Genealogy

Free research tool lets you browse old newspapers

Posted on January 7, 2014 by CharlieClaywell

I am always looking for ways to research old stories and articles — and I stumbled across a site which has a searchable database of U.S. newspapers from 1836-1922. Chronicling America is a Library of Congress project that lets you search actual newspaper images — or even create pdfs of the page.

They also have a Flickr account with select images of old newspapers.

The Library of Congress invites you to explore ‘history’s first draft’ by looking at illustrated pages in old newspapers selected from our online collections. We welcome your tags and comments. There’s so much more to discover in yesteryear’s news!

One of the cool things I did when I was playing around on the newspaper site was conduct a search for my surname since it is fairly unique. Some of the stories I found were both interesting (I learned more about Tinker Dave Beaty) and disturbing. For example, there was a Claywell kid who murder a 13-year-old over a ‘Kick me’ sign that was placed on the Claywell teen’s back. This is the news blurb from a January 1906 edition of the Deseret Evening News:

Boy Stabs a Boy

Chicago, Jan. 6 – A dispatch to the Tribune from Dallas says:

Ollie Claywell, 14 years of age, last night stabbed Carl Ownes[sic], aged 13, and is in jail charged with murder. The boys were employed in the Texas Pacific general office. Someone pinned a placard on young Claywell’s back reading, “kick me”. The Owens boy kicked and a fight started. The boys were separated, but went into the street and the stabbing followed.

As disturbing as that story was it wasn’t the most disturbing one I uncovered. I was reading another story — this one involving a Claywell who shot a teen for allegedly stealing a 15 cent watermelon from a freight train (Blue Simmons Shot Friday Night By Frisco Guard: In Hospital). As I read the story, I glanced at the headline next to it and — let’s just say it is amazing how racist newspapers were in the 1920s. I won’t quote the headline (yes, it uses the N-word), but the story — actually more of an editorial — was blaming black teen females for the demise of the Democrat party in Missouri.

When using the site, remember to use the advance search feature. It will let you narrow down your terms, the state and years in a more refined manner. The only downside of the site, that I found, was the images can be slow to load and the convert to text feature is limited at best — but that should be expected since the newspapers are so old.

Significant Revolutionary War battle did not involve British soldiers

Posted on December 31, 2013 by CharlieClaywell

While researching my family tree, I learned about Andrew Beaty — a forefather on my maternal side — and his involvement in the Battle of Kings Mountain. Beaty was one of the Overmountain Men who walked miles to engage the Loyalists in this epic battle.

His story takes an odd turn because during the course of the battle he was bitten by a rattlesnake — although it is not recorded when he was injured, it is hard to imagine a person with enough grit and resilence to survive both the battle and a snake bite. But somehow he did.

The battle itself was also unique for several reasons.

It was one of the few major battles of the war fought entirely between Americans: no British troops served here…Kings Mountain is also unique in that large numbers of riflemen fought here. Rifles were not used much by the armies…

The use of rifles was extremely influential in the outcome of the battle as the National Park Service further explains,

The difference between a rifle and a musket is speed versus accuracy. A rifle is slow to load, but very accurate. Riflemen can hit a target at 200 or 300 yards. Yet the rifle can only be fired once a minute. A musket, with a smooth bore, is easy to load but inaccurate. Muskets have an accurate range of about 100 yards, but can be fired up to three times a minute.

According to Andrew Beaty’s Revolutionary War pension application, Andrew served three stints with the Continental Line — each tour lasting three months. Although he was born in Pennsylvania, Andrew volunteered in Washington Co., Va., in the Spring of 1777 to serve under Capt. William Asher where the unit went to Little Station on Holston River as guards. Beaty re-entered the service in March 1779 as private under Capt. Abraham Bledsoe and Col. Shelby.

In his last tour of duty (1780) he participated in one of the most important battles of the War. He again volunteered in Washington County — just a short time before the battle of King’s Mountain — serving under Capt. George Maxwell and Col Shelby. Their unit was one of several pursuing a group of Loyalists fighting under British Commander Patrick Ferguson.

When the Patriots overtook the Loyalist, the battle was fought on an isolated ridge top in the Carolina backcountry. The sides were fairly even with about 1,000 soldiers each, but the manner in which they fought differed greatly. Initially the Loyalist had the advantage of higher ground and forced the Patriots to retreat down the mountain side by firing their muskets and charging with their bayonets. The Patriots, however fought back, eventually surrounding and overwhelming the American Loyalists by fighting frontier style — hiding in the trees and firing on the advancing Loyalist with deadly accuracy.

Thomas Jefferson credited the victory as a significant turning point in the War for Independence.

Learn More

Several books offer more detail into the battle and its historical significance. Including:

Categories: American Revolutionary War, Appalachia, Cumberland Plateau, Family History, Genealogy | Tags: Battle of Kings Mountain, Loyalist, National Park Service

Civil War: Women as protectors of their homeland

Posted on December 19, 2013 by CharlieClaywell

Maybe I overlooked or missed something in my high school history books — but I don’t remember ever hearing much about the role women played during the Civil War. Of course I knew about Clara Barton, but I never knew there were women spies or even women who dressed as soldiers so they could fight.

My forefathers lived in the Cumberland Plateau during the Civil War — one of the most partisan, and bloody, areas of the conflict. In has been documented that men on both sides of the conflict became vigilantes engaging in criminal activities like theft and murder under the guise of the war effort.

One such case happened at the home of 16-year-old Julie Marcum.

Although they lived the Confederate state of Tennessee, the Marcum’s, like many of their neighbors were Unionists. Julie’s father Hiram, even allowed his farm to be used by men who were heading north to join Lincoln’s Army. But in late summer 1861, the War came home to the Marcums and especially to Julie.

At around 2 a.m. on September the 8th, a group of Confederate soldiers surrounded the house and demanded Julie send her father out. Her father, though, was not in the house — as a precaution he had been sleeping outside.

When Hiram did not come out, one soldier remained behind and entered the home. The soldier choked Julie’s mother. He jabbed at Julie, her mother and sisters, Minerva and Didama, with his bayonet and when Didama ran upstairs to get a candle, the soldier chased her, grabbed her and threatened to kill Didama and her family.

This is when Julie took matters into her own hands. Waiting until she could run underneath the soldier’s gun, she charged him and hit him in the face and chest with an axe. Mortally wounded, the soldier fought back, shooting off two of her fingers and ramming his bayonet into her forehead, causing her to lose an eye. By this point, her father was inside the home and he shot and killed the soldier.

Two years later, the Confederates would successfully run the Marcums off their land. The family would escape into Casey County, Kentucky.

Because of the incident, in 1885, Julie was recognized by the U.S. government as a combatant in the Civil War entitling her to a military pension. She is believed to be the only woman from the Civil War to receive a pension in her own right.

Julie outlived her siblings and their spouses and died in 1936. She is buried in Williamsburg, Kentucky.