NOTE: any referrals you wish to pass on to Carolyn must be done off-list. Of course - any help you can offer toward her genealogy is welcomed. - Ken From: "Carolyn Sue Howard" <CarolynSHoward@comcast.net> Cc: <JOHNSON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2004 12:31 PM Is there anyone anybody can recommend for me to hire to find out what happened to my great grandfather during the Civil War? It is the most burning question I have with regard to my genealogy. As I have told this list several times before, my great grandfather, Joseph Abner JOHNSON, aka "Joab" Johnson, and listed on the 1860 census as "J. A. Johnson", just simply disappeared after 1860. He was listed on the 1860 Neshoba Co. census with wife, Mary Undine (Brown) Johnson, and one child - my grandfather, John R. Johnson, who had been born in 1859. They had come to Neshoba Co. sometime between 1858 and 1859 after their marriage in Pontotoc Co. in July of 1858. Not sure why they went there. He may have had one brother who also went down there or to another county close by. His name was Benjamin Johnson. By 1861, "Joab" and Mary had had their second child - James H. Johnson (who, by the way, is the ancestor of one of Philadelphia, MS's former citizens, now deceased - Etna ! B. (Johnson) Winstead. She married Arthur Winstead, former U.S. Congressman from Neshoba Co.) At any rate, I believe that "Joab" must have joined up with the Confederate Army, went off to serve, and never came back. In only a few years after 1861, his wife, Mary Undine, remarried to a neighboring widower by the name of Judge Samuel McNeil who was much, much older than she, and in fact, had a grown son and a young daughter. They apparently did have one child together. BUT, my great grandfather was not heard of ever again, as far as I can tell. Maybe Mary was destitute, with two very young toddlers, and thought that Joab had been killed in the War, and was forced to marry Judge McNeil. I just don't know. I'm sure that if Joab came back and found this out, it was quite a shock! However, I feel that he must have been killed and I just don't know where or when, or where he is buried. Any suggestions on hiring somebody - somebody who won't charge an arm and a leg?!!! Oh, and also, I previously had thought that he was the Joseph A. Johnson listed as being in the 40! th Mississippi Infantry, better known as the "Neshoba Tigers", but I no longer believe that, so I don't know what unit he was with. Thanks for any help you can give me. Sorry for this long e-mail. Sue (Johnson) Howard