The Other Jefferson Family

As you know I have been working on the Henrietta Jefferson and Robert Bailey line.  I have a copy of the Eros Gray Bailey (sometimes they called him Uncle Bill) and Kissie May Crawley marriage license which told me that Eros Gray's father was Bob Bailey and his mother was Henrietta.  It also told me that he was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia.  Well, I found the census for 1870 for William T. Jefferson showing Henrietta living with her father and mother and the 1880 census showing her still living in Pittsylvania County with her father and mother. As you know the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire.  Henrietta then pops up in the 1900 and 1910 census with her husband Robert .

While searching through some notes I had from over ten years ago, I found a note my mother had sent me.  Quite a few years ago she was at the Pittsylvania Courthouse and someone told her that Robert age 23 and Henrietta (age 19) were married on October 29, 1885.  And she had a note that Robert's parents were William and Celia Bailey and Henrietta's parents were William and Matilda Jefferson.  She also had written that Wm. T. Jefferson and Matilda Ramsey were married on December 31, 1857.  William's parents were Alexander and Mary Jefferson.  If you remember from one of my past blogs that the 1870 census and 1880 census for the William Jefferson family has a Mary Jefferson living with them as widowed and mother.   Matilda J. Ramsey's parents were Henry and Mary Ramsey.

Yesterday I wrote Pittsylvania County Circuit Court and requested copies of marriage licenses for the above. I am really looking forward to see what they have to offer.

One of my problems is that I am having difficulty locating the Bailey Family.  In my searches I have found that Celia may have been a Duncan.  In the 1850 census, I found a Celia Duncan age 17 living with Elizabeth Duncan 40, Martha Duncan 13, Mary Duncan 8, Daniel Duncan 5, William Duncan 0.  In the 1860 census there is a Celia Bailey 28 which I believe to be my Celia Duncan married to William R. Bailey 24, Charles A. Bailey 4, John W. Bailey 2, George W. Bailey seven months. If this is Robert Bailey's family, he would have been born in 1862.  Unfortunately. they seem to have dropped off the face of the earth in the 1870 and 1880 census.  My questions are if William R. Bailey was in the Civil War and that is entirely possible, was he killed?  If he was killed, did Celia remarry.  I have been trying to find her.  I searched all of the Danville District for 1880 federal census and all of the Pigg River District, Pittsylvania County.  It took quite a while.  I have no indication that she lived in that area.  In any case I am getting closer and I will certainly know more when I get the marriage certificates back.

Danville (VA) (Images of America)
A Walking Tour of Danville, Virginia (Look Up, America!)
Take Care of the Living: Reconstructing Confederate Veteran Families in Virginia (A Nation Divided: Studies in the Civil War Era)

March 4, 2011 Jarrett Dalton Civil War Veteran

Image by RunnerJenny via Flickr

We left off yesterday with Jarrett Dalton enlisting in the Virginia 13th Light Artillery Battalion aka Virginia Danville "Ringgold" Artillery Battery.

According to www.mycivilwar.com/regiments the Captain of this regiment was Crispen Dickenson.

They had 3 12 lb. Napoleans and one 3 inch rifle

From December 1863 to February, 1864 they were assigned to Artillery Battery Ramson's Division Dept of West Va. and East of Tn.

From February to May of 1864 they were assigned to King's Battallion Artillery  Department of East Tn.

From May, 1864 Artillery Battalion, Breckinridges Division Dept. of Northern Virginia

May-June, 1864 Artillery Battalion, Brekinridges Division Dept. of Northern Virginia

June-October, 1864 Gibbes' Owens Battalion Artillery lst Corps  Army of Northern Virginia

October, 1864 to February, 1865  Gibbs 3rd Corp

February - April, 1865   Kings Battalion Artillery lst Corp  Army of Northern Virginia

Engagements:
Cloyd's Mountain
New River Bridge
Cold Harbor
Petersburg Siege
Appomattox Courthouse

The Civil War: A Narrative (3 Vol. Set)
Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26-June 3, 1864
Not War But Murder: Cold Harbor 1864
In the Footsteps of Grant and Lee: The Wilderness Through Cold Harbor

March 3, 2011 Jarrett Dalton 1843-1908

Image by LostBob Photos via Flickr

I have been working on the census for Jarrett Dalton for the last two days and I thought I would stop on that part of the journey and talk about his involvement in the civil war.

Jarrett Dalton enlisted on March 7, 1863 at 19 years of age.  He would be 20 on July 17th.  He enlisted in the Virginia Light Artillery Battery Company B also known as Virginia Danville "Ringgold" Artillery Battery.
He enlisted at Thorn Spring, Virginia.  This is somewhere near Dublin, Virginia.  I found that on that same day and same place Nolen Dalton, John Clark and Wyatt Walker also enlisted.  Nolen Dalton was the brother of Winchester Dalton.   Winchester's great grangdaughter Velma would one day marry Jarrett Dalton's great grandson, Ira.  These four men would survive the civil war.

Jarret's brother Jubal enlisted in the Virginia 57th Infantry Company D as a private on April 30, 1862 and his brother John enlisted on October 8, 1861 with 57th Infantry Company D.  Both survived the civil war.  John was listed as having a fair complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair.

The Mechanical Fuze and the Advance of Artillery in the Civil War
Drewry's Bluff, Virginia. Soldier's cemetery. Grave of Sgt. Frank L. Smith, Co F, 1st Conn. Heavy Artillery 
in foreground poster print of an authentic Civil War photograph (15 x 8 inches)
On Gunnery: The Art and Science of Field Artillery from the American Civil War to the Dawn of the 21st Century