Adventures at the Archives FTF Post is up!

My next Family Tree Firsts post is up, and you can read all about it here.

It was the most incredible experience, and I had the best time.  Yes, I have always found being locked in a room with a stack of dusty papers and books a grand adventure.  Its true, I do.  You should have seen me wandering around Europe looking at museums, castles, and historic sites.  My husband thought he was going to lose me at the V&A once. He did almost lose me in Salzberg, Austria when I was on a quest to find Paracelsus's Tomb.

Now I have gotten off topic again...easy to do.

I have over a thousand images that I am going through.  Yes, a lot of images.  One thing I have been taught about doing research (from my mother, my mother-in-law, my husband,historian friends, and my college mentors) is that you copy everything.  Absolutely everything.  Never leave a page un-copied, and never just copy part of the page.  You never know when you will need information from another section of the document, or that date stamp on the back as proof of when it was created.  All records are important, you just may not know it right then.

In a past post I talked about preparing for my research, and then my experience at the archives.  Over the next few weeks I hope you all enjoy my tales of what I have found.  I have records on the following people to look through:

Anna Combs, widow of Charles Combs (the senior), War of 1812 Pension File
Theresa Arvin, widow of Henry Arvin, War of 1812 Pension File
Henry Arvin Land File
Polly and Nettie Cody, widow and minor of Button Cody, Civil War Pension File
Mary and William Combs, widow and minor of Charles "boy" Combs, Civil War Pension File
Harry Coad aka Henry Thompson Civil War Pension File
Lemuel Kelley, father of Lemuel Kelley, Civil War Pension File
Julia Bartlett, widow of William Bartlett, Civil War Pension File

Wish me good digging!

New post at Family Tree Firsts

My next post on FTF is up.  I hope you enjoy the read.  Living on a Civil War Battlefield puts researching your family from that time into a whole new light.  During the course I read all about troop movements for units that my ancestor were assigned to.  Which of those campaigns they were actually there for I don't know, but I got an odd sensation to read there was a possibility they fought within a mile of my house.

I talk about Button Cody in this post, he was mentioned in the last post too.  He is of the "famous" Cody line that Buffalo Bill is also descended from.  When I found him on the 1890 Veterans Schedule I could not believe what I read about his physical condition.  I now have to find out if those injuries were due to the war.

The photo for this post was sent to my by my long lost distant cousin Debby.  She has been such a help when I got started last year.  We still correspond whenever we find something new to share.  I just love the cousins I have found and the connections I have made!

New post at Family Tree Firsts

My next post is up over at Family Tree Firsts.  I have to admit, my husband had told me the story of how there was a possible connection between their family and Buffalo Bill Cody since we met.  No one was sure how exactly, but it was a family legend none the less.  Thanks to the published genealogies from the Cody society, I know how they are possibly connected now.

Harry Coad / Henry Thompson has been an enigma ever since I found him.  One those nagging puzzles that you just can't stop thinking about.  It has become almost an obsession to be able to figure out who he is.  I have been desperately trying to piece together his life before the Civil War.

Several family trees over an Ancestry have listed George and Sarah Thompson as his parents.  Unfortunately I have not been able to get any of them to write me back about why they think this.  All I know about him (mostly from census and death records) is the following:

Harry M Coad
Born:  31 Aug 1840 Springfield, Illinois (one census lists Virginia)
Died:  15 June 1920 Grand Pass, Missouri
Married: Nancy Ann Cody, 12 May 1867 in Kansas

I did find a Henry C Thompson on the 1850 Census in Oquawka, Illinois with parents GW and Sarah Thompson.  They were born in Virginia and Kentucky respectively.  When I discovered the 1890 Veterans Census, I secretly hoped I would learn more.  Below is what I got:

Harry M Coad
Miami Township, Marshall, Saline, Missouri.
Private

So the quest to discover him continues...

*Image by liberalmind1012

Civil War Research

This morning a simple search out of curiosity has turned into another marathon reading session.  How does this always happen?

I am currently enrolled in a class through Family Tree University called “Civil War Research: Find Your Ancestors in the War Between the States.”  It is two weeks into the four week class and I am quickly filling in the holes of my education on this subject.  Of course my eldest child (who is fascinated with the Civil War) is just in awe that I am taking a class on this subject.  We do homework together at the dining room table each night; I think purely so he can watch me and ask questions.

In the class we are introduced to the National Park Service site “Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System” as well as several other excellent resources.  My husband and I have five known direct ancestors that fought in the Civil War.  There are several other uncles and cousins, but I haven’t got to all of them yet.  Out of pure and simple curiosity I started to one by one enter their names into the database…and whoa!  I spent the next several hours running back and forth between the CWSS, Fold3, and Ancestry checking, double checking, and looking for various ways to prove and validate what I was seeing. 

It ended in a decision that I have to make a trip up to NARA… sooner rather than later. 

**I found out there is a problem with the CWSS links below. It will take you to the database but I can not link directly to each of the regiments histories. If you want to read about the history of these regiments, I encourage you to explore the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors site.**

Here is a summary of what I found today: 

·        Harry Coad aka Henry C Thompson (husbands 2^nd great grandfather):  His middle name is most likely Clay.  I found information on the 5^th Missouri and 66^th Illinois infantry regiments he fought in.  No information for the 14th regiment that he served in.

·        Kelley Family:

o   I found the following names at Find-a-Grave:

§  LA = Lemuel A Kelly

§  JH = James H Kelley

§  WH = William H Kelley

§  These are ½ brothers of my 2^nd great grandfather Charles Morgan Kelley

o   They were all in the 14^th Indiana Infantry Company C

o   There were several other Kelley/Kelly’s that similar names (even Lemuel) that may be related.

·        Combs Family:

o   Charles Combs Jr:  70th Indiana Infantry, Company C and possibly the 27^th regiment, company B.

o   Found the draft books for Charles’s Brothers Silas, Byrd, James (my 3^rd great-grandfather), Pleasant, and John Joseph.  (US Civil War Draft Registration Records, Ind 7^th, vols 1 and 3)

        o   Silas was in the 145^th Indiana Infantry, company I.

·        Francis Marion Bline (3^rd great grandfather) was in the Harrison Cavalry, Mounted Hoosiers 6 Regt, Indiana Legion.

      ·        I learned what the three regiments Button Gwinette Cody (husbands 3^rd great grandfather) was assigned to participated in.  8^th Indiana Cavalry (Private), 6^th Indiana Infantry (Captain), 10th Indiana Cavalry(Quartermaster Sargent). 

I would say it was a productive day yes?


*Image is that of Charles Combs Jr, provided by Cousin Debby.