read over the letters.  He helped me narrow down which Illinois units were involved in the various events mentioned in the letters.  Then, using the Adjutant General's Report for Illinois, we looked at each of the units trying to find a Joseph Davis.  Voila!  It took a little while, but I found him.  My professor then told me that I could order his military papers from the National Archives and helped me find the form to send.  I then sent off my request and waited.......for those of you who've only done research in the age of the internet you may not understand what this entailed.  I waited 3 or 4 months to hear back that they did indeed have the records.  I then had to write back to say that yes I did want them and I got to wait another 3 or 4 months to get them.  That was pretty standard if you wrote to a county courthouse or State archive also.  Finally, the papers arrived, he even had a pension record which showed he'd moved to Kansas, married, etc.

Jump ahead another 8 years or so, it's 1990 and I was now working in the Pentagon after finishing up four years in the Air Force.  I'd been working on various family lines over the intervening years when time allowed.  But now.... now I was in D.C. and could spend a lunch hour in the National Archives or Library of Congress.  I could go after work and spend four hours there before they closed for the evening.  I'd gotten to know some of the archivist and was feeling pretty comfortable with my research abilities.  My grandfather  had died in 1982 right about the time I'd been trying to find Joseph Davis' unit.  The old tintype was now in my possession and seeing it one day it made me think about Joseph.  I decided to retrace my steps and look again at what had happened to him and who his children were.  I still had his papers that said he'd gone to Kansas and so it was time to look through census records.  He appeared soon enough, but when I started to look backward to see who his siblings were it became apparent that he was the wrong Joseph Davis!

It was time to start from scratch again.  I pulled out the old letters and started looking to see what I knew about him.
  1. His unit was in camp in Memphis, TN on July 25th, 1864 and they'd been marching for a month at that time.  They'd been in a battle at Tupelo, MS, the rebels under Lt. Gen. Lee and the union under Maj. Gen. A.J. Smith.  He mentions the Smith boys, Gabriel Wiley, Arch, Ciss, and Pap.
  2. On August 7th, 1864 they are still in camp in Memphis, but they expect to take the cars (train) to Lagrange and march from there to Holly Springs, MS.  They might spend time repairing the rails in that area.  He also mentions that his Regt. would  muster out on the 14th of October but that he'd have to stay as he'd not joined until the 2nd call.  He also mentions that he got part of his $300 bounty.  Again in this letter he mentions the Smith's, Gabriel Wiley and Arch D.  It is also at this time that I realize he didn't send this letter to Wm. D. Russell, he'd sent it to another Uncle, probably Leonard, William D's older brother, and asked that the letter be shared with Wm. D.
  3. By March 17th of 1865 Joseph is in Camp near New Orleans, LA.  There is force going over to Mobile and he expects they'll be fighting.  His Regiment is left to load the supply train but will follow the main force in a week or two.
Having a better understanding of the military records available to me, I began again to check the various units that followed the path and time frame that Joseph's letters record.   I went through all of the Illinois units and none fit, some came close, including the unit I'd originally thought he was in, but none seemed correct.  I then looked at what other units were in the same army under Maj. General A. J. Smith.  Growing up just a few miles from where Joseph's family lived in southwestern Illinois, if anyone ever asks where I'm from I always say 'near St. Louis'.  This got me thinking and I looked at the Missouri units that fit the path in the letters.  It didn't take me long to find a Joseph Davis and since I was in the National Archives I could just go down the hall and look at the military records.  The very first page stated that this Joseph Davis was from Jackson County, IL.  He'd come to St. Louis and joined the 21st Missouri Infantry; I'd been looking in the wrong state all along.

Joseph Davis was born about 1843 in Jackson County, Illinois.  He was the oldest known child of John Davis and Mary Russell.  His younger sister Mary Ann was born in April 1845, but no other children have been found in records. Their mother died about 1852 and their father remarried in 1853.  John Davis moved with his new wife and their baby to Lawrence County, AR in 1856.  Joseph and his sister Mary Ann went with them and remained in Arkansas until at least 1860.  I don't know, but my feeling is that Joseph may have then moved back to Illinois to live with his Uncle Wm. D. Russell Sr.  His uncle was only 10 years older than him and as other letters show, Wm. D. felt some responsibility for Joseph.  As Joseph mentioned in his letter, he joined with the second call and was listed as a recruit in his unit.  His papers show that he enlisted in St. Louis on November 23rd, 1863 for three years.  He's described as a farmer, age 19, 6 feet, 1 inch tall with a fair complexion, grey eyes, and a light hair.

Joseph's regiment had already been bloodied at Shiloh, Iuka, Corinth, and in Grant's Central Mississippi Campaign.  In January 1864 Joseph moved with his regiment to Vicksburg and then participated in the Meridian and Red River campaigns in the winter and spring of 1864.  They spent the next couple of months moving often and skirmishing with the enemy.  In July they were with Maj. Gen. A.J. Smith in his Tupelo Campaign which included the battle on July 14th and 15th that Joseph referred to in his letter.  They continued to pursue the enemy for the remainder of the year and in December participated in the battle of Nashville.  In February 1865 they moved to New Orleans and on March 17th the main body of troops moved toward Mobile.  This was this same day that Joseph wrote the third letter to his uncle.  Joseph ended this letter as follows:
Well uncle I think this rebellion is as you say about played out, I think it will play out before long.  I think that I will not have to serve all my term of enlistment if our army proves successful which there is no doubt but they will.  Well I will have to close by saying write soon and often.
I remain yours
Joseph Davis
Less than a month later Joseph was with his unit at Mobile.  On the evening of April 9th, 1865 (the same day Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox) the 21st Missouri along with several other regiments assaulted and captured Fort Blakely in Mobile Bay.  Among those killed during the assault was Joseph Davis, a 21 year old farmer from Jackson County, Illinois.  Joseph is buried in the National Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama.

I mentioned earlier that I believe that William D. Russell Sr. felt some responsibility for Joseph Davis.  They must have been somewhat close.  In Joseph's letters he mentions that he ought to see his namesake and that he'd send $50 confederate money to William's son Joseph.  My great-grandfather was Joseph Edward Russell and he was born in 1862.  Whether Joseph Davis saw him as a baby or not, I don't know.  In the package of letters my distant cousin has, there are also letters from William D. Sr. to Joseph Davis's, half-sister who lived in Arkansas.  It is apparent from these letters that William was doing what he could to get any money due Joseph's estate and that it should go to the half-sister and her siblings.  Joseph Davis's estate was settled in the 1870s and his half-siblings in Arkansas did get a little money out of his estate.

One last item....the tintype.... it wasn't Joseph.  I had several people who study uniforms and the Civil War look it over.  They determined it was a cavalry man, probably from earlier in the war.  I've since decided it was probably one of the Killgrove brothers, but I'm saving their story for another time.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Alfred Loy

One of the most interesting and enigmatic individuals that I've researched is Alfred Loy who was born in Alabama around 1810.  He was the eldest son of Henry Loy and Martha "Patsy" Greenwood, both natives of North Carolina.

Alfred's parents married near present day Hunstsville, Alabama in July 1809 and census records indicate that Alfred was born the following year.  The area was still part of the Mississippi territory and on the edge of the frontier.  The family remained in the area for close to 20 years before moving to Calloway County, Kentucky.  The first record of Alfred that I find is dated December 9th, 1834 when his maternal grandfather, Joseph Greenwood, sold him 160 acres of land in Calloway County, KY.  I suspect this was around the time that Alfred married his wife Jane, a native of Kentucky who was born 1816.

Mormon Missionary
In October 1835 William Woodruff, a 26 year old Mormon missionary visited the area.  Among those he baptized were Alfred Loy and his cousin Benjamin Lynn Clapp.  In April 1837 Alfred Loy was ordained an elder in the Mormon church for Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri.  He then accompanied Elder H.G. Sherwood who led the group from Kentucky to Missouri.  They must have left immediatly since in June and July of 1837 Alfred purchased land in Caldwell County, Missouri.  On June 11th, 1838 Alfred, along with his cousin Benjamin L. Clapp, accompanied Isaac Allred on a mission from the vicinity of Far West, Missouri to St. Louis and then down the Mississippi and up the Ohio to the Tennessee River.  From there they traveled together until they got to Warren County, Kentucky.   Allread remained in the area to continue his mission, but Alfred Loy and his cousin moved on elsewhere.  In the fall of that year the "Mormon War" erupted in Missouri and by October leaders in Far West surrendered and most of the Mormon's relocated to Nauvoo, Illinois.  I've not found any further mention of Alfred Loy in the Mormon records, however his aunt Margaret Loy Clapp and her son Benjamin L. Clapp remained with the church.  They resided in Nauvoo and after the expulsion from there they resided in Salt Lake City.  In 1845 Benjamin Clapp was set aside as one of the Seven Presidents of the Seventy.  He later came into conflict with Bishop Warren Snow and was excommunicated from the church.

Illinois and California
Alfred Loy next appears in the 1840 Federal Census residing near Silver Creek in northwestern Madison County, Illinois.  By 1850 Alfred's wife and children were living in Perry County, Illinois and Alfred was residing in Louisville, Eldorado County, California working as a laborer.  Family story tells us that Alfred was among others who are now known to us as "forty-niners".  It's uncertain how well Alfred succeeded, but with in a year he returned to Illinois.  In 1853 Alfred, along with his wife and children and the families of two of his sisters and a younger brother, Henry G. Loy, headed west by wagon train.  The following was written by Alfred's niece, Minnie Snyder.

"Dr. Alfred Loy was the oldest in the family and when they all went to California at the time of the Gold rush - Pa, the doctor, and several of their sisters were in the wagon train that crossed the plains in the covered wagons. It took them six months to make the trip out to California; one of Pa's sisters died and they had to leave her there and then when they got to Salt Lake City, Utah, they go mixed up with the Mormons and those who escaped had to go by night, and Dr. Loy was there when Pa would tell us about his trip across (but what ever became of him we do not know)."

I along with several other researchers have attempted to find out what happened to Alfred, but we've been unsuccessful.  Minnie's stepfather, Henry G.Loy returned to Illinois within a few years of the journey to California and remained there the rest of his life.  She indicates that Alfred was with her father when she heard the story, which would indicate that Alfred returned to Illinois sometime after 1878 when her mother married Henry G. Loy.  No Alfred Loy (or numerous variations thereof) of the correct age and birthplace have been found in the 1860, 1870 or 1880 Federal Census.  Research in California shows that his daughter, Martha Jane, was married in Prairie City, Sacramento County, California in 1856 and lived out her live in Merced County, California.  His young son James died in Prairie City, California in 1858.  His daughter Mary Ann married in 1859 in Analy Township, Sonoma County, California and also lived out her life in Merced County, California.  His daughter Elisabeth married in Mariposa County, California in 1860 and she and her husband then disappear from records.  His son Alfred  was living in Fresno, California in 1876, moving to Merced County in 1877, where he died in 1878.

After so many adventures in life, what happened to Alfred?  What was his view on the Mormon church after the events in Far West and Nauvoo.  The records leave us with a great story with the last few chapters torn out.  I want to know how the story continued and ultimately ended for Alfred and his wife Jane.  

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Must start somewhere....

History has always been a passion of mine and I caught the genealogy bug while I was still in high school.   Research is the fun part for me, but writing the stories has always been difficult.  This blog is my way of forcing me to try to write the stories that stick out in my mind over my past 30+ years of research.