Benjamin McIntosh 14th KY Cavalry

 Another Civil War ancestor recently came to my attention, this time my 3rd great-granduncle, Benjamin McIntosh, the brother of my 3rd great-grandfather Nimrod McIntosh, who served in the 7th Kentucky Infantry and the Veterans' Relief Corps. A third McIntosh brother, Richard, was injured while also serving in the same company as Benjamin. Here is a post I made about those two McIntoshes a few years ago.

Benjamin was born in the mid-to-late 1840s, as records shows his birth date anywhere from 1843 to 1847. He signed up as a Private in his unit, enlisting on December 18, 1862 in Irvine, Kentucky. 

 His service records show him present on all the available muster rolls, but he did have some of his salary deducted to pay for replacement equipment such as bridles, a halter, spurs, a cartridge box and a waist belt.

A note found in some family  papers claimed he had been with General U.S. Grant's forces at Vicksburg, but that appears to be a myth, as the 14th Kentucky remained in Eastern Kentucky while he was in the service. 

In one of those coincidences that make genealogy - and history in general - more complicated - another man with a similar name- Benjamin E. McIntosh - was in compamy H of the same 14th Kentucky Cavalry.

"My" Benjamin eventually mustered out at Camp Nelson on March 24, 1864.

He did marry and have a family. The 1870 census shows his wife as Louisa (her name is illegible on the 1880 record) and as of the 1880 census, the couple had seven children

Benjamin died on April 23, 1930 in Stanton, Powell County, Kentucky, and he was buried in Stanton Cemetery.

 Rest in peace, uncle. 

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.

So I apparently do have Civil War ancestors after all

I've always been of the belief that I had no direct ancestors who fought in the Civil War, but over the weekend, a cousin pointed out that two of my g-g-g-grandfathers did serve for the Union

Nimrod McIntosh was in Company D of the 7th Kentucky Infantry. It seems he did not join until early 1865, meaning he was not in it long, but that still is service. Hopefully I'll be able to see more of his service records soon and see just how long he was in it. He may have also been in the Invalid Corps too. I did find his name in the soldier's & sailors system the National Park Service has online (a great site, here's the link:  http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm)

Henderson Turner apparently served in the 14th Kentucky Cavalry from late 1862 until early 1864. My records show he was born in 1847, so if that information is accurate, he was only 15 years old when he enlisted. Family lore says he had been stationed at Newport Barracks when he was discharged, and could not find a ride home, so he walked the entire distance to his home in Breathitt County in eastern Kentucky. I don't know how many miles that would be, but even today, with modern cars, large highways & the Mountain Parkway, it's about a 3 hour trip, so it is no short journey at all.

I did not find Mr.Turner on the soldier's and sailors site, but did find his name on the 1890 Veteran's Census for Breathitt County, found here

Hopefully I will learn more about these ancestors and their service in the near future, but I was really happy to get this information. It has always been a disappointment to think I had no relatives in the War, with as much as I like both the Civil War and genealogy, but I now find that I had totally overlooked these men and had not paid as much attention to my family history as I once thought.