And Another Update on the Research Into My Oswalt Ancestors ...

A few days ago, I promised that I would post another update on the progress I made on my Oswalt ancestors. Instead  of posting more information on Adam Oswalt (died 1837-1838), the father of Benjamin Oswalt (died 1861), I will write about the findings I made on a few of the grandchildren of Adam Oswalt (died 1837-1838) which includes my Civil War ancestor, Adam Oswalt.

As you may remember, I wrote a series of articles a few years ago that explored whether or not the Civil War veterans, Adam Oswalt, Benjamin Oswalt and William Oswalt, were brothers. At that time, I only had indirect evidence to conclude that the three men were brothers; however, I can now definitely state that they are brothers. How? Well, I ordered two additional Civil War Pension files earlier this year.

Previously, I had only ordered Adam and Benjamin Oswalt's Pension files, and those files did not indicate whether or not the two men had a connection. (I should quickly note that Benjamin's Pension file was actually a Widow's Pension as his widow filed for a pension file after his death.) So, when I decided to order additional Pension files this year, I chose to order William's Pension file (or Widow's Pension, to be more accurate) and the Widow's Pension file for one of Adam's Detwiler brother-in-laws. (I will discuss the Detwiler Pension file in a future post.)

From the testimony of William's widow, Eliza, I learned that William, Benjamin and Adam were indeed brothers as I suspected, and confirmed that the men had a sister named Margaret who lived in Michigan. Besides confirming relationships, the file also listed the names of William and Eliza's children and Eliza's children of a later marriage, gave the date and location of William and Eliza's marriage, and provided an explanation of why I could not find a record of that marriage. Apparently, William and Eliza's marriage was not recorded in the county. Although Michigan law required that marriage notices be placed in two newspapers in the county where the marriage occurred, I haven't yet found a notice. I will need to do a more in-depth search of the newspaper records of Saint Joseph County, Michigan.

So, as one can see from the above information, Civil War Pension files could contain a great amount of detail on the lives and families of Civil War Veterans. Unfortunately, the file does not answer all the questions I have about these Oswalts, especially when it comes to the maiden name of William, Benjamin and Adam's mother. In a future post, I will discuss my efforts so far to answer additional questions on my Oswalt ancestors. Enjoy!

The Pension File Came!

What pension file? Okay, I didn't mention that about a month ago I ordered the Civil War Pension file for Benjamin Oswalt, the man I believe to be Adam Oswalt's younger brother. Well, the file arrived this afternoon, and when I came home from class, I saw it. Anyhow, I wouldn't have ordered the pension file while I was at school, except that I need it for school-related, non-genealogy project. So, as you can imagine, I'll be digging through this file, and seeing if I can find any direct proof that connects Benjamin and Adam together. Wish me luck!

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 4

I have finished reading another book, and like the previous three books I read, this book was also on my reading list for my fall history class. This time, I read Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty In The Civil War Era by Nicole Etcheson (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2004).

As you can tell from the book's title, this book is about Kansas' struggle to become a state before and during the American Civil War, and the civil war-like fighting that led to Kansas being called "Bleeding Kansas." The author argues that the fighting in Kansas was originally concerned with the rights of white people but that the fighting eventually resulted in concerns for the rights of African-Americans as well. She also argues that Kansas would led the way in the nation in granting rights to African-Americans during the Civil War. The author also ties in the fighting in Kansas with other events that occurred elsewhere in the United States during this time period.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would. The book was fairly easy to read, and I think the average person would be able to read and enjoy the book. Before I read this book, I only had a basic understanding of Bleeding Kansas from reading textbooks, but after reading this book, I have a better understanding of what occurred in Kansas in the mid-to-late-1850s. (I should note that although I will be working with the author in the fall, she did not ask me to read her book. I am reading this book ahead of time for my fall history class. I will be writing reviews of the other history books that I still have to read for the class.)

(As a side note, this post happens to be the 1,000th post since I started this blog!)

Michigan's Old Soldiers' Home: Adam's File ...

As I mentioned Friday, I have finally obtained Adam Oswalt's Old Soldiers' Home record from the Grand Rapids Public Library. What was the Old Soldiers' Home, and where was it located? Did I get any questions answered? What did I learn?

As you can tell from its title, Michigan's Old Soldiers' Home was a convalescent home for elderly war veterans, and it was located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Although in 1908, at the time when my ancestor applied, I think the home was just north of the city. A few years ago I did look at a picture book from 1912 that my university owned, and the picture book mentioned that a train had to be taken to get to the home. I think the book also stated, or implied, that it was outside of the city, but I cannot recall off the top of my head. (The book was titled Michigan Soldiers' Home, and I think it was a book that visitors take back with them as souvenir.) The home also had its own cemetery, and there are war veterans buried in that cemetery. I am not sure if the original buildings are still on the property, but I do know that the home's name was changed to the Michigan Veteran's Home. Outside of that little information, I do not know anything else. There is a website that has some old pictures of the home, and you can read about the information it has here.

Anyhow, the file I obtained from Grand Rapids was a four page application Adam had submitted to the home. In the way of genealogical data, I did not learn much more than I already knew about Adam. There was a box for his religious beliefs, but he only listed that he was Protestant. Since that does not narrow down his faith anymore than I already knew, I am still stuck at square one when it comes to the church he attended. Outside of that, I get an answer as to when Adam arrived in Michigan for the first time. (He moved to Rockford, Illinois in the late-1880s and moved back to Michigan in the late-1890s.) In addition, I also found a little bit more of the medical condition my ancestor was in when he was applying to the home. From what is listed in the application and other documents, I think I can safely assume that Adam applied to the home based upon his medical situation. Plus, I also learned what the requirements were for admission to the Old Soldier's Home. Instead of just going into the details, I thought I would include the images of the application while I explained what I found out.

I believe this page is the first page of the application, but I am not too sure for sure. (At least this was the first page of the application on the microfilm.) This page primarily deals with a soldier's service, his martial status, age, religion, appearance, birthplace, etc. In short, this was information that I already knew about Adam from my previous research. Of course, if I had not done any research, this page would have been invaluable in trying to find his military records.

The next page deals with how long he was a resident in Michigan, and when he first lived in Michigan. I did not know when Adam moved to Michigan from Pennsylvania, and so I can now begin to start looking for proof to confirm this. Before I obtained this record, I knew he was living in Michigan by 1861 when he got married. I was unable to find him in the 1860 census, but I might be able to find him in the tax records of either Van Buren county or Saint Joseph county, if I look for their old records.

The third page of the application lists the medical problems my ancestor's suffered from, and gives me an idea as to why he applied to the home. Most of this information was new to me. This page is also the page that lists whether or not an applicant would be allowed to live in the home.

And last but not least, is the last page of the application. This page indicates when a veteran was admit ed to the home, and lists his application number. The page also lists the rules that govern how an inmate would live and who would allowed to live in the home. Applicants that received more than $12 a month from their pension were not supposed to be admitted, unless they were approved by the commander of the home. Since my ancestor was receiving about $15 a month from his pension, I suspect he was only allowed to live there due to his medical problems and he was one of those "special cases".

So, that is a little about the Old Soldiers' Home and what information you might expect to find in your ancestor's application. I realize that this is a long post, and I'm sorry for making it too long. I hope, though, that you found this post to be interesting and informative. Enjoy!

Some New Databases ...

Within the past couple of days, some new databases have been added to Ancestry.com and FamilySearch Lab's Record Search. The new databases added to Ancestry are of Jewish records from Central and Eastern Europe, and you can read more about them here.

As for FamilySearch Lab's Record Search, I just happened to notice earlier today that militia records for Vermont during the Civil War and Louisiana War of 1812 Pensions were added to the site. You can access the site here. Enjoy!

Military History Reading Challenge: Book Review 3

I have just finished reading my last book for the Military History reading challenge, and as a side note, I will be posting the list of the books I read with links to the reviews. The book I chose for my last choice was Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution by Laurent Dubois (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2004).

Why did I choose this book? Well, this one of the books I am supposed to read for one of the two history classes I'm taking this semester. I could have chosen to read another book for this challenge, but since I enjoyed reading this book, I thought I would write a brief review about it. In addition, I do not believe many Americans know much about the Haitian Revolution, so I thought this would be excellent book for those who do not much about the revolution in Haiti. (Before I read this, book I hardly knew anything about the Haitian Revolution outside of the fact that the slaves in Haiti revolted against their masters around the same time as the French Revolution.)

Laurent Dubois' book gives background into what society on the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) was like prior to the revolution, and he especially highlights the racial character of the society's hierarchy. In addition he explains that the white landowners' push for autonomy from France and denial of political rights to the free, colored landowners was the foundation for the Haitian Revolution. (The fight for legal rights created tensions between both sides.) In addition, the French Revolution's ideals would also began to feed into the problems in Saint-Domingue, but as the revolution in Haiti continued, it would also influence the path of the French Revolution.

In short, I thought it was an excellent book, and I liked how the author put the revolution in context with what was going on outside of Haiti at that time. Additionally, I felt the author's explanation of the social conditions in Haiti was excellent, and I felt that his description of Saint-Domingue's society gave me a better understanding of why events in Saint-Domingue and France occurred as they did. If a person wants to read about the Haitian Revolution, this is one book that should be read.

And Another Interesting Article on the Civil War ..

I just happened to notice this article about the surrender document that ended the U. S. Civil War, and I thought someone might be interested in it. You can read it here. Enjoy!

Here's An Interesting Article On Historical Research and the Civil War

I just happened to notice an interesting news article on the History News Network about a woman's discovery about her Civil War ancestor and his service. You can read the article here. Enjoy!

Summer Reading Challenge: Book Review 3

Well, I have finally finished reading my third book. I've been reading several books at the same time, so it's been a while since I've had a chance to post one of these posts.

The book that I have just finished is Lincoln At Home: Two Glimpses of Abraham Lincoln's Domestic Life by David Herbert Donald (Washington, D.C.: White House Historical Association and Thornwillow Press, 1999). The book is short, coming only to about 96 pages long, and the book is focused on Lincoln's private life. One part of the book is divided into his and his family's life in the White House, and the other half of the book has transcriptions of letters between Lincoln, his wife, and their son, Robert. The book is very easy to read, and includes end notes at the end of the book that explains the context of the letters. Since I did not find any objectionable material in the book, I think it would be a good book for children to read and to use for reports.

Those Who Served ...

Since today is Memorial Day, I thought I would briefly mention some of my known ancestors that served in the military, to honor them. I will mention ancestors who served up to World War Two. And my ancestors are:

World War Two

My grandfathers (Names are not mentioned for privacy reasons.)

World War One

My great-grandfather. (He served in the British Army in France. I don't know any more than that.)

Spanish-American War

I do not know of any possible ancestors or siblings that served in this war.

American Civil War

My ancestor, Adam, and his relatives. (As I mentioned before in two previous posts: here and here.)

Mexican-American War

At the moment, I do not know of any ancestors who might have served. (It may still be possible, though.)

War of 1812

I might have ancestor who served, if I can prove that John Householder was the father of Barbara Householder.

American Revolution

I don't know if I have any ancestors who served. I haven't had a chance to determine that yet.

As you can see, I still don't know all of the possible ancestors who might have served. I have only included the World Wars and American wars as though are the only wars that I am certain that I had ancestors serve in. I did not include European wars (outside of the World Wars) because I have not had a chance to research if any of my ancestors did serve in other wars.

A Couple of Articles Related to History or Genealogy ...

Over the past week or so, I happened to notice a couple of news articles related to history and/or history. The articles I noticed are:

• A very sad and tragic story about the death of a U. S. Civil War collector.
• DNA testing of the bodies buried in Friedrich Schiller's Grave.

I didn't notice any other news related to genealogy or history, but if I missed any articles, you are more than welcome to leave me a comment with a link to a story. Thanks!

3rd Edition of Where Were You? Carnival Posted!

The third edition of the Where Were You? Carnival has been posted! You can read it here, and read the additional entry here. The topic for this carnival was on where ancestors were during the Civil War. The topic for the next edition is on where people were on the day that Pearl Harbor was attacked. Enjoy!

One Michigan Family's Civil War Experience - Part Two

In my previous post, I began writing about my ancestors' Civil War experiences. My first post was extremely short as I did not have very much time to write the post, so I decided to break it down into multiple posts. But I digress ...

The Civil War Era ancestors that I am writing about are my ancestors who primarily lived in Saint Joseph County, Michigan (or at least southwest Michigan): the Detwiler and Oswalt families. As I mentioned before, the men in the Stout family did not serve, although the eventually husband of my Stout ancestor's sister-in-law did serve. (Of course, he did not marry the sister-in-law until a couple years after the war ended.) I don't know at the moment why the men did not serve, although that does not mean that they were unpatriotic. It is possible that Reuben Stout might have donated some money for the war effort. (I have to recheck the newspaper article as I accidentally cut off some information when I printed it from the microfilm.)

Either way, it was the men in the Oswalt and Detwiler families who primarily made up the Civil War veterans in my family. Of course, I should state that these men did not sign up all at the same time. Three of the men joined a Michigan infantry in 1862. The rest joined a Michigan regiment in February of 1865. The Michigan men that I hope to write about sometime in the future (and not in any particular order) are:

• Adam Oswalt
• Benjamin Oswalt
• William Oswalt
• John Detwiler
• Joseph Detwiler
• Alexander Detwiler
• George W. Detwiler
• Philip Lang(e)

I must state, though, that I still need to do research on most of these men, so I'll be posting on these men as I learn more information about them. Obviously, this will be an ongoing series of posts.

A Family Affair: One Michigan Family's Civil War Experience - Part One

One of the few family stories that were passed down was that one of my ancestors was a Civil War veteran. Within the first year or so of doing research, I was able to prove that this family tradition was true. In addition, I discovered that my ancestor's brother-in-laws, wife's uncle and possibly two Oswalt men (living in the same county) that might be his brothers. In short, my ancestor's involvement in the Civil War was just as much of a family affair as it was for almost every other family in the United States at the time of the Civil War. (I say almost because another one of my ancestor's family did not have anyone serve in the Civil War, although they may have contributed to the war effort in other ways. I am still doing research to determine what they may have done.)

One detail I am wondering, though, about my Civil War ancestor is what made him sign up for service when he did. My ancestor did not enlist in a volunteer Michigan infantry regiment until February of 1865. I'm not sure, but hopefully, I will be able to find an answer in future research. In later posts, I'll write more about my Civil War ancestor and other relatives' experiences during the Civil War.

Second Edition of Where Were You? Carnival Posted!

The second edition of the Where Were You? Carnival has been posted. You can read it here. The topic for the next edition is Where Were You (ie. ancestors) in the Civil War?

Some Other Interesting Articles ...

Over the past the two weeks or so, I've noticed that several interesting blog articles have been posted. I have already written about interesting Thanksgiving posts here. Some of the articles that I've noticed are:

• "Military Naturalization Records - Finding a Soldier Ancestor" at Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. This article is on naturalization records for Civil War soldiers. I've noticed a notation in one census record for a Civil War soldier's naturalization as 1862. It may be possible that the 1862 date might be referring to this act instead.
• "Civil War Hero Ancestor Makes Front Page" at Miriam's blog.
• "Oral and Photo Histories Sought" at Jasia's blog. Again, this is another article on Michigan, and this time it is a call for family histories. If you have connections to Livonia, Michigan, this would be a good article to read.
• "More Minnesota News: Soldier Identified After 144 Years? Maybe ..." at Craig Manson's blog. Again, this is another article that deals with the Civil War.
• "Detective Work: A Misplaced Headstone" at Craig Manson's blog. This article deals with the tombstone of a World War One Veteran.
• "Finding Local History Buried in the Past" at Randy Seaver's blog. This article is a summery of a California newspaper article.

These articles are ones that I thought were interesting. If I have missed any interesting article, please let me know. Enjoy!

Honoring My Family's Veterans

Today is Veteran's Day and in honor of this day, I want to briefly mention the veteran's in my family. I have briefly mentioned before that I have an ancestor who served in the U. S. Civil War. I don't have a picture of him, although I wish I did. The pictures directly below are his grave and the grave of another Civil War veteran who I believe to be his younger brother.

Copyright 2004: Civil War graves of Adam and Benjamin Oswalt, Riverside Cemetery, Three Rivers, Michigan.

Both Adam and Benjamin survived the civil war. I did not just have an ancestor who served in the civil war; both of my grandfathers served during World War Two, and my great-grandfather served on the British side during World War One. I believe the picture below is of the regiment that my great-grandfather served in.

I do not know where or when this picture was taken, other than that it was during World War One. The photo was printed on a postcard. There was no handwritten note on the back of this card, but the printing on it was in French. The French suggests that the picture was probably taken in either France or Belgium. I don't have any information on what regiment he served in, but his marriage certificate who suggested that he served in France at some point.

Again, I cannot imagine what my veteran ancestors and other people's ancestors went through while they were serving. All I know is that they and those who are serving today deserve our respect and honor. So, I just want to say, "Thank you," to those who have served and our serving today. Thank you!

Update, November 11, 2007 - 11:30 p. m.: I forgot to mention that I posted a link to a news article on another one of my blogs.