THE NEXT PAGE
When I began diving into my genealogy, I uncovered characters on both sides of the family, recounts Carleton Young
Carleton Young dives into his family genealogy, finding distinctive characters on both sides of his family.
I had never been particularly interested in family history. My attic discovery changed all of that.
About 12 years ago, my parents passed away, and it was time to empty their house. I was not expecting to find much that I was unfamiliar with in the house in the Blackridge section of Churchill, but in the attic, we found a very old wooden box that I had never seen.
The box was full of letters written by two brothers from Vermont fighting in the Civil War. Not only was it a large collection of letters (about 250), but they were well-written, detailed accounts of camp life and of the many battles in which these two soldiers fought, including the Peninsula Campaign, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Petersburg and Cedar Creek.
My wife, some friends and I began meeting weekly to transcribe the letters. This proved quite difficult at times and ended up taking several years because the brothers often attempted to save paper by cross-writing. After finishing a page, they would sometimes turn it sideways and write across what they already had written, creating a jumbled mess of words.
We also visited all of the battlefields to talk with park rangers and historians and walk in the places where our two soldiers had been. We made several trips to the boys’ hometown of Williamstown, Vt., as well. Finally, last year, I published “Voices From the Attic: The Williamstown Boys in the Civil War.”
As a result, life has changed dramatically. I had envisioned my retirement years sitting on the back porch reading books and magazines. Instead, I spend much of my time giving talks on the Civil War letters at libraries, historical societies, book clubs and Civil War interest groups in the Pittsburgh area and traveling throughout New England and the Midwest.
• The soldiers’ last name was Martin, and I never knew of any relatives with that last name.
I began researching my family history and learned that my New England ancestors could be traced to the earliest years of American history. One of my most prominent ancestors was Sir William Herrick. Living at Beaumanor, an estate that looks very similar to Downton Abbey, he served as teller of the Exchequer for Queen Elizabeth I. Some of his children came to America, and his grandson, Henry Herrick (my eighth great-grandfather), served as a juror in the Salem Witch Trials. Ironically, one of those condemned to death as a witch was Susannah Martin, whom I discovered to be another of my ancestors after finding my family connection to the two soldiers.
Another of my early American ancestors was Thomas Dexter (my ninth great-grandfather), arriving at Massachusetts Bay in 1630 along with Puritan leader John Winthrop. Although some Cape Cod historians see Dexter as having been quarrelsome and unscrupulous, the town of Sandwich rebuilt his grist mill as a tourist site.
The Dexter family became very established in New England. Paul Revere’s mother was a Dexter, so I can count one of America’s most famous heroes as a distant cousin. In tracing my family history, I have found numerous Revolutionary War veterans. Truth be told, my third great-grandfather, Ephraim Young, was a Loyalist who left New England at the start of the war and became a founder of St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Nevertheless, I had enough ancestors in the Continental Army to fill a regiment.
• All of this was from my father’s side of the family. More recently, the thought occurred to me that I should start researching my mother’s side. My mother’s relatives hailed from the hills above Uniontown in towns such as Hopwood, Fairchance, Smithfield and Hayden town. I found that by the late 19th century, they had carved out a rugged existence, the men working long, difficult hours in the coal mines and often facing an early death due to accidents or health problems. The women married very young and had one baby after another.
Whereas my New England ancestors tended to be very well educated, with the boys and even the girls attending private secondary academies and often college, that was not the case with my mom’s ancestors. Census records show that well into the 20th century, they typically had at best a sixth- or seventh-grade education.
My second great-grandfather on that side was Alpheus Wilson. I found his military record with the 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry and thought that perhaps I would have another Civil War story to tell. Then I found his 1884 obituary and realized that the end of his life would be the more interesting story to investigate.
A February 1884 headline in the Pittsburg Commercial Gazette blared “A Cruel Parricide in Bloody Fayette.” According to the article, Alpheus Wilson and his son, Frank, had received their monthly pay, and Alpheus, “addicted to alcohol,” had gone out drinking. He returned home that fateful night and gave what was left of the money to his wife to use for expenses.
Frank arrived home later, “evidently under the influence of liquor,” and got into an argument with his father. Alpheus ordered the 23-yearold to move out of the house. Frank returned a few minutes later with a borrowed revolver in his hand and told his father, “If you have anything more to say, say it quick.”
Before Alpheus could respond, his son pulled the trigger. “The ball entered just above the right eye and came out abovethe left temple,” the newspaper reported. Frank was captured the next morning at his girlfriend’s house and chargedwith murder. As the sheriff brought him back toward town, they passed the house “where the weeping mother and daughter were keeping their sad watch.”
• That wasn’t the only murder in the family. Around the turn of the 20th century, a feud between the Tate and Brownfield families had broken out near the border of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. One of those involved, Isley Tate, was known for his cruel and vicious behavior. Newspaper articles referred to him as a “rugged mountaineer clan leader,” “mountain lord,” “bad man of the hills” and “fast man with a gun.”
I discovered that I had a cousin, Adaline Miller, who in 1909 was widowed at 34. With six children, including an infant and 14-year-old daughter Nettie, she took a job as a housekeeper at Tate’s cattle farm. Within a year, she was pregnant with his child. Adaline and the baby died during childbirth, and care of the younger children fell to Nettie, who married the 44-year-old Tate months after her mother’s death.
Over 22 years, Nettie bore him 13 children. Then, on Sept. 17, 1932, came the news that Tate had been murdered. After selling a parcel of land for $200, Tate had been ambushed while returning home. The autopsy found more than 80 pieces of buckshot in his heart, lungs, liver and stomach, and the back of his head had been shattered with a large rock. The money was gone.
Three of Isley’s sons were arrested, and newspapers indicated that Nettie also was likely to be arrested because oneof the boys had implicated her. In theend, investigators charged only 21year-old John, 19-year-old George and 15-year-old Sam, even though they determined that Nettie had suggested a month earlier that they kill their father.
Not long after the murder, Nettie gave birth to Isley’s last child. Her hospital room photograph with the baby was seen in newspapers across the country. To help pay for her sons’ legal defense, Nettie auctioned off part of Isley’s arsenal. The sale of 32 guns brought $240, a tidy sum during the Great Depression.
The court ruled that the eldest son, John, had not been part of the murder plot, and he was convicted only of receiving stolen property (he had been given some of the $200 to hide). It was determined that Sam, the youngest of the three, only stood guard some distance away and would be sent to a reform school. George admitted to committing the murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
Within a year, Nettie married a Brownfield from the other side of the family feud. When she died in 1962 at the age of 66, her obituary noted that she left behind 10 children, 50 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. One of Nettie’s daughters had 10 children and was murdered by one of them months after Nettie’s death.
In fairness, I should explain that I also discovered many Pennsylvania relatives with the most admirable of qualities. As wars occurred, many of them answered their nation’s call. Some never returned home. As time went on, many also became very successful in some of the most challenging of professions.
• After enduring unimaginable hardships (including two amputations on the same leg), Francis Martin wrote to a local newspaper that he would advise others to consider his fate before enlisting. Nevertheless, he said, to win the war and end slavery he would encourage them to “go forward” because “the cause is worthy of the sacrifice.”
If you are considering researching your own family history, I would also encourage you to go forward and follow wherever the path may lead. Perhaps you, too, might find stories of courage and heroism mixed with treachery, patricide, matricide and criminal conspiracy. It may end up far more compelling than fiction.