Category Archives: Civil War

2025 Week 45

09 Sunday Nov 2025

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If you recall back in Week 34, I had an overview of the many Benjamin Coxes there were in this family. I’m now deep-diving into Benjamin #2 from that list.

I’ve exhausted what I can easily find on Ancestry for Benjamin. In searching on FamilySearch from home, the vast majority of documents pertain to deed transactions in Shelby County, KY on the inherited property from his father. There are restrictions on Knox County, IN documents in FamilySearch; I will need to put that on my to do list for next Saturday when I am at the library. I really want to find something indicating that he died in 1887. He did file for a father’s pension in 1885 for his son Virgil who died in the Civil War.

Not much is known about Ben’s first wife, Elizabeth Shepherd. She died about 1845. Together they had four children.

Ben’s second wife, Lucinda, was the widow of Leonard Williams and together they had four daughters. Ben and Lucy did not have any children together. An obituary for Lucy stated she was 87 at the time of her death in 1898.

Ben and Lizzie’s oldest child, Sarah, married Amos Farmer and they had two children. By 1870, the children were living with Ben and Lucy, so it is not clear what happened to Sarah and Amos. Their son Virgil was born in late 1861. Amos served in the Civil War, however, he was reported as a deserter in October 1862. I will need to check the guardianship and probate records at the library to see if any further details might surface.

Sarah and Amos’s son Virgil was the center of a supposed scandal in July 1895, according to the local newspapers.1 Supposedly Virgil disappeared, leaving his wife and children to fend for themselves, and a pile of debt to deal with. His wife Carrie apparently filed desertion charges against him. The rumor was that he took off with his ex-wife. It was never disclosed where he went or what he did. The rumor was discounted in that the ex-wife was happily at home in Linton with her current husband. Virgil did return, he resigned from his position as deputy sheriff, and apparently he and Carrie sorted things out as they were listed in the same household in 1900.

Ben and Lizzie’s oldest son, Albert, is quite the conundrum. He appears in the 1850 census with the blended family, but he is not present in 1860. Granted he would be about 23 and possibly on his own. Some researchers have attributed him to an Albert Cox who married Caroline Sprinkle in 1867 in Warrick County. Albert who resided in Warrick County is more likely to be the son of William Cox and Rachel Underwood who migrated to Pike County, Indiana from North Carolina. This assignment would be more logical since Pike County borders Warrick County.

Without any proof linking Knox County Albert to Warrick County Albert, I will refrain from assuming they are the same person.

Third child Virgil joined the 51st Indiana Infantry Regiment in 1861. He became ill in Missouri and died of disease after only serving a few months. He is buried in the national cemetery in St Louis. His father Ben filed for a survivor’s pension in 1885.

The youngest of Ben and Lizzie’s children was John Shepherd Cox. He too served in the 51st Indiana Infantry Regiment. After returning from the war, he married Caroline House and they raised at least four children. The family resided in Labette County, Kansas, for several years before returning to Knox County. At some point prior to 1900 it would seem that John and Caroline divorced. Nothing was reported in the papers, but maybe something will turn up in the court records. An account of the 50th wedding anniversary celebration for Caroline’s parents in 1894 gives the impression that they were still married at that time.2 It is also possible that they merely separated and did not obtain a formal divorce.

Tree Ratings are back! I have 3 from this week to resolve. I have 4950 errors in the tree–374 possible duplicates, 4119 with no documents, 457 other errors.

  • A distant cousin with no documentation. Found him in the 1950 census and put a first name to his father.
  • A father-in-law of a great granduncle with a logic error associated to him. Since his is not a blood relative or married to one, I have removed him and his wife.
  • The last is the spouse of a distant cousin with no sources.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines from the week ahead.
343 years ago – marriage of Anna Shepard (9th ggm) and Daniel Quincy (9th ggf)
236 years ago – death of Margaret Moore Short (7th ggm)
227 years ago – death of Benjamin Bonnell (7th ggf)
205 years ago – marriage of Phillip Catt (7th ggf) and his second wife Sally Kimmons
202 years ago – birth of Oliver McCullough (3rd ggf)
192 years ago – birth of Henry V Gravel (3rd ggf)
131 years ago – death of John W Fielden (3rd ggf)
109 years ago – marriage of Magdelena Kaiser (ggm) and Emmett Keller (ggf)
107 years ago – death of Arely Fielden (2nd ggf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 26,965 people
End of Week: 26,997 people
Change = +32 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Follow up on several items for the family of Benjamin Cox and Elizabeth Shepherd.
  • Research the family of Finetta Cox and Eldridge Arnold.
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • Confirm the data from Polk Family and Kinsmen has been added for this family and page numbers are noted for easier citation adding
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek

  1. The Western Sun, 5 Jul 1895, page 1, newspapers.com. ↩︎
  2. The Western Sun, 23 Mar 1894, page 4, newspapers.com ↩︎

Corporal Isaac DeMoss

25 Thursday Jan 2024

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Week 4 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge finds us exploring the topic “Witness to History”. There are so many individuals I could write about under this topic, most having served and fought for the freedoms we currently enjoy. Many of those same individuals I have already written about, but I haven’t yet focused my attention on my third great-grandfather Isaac DeMoss.

Isaac was born in Fleming County, Kentucky on March 13, 1833 to William DeMoss and Elizabeth “Betsey” Lowe.1 He is believed to be the fourth of ten children born to the couple. While still in diapers, his parents, along with several of his father’s siblings’ families, packed up the family and journeyed westward into Indiana, settling in southeastern Daviess County, Indiana.  

Isaac remained on the family farm until the early to mid-1850s. He set out to make his own way, heading further westward, settling along the White River which separated Daviess County from Knox County to the west. On December 8, 1855, at the age of twenty-two, he married sixteen year old Louisa Reeve, daughter of Joseph Reeve and Sarah Ireland Reeve. The following June, Isaac acquired a land patent (certificate 39184) for thirty-three acres of land along the White River bottoms. 

Isaac and Louisa did not waste time starting a family. Samuel T was born in October 1856 and Marion followed four years later. Life as a farmer was then interrupted when the Civil War broke out. Isaac, Louisa’s brother Samuel, and many of their friends and neighbors enlisted for a three year stint in the Union Army, becoming a private of Company C of the 80th Indiana Infantry. They mustered in on September 8, 1862 at Princeton, Indiana, and marched to Covington, Kentucky, where they joined forces with several units from Ohio. The first year of service was spent mostly in Kentucky. Notable campaigns included fighting Confederate forces at Perryville led by Major General Braxton Bragg. The Regiment had movements in Tennessee before engaging in a number of battles in Georgia in 1864. They circled back through Alabama to Tennessee once more before heading east to North Carolina in 1865. The 80th finished their tour of duty in Salisbury until they mustered out on June 22, 1865, returning home to Indiana. Isaac left the military with the rank of corporal.2

Unfortunately, when Isaac did return to Edwardsport, he did so as a widow. Louisa passed away on April 18, 1864. The cause is currently unknown, however, both Louisa’s mother Sarah and her mother-in-law Betsey also died within months of Louisa. It is not known if their deaths are related or merely coincidental. A year later, young Marion also died of an unknown cause, not having reached his sixth birthday.

At the age of thirty-three, Isaac married sixteen year old Laura Johnson. Within a year she gave him another son, William, however he died a week later. Isaac continued to amass his land holdings and in 1872, he and Laura welcomed another son John Franklin DeMoss. Personal accounts provided by various family members referred to John as Richard or “Dickie Popcorn”.3 

Unlike some of his brothers-in-law (Louisa’s brothers), Isaac focused on farming and did not appear to branch into other trades or skills. He did, however, amass a sizeable amount of land in and around Vigo Township, mostly along the river. Much of this farmland was transferred to Samuel and Richard in the 1890s, as reported in the Vincennes papers.

Isaac took ill in the summer of 1900, contracting Rheumatic Fever. He suffered from this affliction for nearly three months, succumbing on October 19, 1900 at the age of sixty-seven.

  1. Biography of Samuel T. DeMoss, History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, IN, George E. Greene, 1911, p. 271. ↩︎
  2. Battle Unit Details, 80th Regiment, Indiana Infantry. National Parks Service website. ↩︎
  3. Reeve and Hulen Families, Helen E. Reeve, 1974.  ↩︎

John M Butler and Tamer Pool

21 Sunday Dec 2014

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John and Tamer Pool Butler appear to be my dead-ends for the Butler line.  They are my 4th great-grandparents.

John M. Butler was born in Kentucky about 1813.  Tamer Pool was born in Indiana about 1814.  They were married in Jennings County, IN (north of Louisville, KY) on October 13, 1831.  It is currently unknown who their parents were.

They had eight children that lived past infancy:

  • Eli Thomas
  • Joseph W
  • Nancy J
  • James O
  • Jemima
  • John P (or D)
  • Sarah
  • Robert

In 1850 the family was recorded to be in Blue River, Johnson Co, IN (north of Columbus IN).  By 1860, John and Tamer were living in Clay County, IL (west of Olney, near Flora).  By this time, only James, Jemima, Sarah and Robert were still at home.   Based on later census data, Eli was married with children, location unknown.  Joseph had married Delilah Wright and they had a son, John F., prior to moving to Clay Co, IL, where they lived next door to John and Tamer.  It’s believed that Eli wasn’t far away since both Eli and Joseph mustered with the 98th Illinois Infantry.  Unfortunately, Joseph didn’t make it home as he died in Georgia in June 1864 and is buried at the Marietta National Cemetery.  Delilah remarried later that year to Joseph Pool and moved back to Indiana with John F and Loretta, who was born in 1861.  Joseph Pool was quite a bit older than Delilah, so it’s possible that he was a younger brother to her mother-in-law.  Nancy and John P’s whereabouts after the 1850 census are unclear.  It’s possible that Nancy married a D.S. Ulrey, but anything past a marriage record supporting this hasn’t surfaced yet.

The whereabouts of nearly everyone in this family, except Eli and Joseph’s families, is unknown after the 1860 census.

James Mattox

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

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James Mattox is another of my 3rd great grandfathers.  He is the father of Calvin Mattox.  James was born circa 1815 in Tennessee.  His parents are unknown, but there are a couple possibilities out there.  The first, and most likely in my mind, is Valentine Mattox and possibly a daughter of James Cundiff.  Most of the facts presented in Mattox Family: 1755 through 1987 by Shirley (Mattox) Churchill seem to fit.  The only discrepancy I have at the moment is James’s place of birth.  The timeline Ms. Churchill presents for Valentine would have James born in Kentucky, not Tennessee.  The second possible set of parents would be William Mattox and Nancy Harrington, however, the researchers proposing this don’t have a reference listed that confirms this theory.

Assuming Valentine was James’s father, they lived in Ohio County, KY for several years, before moving to Indiana.  It is thought that James was in Clinton County, IN in 1830 living with his half-brother Church.  He then married Elizabeth Moyer in Vigo County in 1837 where they lived until the 1850s. Based on census records, they had five children that reached maturity: Alzina, Napoleon, Marshall, Calvin, and Alonzo.  Calvin’s middle name is Church which further supports the idea of Valentine being James’s father. In 1860, the family appears in Lewis Township of Clay County, IN.  After that, James disappears and Elizabeth is the head of the household in the 1870 Census.

Many researchers have James’s death listed in 1862.  Again, there are no sources listed to confirm this piece of information.  Considering that his disappearance coincides with the Civil War era, it’s a possibility that he was a casualty of the war.  A check of several military databases gives a number of James Mattoxes, but nothing concrete.  One promising lead was a James N Mattox who served in the 99th Infantry, Company K.  He died at the regiment hospital at Camp Sherman, MS in 1863, but a notation in the US Burial Register, Military Posts, and National Cemeteries, 1862-1960, indicated that James was only 18 at the time of death, not 48.  Until I can find something solid, his death will be listed as 1860-1870.

80th Indiana Infantry, Company C

11 Tuesday Nov 2014

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The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.  Initially, seven southern states seceded from the United States to form the Confederate States of America.  This number grew to eleven before it was all said and done.  In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln raised the call to arms among the Union States, requesting 300,000 volunteers step up and help bring an end to the war.

The men of Southwestern Indiana heard the call and the 80th Indiana Infantry was formed.  The regiment consisted of 1,049 men from several southwestern counties in the state.  The men were grouped in to 10 companies identified by letters of the alphabet.  About 100 men from Edwardsport mustered together at Fort Gibson in Princeton on September 3, 1862 to form Company C.  The 80th spent their first year battling for Kentucky before moving on to Tennessee and the Siege of Atlanta.  They returned to battle in Tennessee, then were shipped to North Carolina to fight under General William T Sherman in early 1865.  They war ended in April 1865, along with the assassination of President Lincoln.  The 80th finished out their duties at Salisbury NC where they were mustered out in late June 1865.  In the end, the 80th lost 237 men to death, 49 to desertion and 3 were unaccounted for.  A more detailed account of their battles can be found in the Civil War Index and the website devoted to the 80th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

William Lankford

William Lankford

Members of Company C were all from the Edwardsport area.  Three men in particular, John S. Cox, George W. Winkler, and Isaac DeMoss, were my 3rd great grandfathers.  All three mustered in on September 3, 1862.  Unfortunately, not all of them came home.  John died at New Haven, KY on January 14, 1863.  George and Isaac fared better, mustering out on June 22, 1865.  While all three entered service as privates, Isaac finished as a corporal.

Of course, these three were not the only ones in my family’s tree that served in Company C.  Isaac’s cousin Samuel Reeve entered as a Sergeant and had attained the rank of First Sergeant by the time he returned home in 1865.  George had two of his extended family fighting by his side.  William Lankford, George’s brother-in-law, mustered out as a Sergeant after the war while Robert Gilmore, who married one of William’s sisters, was discharged early on April 24, 1863.