Union Soldier Great Grandfather

[woodsda]

My great-great-great-grandfather served in the Union army during the war, however I am not sure what unit or where. I have a picture of him in his uniform, can anyone identify the uniform and where it may have come from?

[27thNCdrummer]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

Don,
If I'm not mistaken that is the uniform of the 76th Ohio. It was one of the few western units garbed in such regalia. What was his name? I might be able to find something on him.

[Dignann]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

Don,

A name, and state, could be helpful.

Eric

[woodsda]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

His name was Jesse Bartlett, the only one on soldiers and sailors was with the 7th Maine. I do not know where he was during the war, after the war he was in the Missourri/Nebraska area. I am pretty confident he was not with the 7th Maine, could have been with the Ohio unit as Andrew has stated.

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

I have no idea why, but CWSS is not always complete. Local men whose unit and service is certain aren't on there, so I have to assume there are other omissions.
Another thought: was his actual first name Jesse, or did he go by a middle name? Second, have you checked for garbled spellings of his last name? That isn't an easy one to mangle, but some of the handwriting on the muster rolls is very difficult to read, and the transcripts are a little off in places.

[BobbyHughes]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

Don,
If I'm not mistaken that is the uniform of the 76th Ohio. It was one of the few western units garbed in such regalia. What was his name? I might be able to find something on him.

I dont think its the 76th. Pg 145 of EOG shows Pvt Lee Matthews, 76th Ohio, and while close, the tombeaux at the neck in the image posted are much closer to the "collar" and not nearly as wide as those pictured on Pvt Matthews' jacket. I know some fellers that do the 76th down here, and they have the Zouave jackets, copied from the Matthews jacket..... excellant jackets, but dont look like those in this images

[rogue]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

It will be very dificult to pin down the unit from this original photo.
Within the last two years a CDV album turned up in Wisconsin that showed members of the 46th Illinois (my old unit) in new uniforms that were tailored for them and then photographs taken in them while in New Orleans in 1865.
They had much back pay due them, it arrived, and with it and great amounts of time on their hands they had jackets made similar to the one at the head of this thread. Common knowledge was that late in the war the 46th wore sack coats, yet the images (which I now cannot find-but Weed has them) show shell jackets with all sorts of zouave like trim.
I have seen other western soldiers with similar fancy late-war coats.
So, a name and state is your best bet as indicated.
Steve Sullivan

[KarinTimour]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

Dear Mr. Woods:

You said that you didn't know where he was living during the war -- do you know where he was before the war started? Do you know where he was born or anything about his parents, siblings, etc.?

If the answer is "no" to all of the above, start from the other end. Do you know where he is buried or where he died? You can often then get a death certificate, which might give you place of birth, names of parents. If you don't know where he died, keep going closer to you until you can answer "yes" to those questions, then start getting birth and death certificates for the people you know.

For example, if your grandparents are still living, did you talk to them? One of them might be able to give you more information that you could piece together. If he was in the Union army, it might be worth your while to look for GAR records. If you know the town where he was living after the war, newspaper searches might bring up accounts of Memorial Day or Veterans' Day ceremonies that might mention his former unit.

The best bet, however, is to get death or birth ceritificates for your grandparents, then use the information about "place of birth" and "parents" to discover birth places for great-grandparents, then get birth and death certificates for great-great-grandparents.

Another option is church records -- we don't often think of them if we aren't ourselves religious, but you'd be amazed what you can find from church records.

Think also about great aunts and uncles, who might have quite a bit of information about other family members, but since you're not a direct child or grandchild of them, no one thought to ask them. I recently was talking to an aunt, and she started telling me a lot about my father's father, who died several years before I was born. I didn't realize it, but he lived with my uncle and aunt for several of their early married years, and she knew him very well.

Hope that's helpful,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Going to Cedar Creek? Check out my sleeping/camp hats and scarves at CJ Daley's sutlery
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[zouavecampaigner]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

Don,

those style of jackets were worn by the veteranized 76th OH as well as the veteranized 53rd OH.

I hope that's SOME help.

Regards,

[zouavecampaigner]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

Robert,

if you study a number of 76th & 53rd OH images, you will see a lot of variety to the trefoils on the jackets. You'll see different widths of trim, as well as different placements of the trefoils in relation to the "collars", etc.

Regards,

[LindaTrent]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

A search of the 1860 census for Jesse Bartlett finds a total of seven. One each from Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New York and North Carolina. If he lived in Missouri after the war, that might be a good place to start, however, the one in Missouri is in Daviess County, and is 58 years old. A little too old for your ancestor.

Illinois is the next obvious state, being close to Missouri. And we have a Jesse living there in Jasper County, and he's 28 years old. It says that he was born in Illinois.

The man from Maine was 22 years old and born in Maine. At the time of the census he was living in Penobscot County.

There's one in Michigan, but he's 62 years old and born in Mexico, that probably rules him out. :wink_smil

The only other northerner was from Cayuga, NY, age 28 and born in NY. Though now I'm looking at the actual census record I think the transcriber made an error. It looks more like 50 to me, based upon the way he makes 2's a little further down.

So if he was a Union man your best chances are Illinois, Maine. In Illinois Jesse (28) is head of household with an Amanda Thereau? Hard to tell the last name, but that's what I'm getting. She's 18 years old, and born in Indiana and a young male Esquin? age 2 born in Illinois. No occupation is given for either Jesse or Amanda, though his real estate is valued at $800 and his personal estate is valued at $500.

Lastly, the Jesse Bartlett from Maine was a common laborer working in a mill. Dunno, if any of this helps, but... good luck in your search.

Linda.

[LindaTrent]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

Do you have a wife's name or child's or anything that one can go by? I've got the census for 1860, 70, and 80.

Linda

[woodsda]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

Linda,

Thanks for the help, I believe the one in Illinois is my best bet to start with, and I do believe his wife was named Amanda, but will have to check on that. I know he was re-married some years down the road, and I have her name. Not sure what happened to his first wife. I believe the one in Maine was killed at Gettysburg, they have a grave of man by the same name buried there, so that would count him out. I would guess that unless he used a middle name to go by, the one from Illinois would be it.

[GermanDraftee]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

Suggestion for one more approach:

While confirming the name of the second wife, try to discover if she outlived your 3x great grandfather. If she did, it is likely that she applied for a widow's pension. The pension records would state the unit that her husband served with.

Good Luck!

[woodsda]

Re: Union Soldier Great Grandfather

Thanks, I will give it a try, never thought about the pension.