World War I Burial Case Files - Military Monday

I wrote here about a very distant cousin named James S. Trabue and my discovery that he had been killed in action on the last day of World War I. The only information I had about SGT Trabue was that he was from Pleasant Hill, Missouri, married Estella George in 1911 and was killed in action in 1918. After my request of his military service file came up empty handed I had to get creative.

I first contacted the Pleasant Hill Missouri Historical Society to see if they had a Trabue family file or any information on the WWI casualties from their town. I received a quick email response to my query and soon thereafter a packet of copies from their files.

The file included the above photo and several newspaper stories regarding SGT Trabue. From the newspaper articles, it appeared that he did indeed die on the last day of the war. It is also obvious that the family was not aware of the specifics of his death. James Trabue was killed on November 11 and his wife received notification of his death on December 3. The Pleasant Hill Times reported that "his fine, soldierly appearance was the subject of frequent admiring comment," and "the fact that he made the great sacrifice at practically the last moment of the war, escaping all the manifold dangers of previous rigorous campaigns up to that time, adds a touch of deeper regret to the tragic story of Sergt. Trabue."

The newspaper articles also hinted that SGT Trabue died from a shell blast, but there was nothing to substantiate it. I am not a morbid person, but it was not enough for me to know only that he died on the last day of the war. I wanted to know what caused his death at the very last moment of the war.

In my quest to find more information I came across a largely unknown set of records held by the National Archives: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General (Record Group 92). In the Army, the Quartermaster branch is responsible for mortuary affairs. This little known record group of Quartermaster files includes burial case files from 1915-1939, from both Soldiers killed overseas to domestic deaths. And most World War I casualties are included. The files record the disposition of remains of Soldiers. To request a copy of the file I sent a letter to:

Archives II Reference Section (Military)
Textual Archives Services Division ( NWCT2R[M])
National Archives at College Park
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001

I included everything I knew about James Trabue to include death date, service number, unit and his next of kin. I received a quick response from the National Archives stating that they did indeed have his file. I ordered a copy of the file on CD for $25. The cost of the order varies based on the number of pages in the file.

I received the file yesterday. It included 33 pages discussing the death and movement of the remains of SGT Trabue. His wife, Estella Trabue, chose to have his body returned to the United States for burial in Missouri, so the bulk of the documents in the file pertain to the details of that logistical move. And I do mean details. Every memo, telegram and form for SGT Trabue's movement from France to Missouri is noted. His body was originally buried in Letanne, Ardennes, France and traveled back to the United States through the port of Calais, arriving in Hoboken, New Jersey and then traveling by train to Louisville, Kentucky and finally to Pleasant Hill, Missouri. He was finally buried for the last time in April 1921. One document of particular genealogical interest is a form Estella Trabue had to complete that included the Soldier's next of kin and whether they were living or deceased and their addresses. The burial case file would also include information on whether the Soldier's mother or widow participated in the Gold Star Mothers pilgrimage program. This program offered mothers and widows of Soldiers killed during WWI a paid trip to Europe to visit the graves of their sons or husbands.

And how did James S. Trabue die? The last page of the packet includes the only information about his death. SGT Trabue died alone from shrapnel wounds in a shell blast hole.

Successful LDS adventure and I didn't walk away with a single source

You may remember my rant about my fears of visiting an LDS Family History Center. I finally ripped off the Band-Aid and made a visit to order films a few weeks ago. Last night I actually went to the center to review my films. I had ordered three, one about Roanoke, Virginia marriages and two showing vital records for Ventimiglia, Sicily.

The amount of time I could apply to the visit was limited so I decided to start with the records in English to warm up my eyes. I was looking for information on Marcellus White, who has been the bane of my genealogical existence. I was hoping to find record of his marriage to Mary Tosh which I believe to have occurred around 1860. The documents were hard to read and not ordered in any fashion at all. Unfortunately, I FOUND NOTHING. I am so distraught with Mr. White for not being on that record. Surely he could have gotten himself in print somewhere.

But my trip was not wasted. This was my first visit to a FHC to conduct research and this visit helped me to become more comfortable with the process. This is the second visit overall and every time there have been helpful volunteers that want nothing better than for me to be comfortable and to find my ancestors. I appreciate that and now the only thing hindering my visits is the time between diaper changes.

Special tip: If you visit an FHC, be sure to sign the sign-in sheet as those are sent to Salt Lake City and help to ensure funding for better equipment.

On TV: Searching For with Pam Slaton

I am a constant remote "flipper." I don't watch much television, but when I do you can bet that the channel changes a lot, unless, of course, I am watching my beloved DVR. Anyway, I was flipping channels a few days ago and came across a show on Oprah's new network: OWN. The show is called "Searching For" and features investigative genealogist Pam Slaton. The focus of the show is not the dead, as we usually like to focus on, but rather the search for living relatives that the clients have either lost contact with or never met. Clients bring Pam stories of lost loved ones and she works to find and reunite them. The particular episode I caught featured a mother that was forced to give up her child for adoption at birth and a man that had lost contact with his father.
This show is clearly produced to increase Kleenex sales. While Pam Slaton is billed as a professional genealogist, the show has little to do with genealogy and investigations and more to do with the clients' feelings and fears. In fact, there is no discussion of how Pam finds individuals or what tools she uses. She provides a research tip or two during the show, but the ultimate point is to convey feelings and make the viewer cry, which I did.

The show airs Mondays on the OWN at 8 p.m. (CST). For more information check out the Searching For website.

Wordless Wednesday - Missouri Farmer

Claude Oran McGuire, born in Ray County, Missouri in 1874 and a farmer all his life.

Nothing like consistency when working in stone - Tombstone Tuesday

Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois

I have written about William M. Butler before here and here, and I return to him and his second wife, Eliza, for today's post. I have found William's death date on several documents, two obituaries for him and one from his wife Eliza. His death date is listed as December 1, 1895 and December 2, 1895. You'll notice that his tombstone gives yet another date. And just to make things a little more interesting, both Eliza's birth and death dates are different than those listed on her death certificate. Nice.

Military Monday - Genealogy meat in War of 1812 Pension file

Peace by John Rubens Smith.
John Rubens Smith Collection,
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

As I mentioned in this post, I recently requested a search of War of 1812 pension records in the National Archives for my ancestor, David Reed. Only twelve days after I placed my request through the National Archives eServices, I received copies of the file. This particular file is filled with information about David's widow, Mary Bryan Reed, and very little information about the Soldier himself. There were two governmental acts that directly affected veterans of the war of 1812 and their pensions: the acts of 1871 and 1878. The 1871 Act authorized pensions to Soldiers that served in the war for at least 60 days, or to their spouses if they were married prior to the ending of the war in 1815. The Act of March 9, 1878, revised the pension laws to allow Soldiers that served for 14 days of the war and widows of said Soldiers to be authorized a pension. This explains why my ancestor, Mary Reed, applied for widow's pension in August 1878. She would not have been eligible prior to the 1878 act as David and she were married in 1820, after the ending of the war. The following is a list of what was included in the packet:

- War of 1812 Claim of Widow for Service Pension document. This document is the initial paperwork that Mary Reed filled out to claim her widow's pension. It includes a wealth of genealogical information to include David Reed's unit, where he enlisted, a physical description of David, where they had lived since his discharge from the military, their marriage date and Mary's maiden name.

- Several memorandums to establish that Mary was indeed legally married to David Reed. In the case of the Reeds, they were married in Montgomery County, Missouri in 1820. Unfortunately, the courthouse and all records were lost in a fire in 1864. To establish their marriage the examiner referenced their earlier bounty land warrant application.

- Sworn affidavits from Mary and other witnesses proving her marriage and David Reed's death. The affidavit describing David's death is a sworn statement by Elijah Happy, Mary's son-in-law. It states that he was present at the death of David Reed and that David died of pneumonia.

- The Service Pension, War of 1812 Widow's Brief. This document is a summary of the pension eligibility investigation and is also a wealth of genealogical information. It provides the details of the investigation to include evidence of the Soldier's service, length of service and proof of identity. The Summary of Proof portion of the document includes marriage information and specifics about the death of the Soldier. It is also the official proof that Mary was eligible and awarded the Widow's Pension.

- A memo stating that Mary Reed was dropped from the pension rolls due to her death. It does not actually give the death date, but states the last day she received her pension payment.

Mary was paid $8 a month until her death some time after May 1882. I would describe information from this particular pension file as quality rather than quantity. The important thing is that I now have proof of several facts on this line that I did not previously have. I know very little about David Reed and Mary Bryan Reed other than what I now have from the pension file. I have found some research that indicates Mary was related to the Bryan family that pioneered Kentucky and were intermarried with the Boone family, of Daniel Boone fame. While I have no proof of Mary's connection with this family, I did learn from the pension file that she was from Clark County, Kentucky. Another line of research to follow.

As mentioned above, the marriage between Mary and David could not be proved by marriage certificate as the record was lost in a courthouse fire. The examiner of Mary's pension file instead referenced the widow's bounty land warrant received in the 1850s. It states that her mother and sister provided testimony proving Mary's marriage. If this is so, the bounty land warrant application could prove Mary's parentage and provide further information for me to research. The file also states that David Reed himself applied for and received 40 acres of land from a Bounty Land Warrant on May 10, 1851. The settlement number was provided for both land warrants so ordering copies from the National Archives is easy, using their eServices ordering service and NATF Form 85, Military Pension/Bounty Land Warrant Applications.

For more information on genealogical records of the War of 1812, check out:
Genealogical Records of the War of 1812, by Stuart L. Butler. Prologue, Winter 1991, Vol. 23, No. 4.

National Archives Military Resources for the War of 1812, a list of some helpful War of 1812 resources by the National Archives.

The problem with Louisa Watson Webb is that she is from Nebraska

Louisa Watson is a conundrum. I cannot find her anywhere and right now she is my biggest brick wall. As I was browsing through my tree a few days ago I noticed one of my many dead ends. You know the kind, you look at a pedigree and it just stops...while it's fellow lines continue on. Well I despise those dead ends, especially when I am at my wits end to resolve them.

The problem with Louisa is that she is from Nebraska. Nebraska is a beautiful state and I especially love Peony Park (is that still there?). But I don't like the issues I am having with early record searches there. I found Louisa on her daughter's death certificate and that was the first, and the last, time I saw her in print. Her daughter was Ella Caroline Webb, born 1864 in Wahoo, Nebraska (according to her death certificate). Ella's death certificate states that her father's birthplace is Kentucky and her mother's was Wahoo, Nebraska. The problem with being born in Wahoo, Nebraska is that it did not exist when Louisa was born, which I'm conjecturing was between 1840-1845. In fact, Wahoo didn't exist until 1870, long after Ella was born as well.

I know Ella's father was Charles M. Webb, who was actually born in Indiana. I have been able to track Charles through census records from age 10 to 86, except for 1860. In 1850 he was living with his mother in Indiana and in 1870 he was in Ray County, Missouri with 6-year-old Ella. Apparently, a lot happened to him in those 20 years. He never remarried and his death certificate lists him as widowed, a good indication that he and Louisa were actually married...but you never know. Nebraska is not on the route of travel between Indiana and Missouri, so what led Charles there? And more importantly, where is Louisa?

Here is what I have tried:

• I contacted the Saunders County Museum and Historical Society, where Wahoo is located and they were unable to find any record of a marriage for Charles and Louisa. Because Saunders County was formed from Cass County, they suggested I try there.
• I contacted the Cass County Historical Society, but they found no record of Louisa's headstone or anything about her in their newspaper indexes. Of course, the newspaper for the area didn't begin printing until 1865 so that may not have helped anyway.
• I contacted the Cass County Clerk, who would have had any early records for the county, but she found nothing. She suggested I contact the state archives, but they only maintain birth records from 1904/1909 to present.
• I also sent an email to the Nebraska Historical Society to see if they had any early records for Cass County, Nebraska. I have yet to hear back from them.
• Looked at FamilySearch.org and found no microfilm options for Cass or Saunders Counties that were helpful. A search of Nebraska marriages came up empty handed as well.

So now what? Louisa's maiden name was Watson and I have found several Watsons in the Saunders County area, but there is no way to determine if they are her ancestors. Her husband, Charles, left a document trail of censuses, but not much more, so I found nothing on Louisa there. I'm at a loss and looking for tips. Any help is appreciated!