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Submitted by
Nancy Neuman
A few weeks
ago I e-mailed you that I had discovered that Francis Hale
was the brother in law of my great grandfather Samuel Smith.
Both served in Company B, 27th Infantry in the Civil War.
Today I was looking at Francis Hale’s siblings and found
that his sister’s husband John Churchill and John’s son
Edwin Churchill also served in Company B. If you want any
more genealogical information on these families let me know.
I started to add that and realized this message was getting
far too long, and going beyond the purpose of finding
relationships among the men of Company B. Who knows what I
may stumble across next?
You have
information I posted in 2002 about Samuel Smith. Since then
I have found more information on his family as well as a
roll of honor like the one you have online, which was hidden
away in a cardboard tube that once held my father’s high
school diploma! It was falling apart but a local framer
managed to soak it, mount and frame it for me. I treasure
it!
Hale, Francis H.: Married to Jane Ann Smith,
sister of Samuel Smith.
Smith, Samuel O.: Brother in law of Francis Hale.
Churchill, Edwin: Son of
John Churchill, nephew of Francis Hale.
Churchill, John: Married to Olive Experience Hale,
sister of Francis Hale.
I am sure the widows of these men who
died in the war were left with few resources. I have found
Jane Hale and her daughter Clara living with relatives in
various censuses. Samuel Smith remembered them in his will.
When he died, he and his family were living in Busti,
Chautauqua, New York on his wife’s family farm. Samuel Smith
met his wife Sarah Hazeltine in Lansing after the war. Sarah
was from Busti (Chautauqua County) New York and was living
in Allamakee County with her oldest sibling Chloe Hazeltine
and Chloe’s husband Rev. James Frothingham when she met
Samuel Smith. According to the Chicago Daily Tribune of
July 23, 1917 announcing their 60th wedding anniversary, the
Frothingham’s “wedding journey [from Chautauqua] was made by
wagon to Indian territory, [Minnesota] where they were
missionaries to the Choctaws.” Samuel Smith and Sarah
Hazeltine were married August 24, 1869 in Lansing by Rev.
Frothingham. Sarah’s family also suffered losses in the war,
with one brother dying of typhoid, and another nearly dying
of cholera.
Samuel Smith made his will 4 December
1913 and died 28 December 1913. He remembers his sister
Jane, the widow of Francis Hale, and her daughter Clara.
Jane’s son Frank Hale, who was 2 when his father died, was
living in Minnesota in the 1880 census where he apprenticed
himself as a harness maker to his uncle Joseph Smith. Frank
died in 1895. Here is the excerpt from Samuel’s will.
“Because my sister, Mrs. Jane A.
Hale, of Lansing, Iowa, is aged and infirm and has no
income, and her daughter Clara Hale is an invalid and unable
to earn her livelihood and their necessities require more
means and money than they or either of themselves can
provide, I have from time to time advanced and supplied
money for their support and care and more advancements
without doubt will be required to be made hereafter which I
expect to make for that purpose, and may be required to be
made after my decease, I direct my executrix (wife Sarah)
hereinafter named or whoever may be appointed to execute the
provisions of this will to continue from my estate such
advancements as may be necessary, proper and suitable
according to the circumstances that may then exist. It is my
purpose and intention that all advancements that I have
heretofore made for the benefit of my sister and her
daughter and all such as may be hereafter made by myself or
by my executrix under the authority of this my will, shall
be regarded as advancements and loans to be returned to my
estate from the property and estate of my said sister when
the necessity for further advancement shall have ceased and
the return of them to myself or to my estate can be made
without causing distress to anyone.”
Jane and her daughter are buried in Oak
Hill cemetery.
Let me know if you want any additional
information! I hope this fills in some blanks in your
ongoing research into Company B!
Best,
Nancy Neuman
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