We all have ancestors who have served in the military. Military Monday is a place to post their images, stories and records of their service in various branches of the military. Military Monday is an ongoing series by Cindy at Everything’s Relative – Researching Your Family History.
About 1848 the Ferguson family, having migrated from Virginia to South Carolina and then to Ohio and Indiana, settled in Jasper County, Illinois. Jeremiah Ferguson began buying land in Willow Hill, Jasper, Illinois as did his father and brothers. Between 1848 and 1852 there were 14 recorded land purchases within the Ferguson family.
During the Civil War, at least 2 of Jeremiah Ferguson's sons served in the Union Army. William A Ferguson age 18 enlisted at Olney, Illinois. He served as a private in Company B of the 155th Illinois Infantry from 7 Feb 1965 to 4 Sep 1865. He was mustered out at Murfreesboro, TN. His brother Hiram volunteered on 26 Oct 1863 and mustered out on 27 Oct 1865 in Springfield, IL. Since the records show that Hiram joined Company L of the 5th Illinois Calvary in Black River, Mississippi, it would appear that he had already been in the Army.
A total of 57 volunteers from Willow Hill served in the Civil War so there are many more collateral ancestors who were Civil War Soldiers.
The State of Illinois has a super searchable Civil War Soldiers data base at http://www.ilsos.gov/genealogy/ Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls Database
Interesting post,Donna. I wonder if they had friends fighting on the Confederate side.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sending it to the Challenge.
Thanks Bill. I am pretty sure they had distant cousins who fought for the South. The family lived in Virginia in the 1600s. Not all of them moved to Illinois.
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