Sometime back I posted a query to this list regarding Obediah CHASE b. abt 1830 in Tennessee, d. 1863 or 1864 in Missouri, parents and siblings unknown. Since then, I have received his widow's Civil War Pension File, and I am now even more confused than before. Obediah m. Minerva Herd MERRITT (b, 1831 in Grainger Co., TN, daughter of Edward MERRITT and Sarah (Sally) Hazeltine CARDEN) 17 Nov 1850 in Grainger Co. TN. They had at least three children - Minney Elizabeth CHASE b. 12 May 1851 in TN, John Edward CHASE b. 7 Dec 1855 in TN and Sarah Hazeltine CHASE b. 1 Mar 1857. Obed CHASE enlisted as a private in Company D 25th Missouri Volunteers 6 Aug 1862 (under the shorter version of his name). What happened after that seems to be subject to interpretation. Army records list him as deserting on the march to West Plains, MO 23 Jan 1863. In her application for pension dated 24 Oct 1870, Minerva says he died 24 Sep 1864, killed with "many others" in an attack by "Anderson's Guerilla Squad of men". On this application, she includes a fourth child, Lewis F. CHASE, without including a birth date for him. Minerva's brothers Lewis MERRITT and Ancil Lee MERRITT filed an affidavit 13 Mar 1879 in support of their mother's claim for a widow's pension on their father's War of 1812 service. In it, they stated Minerva and Obediah had two daughters and four sons. Obediah "is said to have been killed in 1863 on the He. & St. Joseph R.R. between Hannibal and St. Joseph by Bill Anderson's band of rebel bushwhackers." On 10 Dec 1886, Minerva again filed for a pension. This time she listed only three children, Minney Elizabeth, John Edward and Sarah Hazeltine. Perhaps having recounted the months between her wedding and Minney's birth, she stated she was married 8 Aug 1850 by Justice of the Peace William COLVIN in the JP's home in Grainger Co., TN. As for her husband's death, she gave the following account - "she believes {him} to have lost his life by the hands of bushwhackers (by reason of the fact that their oldest son whom the Father {sic} loved as his own life was dangerously sick: that she sent a letter to her husband informing him of the condition of his son. She believes by the best evidence she has obtained that aforesaid husband did obtain some sort of a furlough or verbal leave of absence to enable him to visit his sick child and that during his passage from Big Creek south of Pilot Knob and between Pilot Knob and St. Louis Mo. she has reasons for belief that her husband Obediah Chase aforesaid was captured and slain by a band of bushwhackers.) about the last day of January or first of February A.D. 1863." Apparently the Pension Office wasn't having any of it, and I have no evidence that any of Minerva's applications were approved. She appears in the 1860 US census Center Twp. Doniphan Co. KS p. 29 (Obediah is listed as "A. CHASE for some reason) with children Nanny E. 9, Jno. E. 5, Sarah H. 3 and Joseph T. 5/12. Also in the household is her orphan niece Amanda WYRICK, 21. The next household is her widowed sister-in-law Lavinia MERRITE and children. The household after that are my 3g grandparents, Joseph SHELTON and Minerva's sister Permelia Ann MERRITT and their three children. In the 1880 census I found Minerva living with a child named Louis F. CHASE, 15, giving him a birth date of 1865, but she apparently wasn't always accurate with dates. The wording of the 1886 pension application specifically refers to legitimate children "yet surviving who were under 16 years of age at father's death", by which I assume neither Joseph nor Lewis survived to 1886. I do not know the name of the fourth son referred to in the MERRITT brothers' affidavit, but I assume he also died young. The copy of Minerva's 1886 application NARA sent me is missing the bottom of the page. Minney Elizabeth was listed as the wife of J.B. WYKERT. John Edward is the head of (presumably his own household, but the next line is missing). It is just possible to make out that Sarah H. is referred to, but not the name of her husband. If any of these people ring a bell, I'd love to hear from you. I have extensive material on the MERRITTs and Doniphan Co. KS that I would be happy to share. These folks aren't in my direct line, but the picture of Minerva from her lawyer's letter, broke and in failing health, after losing her husband and three of her sons, is sadly compelling. I'd like to know what happened to her. Victoria Sullivan vlsulliv@jps.net