Ball State University Archives and Special Collections

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 The Life of Sarah Ann Mitchell

Editor's note:  Today's blog is the result of a comment posted to a recent blog about finding context in research. Thanks for your comments!

Military bounty check for Sarah Ann’s husband, Fantley H. Naylor.

https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/LSTACivWar/id/11319/rec/1


Civil War Ancestors

I had several Civil War ancestors' families near Muncie, Indiana. A few months ago I found an Indiana militia bounty check (like a signing bonus) from the county. It was endorsed by the first husband of my great-great-grandmother, Sarah Ann. I love his name: Fantley Hopkins Naylor. This was in the Archives and Special Collections of the Ball State University Library in Muncie.

Digital Media Repository at Ball State University Library’s Archives and Special Collections   https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/LSTACivWar  

My discoveries were in the Delaware County section.  I have yet to peruse the rest!


 Location Search on FamilySearch

Well, this week I did a location search for Delaware County, Indiana, on Family Search and it linked me back to Ball State. Their archives include 196 Civil War documents from Delaware County. OK, I thought, I'll browse a little. Well, it turns out not everything is indexed with names of individuals. Some were titled by the name of a whole group. I already had his widow's pension application file. Fantley Naylor enlisted in Co. K of the 84th Indiana Infantry in August 1862. 

Unindexed by name, I found  Articles of Association for Scott’s Rifles, organized under the Indiana Legion.  Note they first chose “Muncie Rangers,” but changed upon adoption.  I don’t know who Scott was.  This is the group that lists the patriotic purpose of the home guard.

https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/LSTACivWar/id/7917/rec/9


Local Civil War Militias

But, while browsing, I discovered a number of local militia groups formed under the Indiana Legion, “1st For the purpose of learning and improving ourselves in the Military tactics of the County, 2nd To offer our Company as a unit, at any time their Services are demanded by the Government, should the volunteer force of the State be insufficient." One had two versions, a week apart. I looked them up, and both were Saturdays. And they had great names--the Liberty Rangers, the Union Blues, the Noble Guard, the Bethel Home Guards, the Selma Legion.

 

Organization of Sharp Shooters, letter to the state.  Sarah Ann’s husband Fantley H. Naylor is #13.  He was captured at Kennesaw Mountain, imprisoned nine months at Andersonville, and died on the steamship Sultana on his way home.


The nearest post office to the Naylor farm was at Granville, IN. Lo and behold, up popped a roster of the Granville Sharp Shooters, signed 17 July, 1861. And there on the roster was Fantley H. Naylor!  SO, the year before he went off with the 84th Regiment, Fantley was marching (?) around Granville with a lot of fellows from town every weekend or so. A similar group listed their ages. Though most were in their 20s and 30s, one was 15 and two were in their 80s!  I spent three days wading through these 196 various types of war-related records.

Records of the Men in Sarah Ann Mitchell's FAN Club

I did find Sarah Ann's two brothers, one who survived the war and one who did not. Two years after Fantley died, Sarah Ann moved back near her childhood home in Ohio. There she married my great-great grandpa. But how did she survive in the meantime?  She had scant family left. Was she still tending chickens and pigs? Could she feed the cow for milk and butter for her three children? Both of her sisters had husbands off to war as well, and only one of them came back. Did these gals go hungry?

Relief Agency Records

Relief Agency report of payments to families of Delaware County volunteers during the last quarter of 1866.  “F.H.Naylor,” Sarah Ann’s husband, had died in April 1865.  Catharine Corbin, listed next, was Sarah Ann’s sister, also widowed, left with two little boys.  Catharine’s husband was sent home with chest wounds from artillery fire at the battle of Richmond, KY, and died three months later. 

https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/LSTACivWar/id/8817/rec/438


At last a clue. After scanning dozens of county auditor reports from "family relief" agents, I finally discovered one listing the deceased F.H. Naylor. It was a ledger showing Sarah Ann had been granted $1.50 per week for the quarter between June 11 and Sept. 3, 1866. I had read about fundraisers in Muncie, but this was an actual allowance from the state, administered by the county. As the locals had enticed their young men to go to war to avoid having a draft, so they also supported the families left behind.

I also found, indexed by name, documents for Sarah Ann's father and brothers.

Sarah Ann’s father, Samuel Mitchell, claimed the service bounty for his second son, Edward, in 1872.  Edward died at 21.  He had joined the same regiment as Sarah Ann’s husband and likely fought at Stones River.

https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/LSTACivWar/id/5225/rec/2354





Thomas J. Mitchell was Sarah Ann’s first brother.  When brother Edward was sent home to die, father Samuel was housing both daughters with five grandchildren, and Thomas, who took two years to recuperate from illness suffered in a military camp.  Thomas claimed his military bounty shortly after the panic of 1873, when financiers, in the frenzy of expanding railways, overextended and subsequently collapsed. Unemployment skyrocketed, and the depression lasted until 1879.

https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/LSTACivWar/id/5230/rec/2409



I couldn’t help attaching a photo of my grandma (Lillian Marie Fanning, 1899-1985) as a teen with her Aunt Amanda Elizabeth Naylor. It’s a grainy photo if not shown quite small, but I love looking at my grandma.  Elizabeth was daughter of Sarah Ann and Fantley Hopkins Naylor.  Elizabeth and her twin brother, b. 1863, were toddlers when Fantley died on the Sultana.  My grandma Lillian was grand-daughter of Sarah Ann and her second husband.








By Marcia Ford  



Marcia Ford is a retired journalist and grants administrator in Central Florida.  She has spent much of the pandemic exploring her Ohio homesteading ancestors and their Civil War offspring.  Other hobbies are wildflower photography (“Violetii” on iNaturalist) and American history (see Poor Richard’s Book Club on Facebook). She and Ken enjoy off-road motorcycling and camping in national forests with their Australian shepherd.  She is a United Way volunteer, Presbyterian elder and happy granny.






Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 7, 2022 at 11:05 AM

    Marcia, what an interesting story! It must have been so hard for the women to take care of their families, yet it seems they were very strong and determined. Your research is all the more interesting to me because my maiden name is Naylor. Not sure there would be any family connection as my grandfather left England in 1906 for the U,S. He was the only one in his family line that we know of who came to the U.S.

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