Civil War - Joshua Benjamin Renfrow (born 1832)

Who is Joshua Benjamin Renfrow to us? He is is the maternal great-grandfather of Zola.

I've been curious about Joshua Renfrow (1832-1864) for as long as I've had his name on my lists. He died in the civil war and that always made me stop for a moment and consider his widow Jane and his children Sarah, Mark, and Joshua "Josh" Benjamin (1861-1949) Our family is through the Josh line. I began researching and as much as I'd like to say I paid attention to Mr. Rossbach in high school, I didn't.

The Civil War was the first war in American History where a substantial proportion of the adult male population participated. Almost every American would have know friends, family members, or neighbors who went to war with many never to return.  Many of our ancestors participated, both Union and Confederate.

Union States included: Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, California, Nevada, and Oregon. Abraham Lincoln was their President.

Confederate States included: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Jefferson Davis was their President.

Border States included: Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri.  In border states loyalties were divided. Each side, Union and Confederate, undertook measures including brutal guerrilla warfare, intended to persuade or sometimes conquer areas of divided loyalty. Border states were places that pitted neighbor against neighbor and brother against brother.

Washington, Dakotas, Utah, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico and Indian Territory (Oklahoma) were considered Union but were not states.

The aftermath of the Civil War battles introduced Americans to death on an unprecedented scale. Neither individuals, nor institutions, nor government were prepared to deal with such devastating loss of human life. Never before or since have we killed so many of our own. 

Approximately 620,000 soldiers died in the war.  While not all the soldiers were married, the war created an unprecedented number of young widows, many who had only been married a very short time.  About half of all widows remarried during or after the conflict, especially younger widows.  But because of the wars toll on young men, they were likely to marry men much older than themselves or even younger.  This had a big impact on marriage patterns during this time, and explains many of our ancestors who were married with the wife at 17 to 23 years of age and their spouse 44 yo 47 years of age.  

Our Joshua (1832-1864) was born in Tennessee which was one of the most divided states in the country at the outset of the war. Tennessee was staunchly pro-Union at the beginning; however the situation changed when Fort Sumter was bombarded and Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion. Tennesseans saw this as a threat to their "southern brethren" and the only real pockets of pro-Unionism came from the eastern portion of the State. In fact, Tennessee would furnish more troops for the Union than the other Confederate states, combined.

Joshua volunteered February 20, 1864 in Clifton Tennessee for the Union. He served in the 2nd Regiment, Tennessee Mounted Infantry. His rank was that of Private in Company F organized out of Nashville, Clifton and Franklin Tennessee. Service record for Company F includes Duty at Clifton and on line of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad until November 1864.

According to his military records, Joshua Renfrow was killed at the M & M Railroad line by lightning. Yes, you read that correctly, lightning. During the civil war there was no "notification" to the next of kin when a soldier was killed or wounded. Often the Company wasn't always sure exactly what happened. Family records indicated that he "died in 1864 civil war" but no more detail than that.  Joshua's military records says:

Muster Roll for July and August 1864

Name not born upon any other roll

(he didn't end up with a different company)

Return not on file

(he never checked in again)

No record of death on file

A muster roll is a register of the officers and men in a military unit or ship's company. (I didn't know)

An entry from a Union Soldier in that area, during the time when I believe Joshua was killed said:

"A violent rainstorm swept through the camps, uprooting trees, scattering tents, and stampeding horses and mules. In late afternoon, another fearful storm occurred with vivid displays of lightening. Tents were struck in both the Union and Confederate camps. Four soldiers of the 4th Alabama were slain by one bolt. When darkness fell, the storm intensified. In the Federal camp, bolts of lightning shattered gun carriages in the artillery park and fire leap from muzzle to muzzle of the artillery pieces."  

Another:  "The 2nd was in the rear and did not succeed in getting across until just at night, consequently we had to pass through this dismal swamp after night. In places the water was nearly deep enough to swim a horse. To add to the gloom of the occasion, we were overtaken with a severe thunder storm. The glare of the lightning, the deafening peals of thunder, and the violent wind coupled with the fact that we were in a heavily timbered swamp, rendered the situation anything but a pleasant one. There were many narrow escaped from drowning, both by man and beast."

There is an interesting exhibit at the Springfield Armory National Historic Site - a Model 1861 rifle and bayonet left over from a lightning strike.  According to the tag on the rifle which was equipped with a Confederate-made Tredegar socket bayonet:  "During a thunderstorm, a sentry’s musket was struck by lightning which left it just as you see it. Despite the intense heat caused by the lightening, a regulation Civil War paper cartridge was found intact in the breech when the weapon was disassembled for cataloging and preservation. The identity of the sentry, who survived, is not known. It is believed that he was a Confederate since, while the rifle is a Springfield contract arm, the bayonet is apparently of Confederate manufacture."

At that time in our nation there were very spotty records for widow pensions.  The Union had better benefits, but in 1890 a survivors and widow's census was undertaken.  I cannot find Joshua's widow or any of his children listed as applying for a pension.  However, by that time Joshua's widow had remarried.

Below are snapshots from the records.  It's a bit sad that this 32 year old man volunteered for the Union, was there 6 months and died by lightning strike.  

*much of this information taken from the Soldiers & Sailors Database, National Park Service website.  

Another Murder in the Family - Will Renfro

Who is Will Renfro to us?  He is Zola's Uncle, Great Grandma Thornsbury's oldest brother.

So is it Renfro, Renfroe or Renfrow, Wrenfro, Wrenfrow, Rentfro?  Yes.  It appears on most records as Renfroe, but Great Grandma Thornsbury's family seemed to have dropped the "e" from the end at some point.  Also, the name sometimes appears with a "w."  As a 3rd cousin a few times removed said "Hell, they'zz all our kin."  Arkansas seems to be a unique place y'all.

Will Renfro was born Oct. 25, 1880 to Joshua Renfro and John "Anna" Brown. He was their first child. 

Josh and Anna married in 1879 and lived North of Hector, Arkansas near Forks of the Creek. Josh farmed there from 1880 until about 1929 when his crops were completely washed out two years in a row. At this time he moved to Oklahoma where his daughter Sarah Lucinda Dixon and her husband Eldie lived. 

Will Renfroe married Dora Olivia Ballard on May 29, 1904. After Will's death his wife gave birth to a daughter, who would be the only child of Will.  

You might also remember from Max Henry's murder. Will Renfro (this Will) was living with the the Bohanon family as a farm laborer.  Monroe Bohanon shot and killed Max Henry.  This a lot of shooting and killing each other in our family.  Will Renfro was living with the man who shot and killed his future brother-in-law's brother.  Woah, clear as mud?  Let's get on with it . . . 


Forks of the Creek - North of Hector, Arakansas

The Courier-Democrat, Russellville, Arkansas

September 22, 1904

WILL RENFROW MURDERED

***

George and Marion Church

Also Wounded in the Fight

Which Occurred near Hector Thursday Night

As a result of a general row, doubtless super-induced by an excessive flow of bad booze, another mound has been erected in a Pope County cemetery and the man charged with the crime awaits his trial in the county jail when he must either prove his justification or accept the verdict of a jury of his own selection. The case to which we allude is the killing of Will Renfrow by one George Church, Thursday night of last week. The murder took place at a small school house at the forks of two creeks some seven or eight miles north of Hector, where citizens of the community had gathered for the purpose of witnessing a magic lantern exhibition.

During the progress of the show, or just at its close some six or seven young men of the community, said to be more or less under the influence of "mountain dew" or blind tiger goods, engaged in a general row. Among them were George Church, Bud Renfroe, Larkin Mathis, Riley Church, and perhaps others. Whether Will Renfrow was a participant of the fuss or only interfered to quell the disturbance will doubtless be a matter of contention between the attorneys of the opposition sides. It is not disputed however that he was shot three times and instantly killed, and George Church was arrested, charged with the offense. A coroner's inquest before squire A. R. Jones was promptly held and Church was committed to jail to await an examining trial, which will take place before Squire H. H. Baird of this city, commencing at 10 o'clock this (Thursday) morning.

At the coroner's inquest it was brought out that several shots in all were fired, probably six, one of which accidentally struck Marion Church, an uncle of the defendant, in the lower part of the leg or ankle and more or less shattering the bone. George Church is said to have lost the tip of one of his fingers by a ball fired by someone engaged in the melee. In advance of the examining trial, however, we do not care to undertake to relate any facts in connection therewith as any information received would doubtless be of a partisan character and fail to state the real facts as they will eventually be proven in the courts.


Note: I could not find anything in the following weeks about what happened in this case.  We do know that Will was laid to rest in the Forks of the Creek Cemetery. 

I started to wonder about the baby.  In searching, I found Willie Mae Renfro. Her mother Dora Ballard Renfro remarried soon after her husband (Will) was murdered. She married Starkey LaFayette Hammond (sometimes referred to as "Starkey" and sometimes as "Fate") and moved to Otero County, Colorado, where Willie Mae grew up and married Herbert Evans. I found a headstone for Willie Mae but no photo.

I did find a photo of Willie Mae's mother, Dora O. Ballard Renfro Hammond. She is in the middle on the back row. This photo is of her parents and sisters. Will Renfro was murdered and Willie Mae was born about 6 months later. Willie Mae married when she was 25 years old, but I can't find where she had children. 

By 1910, Dora is married to Starkey Hammond and is living in Stephens, Oklahoma.  Little Willie Mae Renfrow is 4 years old, born in Arkansas as were her mother and father!

How Can You Do Family History?

I included a quote in an earlier post "How I wished I had realized that family history is a perishable commodity. It disappears with time, as memories fade, and as loved ones pass on. I wish I had known that the most important aspect of family history is preserving a record of the present for the future."

I was talking to my mama about this blog and how I just want the stories documented.  I don't have tons, but as I find more I'll add them.  I have lists and lists of names and their children and their dates of birth and death.  But I wanted to know about them.  Sometimes that history may not be pretty, as I recently found with some of our family stories.  I'm going to include the dirty and ugly stuff too, to not include it makes it more of a fairy tale than history.  I love these imperfect people, maybe even more.  It can be tough, we disagree with family members at times, but our direct ancestors are "perfect."  I remind myself they were part of their times.  Why do I keep expecting them to think like I do, to think women were equal, that all races were equal, or that people could build machines that fly, right?  My mama said wouldn't you love to have a book of stories like you are putting together from 60 years ago?  Man, I would love that. 

So, what can we do to be sure our future families get that book of stories from 60 years ago?

• Capture stories - record grandmas, grandpas and older relatives telling stories about their lives.  
• Gather and take photos.  Photos are an important part of family history.  They need to be preserved and shared.
• Record your own life.  Telling your own story is part of doing family history work.  Keeping that record of your life is important.  There are tons of ways:  traditional journals, scrapbooks, blogs, videos, whatever it is you like to do.

I very rarely kept a journal and when I did, I got embarrassed and threw them all away.  I have nothing written from when I was younger.  Keep in mind when writing you are writing to your kids, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren.  You probs don't wanna get into that time you had a major make- out session with so-n-so, or that time you snuck out of your house with your cousin and met boys at the playhouse at the end of the driveway.  What? 

Trying to go back and write all your life down can be daunting, and difficult.  If you think you'd like to try, I have a great list of questions you can use.  You just pick a question each time you want to write and write about what is asked.  Either type up on the computer or write on notebook paper in a three ring binder.  Including dates the best you can - that way the pages can be reorganized in order as you add them.  Things like "write about 1st grade today, what school did you attend, who was your teacher, who was your best friend, what is your favorite memory about 1st grade, what other things happened during that year?"  or "Write about your wedding day."   "Write about {{child's name}} birth."   I think there are over 300 questions on the list.  This is also a great gift to put together for relatives for mother or father's day.  Give them a list of questions, a nice note book, a nice pen and make them work!  It occupies their old minds (that was for you mama).

Being in the records profession, I've learned a couple things that I had never thought of before:

• CDs - the average life time of a CD we burn ourselves is 5 to 10 years.  If you are keeping photos on CD's you need to move them to a new CD every 5 years.  Those dang things could end up last eleventy years, but you just never know.
• Digital photos - back up, back up, back up.  I can't express this enough.  My hard drive crashed about 8 years ago and I lost almost everything on that computer.  I have 3 external hard drives I back up to. {{obsess much}} but these photos are some of my most prized possessions.
• Digital photos, more - as technology changes make sure you move your pictures or convert them to whatever the new technology is.  Migrating them years and years later would be tough, or you think you have them on your hard drive, but your children 40 years later can't access them because the photo viewer is different than what we currently use.  Hope that makes sense.
• Jump drives - similar to CDs in terms of how long they might last.
• Photo Albums - those old "sticky page" photo albums are not acid and lignin free, which has to do with the structural integrity of the paper.  Already some of the ones I have are turning the photos yellow and making them sticky.  My recommendation would be to remove them all, scan them and put them in new acid free photo albums.  Holla if you want more info on this.
• Walgreen's or Wal-mart, use them (I can't believe I just said use Wal-mart).  We are basically digital photo peeps now.  Once a year send all those photos through Walgreen's (they always have coupons) and title the book "Family Photos from 2016." It would super awesome if you label each picture with who is in it, what's going on, etc.  But even just having the year is awesome.  This isn't a fancy scrapbook - just multiple photos on a page, I put mine in date order.  Having a printed copy helps if you lose your computer, but you still have digital copy for ease of use.

Well, was that way more information than you ever cared to read?  Or did you even get this far?  As a reward if you did I plan on posting a story next week about another murder!

I think you know I have a daughter serving an LDS mission.  As she's been out I've went through photos of her dad's side of her family and send her pictures of different relatives while serving LDS missions.  Emma has loved this and says it has made her feel apart of those relatives lives. Many of them died before she was even born.  This can apply to anything - college days, wedding days, first new homes, etc.

Family history can be done in so many ways.  Catch the bug a bit.  Love you all.

Final note:  I worry that everyone thinks this is a religious thing.  I hope you know family history is just that - a history of your family, of your roots.  You don't have to be religious to want to know your roots.  I say this because it's interesting that the minute a distant relative I connect with finds out I'm from Utah the typical questions come up.  "Are you Mormon?  Are you gunna baptize my family?"

Let me be open with you.  I am not doing this research to baptize your family into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Unless you specifically say "Please make sure to baptize {{insert name}}" I will not submit their names to the church or request any baptisms be performed for them.  If I ask for your information it's for preservation, because your my family.  If you have concerns, please feel free to reach out, I'm happy to talk to you about it.