Tombstone Tuesday: PVT Israel Augustus Alligood

This week, looking toward Memorial Day, I'll give some background on the men in our family tree who fought in the United States Civil War. By virtue of location you will find men who fought for the Union Army and the Confederate States of America. Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, was established to honor those who died while in either the Union or Confederate Armies during the Civil War.

Israel Augustus Alligood

DIVISION: Wilcox
BRIGADE: Thomas
REGIMENT: 49th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry
COMPANY: G

RANK: Private

ENLISTMENT DATE: March 4, 1862
AGE AT ENLISTMENT: 27

The 49th took an active part in the campaigns of the army from Seven Pines to Cold Harbor, fought in the Petersburg trenches south of the James River, and was involved in the Appomattox operations. It reported 78 casualties in the Second Manassas and 61 at Fredericksburg. The unit lost 13% at Chancellorsville and more than 25% of the remaining 329 at Gettysburg. It surrendered with 8 officers and 103 men*, barely 10% of the original troops.

Company Muster Roll and Hospital records give a pretty comprehensive picture of Israel's time in the War.

Dates	Description
March to April 1862	Present, sick in camp
May to June 1862	Present
July to August 1862	Absent, sick in hospital in Richmond
October 16, 1862	General Hospital Camp Windsor Richmond, Virginia Disease: Dibilitas Returned to duty: November 5, 1862
December 1862	General Hospital No. 8 (St. Charles Hospital) Richmond, Virginia Disease: flesh wound left jaw (gunshot) Transferred to State Hospital January 12, 1863
January to February 1863	Present
March-April 1863	Absent, sick in hospital
May 2, 1863	Chimborazo Hospital, No. 2 Richmond, Virginia Disease: chills and fever Transferred to Lynchburg May 9, 1863
July to December 1863	Present
May-June 1864	Present
September-December 1864	Present
January - February 1865	Present

If you calculate based on the number of years that Israel and his wife Mary Ellen Knight reported that they had been married in the 1900 US Census, it would appear that they were married in 1864. Well, that's in the middle of the Civil War, maybe he had leave? You can see in the chart above that there is a gap in records from January 1864 through April 1864, hmmmm? Israel signed the Reconstruction Oath Book on August 8, 1867, swearing his allegiance to the United States of America and renewing his right to vote after the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 were complete in the state of Georgia.

Israel owned 202 acres of land that he farmed in Laurens County, Georgia.  He died at the age of 74 in 1909 and is buried in the Alligood Cemetery near Dexter, Georgia.

BORN: June 15, 1835 in Laurens County, Georgia
DIED: 1909 in Laurens County, Georgia

PARENTS: Hillery Alligood and Matilda Foy

SPOUSE: Mary Lou Ellen Knight

CHILDREN: Francis Hamilton Alligood
                       Lupiney Ellen Alligood
                       Ann Eliza Alligood
                       Israel Augustus Alligood, Jr.
                       Andrew F. Alligood
                       Minnie Eucebia Alligood

RELATIONSHIP: Angela Abbate (Mood)
                                 Eucebia Jane Thomas (Abbate)
                                   Mildred Arlene Silas (Thomas)
                                     Minnie Eucebia Alligood (Silas)
                                       Israel Augustus Alligood

*National Park Service The Civil War website.

Fearless Females: Names and Naming Patterns

So, that was quick, I am officially "caught up" with the Fearless Females blog prompts!

Today, The Accidental Genealogist asks: Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern.  If not then list the most unique or unusual female first name you've come across in your family tree.

Well, I am named for a guy so I am not thinking that I will be the subject here today!  No naming pattern for me either although both of my given names are family names.

BUT! Today's prompt is particularly interesting because last night I realized, for the first time ever, that my mom's name is actually a combination of her grandmothers' middle names.  I NEVER noticed that before, probably because she had such an unusual first name and I have always focused on how in the world they came up with that name. (Not just for her but for the two other female ancestors with the same name as well.)  Her name was Eucebia Jane.  Her grandmothers were Minnie Eucebia Alligood (Silas) and Mary Jane Shepherd (Thomas). Mom always used the name "Jane" and was often called "Janie" by family and close friends. She lived in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood later in life and she loved telling her Hispanic friends that her name was actually Eucebia, she had the "Spanish" pronunciation down just right. She always made them laugh!

My beautiful mom Eucebia Jane Thomas (Abbate) at age 19.
The photograph on the television is her mom,
Mildred Arlene Silas Thomas.

New Delineator Recipes

New Delineator Recipes, published in 1930 by The Butterick Publishing Company. This delightful little cookbook was owned by my great grandmother, Minnie Eucebia Alligood Silas.  Since bringing home a few vintage cookbooks that had belonged to my mom I have enjoyed the peek into homemaking in the generations before me.  Cooking is not by any means one of my strengths. We eat at home most of the time but even after 32 years of marriage my culinary skills are pretty lame. Sigh... getting back to this little jewel of a cookbook!  There are all types of recipes and plenty of information and tips in this book that give a glimpse into life in the kitchen in the early 1900s.  From how to properly set and decorate the dining table to the section on "Egging and Crumbing Foods for Frying," most of the recipes are not the type we would use in today's health conscious world!  Here are a few examples of pictures from the book and their captions: 

Canned vegetables provide a splendid variety
for  every day in the year.

Evaporated milk may be used in any recipe which calls
for milk.  The well stocked pantry will contain a
supply of this convenient product.

Cereals, hot, dry, in so many stages of puffiness, flakiness,
steaming goodness and crunchy tastiness, that every
appetite under the sun is sure to be gratified,
satisfied, and perfectly content.

Something tells me that the author of the New Delineator Recipes was trying to convince the "modern" homemaker that she needed to bring some "prepared" foods into the home!  But, if she was not quite there yet, here are a few directions for preparing the main dish, that I gather, was most likely chosen from the backyard:

An old fowl will require at least three or four hours' slow cooking, but a year-old chicken should be done in one and one-half hours. 

In reference to preparing Roasted Goose: Select a goose that is about four months old; an old goose is better braised than roasted.

Any woman knows that the way to figure out which are the best recipes in another woman's cookbook is to look for the pages with spills, tears, and notes.  It is easy to find the favorite recipe in this book.  Check the Family Recipe page on this blog for the One-Two-Three-Four Cake that I know she must have baked because I have heard about it my whole life, and, that page in New Delineator Recipes is covered with stains!

 I love that she wrote her name and address
on the  inside cover of the book!

Minnie Eucebia Alligood Silas was born June 25, 1878 in Laurens County, Georgia and lived most of her life in Rentz, Georgia. Her Dad, Israel Augustus Alligood, was featured earlier this week in the Tombstone Tuesday post.  She married John Franklin Silas, Jr. at the age of 19 in 1897.  They raised eight children, (including my grandmother, Mildred Arlene Silas).  Minnie was known to have loved her chickens and she gave many of them names making it especially hard to choose which ones would be featured in a New Delineator Recipe and spared the dinner table!

This photograph was taken in Miami, Florida at the home of Minnie's daughter Mildred Arlene Silas (Thomas).  

Pictured from left to right:
Back Row: Children, John Owen (Pap) Silas, Rembert Julian Silas, Mildred Arlene Silas (Thomas)

Middle Row: Henrietta Woody Silas, Minnie Eucebia Alligood Silas, Daniel Claude Thomas

Seated: Grandaughters, Eucebia Jane Thomas (Abbate) and Phyllis Margaret Thomas (Pinder), and Great grandchildren, Thomas Bernard Pinder, and Claudia Ann Pinder

The Silas Home
Rentz, Georgia

Grandma Silas, as she was affectionately known to her family, died on May 15, 1955 in Miami, Florida.  She is buried in the Rentz Cemetery, Rentz, Georgia.

Tombstone Tuesday - Israel A. Alligood

So, I need some help in gaining traction here at Heirlooms and Heritage!  It has become apparent that I spend way too much time trying to come up with witty, creative, or clever storylines and titles to make the blog entries more interesting.  I will not give up that pursuit but if I am to gain any credibility here and post more regularly I must get some sort of a schedule.Taking a hint from GeneaBloggers, Tuesdays will become "Tombstone Tuesday." Just a picture and a few facts about one of our deceased relatives.  That, interspersed with stories of heirlooms, should help me get a foothold here.  So, excuse the silly title and enjoy at least one short story per week.  I just got back from dragging my sister to cemeteries, me the historian and she the driver and photographer.  She is amazing, we had a blast!

Israel Augustus Alligood, I think that is an awesome name.  If you have read my post Veni, Vidi, Vici, then you might remember that my maternal grandmother took four years of Latin.  Apparently there was quite the Latin influence in baby naming in southern Georgia in those days.

Israel was my great, great grandfather...my maternal grandmother's grandfather.  Israel was born in Laurens County, Georgia, to Hillery and Nancy Alligood, June 15, 1835.  It appears from records that he lived in Laurens County in the Dexter area his entire life with the exception of his years serving the Confederacy during the Civil War.  According to history, the men of Laurens County were not in favor of succeeding from the Union but were forced to, in the larger picture when Georgia, as a state, succeeded.  He enlisted on April 3, 1862 at the age of 26.  For the history fans, here's a recap from GA GenWeb Project of the action that his unit saw:

49th Infantry Regiment was organized in November, 1861, with men from Wilkinson, Talfair, Washington, Irwin, Laurens, Pierce, and Pulaski counties. After serving in Georgia and North Carolina, the regiment moved to Virginia. Here it was assigned to General J.R. Anderson's and E.L. Thomas' Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. The 49th took an active part in the campaigns of the army from Seven Pines to Cold Harbor, fought in the Petersburg trenches south of the James River, and was involved in the Appomattox operations. It reported 68 casualties at Second Manassas and 61 at Fredericksburg. The unit lost thirteen percent of the 280 at Chancellorsville and more than twenty-five percent of the 329 at Gettysburg. It surrendered with 8 officers and 103 men. Its field officers were Colonels John T. Jordan, A.J. Lane, and Samuel T. Player; Lieutenant Colonels Oliver H. Cooke, Seaborn M. Manning, Jonathon Rivers, and Wiley J. Williams; and Majors James B. Duggan, John A. Durham, and John H. Pate.

Israel married Mary Ellen Knight and they were the parents of six children including my great grandmother, Minnie Eucebia Alligood.  (See, there's another Latin derived name!)  He died at the age of 74 in 1909 and is buried in the Alligood Cemetery near Dexter, Georgia.