Civil War: It Was 145 Years Ago Today, And A Sobering Discovery

Today marks the 145th anniverary of the end of the Civil War. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865.

Most of us have ancestors or brothers of our ancestors that were involved in the Civil War in some way or another. I certainly do. Without access to my TMG database I can't recall all of them, but off the top of my head I can think of a few: David Eagleton and Joseph Browning, two of my direct grandfathers. Asbury Taylor Browning, Samuel D. Hoy, William Hoy, and Thomas N. Browning are some other relatives of mine that were involved. All these men fought for the Union.

I've spent so much time on so few lines -- 10 years dedicated to just one family -- that a lot of the rest of my ancestral lines are poorly researched and recorded. I've tried on occasion, and been interested in particular branches for short periods of time, but I always come back to my Brownings. It's definitely lack of research that made me believe that my ancestry was both firmly Union and firmly anti-slavery.

Well, I was wrong.

Until yesterday I'd never found any solid proof that any of my ancestors were slave owners. Then, in some correspondence with Mike Merritt, who found me via this blog! -- and who is a descendant of Thomas Merritt (father of Susanna Merritt, who married my John Nichols c1804 in Bedford Co., VA) he sent me the following notation in the deed records of either Amherst, Bedford, or Campbell Co., VA (I will find out which very soon):

10/16/1813 - Children of Pleasant Magann and Nancy Nichols. Nancy’s 6 children are mentioned in a 10/16/1813 deed giving Nancy a slave by her father Joseph Nichols. Lewis Merritt was a witness. – source??

This deed reference clearly indicates that Joseph Nichols -- whom we believe to be the father of John Nichols and the grandfather of my Joseph Nichols -- gifting a slave to his daughter Nancy and her husband. I am going to find that deed reference and when I do, I'll get the entire deed and see if the slave's name is mentioned. If it is, I'll put it here in my blog and do my small part in giving more names to those who had none.

In the meantime, remember those who fought in the Civil War today. My own thoughts today are now not only of the ancestors that I have that fought in this war, but of the new ancestry I've found and contemplating how I feel about finding out that I, too, have slave owners in my ancestry. I know that I shouldn't feel surprised at all -- goodness, as genealogists we should know better than anyone how vast the networks of ancestry really are! -- but when you find it, it hits home. You tease your teenagers about their inability to think past the "this'll never happen to me" idea.....and you find, after all, that you can do it too.

The Browning Series Part 1c , or Thomas Newton Browning, the Jack Of All Trades

Thomas Newton Browning, the third son of James Browning and Jane Nevitt (see this post for a further introduction to his parents) was born on 25 Oct 1844 in Harrison County, Ohio. He came to Crawford County, Illinois with his family in 1849 and settled near Bristol Landing, about two miles southeast of Palestine. His father died when Thomas was seven years old, leaving his mother to care for her brood of six (Elias, Joseph, Thomas, Sarah, Mary Jane and Margaret) by herself.

As a result, Thomas never had much schooling. He must've started working as soon as he could lift a hand to help his older brothers Elias and Joseph. No doubt this helped turn him into the man he became. By all accounts Thomas was never the sort to settle for any one thing over any length of time. Throughout his life he was a jack of all trades and seemed to have many irons in the fire. I wonder sometimes if the experiences he had growing up was one of the two major experiences in his life -- his Civil War service being the other -- that taught him not to place all his eggs in one basket, so to speak.

In 1860 he was working as a farm hand. In December of 1861, at the age of 17, Thomas enlisted in the Union Army. According to one account (W. H. Perrin's History Of Crawford and Clark Counties, IL, 1883, pg. 228) he was too young to enlist as a common soldier so he signed up as a drummer boy in Company F of the 62^nd IL and was placed on the staff of musicians until the official band was organized. He mustered in on April 1862 in Jonesboro, Illinois. I don't have his entire service file (as of yet -- another to-do for me!) but all the other sources I have only list him as a private with no mention of any musical service. A picture of him taken during the war is to the right.

On 19 December 1862 Thomas was was one of a detachment of soldiers from the 62^nd camped in the garrison at Holly Springs, Mississippi. He'd been there since the first week of December; his regiment had been attached to the 1st Brigade of the district of Jackson, Tennessee's 16th Army Corps. Holly Springs was a cushy post back then -- it housed Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant and her son and was one of the Union's major route of munitions and supplies for their armies. That bitterly cold night the residents of the town threw a huge Christmas Ball and invited the soldiers. Thomas had just turned 18 and was away from home and the whiskey was flowing -- did he get himself drunk like so many other soldiers did? Maybe he did. Maybe they stayed up late drinking and dancing and went to bed secure in the knowledge that they could sleep late the next morning. He was probably doing just that when a band of Confederates commanded by Major General Earl 'Buck' Van Dorn moved in and captured the town.

I can imagine the fright of being knocked awake by the sound of gunfire. Swords clattering, yelling, and screaming horses and men. Struggling to pull on your boots and find your weapons in a place where you assumed you'd be safe. Maybe half bleary with the drink that hadn't worn off from the night before. The capture of the soldiers at Holly Springs went almost without a fight, it's said, and it's also said that over 1500 Union men signed paroles that day. Thomas was one of them. (To be paroled meant a prisoner of war promised to refrain from trying to escape or to take up arms against his captors.) I imagine he was frightened of what might happen to him if he didn't. Thomas was sent back to Benton Barracks in Missouri and arrived there on 10 January 1863, where he was exchanged. He continued to serve, re-enlisting as a veteran on 28 December 1863. On 30 Mar 1864 he was transferred to the new Consolidated 62^nd and was finally mustered out for good at Little Rock on 6 March 1866.

After the war he returned to Crawford County and married Sarah Ann Huls on 26 Sep 1866. Sarah was the daughter of Joseph Hansen Huls and Amanda Martha O'Kennedy. Thomas was the first of the children of James Browning and Jane Nevitt to marry into the family of Joseph and Amanda Huls -- Thomas's sisters Mary Jane (who married Amos K. Huls a few months later) and Margaret Ann (who married Charles Francis Huls in 1869) would soon follow suit.

Thomas and Sarah (seen below about 1870 or so?) settled five miles northwest of Robinson and thus began his interesting life as a jack of all trades. Thomas tried his hand at farming but the life didn't suit him so in March of 1868 Sarah's older brother Andrew Huls took Thomas on as a co-proprietor of his clothing, boot and shoe business. Perhaps he did so because Sarah was pregnant with the couple's first child, Effy May. Thomas and Andrew called the venture Huls & Browning's Clothing, Boots and Shoes. The venture began drying up soon; perhaps one of the causes was that Thomas found his heart went out of the effort when Effy died at 12 days old in May. By August the partners were attempting to sell their remaining stock. Their partnership lasted until October, when Thomas offered his peddling wagon up for sale. Thomas and Sarah went off to Terre Haute in Vigo County, Indiana, and lived there for four years while he worked at the Terre Haute Iron And Nail Works. Their son Clifford was probably born there in 1871.

By 1874 the family was back in Crawford County, where Thomas was moving up in the world -- he was elected a Justice of the Peace that year. By 1883 he'd begun to sell insurance, representing Home, Phoenix, German-American of New York, Royal, and German of Freeport and Peoria. By 1888 he was an attorney and he and Sarah had four more children, Leola, Iona, Ralph and Alta Mearl. By 1889 he'd added hotelier to his repertoire by purchasing the stock of a local hotel called the Cottage Hotel and taking charge of it.

By 1897 Thomas and Sarah and the children were back in Indiana, settling in Indianapolis. Perhaps they left Crawford County after the sad occasion of their daughter Iona's passing from pulmonary disease in 1896. He was a real estate agent at that time. Another daughter, Leola, died in 1900. Ten years later, in 1910, Thomas was in his 60's and nearing retirement. He had chosen to work as a railroad conductor.

One would think at this stage of the game Thomas and Sarah would have settled into a stationary life. Not so. Sometime between 1910-1912 Thomas and Sarah decided to move to San Diego, California. Their son Ralph was already there by 1910 so I suppose they went to join him. Their daughter Alta Mearl went along. Sarah died in 1912 and Alta Mearl lived with her father until his death in January of 1917.

Sarah and Thomas are buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego, as is their daughter Alta Mearl (who married Hugh Richard Kelzer and died in 1962.) I've been told they don't have stones but plaques. I sure would like to get a photo of all of them, if there are some to take.

Thomas Newton's life must have been full to the brim with new experiences. Living through the war, being a prisoner, and then coming back to make much of himself even though he'd had a rough beginning. One little fact about his life makes me curious, though; in 1868 he joined the Sons of Temperance. Perhaps he swore off the life of liquor because of what happened at Holly Springs? I like to think he did.

(Not At All) Wordless Wednesday -- Civil War Mementos

The three items featured in this picture belong to my cousin Linda and are from three men -- all from Crawford County, Illinois -- that served together in the same company in the Civil War: Company H in the 11th Regt of Missouri Infantry.  These three men were boyhood friends and brothers and their lives would become entangled in many other ways other than their shared service.

The first item -- a Civil War era bible -- belonged to Elias Browning, a Corporal in Company H. Elias was my cousin Linda's great-great-grandfather. According to her family tradition, Elias carried this bible with him during his service. The bible was most likely given to him by his sweetheart, Sarah Ellen Kent. Sarah and Elias married in 1866 soon after the war was over.

The second item is a bowtie worn by a man named Jacob Cyrus Johnson, who also served as a Private in Company H. Jacob and Elias had been best friends since boyhood.

The third and last item is the handkerchief that the bible and the bowtie are sitting on. It was worn around the neck of Joseph Browning, Elias Browning's younger brother by two years. Joseph was a Sergeant in Company H.

The three men fought together in the siege of Vicksburg.  According to Jacob Johnson's testimony in his pension records and information in his obituary, Elias and Joseph were on the field when Jacob fell, seriously wounded through the neck which caused paralysis in his left arm.  Elias and Joseph carried Jacob off the field and as they did so Joseph pulled off his handkerchief and held it to Jacob’s neck to staunch the bleeding. This quick thinking helped save Jacob’s life.  Jacob was treated at Overton Hospital in Memphis, TN from 28 May 1862 to 17 Aug 1863.

Family lore says the handkerchief shown in the picture is the one Joseph used to save Jacob. You can't really see it in the picture but it is stained in places, a bit to the right under the bowtie and around the bible but elsewhere as well.

But this battle wasn't the end to the connection between the Browning boys and Jacob Johnson. In 1869 Elias died from complications from the dysentery he'd contracted during his service. He left his wife Sarah with two young children, Thomas Marion and Eliza Jane, to raise on her own. Jacob, meanwhile, had married Harriet Norton in 1869 but their marriage was a short one for Harriet died in 1871. Jacob was then also left with two young children to raise on his own. Jacob went and asked for Sarah's hand and -- best friends with Elias 'til the end -- he married Sarah in 1872 and raised Elias' children as his own. Jacob and Sarah never had any children of their own but they raised their four combined children together -- Thomas M. and Eliza Jane Browning, and Orren and Ida Johnson. They had a long marriage. Jacob died in 1916 and Sarah followed in 1931.

Joseph married Almarena Mathewson in 1866 and they were married until her death in 1886. Joseph married twice more -- to Harriet Berlin and then to Frances Daugherty -- and died in a bicycle accident in 1916. He was run over by a car. Yes, you heard right. 1916.

Joseph was my great-great-grandfather on my paternal side. I find it quite ironic that he was killed by an automobile, as my paternal great-grandfather Robert Elbert Garrard was also struck and killed by a vehicle in 1938. To make matters worse I seem to have "inherited" this quality, though unlike both my ancestors, it didn't result in my death. I was hit by a car on my bicycle when I was a young teen and broke my wrist and my leg. I was lucky, they said. I'd say so!

Joseph and Elias Browning were the sons of James Browning and Jane Nevitt. I'll be blogging about them soon!