GenealogyBlog

I know Veterans Day was technically yesterday and today is the federal holiday since Veterans Day fell on a Sunday. In honor of Veterans Day, I thought I’d mention a number of my ancestors who have served in the military. I have ancestors who have known to have fought in the Korean War, World War II, World War I, The Civil War and the Revolutionary War.

Korean War and World War II Veterans

• My father, William Alfred Sanders served in World War II as part of the occupational forces in Korea. He was later recalled to serve in the Korean War.

World War I Veterans

• My maternal grandfather, James Francis Fox served during World War I. He was training in the states when the war ended.
• My paternal grandfather, William Herbert Sanders also served during World War I. He was also training in the states when the war ended.

Civil War Veterans

• My ancestor John Douglas Laurie served in the 10th Connecticut Infantry. Unfortunately on October 13, 1864, he was wounded and left on the battlefield as the 10th was forced to retreat. He was captured and became a prisoner of war. He was paroled a few days later and died less than a month after the battle.
• My ancestor Edwin A. Banks served in the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery. He enlisted at the age of 17 and was in a number of battles with his twin brother Edward.
• My ancestor Patrick Fraher served in the 12th US Regular Army. He was injured during training and was discharged due to a disability. He never saw any action.

Revolutionary War Veterans

• My ancestor Abel Ford served in the Revolutionary War. He served during the battle when General Burgoyne surrended in upstate New York.
• My ancestor Moses Oysterbanks served in the Revolutionary War
• My ancestor James Shepard served in the Revolutionary War
• My ancestor Seth Gray served in the Revolutionary War

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The Smoky Mountain Family Historian blog has been around since 2004 and there are quite a number of really good posts written. There are posts nearly every day about a variety of subjects. However, it is a little difficult to find blog posts about a particular subject. I’ve just browsed through their archives looking for posts of interest to me.

Here are a couple of posts I found to be an interesting read;

A curious Funeral Custom
Tips for Catalogging Your Books

A lot of the posts are about reviewing genealogy or history related books that are out on the market place today. Other’s have to do with the writer’s personal research.

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Christmas Genealogy Gift Idea: Get the genealogist in your life a new book on genealogy.

This photo comes from a 19th century Sanders & Fryher Photo album. If you can identify the date, age of the individual or who the person is, please post a remark about it.

This is a tin type photo.

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Christmas Gift Idea: Put your ancestors photo on a mug

Town reports can be a tremendous find when looking for information about your ancestors. I have found a lot of hidden genealogy nuggets within town reports especially town reports from the mid to late 1800s. More than just town officials are located within this report. The towns poorest residents were listed as they often received monetary support from the town. The town often needed to pay for the burial of someone who died and couldn’t afford the burial costs. This may be the only evidence of your ancestors death in some cases.

Old town reports may be kept within your local town hall. Check with your town clerk. They may also be kept at your local historical society or even your local library.

The image below is from the 1891 Town Report from Seymour, Connecticut. For towns which did not have a cityor town directory, this type of report may be used to help create a census substitute.

Here are a few highlights from this page;

• J. W. Bassett digging grave for J. Iles 4.00
• J. W. Bassett digging grave for Samuel Lum 4.00
• W.B. Stoddard house rent for Thomas Sheehan 10.00

As you can see there can be some very helpful information about your ancestor. I’ve found about 10% of of a small town’s population are listed within a town report. If you do find your ancestor listed in one years town report look for the other years.

Below are some entries about my ancetsor Patrick Fraher/Fryher. Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will know a little background about him.

1870 New Britain Connecticut Town Report

1871 New Britain Connecticut Town Report

1873 New Britain Connecticut Town Report

Patrick Fryher was a Civil War Veteran who was discharged due to a disability. Apparently he hit his head during training and was in and out of insane asylums for the better part of his life after the civil war. He moved to New Britain, Connecticut in about 1869. The town reports confirm his insanity and that his family received support from the town out of the poor house.

One additional item I overlooked until I was writing this blog was an entry in the 1871 New Britain Town Report. That entry was “James Glashean, for 2 children of T. Corocran … 110.00″. A great great aunt of mine was married to a James Glashean in New Britain, Connecticut. I would have never had expected him to be listed in the Poor House section of the report.

So look for town reports where your ancestors lived. You’ll never know what hidden genealogy nugget you will discover in them.

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