Modesty (continued)

So who knew? I certainly didn't. Article after article made me aware of just how much pride Pop took in his work and the amount of recognition he received for it. When he retired, he was the guest of honor at a dinner where his mechanics were recognized for going 250,000 consecutive hours without a disabling injury. The article said that Fred "Butch" Jones had been Foreman of the men for the entire period in which they made this record.

I also learned of his honesty. The News said that Pop ended a dispute between he and Bert Maddock that was the result of a mistake Pop had made in ordering an item -- thus clearing the air.

In the short time I was at the library I also happened upon birth announcements for both me and my brother, Tim. Since our Dad was also working at the bus company at that time, both the father and

grandfather were recognized. Mom always told me that she thought I was going to be a boy because of the way she was carrying me. Little did I know how much they really expected a boy.

Tim's December 31st birthday is also acknowledged.

I was wondering where Pop's motto, "Modesty Becomes a Young Man" originated. The quote is attributed to Plautus, a Roman playwright who lived a few hundred years B.C.E. I was also surprised to learn that Pop did not retire until the age of 72. I can't imagine how difficult that must have been. I know he suffered from arthritis, and unlike his granddaughter, he couldn't look forward to the relief from pain that a knee replacement can provide.

I know I've only begun to scratch the surface, but I feel that I was so fortunate to get to take a peek into the work-a-day life of a strong, loving man I wish I could have known better. The next posting will discuss family life.

The "wave of the future" -- this picture was taken in 1957, the year following Pop's retirement.

"Modesty Becomes a Young Man"

"Modesty becomes a young man."

For the first time since I started writing this blog, I am finally able to write about someone I knew -- or realized I didn't know. Charles "Fred" Jones, my grandfather, was born on October 16, 1884 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the middle child of Charles Henry Jones and Rachel Wainright. If I would ask my siblings what they remember, the list would probably include the following:

Jan and Pop (as we called them) lived at 2424 Eastern Ave. (now Riverside Ave.) in the East End. The small frame house was located directly across the street from Highland Elementary School with a clear view of the Ohio River. While I was growing up, the house was painted "bus company yellow" as Rose would say, and I still remember the faded line just short of the first floor ceiling that marked the level of the infamous 1937 flood.

I remember a man who chewed tobacco, had a spitoon, talked to his parakeets, and loved to go for "rides" on a Sunday afternoon buying ice cream cones for all involved. There was always a jar of caramels and we constantly had to be asked to stop playing with the pedal on the Singer sewing machine in their bedroom.

Pop was just short of 65 years old when I was born. Jan had a clear preference for girls, so I was "in". There was no thought of shortening my name from Kathleen to Kathy or "Kath" as my family knows me because Jan loved my Irish name and couldn't understand why anyone would want to mess with such a beautiful name.

I knew Pop had worked at the "bus company" as had my Dad when I was young. I recall stories of Jan and Pop living on Columbia Avenue (what is now part of Columbia Parkway) when they were newlyweds. Dad used to point out the foundation of the former house when we drove by and talk about horse-drawn wagons that used to deliver milk each day.

In the name of "progress" Jan and Pop moved down from Columbia Parkway and built their home on Eastern Ave. The Breving Cousins, Rosemary, Fred and Bob were older and I contacted Rosemary and Fred to "fill in the blanks" for me, as I realized how much I didn't know. I'll write about our conversations in a later post.

I was "googling" the Cincinnati Street Railway and the Cincinnati Transit Company on the computer. Much to my surprise I found that there was an organization called the "Cincinnati Transit Historical Association" with bus and rail aficionados as members. Bill and I attended a meeting, hoping to connect with the organization's "librarian". The library was scheduled to be open the next day, so I made arrangements to see what I might find.

I knew from Pop's death certificate that he was a "retired foreman." Luckily for me, the "bus company" published a magazine for employees that often featured a story based on information supplied by the company foremen.

The picture of a man I barely knew began to emerge. In the July-August edition of The News, the headline read "Butch Jones Too Modest About Record." Now there's a question I want answered -- why was Charles "Fred" Jones known by his middle name or more often by the nickname "Butch"?

Pop was the foreman of the Hewitt Avenue "car barn". He apparently took a lot of pride in his work and had quite a reputation. The article stated:

Because his motto is "Modesty becomes a young man," Foreman Fred 'Butch' Jones said not a word at the July Conference of Foremen about the fact that there was not a single P.C.C. car failure in Walnut Hills during the month of June. (P.C.C. stands for a special Presidential Cabin Car that was in limited operation at the time).

As I scanned month after month of publications I read citation after citation recognizing the work he oversaw (i.e., Mr. Jones' division had gone 630,000 miles with only one pull in).

At one point, "Butch" decided he wanted to paint his entire shop white. He offered to do it himself, if necessary. He was apparently proud of his white shop as a picture in The News pictures Pop waving his cane at another foreman who suggested that perhaps his shop was even better.

To be continued . . .

Wainwrights in the United States

In earlier posts I mentioned that the Wainwrights in the United States originally spelled their last name with two "w's". One record says that it was William Wainright (father of Britton) who dropped the second "w". I also stated that William Wainright was the son of Vincent, our family's connection to the Revolutionary War.

When I first started researching our roots in the United States, there was more than one record online. I try to document any individual that I include in our family tree. This is one instance where I accepted someone else's documentation.

There are three sources of information for the family pedigree outlined above. The first is Genealogy of the Family Line of Thomas Wainwright published in 1957 by Edith Wainwright and Halstead Wainwright. The second, and most important source is correspondence I have had over the last year with Rodney Wainwright of New York. He took a copy of the above publication and compared it page by page with the documentation he had. The vast majority of information was supported. The third source was the website for the Wing Family in America, Inc. http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=mewingnut Jane Wing was the maternal grandmother of Vincent Wainwright. All of this documentation seems to agree when it comes to the basic facts. Rodney Wainwright provided me with the majority of the information listed in the pedigree, especially in the maternal lines.

It became apparent that there was a lot of documentation from the time of William Wainright back, but little existed coming forward. Even the Wing Family site only listed Britton and Eliza Ann as children of William Wainright and Ruth Wright. I have spent the last year trying to find additional children with a fair degree of success.

As near as I can tell, William Wainright and his wife Ruth Wright had seven children. There may have been more but these are the ones I have been able to document.


William (2-23-1809 to 4-23-1834) -Listed in the 1831 City Directory as William Jr., a blacksmith, in business with his brother, Vincent. The Cincinnati Daily Gazette states in a death notice that he died of small pox at the age of 25.

Ann Eliza (1-4-1813 in New York City, died 1-12 1890 in Broadwell, Ohio near Athens. Married Henry (Harry) Broadwell in 1834 and relocated to Athens, Ohio and had many children.

Vincent - (abt. 1-10-1810 to abt. 7-19-1849) Married Mahitable Morrow on May 2, 1843. They had a son, Britton in 1848. Both the father and the son died in July 1849 in the cholera epidemic. As mentioned above, Vincent was a blacksmith in business at one point with his older brother.

Britton (9-26-1819 to 7-9-1863) -- Our gg-grandfather -- plenty was written about him in earlier postings.

Rachel -- married James Lusk in 1843 in Cincinnati. James was a ship's carpenter according to one of the Census documents. Ruth Wainright was living with the Lusks in Newport, KY when she died.

John -- married Elizabeth Raney on 12-22-1836. He also died abt. July 1849 making me speculate that he, too, could have been a victim of the cholera epidemic. I have a copy of John's will written July 1, 1849 naming his wife Elizabeth and children William Henry, David R., John B., and Jane Elizabeth as beneficiaries.

Daniel -- married Prudence Grapevine on November 6, 1842 in Cincinnati. Daniel's occupation was listed as a "drayman" in several City Directories. His marriage license states that he was married by Wesley Rowe, a minister who was listed as the officiant for several of the Wainright weddings. I do not know when Daniel was born, but he may have been one of the older siblings since the City Directory for 1839-40 says that he was born in New York.


There are a couple of other candidates for Wainright siblings, but the documentation is not strong enough to include them in this list. I leave it for future researchers.


Several Wainrights and Darbys fought in the Civil War. At some point I may post what I know about our family's participation in the Civil War. The participation was not limited to men. Some other time . . .

Clermont County Roots

For over a year I have had a copy of the deed to property William Wainright had in Clermont Co., Ohio. He purchased it in December 1819. I had always wanted to know where the land was located and what was on the land now. What a history lesson I got investigating this!

The first thing I learned was that all of Clermont County and 22 other Ohio counties were once part of the Virginia Military District. This was land set aside by the Commonwealth of Virginia to reward her Revolutionary War soldiers. Land was awarded on the basis of rank and length of service with bounties ranging from 100 to 15,000 acres. The veteran would be issued a certificate noting the amount of land to which he was entitled. The book Property Transfers for Clermont County, 1791-1830, the process of redemption is described in this way:

"Next, the soldier made an entry (a general description of the tract on which he was locating the warrant). This entry was numbered, dated, and recorded in a book in the Principal Surveyor's Office. He then had the tract dated, and recorded in a book in the Principal Surveyor's Office. He then had the tract surveyed by an authorized deputy surveyor. Following the acceptance of the survey by the Principal Surveyor, he sent the warrant and survey to the Federal government for a patent."

Alma Aicholtz Smith published a book in 1985. In many cases the veteran who qualified for the land as a reward for his service had no interest in relocating from Virginia to a wilderness area that still occasionally had to subdue the native Indians to stake their claim. They often sought to sell their claim.

It was necessary to acquire the services of a Deputy Surveyor. The surveyor in turn was responsible for hiring and maintaining his surveying crew, "consisting of two chain carriers, a marker man, a pack horse, a spy, and a hunter to supply food. Until the Indian Wars were concluded in 1795, stealth was necessary, and every man was armed with rifle, tomahawk, and scalping knife."

A surveyor by the name of John O'Bannon ran the first survey in what is now Clermont County in the year 1787. (He was also the surveyor for the land later purchased by William Wainright). In my posting for "William the Wanderer," I included a copy of the deed for the property. The deed included this description of the property: ". . . said half part of said original tract containing three hundred and sixty-nine acres of thirty-two perches be the same more or less, and was conveyed to said Kemp by Samuel McChesley of Lexington and conveyed to him by John Mc Dowell of the same place . . ." With this information I was able to track down the survey number pictured below.

After finding the information shown in the image above, I wanted to know where, in Clermont County, William Wainright's property was located. I knew from Alma's book that the Recorder's Office in Batavia had a book called the Clermont County Virginia Military Survey Book. Since I already had the survey number, it should have been easy to go to the Recorder's Office and get a copy of the original survey. It was not easy.

Initially they acted as if I didn't have sufficient information and referred me to the Tax Map Office in the same building. There I met Randy Jefferson and supplied him with all of the information I had. I had a map of Stonelick Township that cited the survey number and property for the property surveyed for McDowell.

Randy worked with their tax maps and tried to match up features of my map with those he had in his data base. I am grateful to him for the amount of time he was willing to give to me as the books he had only dated back to 1870. This land was purchased in 1819.
I returned to the Doris Wood Library in Batavia and tried to bring back additional clues. With this information, Randy located the approximate area of the plot. Most of the land is in a subdivision off of Route 131. He supplied me with both an outline map and a map of the surface features of the land as it exists now. 

I had so much information that I returned to the Recorder's side of the office. At this point, I was very specific about what I needed. Two of the employees again were very helpful. They located a very fragile copy of the Clermont County Virginia Military Survey Book and carefully made copies of the original survey. I know if you're not "into" this stuff, it's hard to understand how satisfied I was at the end of the day.


Before I complete this posting, I can't leave out what I know about William Lytle. William is known as the "Father of Clermont County."

William was one of the original surveyors of Clermont County. Deputy Surveyors typically made their living by accepting a portion of the lands surveyed as compensation. Surveyors typically charged between 1/4 and 1/2 of the land surveyed. Because of his extensive work as a surveyor, William Lytle owned thousands of acres of land and at one point owned the second-largest amount of land in the state. While surveying he was struck by the beauty and possibilities of land located in present-day Williamsburg. He started a town there originally called Lytle's Town. The town was about 30 miles east of Cincinnati and he helped establish a road linking Cincinnati, Williamsburg and Chillicothe.

In 1809 William Lytle built his home in Cincinnati near what is now Lytle Park. He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery. One of the pieces of property purchased by William Wainright was originally surveyed by William Lytle.

I still have Clermont County questions, such as where the property purchased by William's brother, Daniel was located. Many of the Wainrights from Clermont County are children and grandchildren of Daniel and his wife, Nancy Hall. I'm amazed at how uncovering the origin of a piece of property could teach me so much about the county to the east.

The picture of William Lytle and information about Williamsburg came from a book called Olde Williamsburgh, 200 Years of History, a book put together to commemorate 200 years of history from 1796-1996. It can be found in the Doris Wood Branch of the Batavia Library.

P.S. I just spoke to Alma Aicholtz Smith to include the quotes, illustrations and pictures from her book. It was a delightful conversation. When I get back in town, we've agreed to get together so I can show her what a blog is. Permission granted.

Wainwrights and the Revolutionary War

William's father, Vincent, fought in the Revolutionary War. Who knew? We could be Daughters/Sons of the American Revolution! In fact, some descendants of Vincent are members of the DAR.  Here are two descendants listed as members of the DAR:

"Vincent Wainwright served as a minute man in the Monmouth County New Jersey militia. He died 1782 at Colts Neck, N.J. Miss Emma T. Ferris. DAR ID Number: 45794 Born in Bordentown, N. J.Descendant of Vincent Wainwright, his wife.Daughter of Thomas Harvey and Lydia W. Wainwright, his wife. Granddaughter of Vincent Wainwright and Rebecca M. Potts, his wife. Gr-granddaughter of Vincent Wainwright and Elizabeth Williams, his wife. Vincent Wainwright served as a minute man in the Monmouth County New Jersey militia. He died 1782 at Colts Neck, N.J.
SOURCE: Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Volume 46 The National page 336"

"Mrs. Blanche Wainwright Rouse. DAR ID Number: 50220 Born in
Wilmington, Del. Descendant of Vincent Wainwright, Samuel Force and John Edwards. Daughter of John Wainwright and Emma M. Edwards, his wife.Granddaughter of Samuel F. Wainwright and Maria Humphrey, his wife; Joshua Edwards and Eliza Woodward, his wife. [p.102] Gr-granddaughter of John Wainwright and Mary Force, his wife; John Edwards and Lydia Roberts, his wife. Gr-gr-granddaughter of Vincent Wainwright and Elizabeth Williams, his wife; Samuel Force and Sarah Bird, his wife.Vincent Wainwright served as a minute man in the Monmouth County, N. J., militia. He died, 1782, at Colts Neck, N. J."

SOURCE:The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Volume 51 page 102 " 

I found this listing of Wainwrights in the Revolutionary War in a book housed at the Main Branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati. I find it interesting that Elizabeth, Joseph, and Thomas Wainwright are all listed as helping to "keep the poor".

William the Wanderer

When you begin to research the Wainwright family, it becomes doubly difficult because they, like so many families of their time, named their children in honor of beloved brothers and sisters. Thus, certain family names are often repeated from generation to generation. As mentioned earlier, I found the information of Steve Wainwright of California and Rodney Wainwright of New York to be invaluable. Without their help, I could never had as much success as I did.

In speaking with Steve, he refers to "our" line as the "Daniel/Vincent Line" because those names are found in almost every generation. Thomas and William are also used quite frequently. The challenge then becomes that when you've found records for William Wain(w)right that you do everything you can to insure that it is the "correct" William Wain(w)right -- not the brother, father, or nephew.

In an earlier posting, I discussed the evidence for William in Cincinnati -- but he didn't seem to stay put. William was the son of Vincent Wainwright and Elizabeth Williams of Monmouth Co., New Jersey. We are fortunate that we are connected to the Wing Family through marriage and they have documented a lot of the Wainwright earlier history. Go to this link:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mewingnut&id=I2021919

William did not stay put. He was born in Shrewsbury, Monmouth, New Jersey on February 26, 1780. He was the 8th of nine children born to Vincent Wainwright and Elizabeth Williams. His father died in 1783 of small pox leaving his widow with nine children with two of the boys ages three and under.

William married Ruth Wright and eventually relocated to New York, New York. One of his daughters, Ann Eliza, was born in New York in 1810. About 1819 the family relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio where Britton was born. He worked as a blacksmith. That same year William bought property in Clermont County, Ohio. Here is a copy of the deed. He did not move immediately as he is still listed in the Cincinnati City Directory as a blacksmith living on Broadway near 2nd Street in the year 1831. Two of his sons, William Jr. and Vincent are also listed as blacksmiths living on E. Front St.




William is also listed in the index for property transfers in Clermont County along with other Wainwrights. According to the Genealogy of the Family Line of Thomas Wainwright cited earlier, William's brother Daniel brought his large family to Clermont County in 1828. Many of the records in Clermont County are from Daniel's family. Hopefully, I'll be able to post the exact locations of these properties before too long.

Property Transfers in Clermont County, 1791-1830
Note that Daniel, Vincent and William all bought property in Clermont County between 1819 and 1826. William bought property first followed by Daniel and Vincent. I do not know if Daniel and Vincent are the sons of William or his brothers. Daniel bought property in 1825.



Somewhere around 1839, William moved his family back to Cincinnati where he again worked as a blacksmith. He is listed in the Shaffer's Advertising Directory for 1839-40:

Wainwright, Wm (N J) Blacksmith, res, E Front n Corp line

The Cist Cincinnati Directory for 1843 has the following listings:

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

I believe that "J. & B." stands for John and Britton, two of William's sons. I know that Britton got married in Cincinnati and was still here in 1850 as he appears with his family in the Census.

Before Britton got married, however, it appears as if the wanderlust had struck him, too. He purchased 40 acres of land in Gallatin Co., IL. Shortly before he married Mary Elizabeth Darby in Cincinnati, he sold the 40 acres of property to his father -- a recent finding.

This land purchase took place in 1846. William was listed as living in Gallatin Co. in the 1850 Census. It says in the Census that he was married, yet Ruth is not listed in the Census with him. I found Ruth living in Cincinnati with her daughter Rachel Lusk in 1850. Her last name is misspelled and listed as "Wenright" in ancestry.com. Rachel's husband James' occupation is listed as a "ships carpenter".

This was not to be his last move, however, because as cited earlier, William died in Athens Co., Ohio and is buried in the family plot of his daughter, Ann Eliza Broadwell. At some point after 1850 the Lusks and Ruth (William's widow) moved to Newport, KY. Ruth was living in northern Kentucky when she died and was buried at the Evergreen Cemetery.

I do not know what motivated William to move so often, but I've been able to track him in the following locations: Born in New Jersey, one child (at least) born in New York, son born in Cincinnati in 1819, lived in Clermont Co. from at least 1820 - 1839, back to Cincinnati in 1839, bought property in Gallatin Co., IL in 1846 and was there for the 1850 Census, and died in Athens Co., Ohio. I'm glad for the information I have but wish I understood more about his willingness to move so often.

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 II

Genealogy is an interesting hobby. You always have loose ends. One of my loose ends was what exactly happened to Britton to cause his death. I knew from the pension file that he died of heatstroke. I imagined him building barricades in New Albany to protect the town from Morgan.

As I do periodically, I "googled" his unusual name and found it referenced in a journal published by the staff of the National Archives. Here is the link: http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/spring/genea-accompany.html

The author of the article, John Deeben, is a genealogy archives specialist in the Research Support Branch of the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. His article was written to encourage genealogists to consider the records they may have that could help provide information they are seeking. In the article was the following quote:

Personal and family records appear most prevalently in the pension-related claims because of the need for a widow and dependents to document their relationship to a deceased soldier. The claim of Mary E. Wainwright, whose husband Britton died while serving with Kunkle's Company, Seventh Indiana Legion (Home Guards) during the Civil War, included a notarized copy of their marriage record from the probate court of Hamilton County, Ohio. The record identified their wedding date (May 1, 1847), Mary's maiden name (Darby), and the name of the presiding minister (Rev. James H. Perkins).

At the end of the article, the following footnote appears: "Notarized copy of Wainwright marriage license, Jan. 10, 1866; Mary E. Wainwright File; Accompanying Papers [43A-D1]; Legislative Proceedings; 43rd Cong.; RG 233; NAB."

I contacted the author of the article and he pulled the file from the archives. He told me by phone that the file contained eye-witness testimony of commanding officers who were with Britton when he died. It also contained the appeal on behalf of Mary Elizabeth for a pension that she had previously been denied because Britton wasn't officially "mustered in" at the time of his death.

I ordered a copy. There are several affidavits from witnesses to Britton's death on a "forced march" from New Albany to Edwardsville, IN to head off Morgan's Raiders.

Sample quotes:
1) From James McCurdy - I was the Colonel and in the command of the 7th
Regiment of the Indiana Legion. That on said day in obedience to my orders as commander aforesaid, said regiment made a forced march from the city of New Albany to Edwardsville, Indiana to meet the rebels under John Morgan. That on said day and on said march, I saw Britton Wainright, who was a private in Capt. Thos. S. Kunkle's company of said regiment stricken down with a sun stroke while in the performances of his duties as a soldier. That I saw said Britton Wainright die in less than one hour after he was stricken down and from the effects of said sun stroke received while in the ranks of said company and while making said march.

2) John Stacy - First Lieutenant - . . . "That on said march I saw Britton Wainright, who was then a private on duty in my said company, stricken down while in the ranks of said company and in the performance of his duty as a private of said company , with a stroke of the sun and I saw him die in less than thirty minutes afterward, from the effects of said sun stroke."

3) Charles Bowman - physician and surgeon - I saw Britton Wainright . . . die from the effects of coup de soleil (sunstroke) received while on duty . . .

4) Captain Kunkle - Captain and commander of a company in the 7th Regiment of the Indiana Legion - "That Britton Wainright was a private in said co. That he was a healthy able-bodied man at the time he entered said service. That while he was engaged in the line of his duty in said service . . . to meet the rebels under John Morgan, he became overheated and fell in the ranks, and he died from said overheating about half an hour after he fell in the ranks on said day while in the line of his duty in said service. That he was a good man made a good soldier and did his duty well and cheerfully, and had nothing the matter with his health previous to said marching."

I finally knew how he died. It wasn't in battle, it wasn't building fortifications, it was on a march in very hot July weather as part of a group of home guards preparing to defend their town from Morgan's advances.

His death notice appeared in the New Albany Daily Ledger, July 10, 1863 on p.2.

There is an error in the notice as Britton left a wife and three children. So how was a widow with three children going to support herself? I'll answer that question in the next post.

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.

The Darby Connection

I debated when I started this project as to whether or not I should go straight down the descendant lines (Alexander Jones to Charles Henry Jones, Charles Henry to Charles Fred, Charles Fred to John Thomas, John Thomas to me) or should I also include information on the collateral lines. I went with the latter. I'm a firm believer in not ignoring the contributions of the women that the Jones men married. So let me tell you about Mary Elizabeth Darby who was the mother of Rachel Wainright Jones (Pop's mother).

Mary Elizabeth Darby emigrated with her family from Selby, Yorkshire County, England. She was 13 years old at the time. They sailed from Liverpool and arrived in New York on March 20, 1841.

When I first started researching my family, I was really fascinated by Rachel Wainright and her father Britton -- more about him later. When you have a last name like Jones, researching can be incredibly challenging -- but then there was a unique name like Britton Wainright. I decided to "google" his name on the computer and he immediately came up in a family tree married to Mary Elizabeth Darby who came from England. In addition, there were several other previous generations listed. The family tree had been submitted by Martha Darby Rutter of Oklahoma.

I googled Martha and was able to find a phone number and called her up. What a conversation that was! When I told her who I was she went and got the family history record written by her g-grandfather, Edwin Cyrus Darby. She quoted this paragraph to me:

Father's oldest sister married a man named Wainwright. They had three children, two daughters named Ruth and Rachel and a son Thomas. He was killed in a railroad accident. Ruth married a Dr. Hutchison, had a son and daughter, then he died. The daughter was a nurse in the World War and went to France. Ruth died several years ago. Rachel married Harry Jones. They had two or three children. She died young, then he died and the children were put out in private homes. I lost track of them.

When Martha read this to me the hairs on my arms stood up. I told her that I was part of the family that her g-grandfather had lost track of. He wrote his family history about 1937, the year Alwilda died.

Her next statement was the biggest shock of the conversation. Martha said, "You know where they are buried, right?" I replied that I couldn't possibly know that, because until this conversation I didn't even know they existed. She then proceeded to tell me that many members of the Darby family were buried in the Pleasant Ridge Presbyterian Church Cemetery. Imagine my shock because I've lived in Pleasant Ridge the majority of my life and even went to kindergarten at Pleasant Ridge School, directly across the street from the cemetery. Martha told me she had come to Cincinnati and found the graves and found the church office to be very helpful. Based on her information, I was able to retrieve copies of their cemetery records. Tim and I made a visit and you can see the picture below.

I plugged the information into my Family Tree Maker program and it said that Martha and I are fourth cousins. We are related through Jonathon Darby, father of Mary Elizabeth. Martha and I have stayed in touch. She has pursued her family's genealogy for more than three decades and provided me with a lot of information. I have a copy of the Darby passenger list when they emigrated from England. I know the family was very musical and brought their instruments with them to the states. There are several members of the family who fought in the Civil War. Martha also sent me a picture of Mary Elizabeth, mother of Rachel and my gg-grandmother. She was one of many strong women from whom we are descended.

For more than eight years, Martha and I have emailed back and forth. When I became frustrated with my genealogical "brick walls", Martha was always there to suggest another approach to solving the problem. I attribute to her my love of this hobby and much of what I've learned. We always promise to meet, but so far we haven't done so. Like me, Martha is a retired teacher. We've both had our fair share of health issues -- but you can't keep a Jones/Wainright/Darby woman down.