Making Connections

It's a small world.

In my last post, Perseverance and Tedium Pay Off, I wrote about finding an 1850 census that, among other things, verified that my 2x great-grandfather had two older brothers. I started to look for more information about them, partly to learn more about them and partly to look for leads about their father.

I found military records that both William Henry Botsford and John Foster Botsford enlisted to serve in the Civil War in Deposit, New York. Deposit is in the county south of Otsego County, and is mentioned in one of the younger George's obituaries as his birthplace. I have found no record of him there, but this suggests that I should keep looking in that area. While the brothers enlisted on different dates, finding the records from the same place reassured me that I had the right people and not other people of the same name.

I was pleased to see that they both served. My husband and I both served, as did many people in both our families. I wasn't quite so pleased to find this next item:

My husband, who is a military historian, explained to me that this was not unusual and didn't necessarily indicate poor character. Men would often desert and then re-enlist, perhaps for a bonus or to get in a better unit, or because they were needed at home for a season. I have hopes that this will turn out to be the case.

I haven't yet found more records that I can be sure are this William Henry Botsford. There is one living in the St. Lawrence area of upstate New York, close to the Canadian border, and he may be the right one, but I am looking for more records to tie that person to this family.



Meanwhile, I have more documentation concerning John Foster Botsford. (He was apparently named after his mother's brother.) He's on the 1860 census in Springfield as a domestic with a family named Griggs.

Next we find his enlistment in 1863 at Deposit, NY. I love when I find a physical description of one of my ancestors as we so infrequently find photos.

Unfortunately, we next find this item, informing us that John Foster Botsford was killed at the Battle of New Market, May 15, 1864.

Later we have an application for pension in the name of his mother. It appears to be dated 1915, which is odd because Sarah died in 1873.

I found this description of the Civil War Memorial in Cherry Valley, which includes John Foster Botsford's name, and here is a photo of the memorial. I will definitely visit it to pay my respects when I am in New York in October.

Finally, here is the reason I called this post "It's a small world." My husband went to Virginia Military Institute, Class of 1968. The cadets of VMI were called on in the Civil War - the only time cadets from any U.S. military academy have taken part in a battle. Where did they serve? The Battle of New Market. VMI has a beautiful ceremony every year on New Market Day to recognize the fallen cadets. In addition, we lived in Shenandoah County, Virginia for four years, just a few miles from the battlefield. We have been there many, many times. I have many ancestors who fought in the Civil War, as does my husband. It was stunning to find that, out of all the hundreds of battles in the Civil War, my great-great uncle lost his life in this particular battle.