All right, Elizabeth. Nine entries came up for LaFay's name when I entered it as the search term for Register of Enlistments, eight enlistments and once in a separate file of ordnance sergeants. There were two other enlistment dates indicated for which there was no entry. Maybe the name was spelled differently or maybe the records no longer exist. For Ft. Wood, I looked at monthly returns for Nov 1852 to Sep 1853. The file jumps from there to Jan 1854. I looked through the first three months of 1854 to see if the last quarter of 1853 had been misfiled but I couldn't find those three months. I was hoping the P.O. of Oct 1853 might be spelled out in a return. Lucky that LaFay was an ordnance sgt.; ordinarily only officers' names appeared on the returns. You may not find your other ancestors if they were enlisted soldiers unless you can look at muster rolls. As for cost of shipment of the body, might the army pay for that? I don't know, but I had a record of an undertaker in Augusta, GA, being paid $100 by the government to ship a soldier's body to PA in 1865. Maybe that was a special circumstance. Best wishes on your search. Russell On Jul 4, 2010, at 11:22 AM, Elizabeth wrote: > Thank you Russell for all that information. I have most of it from > the > National Archives and from his military records. I did not realize > that > Ancestry had military returns. That should be helpful for many of my > ancestors. I have been out to the Statue of Liberty and talked with > the > rangers there. Last August I found a very helpful fellow and he had > suggestions. What I found interesting is that the rangers did not > know of > the cemetery there on the island. I found military records that > said there > are at least 17 buried starting from the American Revolution. There > are > three names listed and all the others are listed as unknown. > > Since his military records from Washington DC does not say where he > was > buried and he is not listed in all the obvious places in north > Jersey and > Brooklyn I keep hoping someone may have a name of a cemetery I did > not know > about yet. New Orleans is a possibility but the family was very poor, > military pay, and I don't know if the widow would have the money for > passage > for his body and escort. > > I'll give Ancestry a try and if I am not successful I will email you > to take > you up on your offer of the summary. > > Thanks again. > Elizabeth >

Thanks again Russell. I was not able to find the register of enlistments on Ancestry. Could you tell me how to find it. Also, his son was names the same. Louis Francis LaFay. He was also in the regular Army in the artillery. His enlistment was from about 1850 to his medical discharge in 1862. He died in 1865. Makes looking for records interesting. Regards Elizabeth ----- Original Message ----- From: <russellk37@att.net> To: <nyc-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2010 11:38 AM Subject: Re: [NYC-ROOTS] Death of Louis F. LaFay > All right, Elizabeth. Nine entries came up for LaFay's name when I > entered it as the search term for Register of Enlistments, eight > enlistments and once in a separate file of ordnance sergeants. There > were two other enlistment dates indicated for which there was no > entry. Maybe the name was spelled differently or maybe the records no > longer exist. > > For Ft. Wood, I looked at monthly returns for Nov 1852 to Sep 1853. > The file jumps from there to Jan 1854. I looked through the first > three months of 1854 to see if the last quarter of 1853 had been > misfiled but I couldn't find those three months. I was hoping the P.O. > of Oct 1853 might be spelled out in a return. Lucky that LaFay was an > ordnance sgt.; ordinarily only officers' names appeared on the > returns. You may not find your other ancestors if they were enlisted > soldiers unless you can look at muster rolls. > > As for cost of shipment of the body, might the army pay for that? I > don't know, but I had a record of an undertaker in Augusta, GA, being > paid $100 by the government to ship a soldier's body to PA in 1865. > Maybe that was a special circumstance. > > Best wishes on your search. > > Russell > > On Jul 4, 2010, at 11:22 AM, Elizabeth wrote: > >> Thank you Russell for all that information. I have most of it from >> the >> National Archives and from his military records. I did not realize >> that >> Ancestry had military returns. That should be helpful for many of my >> ancestors. I have been out to the Statue of Liberty and talked with >> the >> rangers there. Last August I found a very helpful fellow and he had >> suggestions. What I found interesting is that the rangers did not >> know of >> the cemetery there on the island. I found military records that >> said there >> are at least 17 buried starting from the American Revolution. There >> are >> three names listed and all the others are listed as unknown. >> >> Since his military records from Washington DC does not say where he >> was >> buried and he is not listed in all the obvious places in north >> Jersey and >> Brooklyn I keep hoping someone may have a name of a cemetery I did >> not know >> about yet. New Orleans is a possibility but the family was very poor, >> military pay, and I don't know if the widow would have the money for >> passage >> for his body and escort. >> >> I'll give Ancestry a try and if I am not successful I will email you >> to take >> you up on your offer of the summary. >> >> Thanks again. >> Elizabeth >> > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYC-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >