August
Falk, my half-grand uncle (half-brother to my grandfather), served in
the Civil War as John Krause. August was born in Prussia 11 Oct 1842
to Ludwig and Marianna (Kuss) Falk. Marianna died about 1849 and
Ludwig remarried. In 1858 the family immigrated to the United States:
Ludwig and his second wife Anna Louisa, August, his two sisters and a
half-brother and half-sister. The family settled in Muscoda Township,
Grant County, Wisconsin.
August
used the name John Krause when he enlisted in Company G, Wisconsin
27th Regiment Infantry 16 Aug 1862, at age 19. His future
brother-in-law, August Schrader, had enlisted in that same company 4
days before. A researcher for August's family, stated that August
had taken the place of John Krause for a payment of $300. and then
just continued to use that name for the remainder of his life. August
was wounded and met a lovely Irish nurse (Mary Ellen Sweeney) at the
hospital and they were married 24 Jan 1866 in Brooklyn, NY. Later the
family moved to Illinois and eventually August and Mary Ellen were
divorced. August, as John Krause, died 17 Dec 1915 in the Veteran's
Hospital in Danville, Illinois.
It
was fortunate that one of August's half-brothers, who was living in
Halsey Oregon in 1917, had his Congressman write a letter to the
Pensions Department, telling the story of the change of name to try
to locate August. The letter was sent after August had died, but the
letter stayed in the pension file, so in the 1970s a researcher for
the Krause family found the letter and was able to make the
connection with the Falk family in Halsey Oregon.. So when I started
researching in the 1980s the information was there for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment