Sunday, September 2, 2012

Carnival of Genealogy #121 Discovery

I have kind of felt left out with all the people researching their Civil War ancestors for the 150 year anniversary of the start of the Civil War, as I have until last night not found a single Civil War ancestor. I know that none of my grandfather Hansen's ancestors were in the Civil War as he did not leave Denmark till 1887 and arrived in New York on St. Patrick's Day. He did tell of watching the St. Patrick's Day parade from the ship in the harbor. He did marry a lady whose family came to New England in 1632 the Dillingham's, and so I have ancestors in all the wars after 1632 till the Civil War. So why was her father Stanislaus Dillingham not in the Civil War? He had bad legs and could not stand for long nor march, so I guess he was exempted medically. So how about my mom's family the Kellys? They were in Illinois when the Civil War started, and according to the "Kelly" Bible they got on a wagon train to California, stayed till 1865, then went to Sacramento and then San Francisco, caught a ship to Panama, crossed the isthmus caught another ship to New York, and then back to Ursa, Illinois where her parents were still living. Her father had been in the War of 1812 in the battle for Fort Miegs, and he was one of the few survivors of the Kentucky riflemen that went to help William Henry Harrison retake Detroit. Still have some others on this side to find, so it is possible I will find another Civil War ancestor. The other line I know a lot about is the Vanderpools, and I have Vanderpools in the Mexican War as teamsters hauling supplies to the troops, I even had a Vanderpool in the Blackhawk War, he volunteered, marched to Illinois for training and before the training ended BlackHawk surrendered, so he never fired a shot. So that brings me to Joseph Vanderpool, my great great grandfather, his obit says he was a Civil War soldier, but both he and his widow applied for a Civil War pension and they were turned down saying he was never in the Civil War, so I assumed he was in the home guard in northern Missouri, so last night I was playing on Ancestry in their free census look-ups, and I put in Joseph Vanderpool, and I found his 1850, 1870 and 1880 census and then it said the 1890 Special Civil War Census, so I clicked and this is what I found, he did serve a whole month in the 35th Missouri Infantry and was discharged due to getting measles. I had measles as a child, but I know it is much worse in an adult and very contagious so I see why he was discharged.
So this was a surprising discovery, but it looks like Robert Forsyth who served in the War of 1812 was my last ancestor that actually fought in a war. The Dillinghams were Quakers and so shied away from conflicts, but a few did fight in the Revolution. My dad was in WWII but not in a fighting unit, his service squadron serviced the B-17s and B-24s in England, Africa and finally Italy, neither of my grandfathers served in WWI, one was too old and the other worked for the Great Northern Railroad and railroad workers were exempted. 

4 comments:

  1. Well aren't you the lucky one, Charles? Some great sleuthing on your part resulted in a terrific discovery. Thank you for sharing it in the COG!

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  2. Charles, loved your off-hand way of throwing out wars, regiments -- Kentucky rifleman, battle of Detroit, war of 18112, Blackhawk war, defense of Fort Miegs, and servicing B-17s & B24s --- and the Civil War ---each a teaser to a story of its own.

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  3. I have never seen these records, but my brother-in-law's ancestor went through something similar to yours. He found in the Civil War, became ill (rheumatic fever, I think?), and was discharged. Later, he tried to get his pension but was denied because he couldn't prove that he became ill during the war. In his case, he appealed for years. There was a huge pension file detailing his fight against the military. Sometime in the 1890s he won. I wonder if there is such a file for your relative as well?

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    Replies
    1. Joseph died soon after he applied, so then his widow applied and got the same rejection letter, I have not check further, but it might be interesting to try.

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