Showing posts with label Smathers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Smathers. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Poverty's Daughter

There are no hidden ancestral ties to political figures. There are no kings and queens to be found on my family tree. I come mostly from hard working German stock, with a few wild Irish lads and lasses thrown in for good measure. A pinch of this, a pinch of that and there you have my family tree.

From my father’s paternal side, they came from Pennsylvania and Virginia to Ohio’s Appalachian hills. A few farmers, but mostly miners, these families settled in the coal producing area of Ohio in the mid 19th century. A miner’s life was hard. They often lived in shanties and shacks provided by the mining company. They moved from time to time, following the work as it shifted from mine to mine, shaft to shaft. They started young, doing the most menial of work, and once the mines “got you”, it was hard to escape. 

In the early days, furnaces were formed and stoked at the bottom of shafts creating the ventilation needed in the tunnels beneath the earth’s surface. Cave-ins, explosions, floods all posed great dangers to the men. The wages were low, their lungs scarred from breathing in the dust, yet the men continued working for as long as their bodies held out, to keep food in their family’s bellies and a roof over their children’s heads. The sons followed the fathers into the mines, and the circle of hard work for low wages continued for another generation. 

This would have been my great great grandfather’s life. Except that he went to war and on a summer day in Georgia took a gunshot wound to the knee. The resulting amputation made finding work hard. Eventually, he would get a small disability check, but it was not enough money for the family to live on, so Henry found odd jobs when he could. His sons went to work in the mines, and his daughters looked for serving jobs to supplement the family income. 

There are no pictures of Henry or his wife Louisa. Nor are there photos to be found for any of their children. Who were they after all? Certainly, they were not anyone whose likeness was worth recording. If there had been pictures, I wonder if I would have seen gaunt cheeks, hollowed eyes and a hopelessness reserved for those whom hope has abandoned. 

Henry’s son Elmer, my great grandfather, was said to have been fond of the grape. This may or may not have been a fair assessment of the man, for it came from his wife’s stepmother, and was told to Elmer’s youngest daughter. After the death of his wife Lizzie, in 1911, Elmer found himself with four young children. He farmed out his eldest daughter, age six, to another family who used the girl as an unwilling servant. His youngest daughter was left in the care of his father-in-law. He packed up his sons, ages one and three, and headed north. 

Between 1910 and 1920, oil had begun to replace coal as a heating element. The loss of jobs, even poorly paying ones, had forced many men to leave their Appalachian homes in search of new work

So Elmer left, promising to return for his daughters sometime in the future. He headed for Lucas County, where an elder brother, Lawson, had found work earlier. We’ll probably never know what happened, but three years later Elmer was dead, in an apparent suicide. He had drunk carbolic acid. One cannot know what deep despair caused him to do this, but the result was two little boys and two little girls suddenly without any parent. The youngest boy, George, stayed with his aunt and uncle, but the older boy, my grandfather would eventually be adopted out four years later. 

Grandfather would later manage to find a good job with Overland Express and was on his way to securing a good future for himself when he died unexpectedly at age 39 of a burst appendix. He left seven fatherless children. But while my grandfather had not always made the best choices in life, he had certainly made two wise choices when he chose two strong, capable women to be the mothers of his children.

These children would grow up not to perpetuate the poverty that had been their family’s heritage, but instead would form good, stable middle class homes from which they would raise their own children. It took several generations and a prescription of community aid, personal responsibility and education to change one family’s path out of poverty.

I wonder if Louisa and Henry would have ever dreamed that a great great granddaughter would find their lives important enough to write about and share with each of you. You can have your kings and queens, and your presidential ancestral ties. In my family, we have survivors, and there is a hard won dignity to be found in that. 

Written for Blog Action Day 2008

© 15 October 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Sunday, July 13, 2008

To Bury a Civil War Soldier

On April 11, 1884, the General Assembly for the State of Ohio passed an act that would allow the state to defray funeral expenses for any former Union soldier, sailor or marine whose family did not have sufficient funds to cover the funeral expenses. 

In Vinton County, Ohio, a board was set up to review these cases and decide who would qualify for these benefits. A payment was approved for $28.40 to bury my great great grandfather Henry Smathers, on March 5, 1888.

I have written about both Henry and his wife, Louisa, in previous posts. (An Amputation in Georgia and Pension File Stories: Louisa Ish Smathers, Disappearing Woman.) 

Henry served two tours of duty, reenlisting for the second term on January 23, 1864. Five months later to the day, at Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, Henry received the wound that resulted in the amputation of his left leg. The pension deposition of Louisa leaves little doubt that the family lived a life of postwar poverty. Below is an itemized accounting of how the $28.40 was spent. 

1 Coffin $15.00 
1 Robe $ 5.00 
1 Pair of Slippers and Gloves $ 1.40 
Hearse and Team $ 5.00
Digging Grave and Filling $ 2.00 

As of this moment, I have not found where either Henry or Louisa is buried. Perhaps, for them, it is enough to know where and how they lived. 

Until Next Time . . .

© 13 July 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 


Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Pension File Stories: The Mystery of the Missing Bible

Last month, in my first installment of pension file stories, I introduced you to my great great grandparents, Louisa Ish Smathers and Henry Smathers. Their story was a sobering account of life in the aftermath of war. But not all information found in a soldier's pension file requires such somber thought. Sometimes you come across a piece of family history that will cause a smile.

Take the case of the missing family Bible. Henry had several brothers who served with Union forces. Two of those brothers, Reuben and Franklin, served, like Henry, in Company E 53rd Infantry Regiment Ohio. Henry enlisted November 21, 1861, followed by Reuben on January 6, 1862, with Franklin enlisting on February 29, 1864. According to their military records, the brothers were 23, 20, and 18, respectively, on their dates of enlistment. 

Congress passed one of several pension acts in 1907, specifically the Act of February 6, 1907, setting the monthly pension payments for veterans of both the Civil War and the Mexican-American War based on the age of the veteran. At age 62, provided the veteran met the other requirements of this act, he would be entitled to $12 a month, while at 70 the amount increased to $15 and at age 75, the amount topped out at $20 a month. 

On April 1, 1909, Reuben applied for an increase in monthly pension, claiming that he had turned 70 earlier that year in February. One problem — he had stated his age at enlistment as 20 years old in January of 1862. A February birthday would mean that he would have been born in 1841 and therefore was only 68 years old in 1909. According to the pension papers, Reuben's testimony was:

He was born in (the) Month of February in year 1839, and the way I fix the date of my birth is that I voted my first time for Abraham Lincoln for President of the United States in the fall of 1860. There was a family record of my birth but it has long since been lost, and I know of no public record of my birth. Was baptized when quite a small child but am not able to give a record of it as it has been so long ago. It seems that the Officers made a mistake in my age when I enlisted in the Army and I thought it not necessary to ever have it corrected, and can only make affidavit that I am positive I am over 70 years of age. 

The pension board was not content with Reuben's testimony and on April 27, 1909, his brother, Lawson Smathers appeared in neighboring Athens County and testified to Reuben's age. The following statement is found in Reuben's pension file derived from Lawson's (whom the record listed as Losen Smathers) statement. 

He is a Brother of the above named Reuben Smathers, of Co. E. 53rd, Ohio Volunteers Infantry. And that he is the youngest of the Smathers Family and that the family record was left in his care and that his children got hold of it through some means and destroyed the records. And that his brother Reuben Smathers was born in the month of February 1839 in Clarion County, Penn. 

In truth, Reuben probably was not certain himself of his actual age. In the 1850 census, his age is listed as 10. The 1860 census has him as 21. The 1870 census finds him at 28. In the 1880 census, he is listed at 39. The 1900 census shows him at 54 and in his final appearance in a census, he is listed as 71 in 1910. It's interesting to see that he aged 16 years in the 10 years between 1900 and 1910. 

Franklin Smathers, the younger brother, also makes a statement about the family Bible in his application dated October 30, 1915. He states that there is no public or family record that proves his date of birth, which Franklin states was January 20, 1846. 

Affiant further alleges that his brother, Lawson at one time put a sum of money in the family Bible and during the night season the house was burglarized and the said family Bible together with the money was taken and never recovered.

Same brother, same record, different story. Maybe family Bibles were hot commodities for thieves at the turn of the century, but my hunch is that if the Bible had indeed ever existed, the first version of the missing Bible would probably have been closer to the truth. 

Though my goal in poring over page after page of pension file papers is that of finding some vital statistic to add to the family tree, these well-mined anecdotal nuggets are the true reward. They fuel the imagination and add to the “color” of my family portrait. For each unexpected find, I am always delighted and grateful. 

Until Next Time - Happy Ancestral Digging! 

1. Reuben Smathers (Pvt., Co. E, 53rd Ohio Inf., Civil War) pension no. 414111, certificate no. 509149, Case Files of Approved Pension Applications, 1863-1934, Civil War and Later pension files, Dept of Veteran Affairs National Archives, Washington D.C. 
2. Franklin Smathers (Pvt., Co. E, 53rd Ohio Inf., Civil War) pension no. 896663, certificate no. 676404, Case Files of Approved Pension Applications, 1864-1934; Civil War and Later pension Files; Dept of Veteran Affairs National Archives, Washington, D.C. 
3. 1850 US Federal Census, State of Pennsylvania, Clarion County, Madison Township, v 1319, Head of Household, Jacob Smathers, online digital image, Ancestry.com.
4. 1860 US Federal Census, State of Ohio, Vinton County, Clinton Township, v 498, Head of Household, Jacob Smathers, online digital image, Ancestry.com. 
5. 1870 US Federal Census, State of Ohio, Jackson County, Milton Township, v 238, Head of Household, Reuben Smathers, online digital image, Ancestry.com.
6. 1880 US Federal Census, State of Ohio, Jackson County, Milton Township, v 284, Head of Household, Reuben Smathers, online digital image, Ancestry.com. 
7. 1900 US Federal Census, State of Ohio, Jackson County, Madison Township, v 90, Head of Household, Reuben, Smathers, online digital image, Ancestry.com. 
8. 1910 US Federal Census, State of Ohio, Jackson County, Madison Township, v113, Head of Household, Ruben (sic) Smathers, online digital image, Ancestry.com. 

Note this post first published online, April 22, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 22 April 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Monday, March 3, 2008

An Amputation in Georgia - Henry's Story

In my previous entry, I wrote about Louisa Ish Smathers. In order to get the complete picture, I thought a post about her husband Henry would be appropriate. 

Actually, the best clue about Henry's past comes from the pension records of his brother, Franklin Smathers. Franklin was a younger brother of Henry who enlisted in the same company and regiment as did Henry and another brother, Ruben Smathers. They were part of Company E., Ohio 53rd Infantry Regiment.

It was stated in Franklin's pension papers: 

That during the summer of 1850 and to 1858 he lived in Clarion, Clarion County PA. That during the summer of 1860 he lived in Jackson, Jackson County, Ohio, and up to about the year 1888. That during the above time he lived with his father and mother up to the time his mother died which was about the year 1856. That afterwards he lived with his father until he enlisted. That his fathers (sic) name was Jacob Smathers. That his mothers (sic) name was Polly Smathers. That his brothers (sic) names were David, Isaac, William, Jacob, John, Henry, Ruben and Lawson. 

The family was actually found instead of Jackson County, Ohio in neighboring Vinton County in 1860. Jacob had moved to Ohio with six of his children - John, Henry, Ruben, Franklin, Melinda and Lawson.

At the outbreak of the war, John went back to Pennsylvania and enlisted. Henry enlisted November 27, 1861, at the age of 23. His company muster roll for May and June 1862 states “Deserted from Camp Shiloa (sic) May 5, 1862.” However, a special muster roll taken on August 18, 1862, notes, “Sent to General Hospital at Cincinnati May 5, 1862.” He appears to have been there on detached duty as Provost Guard until Aug. 31 of that year.

Henry elected to reenlist on January 23, 1864. His vitals are given: 

WHERE BORN: Clarion County, PA 
AGE: 24 (Note that he only aged 1 year since he initially enlisted in Nov of 1861.) 
EYES: Brown 
HAIR: Brown 
COMPLEXION: Dark 
HEIGHT: 6 Ft. 
OCCUPATION: Laborer 

For details of Henry's wounds, I quote the letter of his company commander, William W. Gilbert.

I, Wm W. Gilbert, on honor, certify that Henry Smathers is a Private in my company and that on the 23rd day of June 1864 He received a Gun Shot Wound in the left Knee point which caused the amputation of his leg above the Knee point. I was a 1st Lieut. Commanding the Co(mpany) at that time and was ordered with My Co(mpany) on the Skirmish Line near the foot of Kinesaw (sic) Mountain at which place Henry Smathers Received the wound while in the line of his duty by assisting to build a Skirmish Pit. I was right by his Side when he was hit and Saw him fall and had him carried off of the field. 

Henry would die 23 years, 7 months and 15 days after he fell at Kennesaw Mountain. In Vinton County, Henry's death record would give the cause of death as gangrene. 

In my previous post, you get an idea of the hardship Henry faced. You have to wonder why Louisa chose to marry a man who obviously would find it difficult to support a family because of his wounds. His occupation on his death certificate is listed as “cripple.” 

Henry's wounding in Georgia began a chain of events that would keep a dark cloud over the family tree for several generations. But it is those very chain events that created me. For each of us who walk this earth today, the right set of circumstances in EVERY ONE of our ancestor's lives had to occur to create the next set of right circumstances, so that in the end, the right two people, your parents, would meet and create you. One missed joy or one missed sorrow, and someone else would be living, breathing, existing instead of you. What a gift then, each day really is.

Until Next Time! 

1. Franklin Smathers (Pvt., Co. E, 53rd Ohio Inf., Civil War) pension no. 896663, certificate no. 676404, Case Files of Approved Pension Applications, 1864-1934; Civil War and Later pension Files; Dept of Veteran Affairs National Archives, Washington, D.C. 
2. Henry Smathers (Pvt., Co. E., 53rd Ohio Inf.., Civil War) pension no. 77724, certificate no. 51080, Case Files of Approved Pension Applications, 1864-1934; Civil War and Later pension Files; Dept of Veteran Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C. 
3. Vinton County, Ohio, Death Record of Henry Cope 1888, Court of Common Pleas, Probate Division, McArthur, Ohio. 
4. Military, Compiled Service Record, Henry Smathers, Pvt., Co. E, 53rd Ohio Inf.; Civil War; Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s-1917, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Note this post first published online, March 3, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 3 March 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Pension File Stories: Louisa Ish Smathers, Disappearing Woman

“I am nearly 48 years old, a housekeeper…” These are first words that Louisa Ish Smathers gives in a deposition taken by the Special Examiner, J.W. Downtain on January 2, 1889, in Hawk, Ohio. Louisa was deposed when she applied for a Widow's Civil War Pension after the death of her husband, Henry Smathers. 

Though she was probably born sometime around 1841, the first time Louisa shows up in any public records is when she marries Henry Smathers on December 11, 1866. (Her last name is spelled Eish on the Affidavit for License.) There is no record of Louisa's existence in either the 1850 or the 1860 census. Believed to be the daughter of John Ish and Susan Bishop, the Ish siblings were apparently sent to live with other local families after John married his second wife, Susannah Dinger in 1843.

Rebecca, Peter W. and Washington Ish are all found living with separate families in German Township of Harrison County, Ohio, in the 1850 census. In all probability, Louisa is also living with another family and either was not enumerated or her last name was reported incorrectly 

That she belonged to the Ish family of Harrison County is supported by her death certificate, which lists her place of birth as Harrison County. Unfortunately, the record does not list her parents.

The only real glimpse we have of Louisa's life is from the five- page deposition. 

I am the widow of Henry Smathers, who was a pensioner under Certificate No. 51080 for loss of the left leg above the knee. I was married as Louisa Ish, to Henry Smathers in Jackson, Jackson County Ohio, December 11, 1866, by a pastor whose name I do not now remember. Neither myself or husband had been previously married. I can't give the names of any of the persons who were present at our marriage. Mr. Smathers was then on crutches, having lost his left leg, as I always understood, in Service at Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia. From the time we were married until the next March, we lived at Buckeye Furnace, Jackson County Ohio.

We know that Louisa was not literate because it is recorded that she signed her name at the end of the deposition with an X. Of her early years of marriage, Louisa says:

In March 1867, (we) commenced keeping house at Hamden Junction, Vinton Co. Ohio. While at Buckeye Furnace, he pounded ore, and wore what they called a peg leg, which was made at the Soldier's Home, Dayton. That one cut the leg so that he had to leave it off and it hurt the stump to wear it any way. He afterward secured an artificial leg in Cincinnati, at a cost of $175 - $75 of which was furnished by the Government, but he was never able to wear it on account of the stump hurting him so. It was even worst than the peg leg. 

Louisa gives detailed information of how Henry suffered because of his injury.

He complained of the stump of the leg (it was) an awful sight, and would sometimes have me come and hold it down with both hands, and frequently it would fly up out of my hands. It would swell up and get tender, but there was no breaking out or running sores. I never knew any pieces of bone to come out from it, but he often told me that before he came home from the service a piece of bone did come out and showed me the scar. He often said he would rather a person would gouge his eye than to run against the stump, and he would sit and hold both hands over it to keep any one from running against it. 

As part of the deposition, Louisa lists the names and dates of her children's births. Of this information, she says: 

I had seven children by Mr. Smathers, six of whom were living when he died, only four of whom were under 16 years at that time…. I have no family record of the dates, but I have carried them in my mind all the time. I don't think I could possibly be mistaken as to the date of the birth of any of my children. 

Probably the most telling part of the deposition is the matter of fact account that she gives of the events leading up to her husband's death. 

On the night of the 30th of January, 1888, he was taken with a chill, in bed, and shook till 20 minutes after 1 o'clock. It was not an especially cold night, and the room was awful warm. We had set up until 11 o'clock. He had been about all winter, and that day, before he took the chill, said he felt better than he had for a long time. He had taken no medicine that winter, nor the preceding fall or summer. He said he had never had but one such chill before, and that was after his leg had been amputated and before he was discharged and the Doctor, he said called it a "digestive" chill. On this occasion, I had not gone to sleep, but he had, but woke up just as the clock was striking 12 and the chill was then coming on. He told me not to give him any water, as the old gray headed Doctor in the army had told him if he ever had another, it would be the last of him. That was on Monday night, and (he) died at 5 o'clock on Tuesday morning, one week after. 

On Tuesday morning, I suppose 5 or 6 hours after the chill had tapered off, I put mustard drafts on his side, and when Dr. Ewing came he left them on, and on Wednesday when he came back, he put a fly blister on. Mr. Smathers had complained some of his side (the left) for a week before he took the last chill, but when I put the mustard draft on it, I did not notice any discoloration. He was conscious up to the time he died. I had him up at 12 o'clock on Monday night, and he talked to me as sensibly as he as he ever did, and he died at 5 o'clock, Tuesday morning, February 7, 1888. When I put the mustard drafts to his side, the pain seem to leave there and go to his head. He never could sleep on his left side, never from the time we were married. I was not present when he died, as I had laid down about an hour before. Thomas Paul and Dinck (?) Gryden, and Lizzie Gryden and Getty Booth were all present when he died. So was Thomas Duffy. I think Bill Mayso, Tom Paul, and Bob Hutchinson prepared the body for burial. I have remained the widow of Henry Smathers, and have not cohabited with any other man.

This deposition is probably the closest I will ever come to knowing Louisa Ish Smathers and what her life with Henry was like. She died September 25, 1930. I have yet to find her in the 1930 census. 

Until Next Time. . . 

1. Deposition of Claimant, 2 January 1889, Louisa A. Smathers, widow's pension application no. 368863, certificate no. 279465, service of Henry Smathers (Pvt., Co. E, 53rd, Ohio Infantry, Civil War); Case Files of Approved Pension Applications, 1861-1934;Civil War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veteran Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C. 
2. Jackson County, Ohio, Record of Marriages, Volume E, Page 49, Smathers-Eish 1866, Jackson County Probate Court, Jackson, Ohio. 

Note this post first published online, March 2, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 2 March 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Dumb Genealogical Mistakes I Have Made — Elmer/Elmore

I'm inaugurating a new type of blog post where I confess my past (or sometimes current) sins that I have made while researching my family tree. I know, nobody else has EVER made a dumb genealogical mistake. Or if they have, they are not masochistic enough to expose their sin to the whole world. Makes you wonder about my early potty training, right?

When I first started working on my family history, our family had been told that one of my paternal great-grandfathers was one Elmer Smathers. We knew that he had lived in the Jackson/Vinton/Athens county area of southern Ohio. I became extremely diligent in trying to find “our” Elmer. I was so diligent that I found two. I first found him in the 1910 census with his wife and four children listed as Elmer Smathers — his children, his wife all matched the known data. I found only one Elmer in the 1900 census, and I found the two Elmers in the 1880 census. 

El-MER Smathers was the son of Reuben Smathers and El-MORE Smathers was the son of Henry Smathers. I would later learn that the two were cousins. Because Elmer's name was spelled correctly, I concluded that the son of Reuben was “my” Elmer, the Elmer of the 1910 census. Even when I found a list indicating that this Elmer had died in February of 1910, I rationalized that the family had a reason for pretending he was still alive in the 1910 census. 

I imagined several scenarios. Maybe he had to be alive so the family could retain their mining company housing. Maybe he had simply disappeared one day and they didn't know that he had died. Maybe the census taker had interviewed a neighbor who didn't know of Elmer's death. I wove a lovely coat of improbable explanations as I stubbornly clung to my initial conclusion. 

Hey, I had invested a lot of time into Elmer being THE ONE, he wasn't going to get away that easily. It wasn't until I actually received his death certificate from the Ohio Historical Society that said El-mer was SINGLE, that I reconsidered my stubborn insistence that Reuben's Elmer was THE ONE. Even when I accepted that this was not the correct Elmer, I was insistent that Elmore could not be correct. The spelling, the spelling I kept repeating. 

If my mother, who is much wiser, hadn't written for the other Elmer's death certificate, which instead of being in the Jackson/Vinton/Athens county area as expected, was found in Lucas County of all places, I might have thrown up my arms in defeat. But my mother wrote for the death certificate, and when she finally received it, the information turned out to be for “our” Elmer. It also answered a couple of questions, and in hindsight, made perfect sense. 

The moral of the story is spelling, schmelling You can't chip away at facts to make them fit. All you can do is keep an open mind and follow where the genealogical trail leads. You can waste a whole lot of time and energy clinging to a beloved but erroneous theory. And if that isn't enough of a moral for you, try this — Momma always knows best! 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging!

Note this post first published online, January 9, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 9 January 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplanned, Teresa L. Snyder 

Terry

Terry

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