William Jefferson Saxon - Remembering a Soldier on Memorial Day

 

As countless television news spots, newspaper articles and Facebook posts have reminded us during the past few days, Memorial Day is a day to honor those who died while serving in the United States Armed forces. The holiday started as “Decoration Day” in the North and the South after the Civil War.

I have no ancestors who died serving their country, but like most genealogists, I can identify several collateral relatives who did. The death of one in particular – William Jefferson Saxon, nephew of my third great grandfather, William M. Saxon, has a poignant twist to it that captures my imagination.

William Jefferson Saxon, the apparent son of John L. and Margaret (Gordon) Saxon,[1]was born 14 November 1842[2] in Indiana, possibly in Madison County. He was living with his parents in Anderson Township, Madison County, in 1850.[3] By 1860, his parents had moved to Jackson Township, Miami County, Indiana, and William lived with them there, working as a farmer.[4] Shortly after the Civil War broke out, the 19-year-old dark-eyed, light-haired young man who stood five feet, seven inches tall, enlisted and served as a private in Company C, 87^th Indiana Infantry. William Jefferson Saxon died of pneumonia 14 December 1862 at Gallatin, Tennessee.[5]

Many, many young soldiers died of disease during the Civil War. The thing about William’s death that strikes me as unusual is that his somehow his father must have been sent word about the gravity of his son’s illness, for he traveled from Indiana to Tennessee and was at William’s bedside when he died. According to the inventory report in William’s service file, “… the effects of William J. Saxon, the deceased, … are in the possession of his Father who was with him at the time of his death.” William’s belongings consisted of one forage cap, one great coat, one uniform coat, one pair of “trowsers,” two pairs of cotton drawers, two flannel shirts, one pair of shoes, one pair of socks and a blanket.[6] Did hospital workers or William’s commanding officers foresee that time was short and send word to the family? The whys and hows remain unclear. William’s body was brought back home to Indiana and initially was laid to rest in Macy Cemetery in Miami County. His remains later were moved to Converse Cemetery on the Miami-Grant County line.[7]

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[1] William J. was one of the children in the household of John and Margaret in 1850. He was enumerated with them again (as “Jefferson”) in 1860.

[2] William Jefferson Saxon memorial entry No. 54528724, Converse Cemetery, online at www.FindAGrave.com.

[3] 1850 U.S. census, Madison Co., IN, pop. sch., Anderson Twp., p. 65 (stamped), dwell./fam. 936, John L. Saxton.

[4] 1860 U.S. census, Miami Co., IN, pop. sch., Jackson Twp., p. 132 (penned), dwell. 937, fam. 900, John L. Saxon.

[5] Civil War service file of William Jefferson Saxon, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.

[6] Civil War service file of William Jefferson Saxon, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.

[7] William Jefferson Saxon memorial entry No. 54528724, Converse Cemetery, online at www.FindAGrave.com. A digital image of his military headstone is at this site. He also was included in “Roll of Honor,” Xenia (Indiana) Journal, 29 May 1885, p. [4?]. An article in the local paper just before Decoration Day in 1885 indicated that he was buried in Macy Cemetery: List of soldiers buried in cemeteries near Xenia, Xenia (Indiana) Journal, 29 May 1885, p. [4?].

The Clark Family & Las Vegas, Nevada

It is so exciting to be in Las Vegas for the first time, participating in the National Genealogical Society's Family History Conference. I am looking forward to seeing the lights of "The Strip," and to networking with friends from all over the country.

But coming here has even more meaning for me because of a distant family connection to this area. William Andrew Clark and his younger brother, J. Ross Clark, were instrumental in the construction of the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad that was routed through Las Vegas just after 1900, and it was that railroad that history books say caused this town to boom. In fact, Clark County - where Las Vegas is located - was named for William A. Clark, the older brother who also became a United States senator (albeit amid the scandal of alleged purchased votes).

My family connection is this: J. Ross Clark married Miriam Evans, my great-great-grandmother's first cousin. Miriam's mother was born Margaret Holmes, the daughter of John and Margaret (Brown) Holmes of Guernsey County, Ohio. She married Zenas Evans. William Holmes, my third great-grandfather, was Margaret (Holmes) Evans's brother. My branch of the family moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania, after William Holmes's death.

Years later, the family story goes, when Miriam (Evans) Clark came back to Pennsylvania from her home in California to visit her cousins, she was stricken by the impoverished lives that they lived as coal miners. J. Ross and Miriam were very well-to-do because of his investments with his brother in railroads and copper mines, so Miriam was able to set up a regular schedule of sending money to her relatives back in Pennsylvania. My father's first cousin, Roy Bane, remembers his father and grandmother receiving Miriam's checks:

--> "My dad would receive around $1000 every quarter when I was young. This was ¼ of what Grandma Bane would get. It was divided four ways after her death. This was 1950’s money. It was a lot!! Others got checks besides Grandma. Lot of money came back to PA from Miriam!!”[i]

Roy recounted that Miriam came back to Pennsylvania in her own train car, and what a spectacle that was for the people of that area to witness.

Ella Harriett Clark

J. Ross and Miriam (Evans) Clark had two children, Ella, born about 1881, and Walter Miller Clark, born about 1884. The story of their son, Walter, is a tragic one. He and his wife went on a delayed honeymoon to England in 1912 and booked passage for their return trip to the United States on the R.M.S. Titanic. Walter's wife, Virginia, was saved in lifeboat no. 4, but Walter was lost when the ship sank. The photograph at the left is Ella Harriett Clark, the daughter of J. Ross and Miriam. It was among the family pictures owned by my great-grandmother, Ella's third cousin. I also inherited a tattered old book with its cover missing, The Titanic and Other Great Sea Disasters, published in 1912, that includes the name of Walter Miller Clark.

The legacy of this Clark family is intertwined with the West, from Montana, where J. Ross and Miriam were married and the Clark brothers made part of their fortune in copper; to Los Angeles, where J. Ross and Miriam later lived and an ornate mausoleum to the memory of their son, Walter, stands in Hollywood Forever Cemetery; to here in Las Vegas, where the Clark brothers' railroad sparked exponential growth, turning an outpost in the desert into the magnificent city that exists today.

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[i] Roy Bane email message to Dawne Slater-Putt with the subject “RE: Family HistoryArticle from Roy Bane,” dated 29 June 2011; copy in the family files of Dawne Slater-Putt.

Family Connections: Elwood/Ellwood-Holmes, Washington County, PA & Guernsey County, OH

I am fascinated by the way the lives of our ancestors and their neighbors and associates were intertwined. What a thrill it is to dig through the layers of information in the various records and uncover a previously unsuspected family connection!

My ancestor Eliza Ellwood was married twice. She lived with her first husband, William Holmes, in Millwood Township, Guernsey County, Ohio. They had five children. Of these, Mary Ellen Holmes, the oldest, apparently had a son, William P. Holmes, although I have found no evidence that she ever married. By 1870, Mary Ellen's mother, Eliza, had been married a second time to Daniel K. Hall and either was widowed or divorced. Eliza Hall was living with her second-oldest daughter, Nancy Ann Bane, and her husband, James Henry Bane, in East Bethlehem Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. Enumerated on that census two households away were Eliza's daughter, Mary "Homes" and her small son, William. (Relationships weren't stated on this early census, of course; this knowledge is from additional research.)

Mary was living in the household of John C. Moore and his apparent wife, Susannah. Coincidentally - or not? - also in the Moore household was 9-year-old John Elwood. Did John Elwood have a family connection to Mary Ellen Holmes, whose mother was an Elwood/Ellwood? Did he have a family connection to the Moores, with whom he was living? Did Mary Ellen Holmes have a family connection to the Moores? The answer is, perhaps.

Further research uncovered a first marriage for Susannah, née Susannah Cecelia Beall, to a John Elwood. The younger John, John Lawrence, apparently was their son and therefore John C. Moore's step-son. So John Elwood did have a family connection to the Moores.

If the first husband of Susannah Moore were the brother of Eliza (Elwood) Holmes Hall, then in 1870, Mary Ellen Holmes and her young son were living in the household of her aunt by marriage.  In 1880, Mary Ellen was living in the household of Frank Hastings and working as a servant. But her son, William, remained in the household of the Moores and was identified as John Moore's adopted son. Perhaps these associations were simply the result of a close-knit neighborhood, but perhaps there was a family tie.

Eliza Elwood was born circa 1822 and John Elwood, first husband of Susannah Cecelia Beall, was born circa 1828, both in Ohio. They were contemporaries. In 1850, John was living in the household of a William Elwood, who was old enough to have been his father. Eliza was already married to her first husband, William Holmes. However, one piece of contradictory evidence exists - a biography in a county history of a son of William Elwood by his second marriage names Williams's children from both marriages and does not include reference to Eliza or John. But more research remains to be done before this question can be put to rest.