rscanlon@naisp.net (Ray Scanlon) wrote: -snip- > >There's no definite evidence. Two deaths at sea seemed maybe a little more >than coincidence; of course, I could say the same thing about two suicides. Not to support your suicide theory, but suicides do run in families and to a lesser extent acquaintances. -snip- >Right, two men. Up 'til now captain's logs haven't been part of my >experience but I had hoped that report might have made it back to the >hometown for the death on the way to California. The other, Civil War >death, clearly requires a look at his service record. Since you don't know the ship yet, the captain's log is out. Newspapers on both ends might hold a clue. The probate is definitely worth looking for. [along with more probing into the source of the information on the exact date] If the soldier/sailor was married, or sole support of his parents or sister, I'd skip right over the record and ask for a pension. -snip- >> I went to UMich's MOA site- >> http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/moa_adv.html , selected 1850-1865 & >> used 'suicide' as a search term. . . I got 827 matches. -snip- >Thanks for your efforts, and also the link - another good tool I was >unaware of. Tonight I start to read the 907,750 pages there, and next >weekend I'll have a go at the 267 monograph volumes <g>. Well, as soon as you finish those you can read the ones that are really at UMich. I just noticed I said UMich & gave the link to Cornell's site. I like Cornell's set-up a little better, but UMich has a whole different dataset; http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/ Has the whole world seen the commercial [for a Cable ISP] where the geeky-guy is hunched over his computer, then sits up & announces to his wife "I'm done . . . .I've read the whole internet." I want to ask him if he's read all the MOA, Gutenberg Text, & American Memory pages.<g> Jim [and because I know someone will ask-- Project Gutenberg is explained at http://promo.net/pg/ and American Memory at http://memory.loc.gov/ -- both are free and non-commercial.]

On 29 Apr 2002 in soc.genealogy.misc, Jim Elbrecht wrote: > Well, as soon as you finish those you can read the ones that are > really at UMich. I just noticed I said UMich & gave the link to > Cornell's site. I like Cornell's set-up a little better, but UMich > has a whole different dataset; > http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/ Aw, you just meant UMich's eastern campus... I did notice that Cornell had a lot more Twain than UMich. > Has the whole world seen the commercial [for a Cable ISP] where the > geeky-guy is hunched over his computer, then sits up & announces to > his wife "I'm done . . . .I've read the whole internet." I want to > ask him if he's read all the MOA, Gutenberg Text, & American Memory > pages.<g> Not to mention Bartelby, ... End of the internet: http://www.mythologic.net/end -- Joe Makowiec can be reached at: makowiec(at)nycap(dot)rr(dot)com

Jim Elbrecht wrote: > > rscanlon@naisp.net (Ray Scanlon) wrote: > > -snip- > >Right, two men. Up 'til now captain's logs haven't been part of my > >experience but I had hoped that report might have made it back to the > >hometown for the death on the way to California. The other, Civil War > >death, clearly requires a look at his service record. > > Since you don't know the ship yet, the captain's log is out. > Newspapers on both ends might hold a clue. The probate is definitely > worth looking for. [along with more probing into the source of the > information on the exact date] > Yes, but once more, the local newspaper (particularly if Ray is in the area where the man lived!) might pay off handsomely in both instances. For the en route to California death, check the newspapers beginning a month BEFORE the death date looking for a mention that he sailed aboard the SS Minnow or whatever and keep reading until roughly 4 months after the deathdate for mention of the death aboard the SS Whale or whatever. > If the soldier/sailor was married, or sole support of his parents or > sister, I'd skip right over the record and ask for a pension. Wouldn't his age play there? An 18-yr-old wouldn't be likely to be sole-support in the days of large families (i.e., 1860s). Cheryl

>> If the soldier/sailor was married, or sole support of his parents or >> sister, I'd skip right over the record and ask for a pension. > >Wouldn't his age play there? An 18-yr-old wouldn't be likely to >be sole-support in the days of large families (i.e., 1860s). > not necessarily--I have the pension records for a Mrs. Dorcas Hood Elliot of Amherst NH and Salem MA, who collected a pension due to the death in service of one of her sons from her first marriage, James Blanchard, Co. C, 10th New Hampshire Inf. James was one of eleven, with seven surviving to adulthood and all doing pretty well; but as Mrs. Elliot's sisters-in-law wrote "that before he entered the service he contributed regularly to her support and [we] have often heard his mother say that she depended wholly upon her son after he entered the service"--and no one checked to find that Dorcas was living with one of her daughters at the time, with three of her other sons living near by. I would bet that (true or not) you could probably find more instances like that Reg Pitts BlanketGHS@aol.com

In article <3CCF253D.F498F9F8@erols.com>, singhals@erols.com wrote: > Jim Elbrecht wrote: > > > > rscanlon@naisp.net (Ray Scanlon) wrote: > > > > -snip- > > >Right, two men. Up 'til now captain's logs haven't been part of my > > >experience but I had hoped that report might have made it back to the > > >hometown for the death on the way to California. The other, Civil War > > >death, clearly requires a look at his service record. > > > > Since you don't know the ship yet, the captain's log is out. > > Newspapers on both ends might hold a clue. The probate is definitely > > worth looking for. [along with more probing into the source of the > > information on the exact date] > > > > Yes, but once more, the local newspaper (particularly if Ray is > in the area where the man lived!) might pay off handsomely in > both instances. > For the en route to California death, check the newspapers > beginning a month BEFORE the death date looking for a mention > that he sailed aboard the SS Minnow or whatever and keep reading > until roughly 4 months after the deathdate for mention of the > death aboard the SS Whale or whatever. > > > > If the soldier/sailor was married, or sole support of his parents or > > sister, I'd skip right over the record and ask for a pension. > > Wouldn't his age play there? An 18-yr-old wouldn't be likely to > be sole-support in the days of large families (i.e., 1860s). > > Cheryl Thanks for cluing me in on the time frame; I was wondering how much newspaper reading I was in for (I have one trip allegedly taking 230 days). I suppose that the California trip was a Gold Rush deal, and it just occurred to me that his family, or at least his wife, might have gone with him, and therefore knew that date of death. The newspaper seems like a good bet for getting a more complete story. The Civil War case has become interesting - I assumed from the printed genealogy I was starting from that the "lost at sea" occurred while he was in the service. I've had a look at his service record (as abstracted by Ancestry.com), and it turns out he deserted in 1862, two years before his son was adopted by his brother. He enlisted Dec 1861 at age 30, at which time he already had two children; a third was born sometime in 1862. A pension looks possible, but what does desertion do for your qualifications? Thanks again to all who've contributed their time and info. Ray Scanlon rscanlon@naisp.net

Ray Scanlon wrote: > Thanks for cluing me in on the time frame; I was wondering how much > newspaper reading I was in for (I have one trip allegedly taking 230 (G) Do yerself a favor: find a weekly newspaper. (g) There're only 51 of 'em a year, since most don't publish for one week around Christmas. days). > I suppose that the California trip was a Gold Rush deal, and it just > occurred to me that his family, or at least his wife, might have gone with > him, and therefore knew that date of death. The newspaper seems like a good > bet for getting a more complete story. > > The Civil War case has become interesting - I assumed from the printed > genealogy I was starting from that the "lost at sea" occurred while he was > in the service. I've had a look at his service record (as abstracted by > Ancestry.com), and it turns out he deserted in 1862, two years before his > son was adopted by his brother. He enlisted Dec 1861 at age 30, at which > time he already had two children; a third was born sometime in 1862. A > pension looks possible, but what does desertion do for your qualifications? > Scuttled 'em. Unless, of course, he enlisted a few months later in another unit. Dunno enough about Union research to have an opinion on the likelihood there; the Confederates did it all the time. Cheryl