What happened to Charles McFadden

 The McFadden family is giving me plenty of mysteries to look into. My great grandfather, Dennis McFadden (1842-1924) came from Ireland as best I can estimate sometime in the 1850s and settled in Ohio.

The 1860 US census for Clinton Township, Vinton County, Ohio shows him in the likely home of his parents Edward and Alice McFadden. Also in the home is his brother John and two boarders.

In the 1870 US census Edward and Alice are still in Vinton County with a boarder listed on the following page. John was killed in the Civil War at the battle of Mission Ridge in Tennessee on Nov 25, 1863.

Dennis has not been located in the 1870 census. 

John's parents applied for his Civil War pension. In her statement, Margaret Ferry states that she is the daughter of Edward and Alice McFadden and is the wife of Manus Ferry. 

She says that she is the their only daughter and that she has three brothers. 

   Charles, John & Dennis

 – Charles went to Utah

before the war of 1861, not-heard from

 him for over 12 years & we suppose he

is dead. Dennis is living but away

from home since before the war of 1861.

and did not since contribute any

support to Father and Mother –John

was a good boy & man to provide for

and help Father and Mother, he contributed 

to their support by his labor

and earnings before the war. and lived

with them until he enlisted into the 

service in which he was killed 

Alice McFadden also made a statement, and it is virtually the same as Margaret's except she added regarding Charles that she has not heard from him since he left when he was with army going to Utah. 

It sounds like Charles may have either just left  or he enlisted in the army and his unit headed off to Utah in 1861.  

So far, I have not found a good candidate for either option.

______________________________

Compiled service record, John McFadden, Pvt., Co. K, 36th Reg, Ohio 2; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Records of the adjutant General’s Office, 1780s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

New McFadden mystery: Charles McFadden

Margaret McFadden (abt 1840-1905) listed the family members in her statement to her parents (Edward (abt 1804-1887) and Alice Collum  (abt 1804-1886) McFadden) application for John McFadden’s (abt 1842-1863) Civil War pension application that they had another brother, Charles (?-?), that I was unaware of. 

Margaret McFadden applicant, sister of John McFadden, late (?) Co. K, 36^th Reg, Ohio 2. Deceased. That she has lived near her father since I was married over 12 years. I am his only daughter (applicants). There was three of my brothers, Charles, John & Dennis (abt. 1847-1924). Charles went to Utah before the war of 1861 – not heard from him for over 12 years & we suppose he is dead. Dennis is living but away from home since before the war of 1861 and did not since contribute any support to father and mother. John was a good boy & man to provide for and help father and mother, he contributed to their support by his labor and earnings before the war and lived with them until he enlisted into the service which he was killed.

Alice Collum McFadden, John’s mother stated essentially the same thing. The one thing she added was that Charles was in the army when he left.

…Dennis, John and Margaret; (?) Charles left before the late rebellion, went to Utah, I have not heard from him since he left when he was with army going to Utah. I suppose him dead…

 So far I have not found anything to indicate if Charles enlisted or if any Ohio units went to Utah before 1861. I have also not found any leads on a Charles McFadden in Utah during and after the Civil War. Right now, this is the only mention of him I have found and I am not sure of the best way to proceed. Unfortunately, this pension file also mentions that the McFadden’s house burned and with it pictures and letters from John and likely information on the rest of the family.

Compiled service record, John McFadden, Pvt., Co. K, 36th Reg, Ohio 2; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Records of the adjutant General’s Office, 1780s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

52 Ancestors- Week 15- Charles McFadden-update

 Blogger Amy Johnson Crow has created a challenge, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Each week the object is to post about a specific ancestor.

I have fallen a little behind on this challenge, but hopefully can catch up fairly soon.

While visiting my parents last week, my mother gave me another family journal that she came across while organizing their new place.

At first we thought this diary belonged to my grandmother, Ruth MCFADDEN Webb (1905-1985), but after reading several of the entries it appears to have beem my great grandmother's, Hannah BITTINGER McFadden (1846-1890).  

 

At the back of the diary there are several newspaper clippings pasted on a couple of pages.

There are two articles that deal with the illness and death of 10 year old Charlie McFadden (1891-1900) which I had previously posted about here:  Charles McFadden. 


Clipping 1:  Charles, 10 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Dennis McFadden is very ill with catarrhal fever.

Clipping 2:  Charlie McFadden died yesterday

morning.  The little fellow suffered

awfully during the last few days of

   his illness.  Catarrhal fever, followed

by pneumonia and spinal trouble,

made his case a difficult one to treat.

He was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Dennis

McFadden and was ten years of age.

One mystery solved, he appears to have died of natural causes.

New mysteries:

     Catarrhal fever is an infection that affects mostly ruminants, cows, sheep, etc.  according to the Merck Veterinary Manual.  I checked A Medical Miscellany For Genealogists by Dr. Jeanette L. Jerger and What Did They Mean By That: A Dictionary of Historical and Genealogical Terms Old and New by Paul Drake.  Neither listed catarrhal fever.

     Why was his death still not talked about among family members?  Family lore has it that Dennis was an alcoholic and abusive to his family.  Because of this I had considered the possibility that Charlie may have died at the hands of his father which would have been a reason why the memory of him was hushed up.  Since other siblings died at young ages, yet were freely discussed among family members through the years, it seems especially odd that Charlie was not remembered.

  Unfortunately, the newspaper clippings do not include the name of the publication or the dates the articles were published.     According to the 1900 & 1910 census the McFadden family lived in Roscoe, Washington County, Pennsylvania.  I will focus on newspapers for that area and hopefully I can find the publication information and possible a little more about Charlie's death.

I was also considering using Charles as my case study for when I officially begin working toward certification through the  Board for Certification of Genealogists.   Fortunately, I have several other ancestors that would make for good case studies that I can use for this project.


52 Ancestors-# 1-Charles McFadden

Blogger Amy Johnson Crow has created a challenge, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Each week the object is to post about a specific ancestor.

Since I started this blog to work on my writing this seems like the perfect motivator for me to get moving on it again.  I will also try to include any citations with the names of living people removed.

Charles "Charlie" McFadden (1891-1900)

One of the family mysteries I am currently working on is Charles McFadden and the circumstances of his death.  According to a letter(1) from my Uncle Daniel McFadden (1900-1996) Charles was born on 14 April 1891 in Roscoe, Washington County, Pennsylvania and died on 20 December 1900 also in Roscoe.

According to a letter(2) from my cousin Kay, who worked on the McFadden family in the 80s and 90s no one in the family who was still living had any memory him.  Edward, a year older and Minnie, a year younger would have known him but if they did remember him they never talked about it to anyone else. 

Also, a neighbor and playmate of the McFadden children, who Kay was fortunate enough to interview, also had no recollection of Charles.  Other McFadden children who died young were openly talked about among the family, but Charles was completely left out of the family history.

Charles does appear on the 1900 census (3), but to date no other records have been located.    

My main focus right now is to locate a newspaper notice/obituary, death certificate or possibly a funeral home or burial record.   

(1)Daniel McFadden, Wheeling, West Virginia, to (M.M.), letter, 7 March 1978, providing genealogical information on the McFadden family.  Source of information unknown; Personal Correspondence, 1978.  McFadden Family, McFadden File; privately held by Daniel Sample, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Stafford, Texas.

(2) (Cousin Kay) *, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, to (E.S.), letter, 2 January 1997, sharing unsourced and uncited genealogical information on Dennis McFadden; Personal Correspondence, 1997; McFadden Family, McFadden File; privately held by Daniel Sample, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Stafford, Texas.

(3) 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.