The Rest of the Story

In the last two postings, I told you what the record from the National Archives uncovered about Britton. It had even more to say about the effect of his death on his surviving widow and three children. Following Britton's death, Mary Elizabeth moved the family back to Cincinnati. I've always speculated that this young widow returned to Cincinnati to get the support of other family members living here.

This was a time where there was no such thing as Social Security. When pensions became available for widows of Civil War fatalities, Mary Elizabeth's application was rejected. A local Cincinnati attorney, Herbert Jenney, became familiar with Mary Elizabeth's case while she was working as a nurse taking care of his wife. He took it upon himself to compile all of the documentation necessary to make a case for awarding her a pension. On January 25, 1875, a bill (H.R. 4489) was introduced by the local congressman, Mr. Banning, to grant a pension to Mary E. Wain(w)right.

In a letter addressed to the Honorable H. B. Banning, House of Representatives, Mr. Jenney stated:

"She (Mary E.) is a hard-working woman who has since her husband's death had a hard time of it to support her three children. They now assist some: the two girls by sewing and the boy earns a trifle as one of the messenger boys of the Telegraph Company. They have all they can do to get along. Mrs. Wainright is a professional nurse and while nursing my wife I became interested in her case. I will here state that I have taken hold of her case purely from a desire to help her and not as a matter of law -- all my services will be gratuitous. If you can obtain a pension for her, you will be doing a charitable act I can assure you."

In a second letter, Mr. Jenney wrote to General Burck, Chairman of the Committee on Invalid Pensions for the House of Representatives. Some of the facts listed above were restated. He also added this:

"Although her husband was not regularly enlisted at the time of his death and did not meet his death on the battle field, yet it was caused by his exertions to repel the raid of John Morgan and was a great an act of patriotism as if he had been a regularly enlisted man and met his death in any of the battles."

Until this article was published in The Prologue, a journal of the National Archives, I would have never known that such private claims and appeals could be made to Congress and that the accompanying paperwork could contain so many valuable clues for genealogists. In fact during the years of Reconstruction following the Civil War (1865-1877), 10,136 claims were submitted to the House of Representatives from the 39th to 44th Congresses. Almost half (4,259 claims, 42 percent) of the claims dealt with pensions for military service. "The vast majority of those claims, not surprisingly, related to service in the Civil War (2,995 claims, 70 percent). "

As I have a copy of the Pension Index, I know that Mary Elizabeth eventually did get a pension. It was for $8 a month. To think that $8 a month could make such a difference for a family of four. Once again I am impressed with the ability of my ancestors to survive in such stressful times. Every day I realize how blessed I am.

Britton Wainright - Part I

One of the things I really enjoy doing is riding my bike on the Little Miami Bike Trail. I was riding along one day and they had placed a historical marker, about a mile up the trail from Miamiville. It spoke of what had happened on the railroad when Morgan's Raiders came through. I remembered that Britton had died in defense of his town in Indiana and I wanted to know more.

Britton was, and came from, a family of blacksmiths. He was born in Cincinnati in 1819. Several Cincinnati City Directories reference his father and later, Britton and his brother, as blacksmiths.

Cist Cincinnati Directory 1843

Wainright J. & B. wagon makers and blacksmiths, cor Front and
Washington
Wainright John, (J. & B. W.) Front bet Washington & Collord
Wainright Britton, (J. & B. W.) boards Wm Wainright
Wainright William, blacksmith. Front bet Washington & Collord

Britton married in 1847. In 1850 he was listed with Mary Elizabeth and their daughter Ruth Catherine still living in Cincinnati. Somewhere shortly thereafter, the family relocated to New Albany, Indiana where Britton continued to work as a blacksmith.

My first surprise was finding out that Britton was actually listed on the Civil War Pension Index. That enabled me to literally order a copy of the file from the national archives. It contained a wealth of information including a copy of the Marriage License for he and Mary Elizabeth Darby. It also listed the names and ages of his three surviving children at the time of his death and stated that he died of heatstroke in defense of New Albany from Morgan's Raiders.

I got a copy of the book The Longest Raid of the Civil War by Lester Horwitz, a Cincinnati author who became interested in Morgan after buying a home near Loveland that had been raided by Morgan and his men during the Civil War. On July 9, 1863, Morgan and his band of 2200 men confronted approximately 450 home guards at the Battle of Corydon in Indiana. Being badly outnumbered, the town was quickly surrendered. The locals lost nine men and the Confederates lost eleven. The weather was extremely hot that day and two women who were carrying water to the soldiers died from the effects of the heat. No mention was made of Britton, despite my knowledge that he, too, had died on that day.

I spoke with the author and he suggested that I review the correspondence between the Union and Confederate generals. Unknown to me our library had a complete set of this correspondence. I quickly discovered that Gen. Burnside predicted that Morgan and his raiders were going to attack New Albany. In fact the newspaper in Indianapolis for July 9th reported:

It is supposed the rebels are marching on New Albany and Jeffersonville, where large quantities of supplies are stored. Troops are being organized throughout the State and sent forward as rapidly as possible.

The generals got it wrong. Instead of heading east to New Albany, the raiders headed north to Palmyra and Salem before turning east. Therefore, Britton was not listed as one of the casualties of war. Yet there was the issue of the pension. How did Mary Elizabeth get a pension which clearly stated that Britton had died in defense of his country against Morgan's Raiders? This puzzled me for more than seven years -- and only this year did I find the definitive answer. I'll discuss it in Part II.

Charles Henry Jones

Charles Henry, sometimes referred to as "Harry" was born January 23, 1850 in Cincinnati. He was the third of six children and was our g-grandfather. I love what I know (and don't know) about Charles Henry. In Lillian's letter to Edith, she described him this way:

Charles Jones was a handsome, fair man, much like your Bob (my Dad's brother, father of Bob and Gina). Everyone liked him and people said he was the finest man who ever walked Eastern Avenue. He looked something like your father, (Fred --our grandfather) except that his coloring was different (blue-eyed and blond hair). See for yourself. Here is his picture.



I think we'd all agree -- he was handsome!
As a young man, Charles and his brother Tom, worked at the Crane Lumber Yard building caskets.

Once again Lillian's letter tells us "Your grandfather (Charles) and Uncle Tom (Charles' brother) worked for the Crane Lumber Co. on Eastern Ave. They manufactured caskets, and every noon the men would stretch out in a nice clean casket, before the satin linings were put in, and take a nap!"
In 1874 and '75, Charles' occupation was listed in the City Directory as a "sawyer". By 1876 he was a machinist. Eventually Charles made his living as a "carriage maker". On January 25, 1882 Charles married Rachel Adela Wainright in the Emanuel Episcopal Church.
Lillian's letter described Rachel this way:

Rachel was a very refined, intelligent woman who was slightly crippled, I think, walking with a little limp. Her health was delicate and she died early. Charles Jones remarried, but his second wife was not a good mother to her stepchildren, mother said. Charles was a kind man, very easy-going, but the children needed Rachel's guidance. Had she lived she would have insisted on a good education for Fred, Leo, and Edith.

Researching Rachel has been a labor of love. I have always felt drawn to her based on this description. I wanted to know more. Rachel was the daughter of Britton Wainright and Mary Elizabeth Darby. Believe me, each of them is a story in itself. Britton died at the age of 43, leaving Mary Elizabeth a widow with three children. They were living in New Albany, IN at the time of Britton's death. Mary Elizabeth brought the family back to Cincinnati. I'll write about each of their stories later.

Rachel had what we would now refer to as tuberculosis (they called it consumption). They lived in a two-family home on Gladstone which is just above the railroad tracks off Collins Ave. The house was just torn down a couple of years ago. Rachel's mother lived with them, I assume to assist in her care and help with the children. Rachel died in 1892 at the age of 41. At the time of her death, Edith was 10 years old, Fred was just short of 8 years old and little Leo was only 5 years old. After her death, I have some documentation that says the children were "put into private homes".

Charles married Alwilda Collins, who deserves her own posting. There seems to have been no love lost between Rachel's mother and Alwilda. Let me show you Rachel's grave in Evergreen Cemetery in Southgate, KY. I'll let you draw your own conclusion.







Note the inscription at the base of the grave marker:
"Erected by her mother and children"

Huh?

What about her husband?

Charles was only 59 years old when he died in 1909. On his Death Certificate, his son, Fred was the informant and apparently living at home at 2316 Gladstone. Charles' occupation was listed as a "millwright" and the cause of death was chronic nephritis.

He is buried next to his second wife, Alwilda, in the Walnut Hills Cemetery. I intend to blog on details related to that, too.