Researching your Civil War ancestor – More ideas
Now that you’ve gathered some names of potential Civil War veterans, you’ll want to find which regiment they served with, their enlistment dates and so on. Here are more ideas for your research.
Month: April 2021
Researching your Civil War ancestor – Where to start
You’d like to do some family history research, in fact you’d like to see if any of your ancestors fought in the Civil War. Where do you begin? Here are a few ideas when starting from square one.
My great great grandfather fought at the Battle of Cumberland Church 156 years ago today.
My great great grandfather George Washington Lowery was drafted July 19, 1864 at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He was assigned to Co. A, 81st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry for three years. Born in Franklin County, PA he was a 37-year-old laborer. At 5 feet 9 inches tall, with a fair complexion, grey eyes, and dark hair, he was an average guy, his description not uncommon for the time. Serving during the latter part of the war I suspect my grandfather left his wife and six children a bit reluctantly to answer the call of his country. (I have found a tidbit of information that suggests he was a substitute. I’m still working on verifying that.) After a brief two-month training stint to make the “every-day man” a soldier, Lowery and the rest of the recently drafted recruits were sent to join their regiment. The 81st Pennsylvania had been mired with the rest of the Second Corps at Petersburg, Virginia, which had been under siege for months. Even though they were in the midst of war, it has been written that many Confederate officers who lived in the area were able to slip away and visit with family and attend Sunday church services. The […]
Courthouse Records and Your Civil War Soldier: A Couple More Ideas
Last time we discussed a couple of record sets that might be available at the Courthouse pertaining to your Civil War ancestor. Here are a couple more suggestions to help in your research. Just keep in mind that the courthouse records you seek normally depend on the location your Civil War ancestor was living at the time the record was generated. With these two tips it would be the courthouse* in the county of his death. Graves Registration File – In some areas the County Recorder’s office in the courthouse has an index card file known as the Grave Registrations File. The cards, in alphabetical order are a record of veterans who are buried in the county. Information on the cards include the name of the veteran, sometimes birth date and place, most times death date and place, the veteran’s burial date and place (which included cemetery, section & lot number), enlistment date, branch of service, unit, and rank, sometimes next of kin because that’s who provided the information and their relationship to the deceased. On occasion the address of the deceased at the time of their death was also listed. Not only does the file contain the burial location […]