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 ----- Original Message ----- From: <russellk37@att.net> To: <nyc-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2010 12:33 PM Subject: [NYC-ROOTS] Death of Louis F. LaFay > Elizabeth Todd, > > Have you looked at LaFay's military records? The US Army Register of > Enlistments, now available at Ancestry.com, shows that he first > enlisted at New Orleans on 28 September 1812 as a substitute for > another soldier. Might his body have been returned to N.O. for burial? > > There's at least 9 entries for LaFay (usually spelled Lefay by the > army, one time Lefeay) in the enlistment registers. He enlisted and > reenlisted 10 times and served almost 41 years before his death. Based > on the ages at enlistment, his birth date was probably ca. 1787-1788. > His last enlistment was in July 1850 at age 62 and his rank then and > at death was ordnance sergeant. He was a blacksmith before joining the > army. > > The monthly returns for Fort Wood for 1852-53, also at Ancestry.com in > Returns from US Military Posts, show that he was sick continuously > from Jan to July 1853 before dying on July 11. There's a notation in > the enlistment register which may be some kind of final pay to his > next of kin. I'm not sure about the meaning of the abbreviation but > the citation is: P.O. (or P.C.) Oct. 11/53, No. 97 - 224. > > I copied out a lot of the data and can transcribe a summary and send > to you if you don't already have it or I can give you some suggestions > on how to find it yourself. > > Russell K. Brown > > > On Jul 1, 2010, at 12:40 PM, Elizabeth wrote: > >> Thanks, Louis Francis LaFay, Sergent Major, Fort Wood, Bedlow's >> Island New >> York Harbor. Born 1797 died July 1853. Wife lived in Jersey City. >> I have checked with GreenWood, Luthern, NY Bayview, Holy Name. >> >> Thank You > > > ------------------------------- > 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 >