Need help on this one - C.S.C. No. 8515 Thomas Nelson. USS. Monongahela - March 26, 1901

[jmar]

Hello everyone,

 

I hope you are all doing well, thank you for stopping by and reading my thread.

 

Usually I can find, at the very least, cursory information on a specific Veteran, but this one is eluding me. If any of my fellow Forum members can shed any info I'd really appreciate it. Lovely old piece that deserves some back story. The Receiving Ship Boston bar (open "C" clasp) is engraved on the back 8513 APL 16, 1913. Close enough for an engravers typo (?). April 16 is,

incidentally, my birthday, but 1913... was 42 years before I drew my first breath!

 

Knowledge is power and this group of people have proved that time and time again.

 

At the very least, I hope you enjoy the photos. It's good to be back.

 

Best wishes to all,

 

Joe

 

 

[jmar]

[BeansEnHay]

Found one in the 1900 census, a 32 year old Fireman 2nd class born in Denmark. Assigned to U.S. receiving ship Franklin, at Norfolk, Va. born March 1868. Could be your man.  I searched Nelson Naval, or Navy on the 1900 census and came up with it.

Rob

[Kaigun Shosa]

Hey Joe,

The abbreviation for April must have been the norm back then. I have a 1908 with the same abbreviation "APL"

[jmar]

12 hours ago, BeansEnHay said:

Found one in the 1900 census, a 32 year old Fireman 2nd class born in Denmark. Assigned to U.S. receiving ship Franklin, at Norfolk, Va. born March 1868. Could be your man.  I searched Nelson Naval, or Navy on the 1900 census and came up with it.

Rob

Thank you Rob, sounds like a great place to begin! I appreciate your time and help.

Best wishes,

 

Joe

[jmar]

3 hours ago, Kaigun Shosa said:

Hey Joe,

The abbreviation for April must have been the norm back then. I have a 1908 with the same abbreviation "APL"

Excellent! You've got a real beauty there, thanks for the info and pic!

 

Best to you,

 

Joe

[BigJohn#3RD]

Joe and Rob,

Thanks for sharing some beautifully engraved Navy Good Conduct medals.

Best regards,

John

[aerialbridge]

Ditto.   I believe these to be the recipients of the two nice medals shown here.   It's a bit of a sticky wicket with the common name of Thomas (nmi) Nelson, given the plethora of Scandinavian immigrants that were navy sailors in the 19th and early 20th century, but the convenient posting of the Clementsen medal gives a good reference point that would extrapolate nicely with their respective CSC #s to eliminate other possible Thomas Nelsons in that time period.   Great medals and please post more medals and more often.   This place is a shadow of how busy it was 10 years ago, would be nice to see the busy, good old days return.   Joe, that is neat that the medal date is  your -42nd birthday!  I have a nice oldy NGCM  that is -47 (+1d) for mine.   Close enough for government work and missed it by that much.  

 

Clementsen Clement Bernhart -- [Service Number] 001216622, [Date of Enlistment] 01/09/1889  CSC #9926

Nelson Thomas -- [Service Number] 001239202, [Date of Enlistment] 12/10/1885      CSC #8516

 

Interesting that neither man earned a good cookie after their first 6 year qual period.   You and Kaigun with the great GCM/CRE  pair should add those medals to the NGCM thread and also those names and CSC#s to the data base thread for those numbers. Too bad it's not pinned on this topic, seems worthy compared to a few other topics but what do I know.  I'm just another peanut in the gallery.  Maybe one day I'll graduate to minstrel in the gallery.

 

 

[Sweazy21]

CSC 8515? Dated 1901?

From the information that I have, he could have enlisted in 1888. I’m basing this off of two conducts that I have and have a little bit of knowledge on. CSC5967 Dated 1887 enlisted around 1880 and CSC 9317 dated 1893 enlisted 1889. I do not know how common it is, but it is possible he might have a good contact out there did at 1892 with a bar for 1896. 
I still need to go through and add several numbers to my list, but tonight I’ll double check some things as I think I have a number that falls a lot closer to your number. 

[Sweazy21]

So the medal that I mentioned earlier belonged to James A Douglass. He holds CSC 8521 and received a good conduct on February 16, 1895.
There’s also Henry M Brennan who holds CSC 8522 who received a good conduct September 19, 1898. I do not have information on when they enlisted however.
So between the year Arielbridge has of 1885 is only a few years earlier of what I was thinking. Although CSC numbers do not really correspond with enlistment dates, they can give you somewhat of a rough idea imo.


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[jmar]

Thank you AB and Sweazy,

 

Interesting and helpful information. I too thought it unusual a CSC number 8515 with a 1901 date, I have an 1899 with a CSC 12302. Engraving looks right though, detail pic attached.

 

Thank you both for taking your time to reply and look into this for me, it's much appreciated!

 

Best wishes!

 

Joe

[jmar]

On 2/25/2021 at 11:53 AM, BigJohn#3RD said:

Joe and Rob,

Thanks for sharing some beautifully engraved Navy Good Conduct medals.

Best regards,

John

Thank you for stopping in John, hope all is well with you!

 

Best wishes,

 

Joe

[Wharfmaster]

15 hours ago, aerialbridge said:

Ditto.   I believe these to be the recipients of the two nice medals shown here.   It's a bit of a sticky wicket with the common name of Thomas (nmi) Nelson, given the plethora of Scandinavian immigrants that were navy sailors in the 19th and early 20th century, but the convenient posting of the Clementsen medal gives a good reference point that would extrapolate nicely with their respective CSC #s to eliminate other possible Thomas Nelsons in that time period.   Great medals and please post more medals and more often.   This place is a shadow of how busy it was 10 years ago, would be nice to see the busy, good old days return.   Joe, that is neat that the medal date is  your -42nd birthday!  I have a nice oldy NGCM  that is -47 (+1d) for mine.   Close enough for government work and missed it by that much.  

 

Clementsen Clement Bernhart -- [Service Number] 001216622, [Date of Enlistment] 01/09/1889  CSC #9926

Nelson Thomas -- [Service Number] 001239202, [Date of Enlistment] 12/10/1885      CSC #8516

 

Interesting that neither man earned a good cookie after their first 6 year qual period.   You and Kaigun with the great GCM/CRE  pair should add those medals to the NGCM thread and also those names and CSC#s to the data base thread for those numbers. Too bad it's not pinned on this topic, seems worthy compared to a few other topics but what do I know.  I'm just another peanut in the gallery.  Maybe one day I'll graduate to minstrel in the gallery.

 

AB, If you want to see more super named medals posted, the forum needs to block all net searches from the outside. 

( When the family comes knocking ). I have been contacted by family members here about posts in the past and don't 

wish to have it happen again.

 

Best regards,

 

Wharf

[268th C.A.]

Wharfmaster, isn't that the truth! Truth is most didn't want them to begin with. They'll get them back and sell them again. I've seen it. more than once. I had a lady contact me about a PH. Her brother in-law. He is diseased. She told me a little. I told her if she wanted it back Id take exactly what I paid for it, which was very little. She told me she had no interest in it, but wanted to know how I got it ? Strange conversation to say the least. I agree they should block named medals threads. Most don't care nor do they have any interest in genealogy. JMO. 

[aerialbridge]

2 hours ago, Wharfmaster said:

AB, If you want to see more super named medals posted, the forum needs to block all net searches from the outside. 

( When the family comes knocking ). I have been contacted by family members here about posts in the past and don't 

wish to have it happen again.

 

Best regards,

 

Wharf

 

Wharf,  Not to digress from the CSC topic, but since you put the issue out there,   I'll address "my take" on it.  Fine by me if this site were "members only" like Fold3,  Ancestry,  Newspapers, etc,  But I'm another peanut in the gallery.  You need to tell that to the gallery owners or managers.    So, then if it were "members only", I think most members here would agree it would still  have to be searchable by members or it would lose a lot of its usefulness as an informational resource for other collectors.  No disrespect, but I think apprehension about if  the "the family comes knocking" as a reason NOT to share medals on this forum is unfounded.   With name:  Wharfmaster and location:  High and Dry,  what the heck is the "family" going to "knock on" even if they see YOUR medal?    

 

#1.   Your name is completely unknown but to those you've shared it with here, unless you have "put it out there".  You haven't, put it out there, which is fine and what most here seem to do.  We've exchanged comments, but I have no idea who you are or where on God's green earth (other than "high and dry") you live and "the family" won't either.  They won't be able to identify you much less interrogate whoever on here knows your name.   

 

#2.  Your physical location is completely unknown.  How is "the family" going to find you in order to "knock on" something?    

 

#3.   You can post a medal without saying the man's name.   

 

#4.  JPEG scans here are no longer "searchable".  Before the site renovation, you could hover over a picture and see its "name" which a search engine could find.  Not anymore.  Hover over a scan and you see nothing.

 

Let's do a hypothetical.  Assume these facts:

 

1.  You post a medal from your collection, where you are worried that putting it out on the internet will result in "the family" seeing it.  

2.   You are the LEGAL OWNER, meaning you didn't unknowingly receive "stolen property".  

3.    The family somehow finds your medal and they publicly post a reply proclaiming they are "the family" and they want their medal back.

 

What's the problem with politely but firmly, either directly or by inference saying  "NO", as I myself have publicly said here, and I have seen many others deftly and diplomatically say publicly here.    What's the problem with "Just saying "no""?  Not uncomfortable for me in the least, and frankly, I can't understand why any legal owner would not feel fine, morally and legally, with being the legal owner.   Universally, the other members here seem very supportive of that, since it could happen to them or has.

 

Meantime, hopefully others who have "the fear of family" will reconsider that, if it's the reason they don't share scans and stories of their medals here.    At the end of the day,  it's one freedom and liberty that remains, thank God.  To share or not to share my medals on the USMF, that is the question.   Just hopefully the decision not to, is not based on unfounded concern.   Best regards.

 

 

 

[aerialbridge]

17 hours ago, Sweazy21 said:

CSC 8515? Dated 1901?

From the information that I have, he could have enlisted in 1888. I’m basing this off of two conducts that I have and have a little bit of knowledge on. CSC5967 Dated 1887 enlisted around 1880 and CSC 9317 dated 1893 enlisted 1889. I do not know how common it is, but it is possible he might have a good contact out there did at 1892 with a bar for 1896. 
I still need to go through and add several numbers to my list, but tonight I’ll double check some things as I think I have a number that falls a lot closer to your number. 

 

Sweazy, I'm going to cut and paste this one and the adjacent and continue discussion on your general thread and list of CSC Numbers.

[Adam R]

Here's a potential candidate for the recipient of Joe's medal. I can't say for sure that this is the correct man.

[jmar]

6 hours ago, Adam R said:

Here's a potential candidate for the recipient of Joe's medal. I can't say for sure that this is the correct man.

Hello Adam!

I hope that you're doing well, great to "see" you! Thank you very much for this info, as always, your input is greatly appreciated.

My best wishes and gratitude to you,

Joe