52 Ancestors 2019 – 1 – First – Isaac S. Smalley

First

Again in 2019 I am attempting to write about family using the themes from 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks by Amy Johnson Crow. In 2018 I did write, using a little over a third of the suggested topics. This year I am planning to write about an ancestor's sibling whose birthday was during the week and who I could connect to the theme for the week.

The first theme in 2019 is “First.” I have chosen Isaac S. Smalley, a younger brother of my great-grandfather, Lafayette Pierce Smalley.

Isaac was born on the first day of the first month (January) in 1866, in Adams County, Ohio, the son of John Wilson and Rachel Ann (Hemphill) Smalley. Isaac was not their first son, but he was the first child born after John W. was discharged from the Union Army at Chattanooga, Tennessee, 28 Oct 1864.

It was while Isaac was still a baby the family moved north into Clinton County, Ohio. They were still living there in 1870 when the census was taken. But somehow Isaac was mixed up with his brother James so Isaac was shown as 8 years old. It was about 1872 when the family headed west and settled in Illinois. Then in 1879 they moved farther west to Saline County, Nebraska and sadly, it was there on 15 September 1879 when Isaac died of typhoid fever, the first child of John and Rachel to die. He was buried in Atlanta Cemetery in Saline County. In about 1886 the rest of his family moved again to Sherman County, Kansas.

You can see a photo of his gravestone on the Find a Grave website:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/57452459/isaac-s-smalley

He Used a Different Name in the Civil War

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.

Quaker Uncles in the Civil War

Yesterday (January 31st) I wrote about my Chase 2nd great-grand uncles. Today I want to look at a couple of my Quaker uncles, again they are really 2nd great-grand uncles.

Wait a minute! I thought Quakers did not believe in fighting in war. They didn't, but they also didn't believe in slavery and isn't this what the Civil War was all about. It created a problem for many young Quaker men whether they should volunteer to serve the Union.

Jordan P. Albertson, a son of Nathan and Phariby (Nicholson) Albertson, lived in Hardin County, Iowa. He had already gotten into trouble with the Quaker church there because he had "married contrary to discipline" when he married Tallitha Haworth 30 Jun 1860. He enlisted on 12 Sep 1861 as a private, age 22 and was mustered in on 1 Oct 1861 (the day after his son Clarence was born) in Company B, Iowa 11th Infantry Regiment. Jordan served for over 2 1/2 years until the battle of Atlanta on 22 Jul 1864, when he was declared missing. His wife filed for a pension on 6 Mar 1865 and the pension papers show that he had died on 22 Jul 1864. Later on, 12 Jan 1867, she filed for support benefits for a minor child.

Jordan's next older brother, Jesse B. Albertson, was married to Minerva Haworth on 31 Mar 1861. Almost a year after his brother had enlisted , Jesse enlisted in the same company on 5 Sep 1862. After about six months service, he received a disability discharge on 10 Mar 1863 at Lake Providence, Louisiana. I don't have information about what this was, but he died less than a year later, 4 Dec 1863, and was buried in Hardin County, Iowa.

So I am sad that neither of these two 2nd great-grand uncles survived to see the victory at the end of the War.

Chase Uncles in the Civil War

Yesterday (January 30th) I wrote about my 2nd great-grandfather, John Wilson Smalley, in the Civil War and mentioned his brother Abner Smalley, who was killed during the War.

Now I will attempt to write about a couple of the other uncles in the War. Really they are 2nd great-grand uncles.

Uncle Luman Chase (2nd great-grand uncle) served in Company E, Illinois 38th Infantry Regiment from 19 Jun 1864 to 14 Oct 1864. He was considered one of the Hundred Days Men. From an article in Wikipedia we learn that this was a nickname for regiments that were raised in 1864 for 100 days of service. They were lightly trained and spent their short term freeing veteran units from routine duty so those units could go to the front lines for combat. Uncle Luman's unit served at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. But even that short service entitled him to become a member of the G.A.R. In his obituary, when he died at Deer Park, Washington (near Spokane) 18 Apr 1832, the headline read: "Taps Sound for Last G.A.R. Veteran."

Luman's brother, Uncle Ralph Chase (2nd great-grand uncle) enlisted as a private on 30 Aug 1862 in Company A, Ohio 23rd Infantry Regiment. His service was quite a lot longer than his brother's, since he was mustered out 30 Jun 1865. Uncle Ralph was living in Leroy Township, Lake County, Ohio, in 1890 and is listed on the Special Schedule of the 1890 Census for Surviving Soldiers, Sailors and Marines and Widows. This states he had applied for a pension since he had contracted rheumatism.

John Wilson Smalley in the Civil War

When I wrote John's birthday information on January 26th, I said I would write this week about his Civil War experience.

So far in my researching, John was my only direct ancestor who fought in the Civil War - everyone else was too young, too old, Quakers who preferred not to fight and others who chose not to fight.

In 1861, John was living in Adams County, Ohio. Both he and his older brother Abner enlisted in Company C, of the 70th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, John on 14 Oct 1861 and Abner on 14 Nov 1861. The Sherman County Kansas history stated that John fought on the Union side and a brother on the Confederate Side. Family tradition indicated that he lost an arm in the war. So far, I have not found either to be true.

His pension records were ordered from the National Archives in Washington D.C. and we were surprised to discover that he was classified as absent without leave (AWOL) from 6 Feb 1862 until 3 Aug 1863 when he was arrested and placed in confinement until 31 Dec 1863. Apparently after he had served his time, he was again a soldier, so he was mustered out with an honorable discharge 28 Oct 1864 at Chattanooga, Tennessee.. Because he had actually served over a year and claimed disability he did receive a pension.

Sadly it was 14 Aug 1864 during the siege of Atlanta (Georgia) that his brother Abner was killed in action. I have wondered what Abner thought about his brother who was AWOL, while evidently he continued fighting.

What did Rachel, John's wife, know about his activities? The county history states: "During John's absence in the Army, Rachel fixed meals for the slaves who were going to Canada on the 'Underground Railway.'" When John enlisted they had 3 small children, the oldest being 4. It appears that Rachel was 3 months pregnant at the time, since their son James was born 11 Apr 1862. If the Army dates are correct, John could have been home at that time. He had been stationed at Camp Riley, which was in a neighboring county in Ohio. We can be fairly sure that he was at home in April of 1863 as his son William was born 24 Jan 1864, after he had been arrested and confined and probably put back on duty. There are some items in his files about his being listed as sick and even in the hospital, so maybe there was enough confusion about this, that he just went home.

Whatever the circumstances, John seemed to be proud of his Civil War service and joined the Union Veterans organization, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). Both the W.S. Robinson post of the GAR in Sherman County, Kansas, and the Women's Relief Corp participated in his funeral service and his obituary called him an "honored member" of the W. S. Robinson Post GAR.

Luman Chase and the Civil War

Luman Chase, my 2nd great-granduncle, was born in Connecticut May 11, 1846. So when the Civil War began in April of 1861, Luman was almost 15 years old. The family was living in Ohio at that time and Luman's older brother, Ralph, enlisted the next year in August 1862. By Luman's 18th birthday in 1864, he was living in Mercer County, Illinois. It is unknown how much Luman knew about his brother's service, but the history of Ralph's unit (23rd Regiment, Ohio Infantry) shows they were involved in the Battles of Cloyd's Mountain in western Virginia on May 9th and New River Bridge and Doublin Depot on May 10th.
It was only a few days later, May 14th, when Luman enlisted as a private in Company E of the 138th Infantry Regiment Illinois. This was one of the groups of the "Hundred Days Men." See the article on Wikipedia about them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days_Men

He was mustered in June 21, 1864 at Camp Wood, Quincy, Illinois. On June 26, they were moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and were on duty there till October. It appears there were no battles fought there but there was concern that the Confederate Army would try to attack so they needed to be ready. Luman was mustered out October 14, 1864 at Springfield, Illinois. On his pension application filed in 1912 in Nuckolls County, Nebraska, Luman stated that he lived in Illinois until 1873 and then moved to Nebraska. That application also stated that he was 5' 8" tall, had light complexion, gray eyes and light hair.

In 1915 Luman and his wife Lucy moved to Deer Park Washington area. Evidently Luman joined the GAR (the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union Veterans organization) in that area. His obituary in 1932 stated that he was the last survivor among the GAR veterans in the area. You can read the entire obituary on my website: http://www.joanneskelton.com/p288.htm