The End and the Beginning

When I ordered my records from the State digital archives I also ordered several other records from Madison County. From the Anderson Library I ordered some obituaries I thought might belong to my family and I also ordered death records from the county using the forms I got from the Madison County Historical society.

The Health department kindly mailed my original forms back to me in the self addressed stamped envelopes I sent them. I'm not sure if there was some error in communication or if there is some message there.

I did however get the obituaries from the library and they were most informational. One lists Rosa with several children and the other references Levi without naming him.

This is a nice little obit listing the children and even her sister who I now know is an Eaton, but sadly not her husband. The next excerpt is a bit more ...tabloid, but it does contain some good information for me.

Disappeared! How, why? What really happened? The text is so vague, what is "these 20 years ago"? Does it mean 1886? Were there no police or no sheriff in this town? What was this lawsuit? If he disappears in 1886 how can I pick him up in a veteran's roll in 1890 in Ohio? Why is his pension request only closed in 1902?

"A later day will have to be awaited in order to solve the mystery."

Message in a Bottle

I was contacted in January by someone who found one of my postings out on the Thompson genealogy site. Ironically, he contacted me about the time I got my package from the MCHS containing all that information and when I had my Ancestry.com account active. So things all came together at once.

All my droppings around the internet have paid off with a contact from the home team. This person is still in the Alexandria area and grew up there. He's the same age as my Dad and at the same level in the family tree.

My tree branch runs like this:

Levi -> Albert -> Ray ->Charles -> my Dad -> Me.

His branch runs like this

Levi -> Albert ->Francis -> Richard -> Him.

So his father and my grandfather are first cousins. I've learned so much about the family in a few short weeks that my head feels like it's going to pop. I've also been able to share some of the things I learned. Unfortunately he and I are stuck at the same place. Levi Thompson 1834 Indiana or Pennsylvania.

It's been awesome to get pictures from the Thompson family (some of which I need to post here) and insight into their lives from his and his father's perspective.

In this way one of my big goals has been met. I have a past and a family and I'm on the right track. My Thompson world is no longer the small world of the Thompsons I know and grew up with, now there are many more Thompsons to meet.

Rosa, Levi, Fire and a Parking Lot

I could never find evidence of Rosa and Levi's marriage. I haven't been able to find grave sites or death certificate records for either person. To me they appear to be people that grow out of the ground in 1860 with children in tow, living with another family that I cannot tie them to through any other records (the Broderick/Davis household). Then Levi disappears, now after 1890 and Rosa is gone by 1910.

So I decided that the search function at Ancestry was not going to be of much use to me. All I can find are records of John L Thompson and Rosanna Steele and I've been able to prove that Levi and Rosanna/Rosa Thompson are not those people. So I began in 1850 just going page by page through the census in VanBuren, Madison, Indiana (where Levi and Rosanna live in 1860) to see what is there. That's when I found Rose A. Blades born in 1837 in Indiana, just like Rosa and her father is from Maryland just like Rosa says in 1880.

Then days later, I got a package from the Madison County Historical Society with several records from the county health department and news papers for Albert Thompson and there on the death record are the names of Albert's parents. Levi Thompson born in Indiana and Rosa Blode also born in Indiana. Blode is close enough to Blades to me to be a misspelling or misread of handwriting from the original certificate. The Blades family is a founding family in Van Buren and Rosa's father James Blades is one of the first men in the area.

Why then can't I find marriage records for Levi and Rosa if she is from a core family? The package states that many records were lost to fire in the courthouse around 1880. I imagine that is why so much is lost to me.

Madison county has a very nice cemetery web site with gravesite listings. I began to hunt through those for Levi and Rosa Thompson, but I couldn't find them. I did find a listing and a picture for James Blades headstone, but nothing for Levi and Rosa.

My search was not totally without merit though because I discovered that there was an Alexandria Cemetery which I'd never heard about before. My heart sank though when I pulled up the page for the cemetery as it is a paved parking lot with a single marker for unknown souls.

Since I have no idea when it was paved and destroyed, I still have some hope that Levi and Rosa are buried elsewhere. That brings me back to a cemetery I can find no records for.

In my last post, I have Levi living in Tamah, Mercer, Ohio. There is a union cemetery there with only one record online but multiple headstones in a picture. This may be a reason to make a trip to Indiana and Ohio. Perhaps I will find them there.

Levi Thompson Alive in 1890

Picked up my ancestry.com account again as a Christmas gift and found an unexpected record for Levi Thompson in 1890. On ancestry the 1890 records are pretty dry and unorganized, but oddly that's where I found him. Levi Thompson shows up in 1860 with his family and disappears after the 1870 census. I assumed he had died before 1880 given the injuries he had.

I found him in a veterans schedule in Hopewell Ohio. It doesn't give much information, but it does say he has a disability of "stiff ankle" and that he has a post box in Tamah Ohio which is between Rockford, Mendon and Celine in Mercer County Ohio. As you can see on the map it's not that far from Alexandria Indiana across the state line.

I'm not sure what he's doing in Ohio at this time. His family is still in Alexandria in 1880, although he does not appear to be there. I haven't found him in Ohio in 1880 yet either. In 1880 Rosa Thompson claims she is married. In 1900 she claims widowed. This makes more sense now than it did when I thought he died in the 1870s.

This raises a lot of questions. What is he doing there,  does he have ties to the area? Is that where he died? There is a union cemetary in Tamah Ohio, but find-a-grave only lists one gravesite. Luckilly they also have a picture of the graveyard and you can see that there are multiple headstones.  Could that be the final resting place for Levi?

As another point of interest, Emily Thompson Silcott's husband is also gone in the 1880 census and Emily is listed living with her mom in Alexandria. Oddly she is also listed in 1880 in Muncie Indiana with her daughter Nina and husband. That tells me that there was some turmoil in 1880, although I don't know what it is.

Levi Thompson Civil War Vet.

Here are some collected Notes I've attached to Levi Thompson (b circa 1835) father of Albert, who served in the 34th Indiana Infantry Volunteers:

Name:      Levi Thompson
Residence:     Alexandria, Indiana
Enlistment Date:     21 Sep 1861
Side Served:     Union
State Served:     Indiana
Service Record:     Promoted to Full Corporal.
Enlisted as a Private on 21 September 1861.
Enlisted in Company D, 34th Infantry Regiment Indiana on 21 Sep 1861.
Mustered Out Company D, 34th Infantry Regiment Indiana on 3 Feb 1866.

Levi applied for his pension in 1869. I've read that early pension requests were the norm because soldiers often had terrible arthritis from being out in the elements for years.

Here is a general record of the movements of the 34th:

   
UNION INDIANA VOLUNTEERS

34th Regiment, Indiana Infantry

Organized at Anderson, Ind., and mustered in September 16, 1861. Moved to Jeffersonville, Ind., October 10, thence to New Haven, Ky., November 15, and duty there till December 14. Moved to Camp Wickliffe, Ky., December 14, and duty there till February 7, 1862. Attached to 10th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, November-December, 1861. 10th Brigade, 4th Division, Army of the Ohio, to February, 1862. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of Mississippi, to April, 1862. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, Army Mississippi. Garrison at New Madrid, Mo., to July, 1862. Helena, Ark., District of Eastern Arkansas, Dept. of Missouri, to November, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, District of Eastern Arkansas, Dept. of the Tennessee, to January, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 12th Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to February, 1863. 1st Brigade, 12th Division, 13th Army Corps, to July, 1863. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to August, 1863, and Dept. of the Gulf to March, 1864. Defences of New Orleans, La., to December, 1864. Brazos, Santiago, Texas, U. S. Forces, Texas, to June, 1865. Dept. of Texas to February, 1866.

SERVICE.-Moved to Green River, Ky., February 7, 1862, thence to the Ohio River February 14, and to Cairo, Ill., with Nelson's Division, Army of the Ohio, February 17-20. Detached from Division and moved to Commerce, Mo., February 27-March 3. Siege of New Madrid, Mo., March 5-14. Siege and capture of Island No. 10, Mississippi River, March 15-April 8. Riddell's Point March 17. Garrison duty at New Madrid, Mo., April 7 to June 14. Expedition down Mississippi River to Fort Pillow, Tenn., May 19-23 (Detachment). Capture of Fort Pillow June 5 (Detachment). Moved to Memphis, Tenn., June 14-15. Expedition up White River, Ark. June 26-July 14. Action at Grand Prairie July 6-7. Near Duvall's Bluff July 7. Aberdeen July 9. Arrived at Helena July 14, and duty there till April, 1863. Expedition to Arkansas Post November 16-22, 1862. Ordered to Milliken's Bend, La., April 14. Movement on Bruinsburg and turning Grand Gulf April 25-30. Battle of Port Gibson May 1. Fourteen-Mile Creek May 12-13. Battle of Champion's Hill May 16. Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 4-10. Siege of Jackson July 10-17. Ordered to New Orleans, La., August 4, thence to Brashear City September 12. Western Louisiana Campaign October 3-November 30. Grand Coteau October 19. Carrion Crow Bayou November 3. At New Iberia till December 19. Regiment re-enlisted at New Iberia December 15. Moved to Pass Cavallo, Texas, December 23, 1863-January 8, 1864, and duty there till February 21. Moved to New Orleans, La., February 21, and duty there till March 20. Veterans on furlough till May. Garrison duty at New Orleans till December 18. Ordered to Brazos, Santiago, Texas, December 18, and duty there till June 16, 1865. Expedition from Brazos, Santiago, May 11-14, 1865. Action at Palmetto Ranch May 12-13, 1865 (last action of the war). White's Ranch May 13. March to Ringgold Barracks, 260 miles up the Rio Grande June 16-28. Duty at Ringgold Barracks till July 24, and at Brownsville till February, 1866. Mustered out February 3, 1866.

Regiment lost during service 2 Officers and 32 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 5 Officers and 204 Enlisted men by disease. Total, 243.

Here is a link to the Park Service Listing for their Marker in Vicksburg: http://www.nps.gov/vick/historyculture/34th-indiana-infantry.htm

Once I find Levi's grave site, I'll be able to add a record to the Database of the Sons of Union Veterans grave registry: http://www.suvcwdb.org/home/

Corrected Family Tree

So now my tree look something like this:

Levi Thompson 1835/6 - bef 1880 b: Pennsylvania or Indiana
Married abt 1855 to Rosa or Rosanna (unknown) 1837 - bef 1910 b: Indiana

• Mary Thompson 1856
• James Thompson 1857
• Emily J Thompson Silcott 1859

• Nina Silcott.

• Rena Frances Thompson 1868
• Albert Thompson 1870 - 1909 b: Indiana Married Ida Williamson.
• Eva Thompson Hetzel McCann 1893 - 1968
• Vivian Leo Thompson 1896
• Ray Bishop Thompson 1898 - 1970 married? Orvetta Finks
• Charles Thompson 1925
• Cuba Thompson 1902 - 1978
• Francis Thompson - 1904 - 1973
• Marjorie M Thompson Sturm 1907 - 1997
• Harry Thompson 1910
• Mattie Thompson 1872

Levi Thompson was in the Civil war between Emily and Rena. He mustered in to the Indiana 34th Infantry company D in 1861 and mustered out in 1865 as a Corporal. He disappears before the 1880 Census. There is a Levi Thompson death record for 1894 from Hancock County but I'm not sure that's him since he is absent from the 1880 census. Census records alternately say he's from Indiana or Pennsylvania.