John T. Abbott - Tombstone Tuesday

Capen Cemetery, Bethel, Maine

John T. Abbott was the son of John & Sarah (Ackley) Abbott, born on April 13, 1845, and died on August 30, 1867. He was my 2X great-granduncle. He died at the age of 22 in New Orleans, Lousiana. Findagrave says the died during the Civil War, but that cannot be true since the Civil War ended in 1865. Records I've found indicate that he mustered into Captain John B. Walker's Company I, Fifth Regiment Infantry, Maine Volunteers on June 24, 1864, and later transferred to the Signal Corps. The tombstone says he died "while in the Naval Service." I'd love to find out more about his service and the circumstances of his death. This stone stands in the Capen Cemetery in Bethel, Maine, but I'm not sure if his body was actually brought from Louisiana to Maine for burial.

John & Sarah (Ackley) Abbott - parents of John T. Abbott
Mary Jane (Abbott) Capen - sister of John T. Abbott
Fannie May (Capen) Carter
T. Richard Carter - my grandfather

He Died Easy and Happy - 52 Ancestors #21

The letter no wife wants to get. A fellow soldier wrote to Harriet C. (Bean) Brown to let her know her husband had died in a hospital in Louisiana. Simeon F. Brown was serving with the 12th Maine Infantry, Company D. The image quality, handwriting, and spelling leave a lot to be desired but here is my best attempt at a transcription. It is a kind note and I wonder how well Harriet knew the author. Simeon was buried first at Cypress Grove and later moved to Chalmette National Cemetery. His name is on a tombstone in the East Bethel Cemetery where his wife is buried. 

Caselton Camp Parish? 

in ?  5, 1863

Madam: 

It is with regret

that I pen you a few 

lines informing you

of your Husbands + my

Friends Misfortunes in 

Ware abroad as well as at 

home life is not but a dream

here to day + thare tomorrow

You have been aware of 

his sickness. When he 

was first sick he was 

taken to the hospittle at

Caselton only 2 miles

from our incampment.

I was often to see him 

but he had to bee removed 

to the Marine Hospittle that

being at New Orleans at

this phase they have things 

in good shape. The nurses

are all ? + are

called Sisters of Charity

+ no doubt but he had good

care. His disease was the 

Swamp Fever with the diarhierr. 

He has gone to the land of

dreames + is better off 

thare no doubt. He left ous

about 11oc P.M. Jan the 9. 

I was not thare at the

time of his death. I have 

seen the Doctor + his nurse

she (scribble) told me that he

was not in no very great

pain + died easy + also

happy. You may think that 

strange by not receiving

newes before but I have 

been waiting to get his

money to send home

but not nowing when 

we shall get paid ??

I now give you the 

response. I tride to get 

his clothes to send to you 

but owing to thare being

no recriasion (requisition?) being maid

out I could not get them. 

This was owing to the

neglance of our Officers

Thare is between $60 + $70 dollars

coming to you + I will 

be forwarding to you as soon 

as we are paid off

+ now I hope you will

excuse the neglance of 

me not riting before

my best respects

to you Madam + 

????. Write me

soon as you (get - scribbled out)

receive this + I will

give you more particulars. 

Give my respects

to Orpha + ??

my health is good

I must now go

on drill ? the

same as usual 

Your Friend, 

James K. Pinkham

Page 1

Pages 2 & 3

Page 4

Simeon is the ancestor of my grandfather, Clayton L. Blake. 

Fatally Wounded at Antietam

William Kilburn Yates was born on January 27, 1826 to William & Dorcas (Hall) Yates. He married Zilpha Dustin on January 20, 1848. When the Civil War broke out, William enlisted in the Fifth New Hampshire and went off to serve his country. He was wounded at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862 and died ten days later. Antietam was an especially fierce and bloody battle; it left 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or missing after twelve hours of fighting on September 17, 1862.

I took this picture of Burnside's Bridge on a visit to
Antietam in July 2009. It's hard to imagine the carnage
that marred this beautiful scene in September 1862.

According to The Yates Book,  William died "not sensing enough to send us any word or say anything except to wish he could live to do more service." I'm not sure if that is a phrase the author of the book came up with or something said in a letter sent home to his family, but it seems like a very touching sentiment that captures why many fought for the Union. He was survived by his wife and two sons.

Children:

1. Herbert A. Yates was born on February 19, 1851 and married Ida Anderson, Mary Rogers, Eva Fuller, and Myrtle Estes in that order. 
2. Alvah N. Yates was born on September 7, 1861 and died on September 8, 1866. 

William was my 1st cousin, 4 times removed. His grandparents are my fourth great-grandparents, William & Martha (Morgan) Yates.

Other Civil War ancestors include
John H. Cotton
Octavius Yates
Simeon Brown 
More about Simeon
Asa Freeman Ellingwood
Augustus Mellen Carter

Tombstone Tuesday - Simeon Brown

The stories of the death of Simeon in the Civil War can be found here and here.

Witness to Assassination - 52 Ancestors #10

Octavius K. Yates was my first cousin, 4 times removed. He was the son of James & Emma (Cole) Yates and the grandson of William & Martha (Morgan) Yates (my 4th great-grandparents). The Yates Book relates that Octavius was born on September 25, 1833 and after graduating from high school in Bethel, Maine, he enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War. Octavius was at Ford's Theater on the night of April 15, 1865 when Abraham Lincoln was shot.

The following information comes from the web site www.fordstheater.org.

Ford's Theater was transformed from a church to a theater in 1861. The theater benefited from the influx of population as thousands of soldiers and wartime visitors passed through the city. The sloping ground level had about 600 wooden chairs. These could be removed for dances. The second floor balcony held 420 people in the same type of wooden chairs. The upper balcony seated 600-700 on wooden benches. There were four private boxes, two on either side of the stage.

It's hard to imagine what it was like for those in the theater on that night. The country was celebrating the end of the Civil War. They must have felt that the worst of the hard times was behind them.

After the Civil War, Octavius moved to Canada and was engaged in the oil business before returning to Maine and studying medicine. He became a respected physician in West Paris.

Obituary Sunday - Augustus Mellen Carter

The Carter Farm - Middle Intervale, Bethel, Maine

On August 17, 1923, my 2nd great-grandfather, Augustus M. Carter, died at his home at the age of 83. His son, my great-grandfather, Edward M. Carter, had been hit by a car and killed just a few weeks before. It must have been hard for my great-grandmother, Fanny (Capen) Carter to lose her husband and then her father-in-law in such a short time. I found two entries from the Google News Archive in the summer of 1923. The first notes that Augustus had fallen and broken his arm and the second is his obituary.

The Lewiston Daily Sun - Jun. 13, 1923
EAST BETHEL
...Augustus Carter of Middle Intervale had the misfortune to fall and break his arm last Friday...


The Lewiston Daily Sun - Aug. 20, 1923
AUGUSTUS CARTER
Bethel, Aug. 19 - Augustus Carter passed away Friday afternoon at his home on the Middle Intervale road. He had been in ill health for some time. He was 83 years of age. He has been quite a prominent lumber man having had charge of the buying for the Berlin Mills Co., for nearly 40 years, and had also done some logging for himself. He married Mary F. Stanley and to them two children were born, Edward M., and Frances A. Carter. The son, Edward, was hit by an auto a few weeks ago and died from the injuries. The daughter Frances has cared for her father during his long period of ill health. He was a member of the Baptist church. He is survived by his daughter, Frances, one brother, Herbert Carter, a sister, Mrs. Mary Wiley, five grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. The funeral was held from his late home Sunday afternoon, interment in the Middle Intervale cemetery.

Our family is fortunate to have a number of items belonging to Augustus Mellen Carter. I have written about his surveying work before. He also served in the Civil War and my connection to him is that I used his saddle when I was first learning to ride a horse.

 

Augustus Mellen Carter married Mary Frances Stanley.
Edward Mellen Carter married Fanny May Capen.
Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather

Thankful Thursday - The Williamson Divorce

William Williamson was the brother of my 3rd great-grandmother, Rebecca (Williamson) Carter. He married Alfreda Bean, aka Lydia Alfreda Bean, who was 19 years younger and they had two children. Twelve years after they were married, she was granted a divorce on the grounds that he deserted her and treated her with "unkindness and neglect." I wonder if he was around when the divorce was filed since from 1864-1866 he was acting assistant surgeon with the army in Eastville, Virginia. 

Chris Dunham of the Maine Genealogy Network found this court record of the divorce proceedings on Family Search. I am very thankful for all the help Chris has provided me. I highly recommend the Maine Genealogy Network to any genealogist with Maine connections! 

To the Hon. Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court

to be holden at Paris within and for the County of

Oxford on the third Tuesday of September AD 1866.

            The undersigned, Alfreda L. Williamson

wife of William Williamson of Bethel in said County

respectfully libels and gives this Court to be informed

that she was lawfully married to the said William

Williamson at said Bethel on the twenty fifth day

of August AD 1854 and that they lived together at

said Bethel as husband and wife for several

years after their said marriage; that she had by

him two children, one of whom only, Julia

Williamson, aged eleven years, is living;

that she has always conducted towards him as

an affectionate, chaste and faithful wife, yet the

said William Williamson wholly regardless

of his marriage covenant and duty, on the tenth

day of July A.D. 1860 wholly abandoned and

deserted her and has continued his desertion

up to the present time, and ever since their said

marriage has treated her with great unkindness and neglect;

            Deeming it reasonable and proper and conducive

to domestic harmony and consistent with the

peace and morality of society that she should

be divorced from the said Williamson, she prays,

right and justice, and that she may be divorced

from the bands of matrimony between her and

her said husband, and that the custody of the

said Julia Williamson, on account of her

tender years and the neglect of said Williamson

may be committed to her and as in duty

bound will ever pray.

August 8, 1866                      Alfreda L. Williamson

            This libel was entered at the present term and when

the Libellant appears but the Respondent though called

to come into Court does not appear, but makes default.

And now the material facts alleged in said libel

having been fully proved, it is ordered and decreed by

the Court that the bonds of matrimony heretofore existing

between the said Alfreda L. Williamson and the said

Williamson be and hereby are dissolved for the causes

set forth in said libel and that the custody of the

minor child Julia Williamson be intrusted to the libellant. 

Military Monday - Affidavit for Widow's Pension Request

Peter C. Virgin testifying on behalf of Harriet C. (Bean) Brown as she filed for a pension following the death of her husband, Simeon F. Brown, in Louisiana. He was serving with the 12th Maine Infantry, Company D.

     I Peter C. Virgin of Rumford

In the County of  Oxford and State of Maine on oath

state, that I was well acquainted with Simeon F. 

Brown late of Co. D 12th Maine Regiment, who is

reported to have died at New Orleans January 9th 1863, 

and am also well acquainted with Harriet C.

(cross-out) Brown his former wife, and that she has 

not remarried since the reported death of her said

husband, and that said Simeon F. Brown left

but his children and their names are Isabel C. 

Brown who is aged six years, and Phebe

K. Brown aged one years + ten months. 

    These facts I state from knowledge + belief 

derived from intimate personal acquaintance with the 

family of said Simeon F. Brown. 

    I further state that I have no interest in 

any claim of said Harriet C. Brown against the

United States. 

Peter C. Virgin

Oxford (?) Subscribed and sworn to this fourth

day of March 1863. I further certify that the

officiant is a (cross-out) respectable and credible person 

and that I have no interest in the subject matter

hereof. 

Sidney Perham Justice of the Peace

Tracking the Williamsons

After posting my St. Patrick's Day tribute to my Williamson ancestors, Chris Dunham, of the Maine Genealogy Network, found and shared additional information on William Williamson. The Obituary Record of the graduates of Bowdoin College and the Medical School of Maine contains the following information:

Next, I began looking for records to verify this information. The 1860 census shows my 4th great-grandparents, John & Ann (McClure) Williamson living  near their son, William's family. The children appear to be Julia and Jane (not James, as the Bowdoin book suggests). I couldn't help but notice that Lydia was much younger than William. 

This divorce record shows that a divorce was granted to Lydia (Alfreda) in 1866. According to the obituary, William would have been completing his Civil War service about that time. I wonder if leaving his much younger wife for a couple of years contributed to the divorce. I noticed that he is the defendant and his wife is the one requesting the divorce. 

I haven't found any further records for Lydia Alfreda (Bean) Williamson or for the child, Jane. It is possible that another child was born between 1860 and 1866 and named James but I found no record of that. It would seem likely that she remarried since she was only about 35 when she was divorced. In 1870, William is living in Bethel with his 14 year old daughter, Julia and his uncle, William. Would a young girl be living with her father if her mother were alive? Or at 14 was she acting as housekeeper for her father and elderly uncle? My 4th great-grandmother died and my 4th great-grandfather, John Williamson, remarried a woman named Jane. William's sister, my 3rd great-grandmother married to my 3rd great-grandfather, Elias M. Carter. They are all living in close proximity with only the Farwell family between them. 

I am still looking for a death record for William in Kansas. I'd love to know why he chose Kansas and moved at age 68. Perhaps it was for better farming. Did his Civil War service cause him to prefer agriculture over working as a doctor? I'm still looking for Civil War records for him. Did he ever remarry? It doesn't sound like it from the obituary. Was he alone in Kansas? The obituary says both his children died "in youth." Julia was alive at age 14 so when did she die? I'd like to find a death record for her. What happened to William's wife after the divorce? I've explored some of her family to see if I could find her living with any of them but no luck yet. I've looked for marriage records and found one possibility but it needs more investigation. I don't have a death record for Lydia so perhaps she died fairly young without remarrying. So many questions and so little time! 

Tombstone Tuesday - Where Is the Body?

Simeon F. Brown died while serving in the Civil War. He contracted swamp fever in New Orleans and died in Marine Hospital. Records show he was initially buried in Cypress Grove Cemetery but was disinterred and moved to the Chalmette National Cemetery. However, he has a grave stone in his hometown of Bethel, Maine. That stone is inscribed for both Simeon and his wife, Harriet C. Bean, who apparently never remarried. I wonder where his body actually remains. What type of records would show whether his body was moved a second time and brought home to Maine? Was it common to erect a gravestone at home even if the body remained in the National Cemetery? I'm interested in hearing from anyone with similar stories. So far, the consensus seems to confirm what I suspected - that it is unlikely the body was moved from Louisiana and that the tombstone in Maine is a memorial marker for Simeon and marks the grave of his wife Harriet. 

1870 Census shows Harriet, her two daughters, and her mother living with her brother's family. 

Simeon F. & Harriet C. (Bean) Brown were the great-grandparents of my grandfather, Clayton L. Blake. Isabelle Brown was his grandmother.

Surname Saturday - Simeon F. Brown

Simeon F. Brown was born on June 16, 1833 to Benjamin and Mary Brown. 
He married Harriet C. Bean and they had two daughters, Isabelle, born in 1857, and Phebe, born in 1861. When the Civil War started, Simeon enlisted in the 12th Maine Infantry, Company D. The regiment was organized in Portland in November 1861. They went to Massachusetts where they were taken by steam ship to Ship Island, Mississippi. In May 1862, the regiment moved to New Orleans and thence to Camp Parapet where Simeon contracted "swamp fever." Swamp fever is also called ague and refers to a fever with alternating intervals of chills and sweating. He also was suffering from dysentery according to a letter in the widow's pension file. When his illness worsened, he was sent to Marine Hospital in New Orleans, where he died on January 9, 1863. His grave stone in the East Bethel Cemetery mistakenly says 1862 but all the documentation in his pension file says 1863. 

Wikipedia

Simeon Brown was my grandfather, Clayton L. Blake's, great-grandfather. Isabelle Brown was his grandmother. There is additional information in his pension file that will provide material for future posts. 

Photo used with permission. Originally posted at findagrave.com

http://www.civilwar.org/education/pdfs/civil-was-curriculum-medicine.pdf - Really good information on medicine during the Civil War

Surname Saturday - John H. Cotton Wounded at Battle of the Wilderness

My 3X great-grandfather, John H. Cotton, served as a private in the 17th Maine Infantry, K Company from 18 August 1862 to 11 Jan 1865. Looking at the regiment's history, this means he took part in the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the Battle of Gettysburg. There were numerous other campaigns as well but those are the major battles in which the unit participated before John H. Cotton was discharged. 

The Battle of the Wilderness was the beginning of the campaign to finish off the Confederacy and capture the capital of Richmond. On May 6th at the Battle of the Wilderness, he was shot in the right arm and had it amputated. The picture below is from the Maine Memory Network and while it give the names of many of the men, none of those identified is my ancestor. Still it's interesting to see the group on the day the battle started. The caption on their site reads: 
The 17th Maine Infantry is pictured on May 3, 1864, with some of the men identified. May 3 was the beginning of the Battle of the Wilderness. Two days later many of these soldiers were killed.

Collections of the Maine Historical Society

Looking at records found on ancestry.com, I found this:

Cotton, John H., rank private, company K, regiment 17 ME infantry, enlisted 18 Aug 1862, discharged 11 Jan 1865, length of service 2 years, 4 months, and 23 days. 

Amputation, Right Arm, GSW (gun shot wound), Recd in action, May 6/64, Wilderness

His death record states that he died on Christmas Day, 1894 of cancer of the stomach. He is listed as a farmer and I wonder how he managed with only one arm. Was he right-handed? I'd like to get his pension application but that will wait a bit because of the cost. 

Sources of Information:

http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/the-wilderness.html

http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/wilderness/wilderness-history-articles/battle-of-the-wilderness-then-and-now.html
http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unmeinf2.htm#17thinf

John Henry Cotton & Christiana Cox
Francis Llewellyn Cotton & Lizzie Philbrick
Ray Everett Cotton & Annie Florilla Gibbs
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother 

New England Frugality

When I was eight, my mom's parents, Clayton & Peggy Blake, were working at the Balsams in New Hampshire. My dad's parents went with us for a visit. At that time the resort was selling off it's trail-riding horses and my Carter grandparents, Dick & Lyndell, got a great deal on a pony for $50. Now Patches wasn't some wimpy little Shetland pony. He was really the size of a small horse and sturdily built. They bought him for their grandkids. At that time, it was me, my sister, Lorna age 6, and cousins Becky age 5, and John age 4. Being the oldest, I got to ride alone first. He came with a halter and bridle but no saddle so into the shed went Grampa and he came out with a strange looking saddle. It was not English and not Western (no horn) and had a big oval cut out of the center. He needed to repair the girth and stirrup straps but otherwise it was in good shape.

The Balsams Resort

The saddle belonged to his grandfather, Augustus M. Carter, who used it in the Civil War. That's right, I learned to ride on a family heirloom. Or in my grandfather's mind, why buy a saddle when there was a perfectly good one in the shed that wasn't being used? No thought was given to sentimentality or the value of the saddle as a family heirloom. I've never seen another saddle like that and had a bit of skepticism about it being used in the Civil War. However, when I was at the NH Historical Society Museum in Concord  this weekend, I saw the exact same saddle design in a Civil War exhibit. It wasn't in as good shape as the one I learned to ride on - it was missing all the padding and leather on the seat but it was definitely the same design with the large oval opening in the center.

Civil War saddle - NH Historical Society Museum

Now this might seem very uncomfortable but as it happens, the opposite is true. The oval makes you sit correctly in the saddle and you actually feel less discomfort after riding all day. I know because I switched over to riding my uncle's horse in my teens with a regular western saddle. It had lots of padding but still wasn't as comfortable as the saddle with the opening. I'm not sure where our Civil War era saddle is today. The last time I saw it was in my grandparents' shed. It might still be there. I think I should try to track it down this summer. I'm quite certain Augustus would appreciate that it was used and not kept as an heirloom. Why pay for another saddle when you can use the one just hanging in the shed?

I have some great memories of riding that pony and I will write about them in another post because otherwise this one would be too long.

T. Richard "Dick" Carter & F. Lyndell Cotton
Clayton Blake & Linona "Peggy" Yates

Something Old

The historian in me loves old things and the genealogist in me gets really excited when those old things are directly linked to my family. This is a map of the "Township of Holmes in the County of Oxford and the District of Maine." The pictures below show the map in its entirety, writing that identifies my 2nd great-grandfather, Augustus M. Carter and says it was taken from the surveys of James Eames and Silas Thurlow by Jeremiah Lott and copied by Augustus and an original date on the map of April AD 1811!! There is no date that says when the copying was done but Augustus was born in 1840, served in the Civil War, and became a surveyor after that so probably late 19th century. 

Augustus Mellen Carter - 2nd great-grandfather
Edward Mellen Carter - great-grandfather
T. Richard Carter - grandfather

First Battle of Bull Run or First Manassas

My cousin, Bill West, sent away for the Civil War pension application for our mutual ancestor, Asa Freeman Ellingwood. Last summer he transcribed the file and shared it with the family and posted a substantial portion of his transcription on his blog. The bulk of the testimony involves various persons, relatives of Asa and others who knew him, testifying as to his health when he returned home after his discharge in late 1861. He was a member of Company I, 5th Maine Infantry and "ruptured" his kidneys at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861. 

Asa Freeman Ellingwood & wife Florilla Dunham

The story of how he was injured is what I find most interesting. "I was helping a man by the name of Perry who died afterwards off the field when the Col. Mark H. Dunnell who was riding by the side of us swung his horse around and knocked me down with the man I was helping on top of me. We were both knocked over. We were on the retreat from Bull Run in the woods at the time and when I was knocked over I was knocked over a log and it was at that time I was knocked down when I ruptured on both sides. The right side and the left side." (How many times can one say "knocked" in one paragraph?)

Col. Mark Dunnell

Eyewitness account of Bull Run by a Rhode Island soldier
Animation of the battle

Historians agree that the Union troops were not prepared for the battle. In addition, Union commanders were over-confident that they could win the war quickly and easily. People came out from nearby Washington, D.C. to watch what they were sure would be an easy victory over the Confederate troops. The battle turned out to be a decisive victory for the Confederacy and some historian speculate that had they been better prepared, they may have been able to press their advantage and capture the capital. That would certainly have changed the course of history! 

According to the web site of the Fifth Maine Museum, "when news of the attack on Fort Sumpter (sic) reached the small town of Bethel, Maine, Clark S. Edwards was high on a ladder shingling his roof. He immediately climbed down, obtained permission from the appropriate authorities to form a company of men, and set out to gather recruits from Bethel and the surrounding towns. This group became Company I, Fifth Regiment Maine Volunteer Infantry with Edwards as its Captain." The Fifth Maine was one of the first Maine regiments to be mustered in. It consisted of 1046 men (another 500 joined later) from southern and central Maine. The men left Portland by train in July 1861, stopping briefly in New York where thy were presented with a silk flag by Portlanders living in that area. The Fifth captured more prisoners than the number of men who served in the regiment and three times the number of battle flags than any other Maine regiment captured. After three years, only 193 men were mustered out in July 1864. The rest had been killed in action, died from disease, been wounded, deserted or had been transferred to other regiments. 

Clark Edwards, Captain of Company I, Fifth Maine Volunteers

Statistics: Union dead = 460, wounded = 1,124 and missing or captured = 1,312

Confederate dead = 387, wounded = 1, 582 and missing or captured = 13

A couple of amusing stories...- My great-grandmother wanted my mother to name me Florilla after Asa's wife. I'm glad she decided on Pam instead. - While teaching an honors U.S. history class one year, I had a brain cramp and misspelled Manassas as Mannasses. Knowing that didn't look right, I turned around to the board and erased the second "n" and turned back to teach...but the giggles of my students let me know that leaving Man asses on the board was not a good idea. 

Asa Freeman Ellingwood & Florilla Dunham
Nina King Ellingwood & George Gibbs
Annie Florilla Gibbs & Ray Everett Cotton
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother