Military Monday - Learning Civil War Research from Amy Johnson Crow

On Saturday Amy Johnson Crow came to town to talk about researching our Civil War soldiers.  Amy's presentation was sponsored by the St. Joseph County Public Library and the South Bend Area Genealogical Society in conjunction with this years One Book, One Michiana event.

I have so many civil war ancestors (53 at last count) that I have a separate tab on this blog to keep track of them!  I have completed an online class on researching civil war ancestors, own many books on the subject and have years of research behind me.  But I learned so much from Amy on Saturday!

I learned more about the draft and why my ancestor might appear on the draft record but never in a regiment.  I learned more about the GAR then I ever knew including the fact that they were integrated at a time when segregation was the norm!  I learned to pay more attention to those county histories instead of just skimming the index for my ancestors name.

Mostly I had a wonderful time with my genealogy friends talking about our ancestors who fought in the war and learning about research strategies from one of the best!

Thank you Amy for an enjoyable Saturday!

Military Monday - The Boys of the 69th Indiana Volunteer Infantry - Martin VanBuren Pinney

Martin VanBuren Pinney

(Photo from the book "These Men Were Heros Once" by Carolyn S. Bridge)

Martin VanBuren PINNEY was born 4 Dec 1843 in Delaware County, Ohio son of Charles C. and Hannah Vail Bailey.  He enlisted in Company F, Indiana 69th Infantry Regiment on 19 August 1862.  He was 19 years old.  Martin survived the war, mustering out 5 July 1865 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Wilson S. PINNEY, Martin's brother also enlisted in Company F, Indiana 69th Infantry Regiment on 19 August 1862.  He died at Memphis, Tennessee on 13 March 1863.

After the war, Martin moved to Missouri where he continued farming.  He died on the 21 November 1933 in Jasper County, Missouri and is buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery, Neosho, Newton County, Missouri.

(Photo Courtesy of Moonshadow)

Martin's Find a Grave memorial can be found here.

Military Monday - How to Find Possible Civil War Soldiers in Your Tree

One of the best hints I took away from Ancestry Day in Fort Wayne came during the session given by Anne Gillespie Mitchell from Ancestry.com.  She showed us how to determine who in our family tree may have served in the Civil War using our Family Tree Maker program.

Here is how it works in 6 easy steps!

1.  Open your Family Tree Maker program and select a tree.  Take a look at the index on the left side of the panel.  At the top it will list how many are in your tree.  For me that number is 3734.  That's a lot of names to scroll through to find possible soldiers!  But wait, there is a quick way to cut that number down!

2.  At the bottom on the index you will see a button that says "Filter".  Click on that to open the filter panel.  First step is to click "Select All" and hit OK.  This should give you the number in your tree.  3734 appears for me.

3.  Now comes the fun part!  First click on "Filter Out" - Sex = Female.  Now my number is reduced to 1949! 

4.  Then "Filter Out" Birth - is before - 1818.  My number is now 1800.  But wait....let's go back and "Filter Out" Birth - is after - 1846.  Now I'm down to 897!

5.  We can also "Filter Out" Death - is before - 1861.  My number is now 877.

6.  One more step that I took was to "Filter Out" - Birth is Blank.  The number I'm left with is 220!  So much better than scrolling through the 3734 names I started out with!

My next step is to check out the Civil War Soldiers Records and Profiles on Ancestry to see if I can find these men in the records.  If you don't have an Ancestry subscription you can always check out the Soldiers and Sailors website the site is free and searchable by name or unit. 

The last hint that Anne shared was to check for gaps in the children.  If there are no children born between 1860-1865 that could be a clue to follow.

Once you have this information be sure and map your soldier's journey through the war by following his regiment's records.  Gather all the information you can and create a timeline.  Check for brothers and cousins who may have also fought.  Lots of times family members served together. 

All this information will begin to reveal a story to you.  Take the time to do a biographical sketch of your Ancestor.  What better way to honor them than to tell their story and share it on your blog? 

I look forward to reading everyone of them........

The Boys of the 69th - Some Gave All

(Photo credit to Judy Mayberry Belford)

Wiley Jefferson DUDLEY enlisted as a private in Company I, 69th Infantry Regiment Indiana on 19th of August 1862.  He was 25 years old.

Wiley was born 1837 in Indiana to Abner DUDLEY and Elizabeth Snow DUDLEY.  On the 26 Jan 1860 in Henry County, Indiana he married Elizabeth Staley.  His son, John Jefferson DUDLEY, was born in Oct of 1862 making him just 2 months old when Wiley mustered into service.

The 69th was called into service at the siege of Vicksburg from May - July 1863.  On 5 July 1863 Wiley died as a Corporal in the Union hospital in Vicksburg.

He is buried in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.  His Find a Grave memorial can be viewed here.

Military Monday - Botkin Soldiers - Ohio

Those BOTKINS sure where a prolific bunch!  I've posted about the Union soldiers in Indiana and the Confederate BOTKINS in Virginia and now the BOTKIN soldiers from Ohio.  In particular one BOTKIN family that sent six sons off to war.

Abraham BOTKIN and Sarah "Sallie" WILKINSON BOTKIN were the parents of ten children, seven boys, two girls and one infant.  When the Civil War broke out, six of the seven boys were still living and all six of them volunteered to serve.

Here are their stories:

George Walter BOTKIN was 29 years old when he enlisted in the 1st Infantry Kentucky, Company C.  He mustered in 8 Jun 1861 and mustered out 18 Jun 1864.  He married Sidney C. BAKER the 28 Jul 1864.  He and Sidney moved to Kansas where he died 8 Jan 1892.  George is buried in Hutchinson Eastside Cemetery in Hutchinson, Kansas.  His FAG memorial can be found here.

William J. BOTKIN was 27 years old when he enlisted in the 45th Ohio Infantry, Company F.  He mustered in 18 Aug 1862.  On 15 Nov 1863 William was taken prisoner at Holston River, TN.  He was held at Andersonville Prison in Georgia.  He died there on 15 Jun 1864 of anasarca.  He was 29 years old and the father of two young children. His FAG memorial can be found here.

Wallace BOTKIN was 25 years old when he enlisted in the 45th Ohio Infantry, Company K.  He mustered in 19 Aug 1862.  He was promoted to full Corporal on 27 Jan 1864.  He died on 17 Dec 1864 from wounds he received in battle at Richmond, TN.  He is buried in the Nashville National Cemetery.  His FAG memorial can be found here.

Granville Moody BOTKIN was 24 years old when he enlisted in the 146th Ohio Infantry, Company I.  He mustered in 2 May 1864 and mustered out 7 Sep 1864.  Granville died on 24 Oct 1928 in Mechanicsburg, OH at the age of 88.  His FAG memorial can be found here.

Joseph Bruce BOTKIN was 19 years old when he enlisted in the 44th Ohio Infantry, Company F.  He was transferred into the 8th Cavalry Infantry, Company F on 4 Jan 1864.  He mustered out on 30 Jul 1865.  Joseph moved to Missouri where he eventually became mayor of the city of Mexico, MO.  He died on 31 Dec 1929.  Burial location is unknown.

Youngest brother Lycurgus BOTKIN was 20 years old when he enlisted in the 178th Ohio Infantry, Company B.  He mustered in 22 Sep 1864 and mustered out 3 Jul 1865 in Washington, DC.  In Jul of 1866 Lycurgus married Mary SHEEHAN and was the father of at least 4 children.  Lycurgus and Mary moved to Missouri where he died 11 Mar 1927.  He is buried in Centralia Cemetery in Centralia, MO.  His FAG memorial can be found here.

Six sons.  One left for war in 1861, two left in 1862 and three left in 1864.  4 returned.  I can't imagine the mothers sorrow.

More Botkins in the Civil War - This time the Confederate side!

On Monday I blogged about the five BOTKIN cousins who went off to war together to fight for the Union side.  But some BOTKINS had remained in Virginia and I felt certain some of those must have fought for the Confederate side.  I started doing a little digging around and found the story of three brothers, John Addison, William Harrison and Michael K. BOTKIN who fought for the south.

All were sons of Joshua BOTKIN and Barbara PROPST of Pendleton County, Virginia.  They enlisted in the 25th Regiment, Virginia Infantry (Heck's) early in the summer of 1861.  John was the older brother at 23 years old while William was 20 and Michael was 19.

The unit reported heavy casualties including 25% of the unit disabled at Gettysburg.  But all three BOTKIN boys returned home.

John Addision married Mahulda EYE on 25 Jan 1866 and was the father of four children.  He and William moved with their families after the war to Maquoketa, Jackson, Iowa where they were farmers.  The 1880 census shows them living one farm away from each other.  John died on 27 Mar 1913 and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Maquoketa, Iowa.  His FAG memorial is here.


William married Martha B. COWGER on 1 Mar 1866 and was the father of at least 5 children.  He died the 21 Apr 1912 in Maquoketa, Jackson, Iowa.  Burial location unknown.

Michael married Eve Rebecca COWGER on 1 May 1866 in Pendleton County, WV.  He was the father of at least six children and died in 1926 in Randolph County, WV.  Burial location also unknown.

There were seven other BOTKINS that fought for the confederacy out of the state of Virginia, one more in the 25th Regiment.  How they are related I have yet to determine.  But this clearly shows the picture of a family divided by war.