Hi Kathleen and Matthew --
You wrotee:
I've been lurking for a while. I started studying geneology more
than 20
years ago as part of a school project, but didn't do much again until about
three years ago. Our older child, Matthew age 10, is very interested in
geneology, so we are working together to fill in the huge-big family
tree.
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Welcome to the list, hope that you and Matthew get something from the postings
and very happy to see one so young (as Matthew) interested in his family's
history.
I am descended from William O Catlett who first shows up in
Lexington,
McLean County, Illinois. In the 1850 census his place of birth was listed
as Virginia.
Do you have an approximate ate of birth for William and his wives?
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He had been a Union soldier in the Civil War, and also apparently
was part of the guard when Lincoln's body went from Chicago to
Springfield. His wife Alice and son Edward are listed on the Civil War
pension registration card.
Do you know if he applied for a pension or did Alice apply for a widow's
pension? Have you viewed the pension file? In which unit did he serve?
I live near enough the National Archives that I'd be happy to examine his
pension file and military service record if you haven't done so yet.
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WHAT I HOPE TO LEARN: Where did William O Catlett come from? Why
was he
in Illinois? He was an abolitionist, I am pretty sure. Did any of his
brothers/sisters accompany him to Illinois? Who were his parents...?
The pension file may answer one or more of your questions.
I've done a cursory search of my database and don't find a William O Catlett
who fits your guy, but I did a search on locality and may have some clues or
answers for you. Unfortunately, the program crashed (am running a MS IE
update, along with some other programs and a bit short on free disk space, so
I probably stressed my computer more than its capable of right now). Will run
the report again later tonight or tomorrow night.
-- Karon