Memorial Day - John McFadden (1842-1863)

Memorial Day - A day for honoring and mourning people who died while serving in the United States military. 

John McFadden, my great grand uncle, was about twenty one when he died at the battle of Mission Ridge in Tennessee on November 26, 1863.[1]

John served with the Ohio Infantry, 36th Regiment, Company K.

Not much is known about him other than from the testimonies of his parents, sister, brother-in-law and other acquaintances in his Civil War pension file submitted by his parents, Edward McFadden and Alice Collum.

 Some things learned about John in the pension application:

• According to Patrick Ward, private, 36th Regiment, Company F, John was found with a bullet wound in is chest, still breathing. As they took him down in the ambulance (stretcher) he died.[2]
• The testimony in the pension application mentions a photograph of John in his uniform which was unfortunately destroyed in a fire that destroyed the McFadden home.

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[1]Parent’s pension application no. 218859; service of John McFadden (Pvt., Co. K, 36^th Ohio Infantry, Civil War); Case Files of Approved Pension Applications…, 1874-1886; Civil War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington D.C.

 [2]

 The Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion 1861-1866.  http://www.archive.org/stream/ohiowarroster03howerich#page/672/mode/2up

Edward Mcfadden & Alice Collum

Working on my maternal great great grandparents Edward McFadden (1805-1887) and Alice Collum (1805-1886)[1].  They first appear in the US on the 1860 census in Clinton, Vinton County, Ohio[2]. According to this they were both born about 1804 or 1805. In the household are their sons John, age 18 and Dennis, age 16. There are also two other men who are likely boarders, Peter McCandre, 30 and William Ocallaghan, 38.

They next appear in the 1870 US census[3]. They still reside in Clinton, Ohio and are both listed as being 65 and there is no one else in the household.

On November 25^th 1863 John was killed in the Battle of Mission Ridge in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1875 Edward and Alice applied for John’s pension[4]. The pension file for John has a lot of good information about the McFadden family.

One bit of information it provided were death dates for Edward and Alice. 

According to information provided to the pension board, Alice died on 17 January 1886.

I hereby report that the name of Alice McFadden, who was a pensioner...was last
paid $8.00 to Dec. 4, 1885, has been dropped because of information that pensioner
died January 17, 1886.

 On December 4, 1887 Edward last received the pension. The notice that Edward was dropped from the role for failure to claim the pension was dated February 12, 1891. It is very likely that he died sometime between 1887 and 1891.

I hereby report that the name of Edward McFadden, who was a pensioner...
and who was last paid at $12.00 to Dec 4, 1887 has been dropped because of
failure to claim pension.

So far I have been unable to locate any additional information on where they are buried or if there was a will or probate file for them. 

I contacted the Catholic Diocese of Columbus and they searched the parish records in Vinton County-Wilkesville St. Mary, Minerton St. Mary, Zeleski St. Sylvester and Jackson Holy Trinity in Jackson County, Ohio since Vinton residents occassionally attended during that time period.

Next steps:

Check area newspapers between 1886 and 1891

Pay a visit or hire someone local to visit the courthouse

Manually search the Vinton County census for 1880

Check any tax records for that period

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 [1] Allegheny Co., PA, death certificate no. 11973 (1924), Dennis C. McFadden.

[2] 1860 U.S. census, Vinton County, Ohio, population schedule, Clinton Township, p. 63 (penned), dwelling 453, family 441, Dennis McFadden; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 February 2013); citing National Archives Microfilm publication M635 roll 1046.

[3] 1870 U.S. census, Vinton County, Ohio, population schedule, Clinton Township, p. 12 (penned), dwelling 89, family 89, Edward McFadden; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com) : accessed 5 February 2013); citing National Archives Microfilm publication M593, roll 1276.

[4] Compiled service record, John McFadden, Pvt., Co. K, 36^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Records of the adjutant General’s Office, 1780s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.