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Just found out my great, great, great grandfather was a civil war vet


BILL THE PATCH
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BILL THE PATCH

My son in law has been working on the family tree and he called me with some awesome discoveries it seems I have a g, g, g, grandfather that served in the union army. His name is Martin englert, came to this country in 1829 from Bavaria. Landed in Pennsylvania. Was a Volunteer in the 129th INF regt, Co C. This was in 1861 as far as I came to find out fought in the battles of fredricksburg, and chancelorville. ( Forgive my spelling). In 1863 he died of pneumonia in Washington DC. I want to find out as much as possible on my new found relative. If any one can shed any more light on this I would be very grateful. I did find him listed on the roster for his unit, for some reason the last letter(T) was left off his name. Not sure if if it was added later or left off by mistake. Would love to know where he's buried.

 

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Lots of Martin Engler Englert. I did find the 129th Pennsylvania. He enlisted at age 21 12 Aug 1862 at Harrisburg Penn. he died of pneumonia at Harewood General Hospital Washington D.C. (better than a field hospital) I can not find where he is buried. But I will say the campaigns in Virginia were hard fought battles. Fredericksburg was a disaster for the Union Army. Chancellorsville was a battle the Federal troops out numbered the Confederates but were out fought by the tactics of the Rebels. There interesting battles. I am an old VA boy. But all my ancestors were Union. (listed below) I would say he would have to be buried somewhere close to the hospital. Arlington national was not yet there until after the war. A lot of graves were moved there. So he could be buried there. Born 1841, died Jan 4, 1863. Before the Union started winning the war. Pvt. Co C. 129th Pennsylvania. Google it and see there history. Genealogy is a lot of fun. I have learned things my father never knew. Names can be tricky some could not read or write so name were misspelled, or written like they sounded. My GG grandfather signed with an X.

I would write for his records....it would be worth it!

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tdogchristy90

The Martin Engler 268th mentions I do find on findagrave. He is buried in Pennsylvania. He was born in 1842...although you say he came to the US in 1829. So he's on findagrave but was born in 1842, died Jan 4, 1863.

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BILL THE PATCH

On the family tree it states 1829, it might be a mistake. But to send for his records, is it the same as you would for WW2 Records?

 

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BILL THE PATCH

On the family tree it states 1829, it might be a mistake. But to send for his records, is it the same as you would for WW2 Records?

 

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Oh yeah, thanks for all the help. It is greatly appreciated

 

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BILL THE PATCH

The sources are 1860 Federal census, and the Pennsylvania death records 1906-1964

 

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BILL THE PATCH

It's englert, not sure why the T was left off. I know on my mother's side they dropped the O in O' Shea and simplified it to just plain Shea. Could be something like that? Or whoever filled it out just made a mistake. He's definitely my g,g,g, grandfather. He had a son John, who had a son Ferdinand, who had a son Howard my dad. Plus all the siblings. Thank you for that picture of card where did you find that and exactly what is it for?

 

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BILL THE PATCH

 

 

That's him definitely, It's englert, not sure why the T was left off. I know on my mother's side they dropped the O in O' Shea and simplified it to just plain Shea. Could be something like that? Or whoever filled it out just made a mistake. He's definitely my g,g,g, grandfather. He had a son John, who had a son Ferdinand, who had a son Howard my dad. Plus all the siblings. Thank you for that picture of card where did you find that and exactly what is it for?

 

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BILL THE PATCH

No I didn't, thank you so much. Is there a certain place where they keep all the civil war records? Can anyone get them. This is great thanks.

 

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BILL THE PATCH

I see the last name omitted the letter T, I'm wondering did a relative add a T to our last name? Was it common practice to do such a thing. I know leaving off letters was something that was done. Is my real name engler? Lol or is it more reasonable to say they copied from the first mistake.

 

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Just as an aside, misspellings are not uncommon... as simple clerical errors.

 

My own grandfather, Alonso Russell's, name is actually misspelled on his headstone of all possible places as "Alonza" ! :rolleyes:

I see the last name omitted the letter T, I'm wondering did a relative add a T to our last name? Was it common practice to do such a thing. I know leaving off letters was something that was done. Is my real name engler? Lol or is it more reasonable to say they copied from the first mistake.

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No I didn't, thank you so much. Is there a certain place where they keep all the civil war records? Can anyone get them. This is great thanks.

 

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Here is a link to the Pa State Archives Civil war Veterans card file. A good link to have if you are interested in PA CW soldiers.

 

http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us/archive.asp?view=ArchiveIndexes&ArchiveID=17

 

Also, the site is much more than CW; there are other digitized records too.

 

Quoting from the web site:

 

"The Archives Records Information Access System (ARIAS) is designed to facilitate citizen access to archival records created by all branches and levels of Pennsylvania State Government. Records series currently online are:

• PA National Guard Veteran’s Card File, 1867-1921

• Civil War Veterans’ Card File

• Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File

• World War I Service Medal Application Cards

• Spanish American War Veterans’ Card File of United States Volunteers

• Mexican Border Campaign Veterans’ Card File

• Militia Officers’ Index Cards, 1775-1800

 

The original paper records were microfilmed. From this microfilm, the images were digitized for presentation on the Web. The content, sequence, and image quality among the records series will vary depending on how they were originally written/typed and subsequently filmed. In some instances, certain information may be illegible. Efforts were made to optimize the records for readabilty and presentation purposes for the Web. Currently, about 1,500,000 records are accessible in ARIAS, and the State Archives plans to make additional records available in the near future."

 

Here is the link for those records mentioned above.

 

http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us/archive.asp

 

Brent

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On the family tree it states 1829, it might be a mistake. But to send for his records, is it the same as you would for WW2 Records?

 

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Civil War soldiers service and pension records are located in the National Archives in Washington DC. You can contact them for the records. But be aware that they charge for them and it is pricey in my opinion. I would suggest that you contact a private researcher to pull them and copy them for you. Even though your ancestor died in the war one of the family members may have applied for his pension. So be sure to check for a pension file.

 

When I first started researching my family history I sent for the records. This was many, many years ago and the cost was much less then. I was elated to receive what they sent. Then, I started to travel to the archives to do my own research. Even though I had my ancestors records I had them pulled again so I could see the originals in person. I'm glad I did, as I found out that I didn't receive copies of all the papers that were in his pension file. One of the pages that I had not received the first time contained some valuable information for the family history.

 

Good luck on your research.

 

Brent

 

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familytreevets

It is likely that you have a mix of results for two Martin Engler(t)s.

 

There are census results of that time [period in PA for Engler and Englerts. Both could be valid. Remember that the first rule of genealogy is that you have to learn to spell incorrectly. There is a Martin Englert and a Martin Engler in PA generally in the same timeframe.

 

The Martin on find a grave has a headstone that says Died in U.S. Service. If he is your ancestor then his parents, as shown on the stone, are Michael and Dorothy.

 

I'd suggest you try working backwards in the U.S. Census. 1940 is the latest available. Those 1940 folks would be well known to you. Then work backwards following the male line. Note that 1890 census is missing, having been destroyed by fire.

 

A paid site, Fold3 has military records. A free site, Family search.org, has census records and some military records. The image someone posted with the name written at the top is the service record. Inside would be some data. Fold3 would likely have that record.

 

Always question search results since there are many common names. I would start by questioning weather the Martin that died in hospital in DC is your ancestor. That is, unless you have been able to trace him back through an unbroken paternal line.

 

Accepting initial search results with no corroborating records will lead you down lots of rabbit holes.

 

Good luck.

 

 

 

 

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It is likely that you have a mix of results for two Martin Engler(t)s.

 

There are census results of that time [period in PA for Engler and Englerts. Both could be valid. Remember that the first rule of genealogy is that you have to learn to spell incorrectly. There is a Martin Englert and a Martin Engler in PA generally in the same timeframe.

 

The Martin on find a grave has a headstone that says Died in U.S. Service. If he is your ancestor then his parents, as shown on the stone, are Michael and Dorothy.

 

I'd suggest you try working backwards in the U.S. Census. 1940 is the latest available. Those 1940 folks would be well known to you. Then work backwards following the male line. Note that 1890 census is missing, having been destroyed by fire.

 

A paid site, Fold3 has military records. A free site, Family search.org, has census records and some military records. The image someone posted with the name written at the top is the service record. Inside would be some data. Fold3 would likely have that record.

 

Always question search results since there are many common names. I would start by questioning weather the Martin that died in hospital in DC is your ancestor. That is, unless you have been able to trace him back through an unbroken paternal line.

 

Accepting initial search results with no corroborating records will lead you down lots of rabbit holes.

 

Good luck.

 

Familytreevets is right; making sure your results are airtight is paramount. Multiple names and spellings are a nightmare and can be hard to navigate at times. Every family has the same pitfalls.

 

Here are some more possibilities for PA CW soldiers that could be related to your family tree.

 

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post-1118-0-70234600-1517165085_thumb.gif

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BILL THE PATCH

I see I'm glad I'm learning about this, I've always wanted to a family tree but it gets very confusing. My son in law took charge of all of this he has an ancestry account and he's doing all branches of family. He started with my father Howard englert, his father Ferdinand englert, who's father is John englert who's the son of Martin engler (t), he also found pictures of John englert and his wife Claire which is Martin's son. I have similar pictures of these relatives. I'm pretty sure Martin engler(T) is my ggg grandfather. It all lines up. The likeness is to close not to be true. I will contact Geoff and have him do the research. I want to thank everyone who commented on this thread your help is greatly appreciated. It's so sad he never made it back home to see his son again who was only four years old. If he fought in those battles in the winter I wonder if that's how he caught pneumonia. I would love to track down the cemetery to pay my respects some day. The civil war was always my passion as a young kid even before I started being interested in WW2.

 

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  • 4 years later...

Billy back in the old days I remember seeing a photo you had of relative, a elderly man in Germany wearing the Iron Cross 2nd Class, definitely for the Franco Prussian War of 1870-71, do you recall this? 

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15 hours ago, BILL THE PATCH said:

No I cant say I remember that. You sure it was me? 

Yes it was you.

 

How bout this potential relative of yours from the old country.

 

Schütze Englert Regiment General  Göring in the 1930s. remember him, we both thought he kinda resembles your Father when I showed you the photo back in the day.

Schuetze Englert  Regiment General Goering 19350003.jpg

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  • 5 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/7/2022 at 9:01 AM, BILL THE PATCH said:

No I cant say I remember that. You sure it was me? 

Come to think of it. it may have been a relative on your Grandmother's side of the Family, rather then your Grandfather, remembering she lived with you all, we presume she was German too, it was your Mother I known was Irish. This man as mentioned wore the IC II, and was in civilian cloths in old age, think he may of been leaning on a cane, this something common then with old timers in Prussia later all of Germany after 1871 going back well after the Napoleonic Wars in their old age, they would simple wear their IC II with Cross looping the ribbon to a button hole on the front or wherever on their suits for special occasions, this being the 1813 or the 1871 ones.

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