More Distant Cousins in the War

One of many twists and turns my current project - which I hope will end up with a book in a few years - has taken is the discovery of some distant ancestors who fit the criteria of Campbell Countians who served in the war. 

This came to light when a local person responded to a query I had published asking for information on such soldiers. She sent me information about William Orlando Tarvin (a separate post focusing on him is in the works, but he apparently went by "Orlando," so I will refer to him that way) and while I was reviewing it, I realized that I had some Tarvins in my family tree, so I looked him up and found out he was a second cousin, five times removed. His  great-grandfather was Reverend George Tarvin, who was also my six times great-grandfather. (I note that Reverend George's mother was Eleanor Mudd, so I suppose I now need to investigate her family to see if she was related to Dr. Samuel Mudd of Lincoln Assassination fame. My first glance shows that it is a possible, perhaps likely, connection, but I wish to investigate it more and will post it here if I confirm it.)

I had some other Tarvins on my list of Campbell County soldiers, so I started looking into them. Alonzo and Alvin Tarvin turned out to be Orlando's brothers, making their link to me blatantly obvious. Then, as I was confirming their units, I found Edward B. Tarvin, who apparently was another of these brothers, though records on him are not as clear.

I turned my attention to the other Tarvins on my list, and they all had the same relationship as Orlando and his brothers - their great-grandfather was also Reverend George Tarvin.

 Orlando served in company F of  the 53rd Kentucky while Edward was in Company C of that regiment; Alvin and Alonzo joined company I of the 23rd Kentucky.

Their cousin William Charles Tarvin also was in company I of the 23rd, as was Abijah Tarvin, but another cousin, George Washington Tarvin (brother of Abijah) joined company C of the 53rd.

Another pair of bother Tarvins, Richard Lemuel and James Donovan, served in company H of the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry.

I suppose my next step will be to investigate their records on Fold3 to see if they had any special adventures or assignments and to study their regiments more, though I already have seen the 23rd and 53rd Kentucky in my book project quite frequently as they were locally raised units. (I'm still not 100% certain if the 53rd is the 53rd Infantry, 53rd Mounted Infantry or 53rd Infantry (Mounted) or if it matters that much in the big picture.) 

As with all things genealogical, other records may show different details (birth or death dates, etc.) for some of these men, but I believe I at least have the relationships correct, though "never say never" in genealogy.

I also have learned about a new ancestor on my mother's side and will write about it soon enough.

 This ancestor chart - or many others readily available through an internet search- is helpful in figuring out relationships once you have determined the common ancestor. Charts like this have helped me a lot in my genealogy work.

Ancestors in the Civil War: the McIntosh Brothers

A few years ago I finally learned that some of my direct ancestors did serve in the Civil War. Here is a link to a brief post I wrote  about Nimrod McIntosh and Henderson Turner. That entry, however, has some errors that I apparently never went back to correct, so I will update it here for Nimrod and in a separate entry for Henderson.

Nimrod, my 3-times great grandfather, joined Company D of the 7th Kentucky Infantry in November 1862 at Booneville, Ky., for a 3 year term, according to records at fold3.com. Records show that he may have been only 17 years old at the time, so he may have lied about his age in order to enroll. (Most census records show he was likely born in 1845, though another one indicates 1843 may have been his birth year, while I have also seen 1840 listed.) He became ill early in 1863 while the unit was at Young's Point, Louisiana and apparently spent some time at a convalescent camp in Carrollton, Louisiana which was then a Union-controlled suburb of New Orleans. Nimrod was listed "absent sick on a hospital steamer" on March 14, 1863 and shown in St. Louis by April 1. At this city, he was in a hospital at Jefferson Barracks. The illness somehow spread to his back according to his pension records, and he transferred to Company F of the 5th Regiment of the Veterans Reserve Corps (formerly called the Invalid Corps) in Indianapolis in August of 1863, remaining in that unit for the duration of the war. By joining so late in the year and becoming ill so early the next year, he missed out on the 7th Kentucky's campaigns and fighting. Nimrod collected a pension for the rest of his life due to this injury and his widow collected it after his death in 1898. I have copies of his pension file and need to read through it again and will perhaps post about it here in the future.

A few non-lineal ancestors, distant uncles or cousins, were also involved in the Civil War. This group includes Nimrod's brother Richard "Crippled Dick" McIntosh. He was also a private in Company K of the 14th Kentucky Cavalry, (see also this link) which was a common unit for my ancestors. He was injured in action in Breathitt County, Ky., suffering a broken thigh, survived the war and eventually died in 1928 at the Soldier's Home in Dayton, Ohio. According to military paperwork on fold3.com, he stood 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with black hair and eyes and dark complexion. He was a farmer who enlisted in Breathitt County on December 3, 1862 for a term of one year. The company was mustered in at Camp Nelson, though one page indicates Richard's mustering in may have been delayed due to his injury.

The 14th Kentucky Cavalry remained mostly in Eastern Kentucky guarding against Confederate guerrillas and possible raiders in the mountainous area.