One of the first puzzles I set out to solve was finding out who my great grandparents were on my mother's side of the family, and their lineage. Aside from the obvious, that is, the desire to fill in the empty places in the pedigree chart, there were some additional points of interest for me. I had been told that my grandmother had an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution, and that she was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution as a descendant of the Patriot Benjamin Gosnell. The other has to do with my interest in the Civil War, and that I had asked her a few years before she passed away if she knew of any ancestors who had fought in the Civil War. She told me that there were, on both sides, and she wrote down a few names for me. I didn't think to ask at the time how exactly they were related, but I did recall that she told me they fought for the union, and that she couldn't remember the names of any relations that had fought for the south. She insisted though that there were family members on both sides, and I remember her saying "it was brother against brother".
That conversation was long before my interest in genealogy, but at the time I was very much interested in the Civil War. At a much later date, I discovered the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, a website hosted by the National Park Service, that has a search engine for locating Civil War veterans. The most complete name she had given me was John J. Pyles (or Piles), so I thought I would see if I could locate my veteran ancestor. Considering the uncertainty over the spelling of the last name, I searched both spellings and found there were 127 records on the soldiers side alone for J. Pyles (or Piles). Searching just on the Union soldiers side for John J. Pyles (or Piles), there were still 4 records. At this point it became clear that I would have to know more about my own family before I could hope to identify any Civil War service. This was, in part, the beginnings of my interest in genealogy.
Back to the D.A.R. part of the story. I had been inquiring about details of my grandmother's family, and my mother told me about grandma's membership in the Rushville D.A.R., and that lineage has to be proven in order to become a member. Therefore, getting a copy of her application to D.A.R. might prove useful in identifying more detail about the family ancestry. Not sure why, but it didn't occur to me at first to go directly to D.A.R., so I tried instead to see if anybody in the family had copies. It turns out that my grandmother's cousin was also a member, so I thought that perhaps some of her descendants might have a copy of the application. Several inquiries later, I still didn't have the goods, and it didn't look promising that I would find what I was looking for within the family.
When I decided to try going to the D.A.R., I started with the Rushville, Indiana chapter, but couldn't find a suitable contact for my inquiry. At the chapter level, D.A.R. is more like a club I think. They have meetings monthly or quarterly and I was able to find some information about their chapter online, but they don't have any sort of public interface, like an office or a website. I then decided to try the National D.A.R. organization, but must admit that I was hesitant to do so. I had convinced myself that they wouldn't be cooperative in sharing the records I was looking for. I guess that I had envisioned that they would be too "highbrow" to provide assistance to a lowly non-member.
I was wrong. I called their 1-800 number and was able to get assistance in obtaining the records I was interested in. They actually have a library for their records that they describe on their website as "one of the world's premier genealogical research centers". It is helpful to know the national number of the member whose application information you are seeking, but they were able to look that up for me over the phone. It turns out that my grandmother Lillian and her cousin Ethel (shown) applied together and were given consecutive D.A.R. numbers, 502907 and 8. The fee for getting copies of an application is ten dollars, but well worth it for the genealogy information they contain, which includes complete lineage back to the patriot, including birth and marriage information for the applicant, as well as similar information for
all ancestors back to and including the Patriot. The instructions and application for records can be downloaded here. I also discovered that they will research their records and make copies for a nominal fee. I was able to get the entire file they had on patriot Benjamin Gosnell, my ggg grandfather. It turns out that he served two tours in the Continental army from Virginia, and was present at the battle of Yorktown. All in all, it was a genealogical gold mine, and I absolutely recommend for anybody who has a grandmother or great grandmother who was in the D.A.R. to get in touch with them.
The entirety of what was contained in the materials from DAR is too voluminous to cover here in this blog post, but beyond the aforementioned lineage for my grandmother, it included a great deal of detail on Benjamin Gosnell, as well as some of the Civil War records for his son, my gg grandfather Washington Gosnell. I had not previously known of his Civil War service, so that was a bit of a bonus find. I was also able to determine that the name John J. Piles that my grandmother had written for me was her grandfather, and with the additional detail on him in these materials, I was able to positively identify his Civil War service record. This will be the making of another future blog entry.
To wrap up this Memorial Day blog, I will post the description of Benjamin's service from the court documents, and a picture of the DAR gravestone for Patriot Benjamin Gosnell, born 15 Mar 1761, Baltimore Co, MD, died 28 Aug 1846, Decatur Co, IN, buried in an abandoned graveyard in Rush Co, IN.
From Helen Olson papers; State of Indiana, Decatur County. In this 24th day Oct. 1832 personally appeared in open court before the Honorable Judge of Decatur Circuite Court in and for said County of Decatur, nowsitting, Benjamin Gosnell, as resident of Decatur County, I aged 71 years the 15th day of March 1832 who first being duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed June 7, 1832, that he entered by draft, the service of the US under the command of Col. Charles Linch in the Company commanded by Capt. James Adams and was stationed at the lead mines on New River. Served 3 months and was discharged by Col. Charles Linch of the Virginia line that he volunteered in the US service in March 1781 under the command of Col. Charles Linch in the Company commanded by William Jones, Capt. and marched from Bedford Co. VA through Hillsborough on the Guilford Court House and was in the battle fought at the place and Capt. Jones was killed at that place and after the battle marched to the Iron Works, thence on a (?) Deep River thence on to the Cumberland Road and was discharged for 3 months service by Col. Charles Linch. And in the month of Sept 1781 he was drafted in the regiment commanded by Col. Caloway and Trif and joined the Regiment at the Red Store in Bedford Co.VA and belonged to the Company Commanded by James Bullock then marched through Petersburgh, Williamsburgh to Yorktown, then he was transferred to General Lawsons Brigade of the Regular line and was at the seige and taking of Lord Cornwallis and was discharged to the best of my recollection by Col. Tucker. He further sayeth he has lost his discharge and that he has no person whose testimony he can procure who can testify to his service except his sister, she knowing of his going into the Army and of his return. He thereby relinquishes ever claim whatever to the pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name if not on the Pension Roll of the agency of any state and further states that he was born in Baltimore Co., MD in 1761 and resided in Bedford Co. VA during the war, thence removed to Indiana, Decatur Co. where he now resides and further states he has no record of his age and his discharge is lost. signed Benjamin (X) Gosnell; Sworn to and subscribed the day and year afforsaid, Henry Talbot, Clerk. Gosnell, deceased and who was a soldier in the War of the Revolution and as such drew a pension from the government of the US, that said Benjamin died at Decatur Co., IN on the 28th Aug 1846.. States that she was married to Benjamin on the 1st day of January 1815 at the county of Harrison in KY. Benjamin received a pension for his service in the Revolution. On August 27, 1933 his pension file, 19343, Indiana, stated that he was to receive $30 per year, with $75 in arrears to be paid.
To my ggg grandfather Benjamin Gosnell, thank you for your service to our country, and for the legacy you have left for us.
