This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: carol2ron Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.lewis/12057.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Here is what I have on Alexander.. from a Granddaughter, Beryly Fettig. He had a yet undiscovered brother and sister, born in Covington, Kenton Co. KY. He is buried at Goldfield Cemetery, Goldfield, Wright, IA, his ex-wife Ellen (Brazelton)Williams and husband O. R. Williams at Glenwood Cemetery, Goldfield, Wright, IA. Their children died in NE, TX, AR, OR, UT and WA. Served as a drummer in the Union Army - Civil War. Beryl Fettig (Uncle Noel's daughter in Killdeer, ND) has copies of his service records. Marched with Sherman to Atlanta. The following is excerpted from notes provided by Beryl Fettig: We have no birth record of Alexander - only information given on his enlistment papers, and his own statement in the "History of Jones County Iowa" page 673, for the year 1879. The years between Alexander's birth in 1840 and the year 1851 when he says he came to Marion, Linn County, Iowa are an absolute blank. Also where he lived from 1851, age 11, until the year 1855 when he says he went to work for Alfred Brazelton until his 21st birthday, is not known. With whom he came, and with whom he lived until he began his contract with Alfred Brazelton is not known. He enlisted in the Company H, 31st Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry on Aug. 14, 1862, for a period of 3 years and was mustered in at Camp Herron on Oct. 13, 1862. He was promoted to Corporal in Oct. o f 1864. He was mustered out at Louisville, KY on June 27, 1865. Listed as a Musician - Drummer. Alexander's health was permanently damaged by his years of war service. The after-effects of malaria, typhoid, dysentery, and shell shock were forever with him, and his untimely death at age 45, twenty years after the close of the war, is directly attributable to damage caused to his liver and kidneys. His pension, granted 2 years before his death, bears this out. In the war he participated in over 28 engagements, including the battles of Yazoo City (Miss), Arkansas Post, the siege of Vicksburg (Miss), Lookout Mountain (Chattanooga Tenn) and Ringold (GA), and was in Sherman's "march to the sea" (the burning of Atlanta). Note: His participation in the battle of Lookout Mountain probably implies that he was present at the Battle of Chickamauga (Georgia) which preceeded Lookout Mountain by just a few days and is immediately across the TN/GA border from Lookout. (RPL) He returned to Monticello , Iowa where he married, on Oct. 8, 1865, Ellen Brazelton , the third child in a family of 11 children born to William and Ruth (Minton) Brazelton of Monticello. In 1872 Alexander and Ellen, with their children William Franklin, born 1866, George Alexander, born 15 April 1868, Albert Sherman , born 14 June 1871, moved to a farm in York County, Neb. There little William Franklin died in 1872. On 31 July 1874 Fredrick Arthur was born at Arborville. In the fall of 1874, the family returned to Jones Co., Iowa where Alexander farmed Section 10 near Monticello. Then sometime between 1878 and August, 1883, they moved to Eagle Grove, Wright Co., Iowa. Ernest John was born 7 Sept. 1878 at Monticello, before they moved, and Noel Brazelton was born 17 Aug. 1883 at Eagle Grove - the last of the six Lewis boys. They never had a sister. As time passed Alexander's health, ruined by wartime illnesses, became steadily worse and he became unable to work. He applied for, and was given an invalid pension of $4.00 a month by the U.S. Pension Bureau, the pension being for "Malarial poisoning, Chronic diarrhea , rheumatism, scurvey, and nervous derangement". Imagine a pension of $4.00 per month for a family of six, soon to be seven with Noel's birth on Aug. 17, 1883. The pension didn't help Alexander very long - he died 16 Feb. 1885, at the age of 45 years 1 month, and was buried at Goldfield 19 Feb. 1885. His grave in the Goldfield Cemetery has a military stone and the metal marker of the "Grand Army of the Republic" (G.A.R.) (signed) Beryl E. (Lewis) Fettig 1880 Census: Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace Alex LEWIS Self M Male W 40 KY Farmer & Buttermaker PA PA Ellen LEWIS Wife M Female W 30 IA Keeping House IL TN George A. LEWIS Son S Male W 12 IA At Home KY IA Albert I. LEWIS Son S Male W 9 IA KY IA Fred A. LEWIS Son S Male W 5 NE KY IA Earnest LEWIS Son S Male W 1 IA KY IA Wm. CLARK Other W Male W 57 NY Farm Lab CT NJ Source Information: Census Place Monticello, Jones, Iowa Family History Library Film 1254348 NA Film Number T9-0348 Page Number 305C IA Cemetery project: Name: Alex Lewis Page #: 50A Birth Date: 1840 Cemetery: Glenwood Town: Goldfield Level Info: Tombstone Records of Wright County, Iowa http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1961055&id=I1666 1 Ellen BRAZELTON b: 25 Oct 1848 d: 5 Feb 1908 Alexander LEWIS b: 18 Jan 1840 d: 16 Feb 1885 2 William Franklin LEWIS b: ABT. 1866 d: 1 Jan 1872 2 George Alexander LEWIS b: 15 Apr 1868 d: 4 Dec 1949 ELY b: UNKNOWN d: UNKNOWN 3 Ruth LEWIS b: May 1892 d: ABT. 1920 3 Vera LEWIS b: Aug 1895 d: UNKNOWN George L. GRAYSON II b: 1892 d: UNKNOWN 4 Richard S. GRAYSON b: 1915 4 George L. GRAYSON III b: 1917 4 Emanuel GRAYSON b: UNKNOWN d: UNKNOWN Mary Luellen MOREHEAD b: 17 Jan 1870 d: 20 Jan 1920 2 Albert Sherman LEWIS b: 14 Jun 1871 d: 19 Jun 1915 Mary Elizabeth DAVENPORT b: ABT. 1871 d: UNKNOWN 2 Frederick Arthur LEWIS b: 31 Jul 1874 d: 25 Dec 1952 Nora Ellen SNIDER b: 31 Jan 1876 d: 2 Aug 1945 2 Ernest John LEWIS b: 7 Sep 1878 d: 28 Apr 1941 Zouella Isabelle PERRY b: 15 Mar 1881 d: 28 Sep 1969 2 Noel Brazelton LEWIS b: 17 Aug 1883 d: 28 Mar 1964 Ella May FREML b: 25 Nov 1884 d: 16 Jun 1958 http://iowajones.org/bio/bioLA.htm#Lewis_Alexander Alexander Lewis Born 1840 ALEXANDER LEWIS, farmer, Monticello Twp., Sec. 10; P.O. Monticello; was born at Covington, Ky., in 1840; in the spring of 1851, he came to Marion, Linn Co., Iowa; he came to Richland, Jones Go., in June, 1856, and engaged to work for Mr. Alfred Brazelton till he became of age; at the breaking-out of the rebellion, he enlisted in the 31st I.V.I., and served till the close of the war; he participated in no less than twenty-eight engagements, including the battles of Yazoo, Arkansas Post, siege of Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain and Ringgold; was in Sherman's march to the sea; was discharged June 27, 1865. He went to Nebraska in 1872, and made him a farm in York Co., which he exchanged for his present farm in the fall of 1874. He married Ella Brazelton, daughter of William Brazelton; have four children-George A., Albert S., Frederick A. and Ernest J.; lost oldest child, William Franklin, in Nebraska. >From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 673 Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.