Hiram Boyles was mustered on 22 September 1864 in the 37th Indiana Company U at Evansville, IN. He later transferred to Company D of the 82nd Indiana Infantry. While serving at Savannah, GA, Hiram contracted pneumonia and was admitted to the General Field Hospital at Resaca, GA. He died there early in 1865.
Hiram left a wife, Elizabeth [Dillon] Boyles and three children Catherine, Laura and Andrew.
Among my ancestors who reached adulthood during the Civil War, there were two who appeared on draft lists. Whether or not they served in the war remains a mystery. Considering both were in their 40s, service is doubtful,
Samuel Wilson George appeared on the October 1863 list of draft eligible men in Johnson County, Kentucky. He was 43, a farmer, born in Kentucky. His son Francis Marion would turn 18 by war's end.
Thomas Banfield appeared on the same list as a resident of Greenup County. He was listed as 40, a loafer*, born in Kentucky.
Eastern Kentucky tended to have Union sympathies, but either man could have had Confederate leanings as a Kentucky resident.
Two of my Civil War ancestors served their country and were able to return home.
[1] William Hogue [1824-1902] Mustered in 14 December 1861 and mustered out 27 April 1863. He was a corporal in Company E of the 51st Indiana Infantry. Action at Shiloh, Corinth, Guard duty Memphis & Charleston Railroad, pursuit of Bragg, Perryville, Stone's River. At Murfreesboro until April 1863 when discharged. William would see the turn of the 20th century.
[2] Charles "Gus" Everhart [1848-1942] Mustered 2 February 1865 and mustered out 21 January 1866. Skirmishes at Spring Place, GA & railroad guard duty at Dalton, Marietta & Cuthbert. At some point suffered a back injury. Gus would live through World War I & see the outbreak of World War II.
During my first round of research [1990-2018], I found my Mom's great-grandfather, Aaron Crail, and two of his brothers Sylvester and John as Civil War soldiers who made it home.
Aaron had contracted consumption during the siege of Atlanta. He returned home and died from the disease in 1868, leaving a wife and six children.
Sylvester was wounded and captured, serving a brief time as a POW. He retuned home and died at the Indiana State Soldiers Home in 1898. His wound led to complications later in life and he died a shell of the young man who joined the Union Army.
John served with Aaron during the Atlanta Campaign. Conditions there led to a cold that settled in his back and, like his brother Sylvester, was in extremely ill health until his death in 1906.
Research Round 2 [2018-present] focuses on my birth family. There were quite a few Civil War volunteers, all Union.
James Clark, Thomas Arbuckle, Charles Everhart, Hiram Boyles and William Hogue all served in Indiana regiments.
Only Charles Everhart and William Hogue returned home. None fell to Confederate fire. All fell to various diseases and were buried in National Cemeteries far from home.
[to be continued.....]
Like most genealogists/family historians, I was looking forward to the release of the 1950 census. Tring to maneuver the Enumeration District was a challenge, bit I managed to find most of my birth and adopted family and my wife's family.
Once the indexed images were available, I started the hunt for my birth parents.
My birth father's identity isn't set in concrete, but a first cousin is fairly sure of which George brother is the most likely candidate. Interestingly enough, all three brothers were living together in Indianapolis.
The search for my birth mother was a different story. Nada! I knew she had to be in Indianapolis. However, not one search was successful. First name, middle name, last name.
The story that was passed on to me by cousins is that my birth mother and a couple of brothers or brothers-in-law moved to Indy about 1949-50. I haven't found her brother in the '50 census either.
That leads me to believe that all of Indy hasn't been indexed as of yet.
I did turn to one of my favorite sources, the city directory. The 1951 City Directory for Indianapolis shows my mother and uncle living in the city. So I know they were there.
Her address is given and her occupation - "helper." That's about as general as you can get! Unfortunately, her place of work is not given.
The waiting game for ALL of the 1950 census to be indexed continues.
Quite a number of my "birth families" settled in eastern Kentucky after migrating from western Virginia and the Carolinas. My ancestors called Greenup, Boyd, Lawrence, Floyd, Johnson, Morgan and Carter home for a few months to several years. A few families resided in several counties and never moved, as their home county broke off to for another county, them reformed again.
Interestingly enough, nearly all of my birth families end up in that eastern Kentucky region. A Virginia to western Virginia to Kentucky route was most common. Virginia to the western parts of North and South Caroliina into Kentucky was another common migation route. A few families arrived in Pennsylvania , New York or New Jersey before migrating south. All of the families eventually settled in southern Indiana.
There were a few exceptions of course. The George family moved to the coal fields of Ohio before my grandfather opted for the coal mines of Knox Co., Indiana.
The Hogues traveled from New Jersey south to Virginia, but took the Ohio River to Indiana, bypassing Kentucky settlements. The Phillippis, Evilsizers and a few other families followed a similar path to Knox Co.
The Colegroves were an exception to the rule: New York to Indiana.
Online research in these Kentucky counties is tricky. Family Search has some records available for home-based research. The fact that Kentucky [and some other states] have preserved early tax records is a blessing.
Hopefully, those eastern Kentucky counties will put more records online!
I am trying to return to the blog, hopefully! So here goes......
Yesterday I began re-examining my paternal Alleine family. One would think that if just about every source in print and nearly every family tree available have the same information, then you'd think there would be no issues. Right? Not so fast.
Isabelle Alleine [1655-1740] was the daughter of Joseph Alleine [1633-1668] and his cousin Theodosia Alleine [1635-1681].. Joseph was a renowned pastor in Taunton, England.
Isabelle married John Rutherford [1653-1737/40].
Rutherford was a Presbyterian minister in Scotland and later in County Down, Ireland.. John and Isabelle had a daughter, Catherine, who married John Walker in Wigton, Scotland and later immigrated to.Pennsylvania.
All nice and tidy, except for a few issues:
1) In his will dated 18 Oct 1667, Joseph Alleine did not name ANY children. Wife, brother, niece, nephew, and other family members were named, but no daughter Isabelle.
2) In Alleine's writings and those of his wife, there was no mention of children.
3) I have found no references to the Alleines living in Scotland or Ireland [or Rutherford in Taunton], necessary for Isabelle and John Rutherford to meet.
4) None of the primary sources confirm a daughter, Isabelle, born to Joseph and Theodosia.
Conclusions:
1) The Alleines had no children or Joseph, for some reason, did not name his daughter.
2) The Alleines had no children.
3) If the Alleines did not visit Scotland or Ireland and John Rutherford did not visit Taunton, then Isabelle Alleine, daughter of Joseph, did not marry John Rutherford of Scotland and County Down, Ireland.
4) Joseph and Theodosia apparently did not have a daughter named Isabelle.
How could all of those sources naming Isabelle Alleine as the daughter of Joseph and Theodosia be wrong [if, indeed they are]? Someone back in that wonderful era of "fuzzy genealogy research and publication" printed it and all who followed piggy-backed on the first.
Could they be correct? Yes, but doubtful.
Final conclusion: John Rutherford may have married a woman named Isabelle.
