The Little Drummer Boy . . .

Last week’s entry detailed the contents of the Widows Pension Certificate awarded to Emeline Mathews and her two daughters, Amanda and Mary. I consulted the 1850 census and found George and Emeline living in DeWitt County, Illinois with children Albert and Sarah. Fast forward to the 1860 census, and we find Emeline as a widow living in Peoria, Illinois with children, Sarah, Mary, Amanda, and Lewis. Strange, because George didn’t die until 1862.

I reviewed the 1^st Kansas Battery – Light Artillery muster rolls. There was George Matthews on line 84, Meigs County, Ohio, enlisted 2 January, 1862; died 18 May 1862 at Fort Leavenworth. I scrolled through the roster, looking for a name or some other clue that would lead me to the sunny slopes of genealogical clarity. That’s when it happened. Entry 1 on Page 4, Volume 3 reads, “Albert Matthews, age 14, 5’8”, brown hair, blue eyes, fair complexion, single, drummer, DeWitt County, Illinois.” 

He enlisted on 2 January 1862, the same day as George Matthews. I suspect, but cannot yet prove, that this is the same Albert Matthews shown on the 1850 census.  Did father and son leave Illinois for Kansas, and eventually volunteer for the Kansas Light Artillery?

Intriguing. Another layer to this tale. I’d like to follow up, even though it leads me away from the questions I was seeking to answer when I launched this search a few months ago. Recall that I was looking to identify George’s parents, and/or to locate his grave. To do that, I need to follow up on the discovery of a Widows Pension Certificate for William Baldwin (WC72673), filed on behalf of Mary Ann Baldwin (nee’ Mathews), George’s sister.  If I follow the sister, perhaps I’ll find the brother . . . .

Emeline . . .

First, a quick summary.  .  . Last week’s discovery of the Widow’s Pension File (WC 102860) for George J. Mathews revealed that two women, Emeline Watt and Charlotte Shuler, filed pension applications (121912 and 10738) seeking federal compensation as his widow. Additionally, George J.  and Charlotte’s son, George W. Mathews, filed a pension application (268656) which was abandoned due to a lack of records adequately proving his paternity. Compensation was awarded to Emeline and two of her children, Mary and Amanda. There is no record of what became of Charlotte’s application, only that she did not receive a pension award.

I spent part of the week searching for a quick answer to my basic research questions. No luck. The file mentions nothing of his grave, or parents; although, I suspect he is buried at Ft. Leavenworth. Can’t prove it yet, can’t disprove it either. Nevertheless, let us consider the contents of the file in greater detail.

A copy of Emeline’s marriage certificate is in the file and declares that she was married to George J. on 24 December 1845 in DeWitt County, Illinois. 

Supporting documents appended to her application clarify George J.’s  full name, his actual death date; amend Emeline’s pension claim to add a second child, and collect back pension from the date of George J.’s death (18 May 1862); and include statements from her sister, Elizabeth, regarding her presence at the birth of Amanda Mathews.

Using this information, I searched for Emeline Mathews on Ancestry.com, hoping to confirm her statements, and got immediate results. The 1850 US Federal census documents George and Emeline living in DeWitt County, Illinois with children Albert and Sarah.

Sarah is mentioned as a daughter in the widow’s pension. I looked further, this time at the 1860 census, hoping to find them in Kansas. Here, the story takes a strange twist.

The 1860 census lists “Emelia Matthews” living in DeWitt County, Illinois along with children Sarah, Mary, Amanda, and Lewis Matthews. No George or Albert. Mary and Amanda are mentioned as daughters multiple times in the widow’s pension. However, most strangely, the census records Emelia’s marital status as, “widow.” You’ll recall that George died in 1862. What does that mean?  What could it mean?

The second half of the file contains an application for pension filed by attorney Thomas H. Kennedy of Kansas City on behalf of the son of George and Charlotte, George W. Mathews. The claim would ultimately be abandoned. Still, he did have his aunt, and sister of George J., Mary Baldwin (nee’ Mathews), and her daughter Martha McKinster (nee’ Baldwin), state that they knew George and Charlotte Mathews, and were present at George W.’s birth. They also stated that George J.  Mathews was not previously married, which fully contradicts Emeline’s and all of her witnesses’ claims.

 

Somebody was lying, or terribly misinformed. Attorney Kennedy’s notes make reference to, “a certified copy of soldier divorce from Emeline,” as well as, “Divorce former wife Emeline,” and finally, “. . . Attys. Divorce from Emeline W.” So it seems that they had sworn affidavits stating that George J. was never married, while at the same time they were seeking documentation of a divorce from Emeline. The file contains no documentation of a divorce between Emeline and George J. Mathews. 

Among the questions bouncing around in my head . . . . Did George abandon his family sometime after 1850, and head west from Illinois to Kansas?  Did George and Emeline divorce, or was that a plot by George W.’s attorney to help him win his pension claim? Did Emeline truly believe she was a widow in 1860, or did she only claim to be a widow for some reason? Was Emeline’s pension claiming a case of mistaken identity? Was her husband, George J. Mathews, different from the George J. Mathews that Charlotte Shuler claimed as her husband, and as her son’s father? Was my great, great, great grandfather guilty of polygamy? Did Emeline commit fraud?

Goldmines, Polygamists, and Missouri Ruffians

I’ve made a major breakthrough, with a big assist from my fellow members at the Washington County, (Ohio) History and Genealogy Facebook page. Allow me to layout the big discovery as it happened this past Sunday. First, I took the advice of a fellow member on that page and decided to seek and request a widow’s pension from the National Archives and Records Administration. I went to the Fold3 web page and registered for a free seven day trial. Years ago, I searched for George Mathews in this same database but did not find anything pertaining to him. Apparently, the database has been updated, or perhaps I simply overlooked his widow’s pension file that I found this time. I was stunned by its contents. I’d been told that a widow’s pension might contain a, “gold mine,” of information. It was true. 

On the Fold3 site, I found an eighty page widow’s certificate document (#102860) that referenced Charlotte Mathews’ (George’s widow) pension application (#10738).

 

With a cup of Costa Rican coffee in hand (Thanks Mom), I settled in for some reading. That’s when it happened . . . another widow’s application (#121912) was referenced in this file as well. 






 The first forty or so pages dealt with this application as filed by a woman named Emeline Mathews (nee’ Watt). I thought I’d made a mistake, but read on anyway.  I began to find similarities between Emeline’s sworn statements and details from my own research. The first was the name of her husband, George J. Mathews. This matched the man I was looking for. The second was his military service. The sworn affidavits supporting Emeline’s case claimed that George served in the 1^st Kansas Battery – Light Artillery.

This also matched my research. Excited? Yes, I was. But having searched for this man so fruitlessly, for so long, I was still skeptical. Plus, I’d never heard of Emeline Mathews. I read on.


Additional affidavits stated that George had died at Ft. Leavenworth on May 5, 1861, another corrected that date to May 17, 1862, and finally a third affidavit corrected the second to May 18, 1862. The third date matched my death date for George precisely. Still, just who was Emeline Mathews? I refilled my coffee cup and continued.  

Just past the halfway point of the document was a third pension application (#268656) filed in 1880, this time for a minor by the name of George W. Mathews. This is the name of my great-great grandfather, and the son of George J. Mathews. Any remaining doubts I might’ve had were eased as the file contained a photograph of George J. Mathews, the very one I’ve posted on this blog. Couldn’t deny it any longer, this was the same man I’ve been searching for; and the document did indeed contain a goldmine of information that has kept me mentally and physically busy over the past seven days. 

Consideration for my fellow human’s boredom level precludes me from explaining all of the details included in the document. Allow me to briefly summarize the basics from what I incredulously read and reread this past week. First, a woman named Emeline Mathews filed a widow’s pension claim on behalf of herself, and two of her four children, Mary and Amanda Mathews.  Second, several details from the sworn affidavits supporting her case match those from my own research including George’s military unit, and death date. Third, the minor’s applicant, and the photograph, although not provided by Emeline, also matches my research. Sworn affidavits supporting the minor’s application filed on behalf of my great-great grandfather, George W. Mathews include statements from two women claiming to be George J. Mathews’ sister Mary Baldwin, niece Martha Wakefield (nee’ Baldwin), and nephew George Baldwin. Finally, an eight dollar a month pension, plus two dollars for each of the two children was awarded to Emeline Mathews about 1867. Conversely, my great-great grandfather’s application for pension was abandoned in 1886 because he could not produce a record documenting his birth to George and Charlotte Mathews. It seems that the record was for a time housed at the Douglas County courthouse in Lawrence, Kansas. But that record, as well as the marriage record for George and Charlotte and countless others, burned in the 1863 raid on Lawrence led by a former schoolteacher and lover of learning William Quantrill.

That, my friends, is a wagonload of information to absorb on a Sunday morning. I have many, many, many thoughts and musings to share, but those deserve and will receive their own blog entries in the coming weeks and months. There is also much research to do as a result, many new paths to follow, many more discoveries to be made.

A tip of the cap to the members and administrator on the Washington County History and Genealogy Facebook page. Collaboration!