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Search the names in all three books Iowa/Kansas/Nebraska book Indiana book Illinois book ............................................ |
Review of Dennis Northcott has ably demonstrated the
importance of record interdependence in order to retrieve the most biographical
information. His series of death rolls of members of the Grand Army of the
Republic has proven its merit as a national resource tool. This volume treats
the records of 36,000 ex-veterans who died in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska between
1883 and 1948. Clearly many of these veterans died prior to the existence of
death records so these records may be the only record of such events. Grave
markers of Union Civil War veterans often lack dates of death so these death
rolls address such shortcomings. For veterans with common names whose places of
death are known, these death rolls provide positive identification of their
units of service. In addition, veterans who served under aliases can be placed
in their proper military units. For those veterans who died between the federal
censuses of 1880 and 1900 at unknown localities, these death rolls identify the
local post in which the ex-veteran held membership thereby allowing the
exploration of other records of the same locality. The data have been presented
in as succinct a manner as possible. Northcott in appendix D enumerates the
names of the deceased who have obituaries extant at the local post level. The
compiled has conducted thorough investigations of the holdings of research
libraries to insure that all of the annual reports of the G.A.R. have been
included. Review of The Civil War ranks among the
most significant events in American history—impacting the lives
and families of so many individuals and the communities in which they lived. The
records of veterans' organizations and military reunion groups, often overlooked
by researchers, can provide extremely valuable data for genealogists and
historians regarding the Civil War. The Grand Army of the Republic is one such
organization, and the records of its posts and departments are rich treasure
troves of information. This work, Dennis Northcott's latest, provides one
with information from the death rolls of the GAR's Department of Indiana. This
carefully abstracted work, providing one with service data, age, and death date
when available, as well as GAR post and journal citation for each Union veteran
listed, is a must for Civil War researchers. The main text is appropriately
complemented with six appendices including one with significant biographical
data for select individuals. As veterans often retired to states other than
those from which they served, one can find numerous individuals who served in
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other eastern states units in this well-done work.
Northcott's Indiana Civil War Veterans is a must-have compilation for
libraries, archives, genealogists, historians, and those who are students of
this epic war. Reviews of
Anyone
researching Civil War Union soldiers—especially Illinois soldiers—will be excited about this new resource. The Illinois State Historical Library
receives numerous inquiries from genealogists and Civil War historians seeking
information about individual soldiers. This index to Illinois G.A.R. members
answers several questions quickly and easily, thus saving precious research time
and effort. It includes a time period (1879–1916) for which Illinois death
dates are difficult to find. The member's death date, combined with the location
of his post, may facilitate an obituary search in an appropriate newspaper. This
alphabetical list includes Civil War soldiers who enlisted in Illinois, as well
as Civil War Union veterans from other states who settled in Illinois after the
war. I highly recommend this long-awaited, easy-to-use index
for Civil War research.
Civil War
genealogy is one of the most challenging areas to research. Many of us have
ancestors who left to fight in the Civil War, and then vanished. We wonder—did he live through the war, or was he buried anonymously in a
battlefield ditch along with hundreds of others? The value of Northcott's book
is that it compiles names of Civil War veterans living in a very large
geographic region—the entire state of Illinois. Among the 32,000
listings are a significant number of men who fought in regiments from Missouri,
Ohio, Iowa, Kentucky, and even as far away as Massachusetts and New York. Many
of these are men who left and "seemed to vanish without a trace."
Civil War soldiers from thirty-six states settled in Illinois after the
war, joined G.A.R. units, and died in Illinois. Researchers will find this new
compilation very helpful in locating the soldier's last G.A.R. post, final city
of residence, and date of death. Data was gathered from several sources and has
been organized into an interesting and beneficial publication that may lead
genealogists to new research possibilities.
This is a valuable national resource because, while the men belonged to a G.A.R.
Illinois post, their military service was from thirty-six states. In addition to
Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Ohio, and Indiana each have over one
thousand men listed. This book includes date of death for a time period prior to
when most states began requiring death certificates. Highly recommended for
genealogists and libraries with military or genealogical collections.
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