Hi everyone!
First, welcome to my new blog Along the Creek! Here I’ll be posting about my family history research and any thoughts about family history that I have. I’ve wanted to make this kind of blog for a long time, so I’m excited to dive in!
This marks my first “Family History Journal,” where I plan to write about the research or other kind of family history work that I do each day. My biggest struggle throughout my time as a family historian has been making sure I write down my work, so this is my effort to ensure I do that from now on.
Let me start today by introducing my favorite family to research, the Michael family. I’ll talk another time about why this family is my favorite, though I’ll say now it’s really not that special a reason lol. Today I was focused on two separate goals.
The first goal was to finish inventorying all of the descendants of Henry Michael/Mikel I (my 6th great grandfather) who were Union soldiers in the U.S. Civil War and collected a pension. After working on this for a couple of days, I compiled a list of 19 soldiers who either collected a pension their self, or their widow and/or minor children collected a pension:
| Soldier | Applicant (if different) | Service | Application No. | Application Date | Certificate No. | State Filed |
| Harvey C. Harsey [Horsey] | – | “K 19 Iowa Inf” | 219.316 | 16 May 1876 | 287.589 | – |
| Andrew J. Hughes | Nancy A. Hughes (widow) | “G 22 Ills Inf” | 662.944 | 29 September 1897 | – | IL |
| William F. Johnson | Nancy E. Johnson (widow) | “E 87 Ind Inf, unass’d 37 Ind Inf” | 921.049 (invalid) 783.988 (widow) | 25 August 1890 (invalid) 10 June 1903 (widow) | 936.717 (invalid) 579.585 (widow) | OH (invalid) OH (widow) |
| William Lambert | Sarah Lambert (widow) | “I 128 Ind Inf” | 353.776 (invalid) 887.162 (widow) | 30 March 1880 (invalid) 14 March 1908 (widow) | 390.842 (invalid) 669.884 (widow) | – (invalid) IN (widow) |
| Lafayette McIntire | Nancy Hearn (widow) James W. Heane (gdn) | “H Phelps Mo Inf, I Greene & Christian Cos, Mo H Gds” | 1.143.641 (widow) 198.811 (minor) | 7 July 1919 (widow) 30 August 1871 (minor) | 894.454 (widow) 166.139 (minor) | – |
| Edmund Michael | Eliza Michael (widow) | “F 48 Ind. Inf.” | 318.338 | 7 August 1884 | 273.955 | IN |
| Henry C. Michael | – | “H 145 Ill Inf” | 275.408 | 27 Mar 1879 | – | – |
| Samuel Michael | Lucinda Michael (widow) | “A 97 Ind Inf” | 477.935 (invalid) 665.560 (widow) | 30 March 1883 (invalid) 15 November 1897 (widow) | 275.276 (invalid) 516.520 (widow) | IN (invalid) IN (widow) |
| Sylvester Michael | Samuel Michael (father) | “I 7 Ind. Cav.” | 385.689 | 17 December 1888 | – | IN |
| Philip Mickel | Emeline Mickel (widow) | “F 89 Ind Inf” | 691.369 (invalid) 621.520 (widow) | 25 February 1888 (invalid) 4 October 1895 (widow) | 481.839 (invalid) 432.357 (widow) | KS (invalid) KS (widow) |
| Albert Mikel | – | “H 48 and I 155 Ind Inf, K 17 VRC” | 498.787 | 30 October 1883 | 397.106 | IN |
| John Mikel | Daniel Mikel (gdn) | “F 48 Ind Inf” | 26.252 (minor) | 30 June 1863 | 49.219 | – |
| Perry C. Mikel | Delilah Mikel (widow) | “C South Cumberland Battln KY S Gds” | 1.098.334 | 9 April 1917 | – | OK |
| Sherod W. Mikle | – | “South Cumberland Battl’n, Ky Inf, E. S. Gds.” | 1.032.415 | 11 June 1891 | – | MO |
| Emery G. Moore | – | “H 35 Ill Inf” | 541.773 | 8 June 1885 | 420.819 | – |
| Francis A. Norwood | – | “K 57 Ind Inf” | 535.470 | 21 March 1885 | 385.730 | – |
| John S. Ramsey | – | “D 32 Ky Inf” | 1.043.925 | 27 July 1891 | 1.035.596 | MO |
| Charles A. Younce | Mahala Younce (mother) | “I 7″ Ind. Cav.” | 300.019 | illegible | 247.833 | – |
| Samuel Younce | Lula B. Younce | “G 57 Ind. Inf.” | 870.211 (invalid) 1.168.983 (widow) | 31 July 1890 (invalid) 25 January 1921 (widow) | 595.397 (invalid) 912.371 (widow) | IN (invalid) MI (widow) |
You’ll notice my direct ancestor Samuel Michael on this list, and you can check out some of the records from his pension file in the featured image above.
I recently moved to Frederick, Maryland, so I’m just a train ride away from Washington, D.C. and NARA now, and I compiled this list in preparation for some research I plan to do there soon. I’ll probably begin by reviewing Samuel’s pension simply because I don’t have photos of every document in his file, only the ones I deemed “important” when I viewed them 7 years ago, when I was much less learned & experienced and knew a whole lot less about the Michaels. So, who knows what other clues I might’ve missed in the files I didn’t photograph?
The second goal today was to continue documenting the religious affiliations of the most immediate descendants of Henry Michael/Mikel I. So far, I’ve been doing this by reviewing the marriage records for each couple in the tree and researching the officiant when they were a minister or preacher. This project is still a work in progress, so I don’t have data to share yet, but so far everyone has been either Baptist or German Baptist.
I’m currently discussing all of this with a cousin, a descendant of Henry I’s son Henry Mikel II (for reference, I descend from Henry I’s son William Michael/Mikel), and she’s helping me understand more about the German Baptists, so I’m really appreciative of her for that. I really want to understand the similarities and differences between the Baptists and German Baptists, and I want to know how common it was for branches of a family to split between those two faiths at that time (“that time” being the early to mid-1800’s).
Anyway, that pretty much sums up what I researched today. I always want to speak to cousins, so if you recognize any of the men in the table above, please reach out to me!
