Mystery Monday~Company D 7th Regiment Alabama Calvary~Civil War

John Gibson Kennedy Military Plaque

 

John Gibson Kennedy served in Company D 7th Regiment of the Alabama Calvary.  After application to the government, these plaques are placed on the graves of honorably discharged veterans.  So many stories have been floating around concerning John Kennedy and his time he served in the Civil War.  I searched high and low and far and wide looking for information last night concerning this matter.  Very little information is out on this particular troop.  The questions I need answered are as follows:  When did he enlist?  Could it have been that he didn’t enlist until the battles happened at Corinth and Iuka?  Did he enlist before then, and if so where was he when these battles were fought?  Was he close to home or fighting somewhere else at that time?  The 7th Alabama Cavalry Regiment was organized at Newbern, Hale County, Al on  22 July 1863. This regiment was to become part of the brigade of General James H. Clanton. Recruits came from Greene, Montgomery, Pickens, Randolph, and Shelby counties.  I have found no information of any troops out of Mississippi as of yet, but I am sure they were there, just need documentation for proof.   They were ordered to Pollard, Escambia County, AL where they remained in that vicinity for almost a year or so under the command of General Clanton.  In July of 1864, the Seventh Regiment consisted of  451 men.  Where Company D was, I have no idea at the moment for they were not serving as one command.  Two companies were with General Page and eight companies rode with Colonel I.W. Patton. The 7th was later attached to W.W. Allen’s, B.M. Thomas’, and Bell’s Brigade.  In the fall of 1864, the 7th reported to Gen’l Nathan Bedford Forrest at Corinth, Mississippi and was reassigned to Rucker’s Brigade.  At some point the 7th Regiment  took part in the raid on a Union supply depot at Johnsonville, Tennessee, on 3 October 1864 which caused millions of dollars in damage. In December of 1864, they fought in with General John Bell Hood, who was the last commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee in the Second Battle of Franklin. Hood was Forrest’s commanding officer and they had a huge argument when Forrest demanded permission to cross the river in order to cut off the escape route of the Union Major General John M. Schofield’s army. Finally, Forrest was given permission and made the attempt but was defeated.  After the Franklin defeat, Hood moved on to Nashville and Forrest led his troops on an independent raid against the garrison at Murfreesboro,TN.   Forrest fought the Union Army that was near Murfreesboro on 5 December 1864, where he and his troops were defeated.  This became known as the Third Battle of Murfreesboro.  Hood’s Army of Tennessee was destroyed at the Battle of Nashville. This was when  Forrest commandered  the Confederate Rear Guard to protect and aid what was left of the army to escape.  Because of this, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.  Once again, in 1865, Forrest was defeated when he was trying to defend the state of Alabama in  Wilson’s Raid.   Brigadier General James H. Wilson defeated Forrest in this battle. When Forrest heard the  news of Lee’s surrender, he also chose to surrender and on  9 May 1865  Forrest read his farewell address to his troops at Gainesville. Approximately 150 surrendered along with Forrest.  Was John Gibson Kennedy in this group?  Or had he already gone home?  It was very common during this time for men to leave and go home, basically for a visit ot to take care of business then go back and fight more.  Is anyone willing to help me get documentation on this?

Mystery Monday~Helen McGlothlin-Texas

This week I have spent hours pouring over the Texas births from 1930-1935 putting all names that even remotely resembled my maiden name.  Then I turned around and started a search with my grandmother’s maiden name (surname only) as the mother on ancestry for those years in hopes of trying to find records on my father’s birth.  Dad said he was told that he was born in Bailey Hospital and that it was a private hospital in San Antonio, Texas.  The only place I can find my grandfather is on the 1920 census as a lodger.  I was able to locate a newspaper clipping of where my father was listed as one of the returning football players for Rolling Fork, Mississippi high school.  No records that I know of is on my grandmother and I would really like to find her and my grandfather both. The only name I have on her is Helen maybe Hellen McGlothlin born 22 Mar 1896 supposedly in or close to Comanche, Tx.  My grandfather is Frank Estrado(Estrada?) Alderete born in Floresville, Tx in 1897, possibly 1898.  Some time between 1920 and 1934 my grandparents married, gave birth to my father in 1934 and when he was 3 they moved to Issaquena County, Mississippi, where my grandfather became the manager of Homochitta Plantation.  His social security number will not come up in a search on the ssdi database even tho we have his ss card and it’s listed on his death certificate. How I would so love to solve this mystery.

Mystery Monday ~ Charity Baker aka Charity Denby Eley

Well, well, well….(I know…don’t remind me…mighty deep subject for such a shallow mind) I solved one mystery this weekend for myself but lawdy have mercy did it ever create more!!  I kept wondering why things did not tally out on my 5th great-grandmother, Charity Baker, born 1757, Franklin, North Carolina, married Josiah Eley and died in 1803. She listed herself as Charity Denby when she married Josiah in 1771 but according to court documents it wasn’t until Feb 1771 that James Denby was given guardianship over Charity.  If that, being the case, it means she married at 14 and at age 19 James Denby was listed as her guardian.  Her biological father died in 1776. She is listed in James Denby’s will but not individually as his children were.  Josiah, her husband was also one of James executors of his will.  So many trees on different sites has James Denby listed as her father and Patience Norfleet, his wife listed as her mother, which according to the documents are wrong, unless they are accepting them as her adoptive parents. 

The following questions now arise – Why was James Denby given guardianship of Charity at age 19 when she was already married?  Who is William Baker and where did he come from.  Who is Charity’s biological mother? Does this mean I no longer have to search out the James Denby and Patience Norfleet lines but get on the trail of Baker?  And last but not least….how the sam thunder do I list all this in my tree in order for it to be correct?  Scratches head and sighs……I need a blame time machine to go back in time and be a fly on the wall during Charity’s life!!!

Mystery Monday – My grandfather who loved me but never met me

Today, I am going to dwell on my grandfather on my father’s side of my family.  Some of the info I will be sharing has been passed down to me via my father and mother, and other information is what I have been able to source out.  My grandfather was a very special man according to my mother.  She had the joy of knowing him and I only know of him thru my parents.  Frank Estrada Alderete was born in Floresville, Wilson County, Texas on 27 Jun 1897 according to his death certificate we were able to obtain from Arizona.  I have been able to find him on the 1920 census where he lodged with a family that owned a funeral home in San Antonio.  He was their chauffeer.  I have no marriage certificate nor birth certificate as of yet.  Some time between 1920 and 1934 he met my grandmother, Helen Mcglothlin.  I was told that she was born in Comanche County, Texas 22 Mar 1896.  They had my father, and again, we have no proof of my dad’s birth 18 Feb 1934.  When my parents needed to go to Italy for my brother’s wedding, Dad had to get a half cousin (now deceased) to verify that he was born in the United States in order to get his passport, and then later this was used for him to apply for his social security.  When my father was 3, they moved to Mississippi and after several moves, they settled down in Myersville, which is not far from Rolling Fork, Mississippi where my father graduated high school from.  My grandfather became the overseer of a plantation there in Myersville in the ’30′s and when Dad was about 12, their house burned.  Dad said all their important papers were burned up in that fire.  The owner let them move into the barn until they could get a house built for them.  Sheets and quilts were hung up to divide the different rooms off in the barn for their living quarters.  After Dad graduated from Rolling Fork High School, he enlisted in the army, served his time and then married my mother.  In 1957, my grandparents sold all of their belongings and caught a bus headed for Arizona and stopped to spend the night with my parents before going on.  Mother said that my Dad’s job was not the greatest at that time so he quit his job, and they packed the car up and moved to Arizona.  My grandfather petted and spoiled my mother horribly for she was then carrying me, his first grandchild.  He could not wait for the day when I would be placed in his arms but sad to say, just a few short weeks after moving to Glendale, my grandfather died of a massive heart attack on 18 Jan 1958.  I was born 15 May 1958, and from then until the fall of 1959, I had a grandmother who doted on me unmercifully, showering me with love, compensating for the love of the grandfather who never knew me but loved me.

So many questions, has come up concerning these two people in my life.  Why can I not find him on any other census?  And what about my grandmother?  I cannot find her either, nor, when their marriage took place.  On the death certificate of my grandfather, a social security number was put there that matched the social security card my father has on his Dad, but yet when I try to search out the databases for that number, nothing comes up.  So what gives?  What can I do to solve this mystery?