Ancestors in the War, Hofstetter Update

This is another post on my ancestors in the Civil War. These are, obviously, posts I especially enjoy, giving me a more personal connection to the war. I have been pleasantly surprised to find so much to write about, with hopefully more posts to come, including this brief update today. 

I previously mentioned John Hofstetter, who was my great-great grandfather on my father's maternal side. Last summer, I found out that the 1890 Veterans' and Widows Census (what a great resource that is!) shows "Catherine Hofstetter, widow of John Hofstetter" in Cincinnati and states that John had been a private in the 3rd Indiana Cavalry from July 10, 1861 through August 31, 1864. The soldiers and sailors site shows he was in Company D, but no records seem to exist on fold3.com, even under alternate spellings. I also requested his service records from the National Archives, but they found nothing, unfortunately.

I had known he owned a grocery store/saloon in Cincinnati, so it was interesting to learn that he joined an Indiana unit. I did find one site that shows he resided in Dearborn County, Indiana when he enlisted. I have not yet found his name on the 1860 census for any state. 

John had been born in Switzerland on May 6, 1823, and his wife Catherine Lang in Bavaria, Germany. According to a family history site, John applied for citizenship in New Jersey in 1858 and received it in 1858 in Cincinnati. He married Catherine in late 1865 at St. Francis Seraph Catholic Church, also in Cincinnati. 

John died on October 6, 1887 and is buried, with Catherine (who lived from November 30, 1841 to August 13, 1903) in Vine Street Hill Cemetery in Cincinnati, though apparently his grave is unmarked.

His Civil War unit was an interesting one, consisting of eastern and western halves. John was in the eastern portion and saw action in major battles such as Gettysburg. I still need and want to research this unit more, including its fighting on July 1, 1863. Surely I will post more about this in the future.

The above photo from him from ancestry.com, probably from the postwar years. Here are two more pictures, one of his store in the Over-the-Rhine area of Cincinnati, probably circa 1880 and then a modern picture of the building. Both are courtesy a cousin's family history site. 

 

Another week, Another Civil War Ancestor

When it rains, it pours I suppose, this time in a good manner, as after a long drought with little luck combining genealogy with the Civil War, I have discovered another connection only one week after finding one great-great grandfather in the war.

While still working on research for John Conrad Hofstetter, I found that maternal grandmother's other grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Davis, was a private in Company D of the 7th West Virginia Cavalry.  (He even had a patriotic name!)

He was a native of Virginia, a Confederate state, but lived in the far western portion of it, in Mason and Putnam counties. By the time he enlisted in February 1864, that part of the state had become the new state of West Virginia, as the people in the western area of the Old Dominion had their own culture and did not support slavery or secession as those in the eastern region did. This means that both of my grandmother's grandfathers were Union cavalrymen.

The 7th West Virginia Cavalry stayed mainly in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia during Davis' (he apparently went by "Franklin" per a cursory glimpse of his records on fold3.com) time in the unit.

I actually have a couple photographs of him, obviously prior to the invention of safety razors, though probably far after the war. Also, I just found a family history site that has more genealogical information, under the Hofstetter section, http://www.hofstetter.yolasite.com. I will be using that site quite frequently.

Wife and husband, Mary Jane Baylous and Benjamin Franklin Davis. 

Benjamin Franklin Davis, from ancestry.com.