#52Ancestors-Week 21-Military: Peter Bechel

This weeks' prompt is Military. My husband's great-great grandfather, Peter Bechel, was born in either 1805 or 1809 in Hanover, Germany.  It appears that he arrived without any family on the ship Shakespeare in New York in 1848. It is not known if he had been married before he arrived.

Peter married Anna (last name unknown) in about 1853 and by 1860, they had four children.  Anna died in around 1862.  I am guessing that Peter enlisted to serve in the Civil War after she died, although that is not known.  Their children were placed with other families after her death.  Peter seemed old to be enlisting.  He was fifty-two when he first enlisted to serve. It does not appear that Peter ever returned to live with any of his children after the war. He settled in El Paso, Illinois, which was about 45 miles from where his children were.

There are two enlistment dates listed for Peter. Records show that he enlisted in Ottawa, Illinois on the 18th of March in 1862 in Company I, 24th Illinois Infantry.  He was listed as fifty-two years old, was five feet four inches tall, had a dark complexion, blue eyes and grey hair. He was discharged from the unit on the 2nd of March in 1863 as disabled. He then enlisted on the 21st of June in 1863 at Cincinnati in the 1st Ohio Light Artillery, Battery K and was honorably discharged on the 12th of July in 1865 by reason of ending of the war.

Peter was admitted to No. 14, General Hospital Nashville, Tennessee on May 5th, 1865 from Knoxville, Tennessee for treatment for Hernia, and was transferred and admitted to Cumberland General Hospital, in Nashville, Tenn. May 20th 1865 (confusing, I know).  He was mustered out and discharged on July 12th 1865 but was retained in the hospital until July 24th 1865. He was shown to have been living in El Paso, Illinois after his discharge, and was still living there according to the 1870 census.

From his disability papers: "Saw Peter Bechel while on duty during a night expedition near Warsau (Tenn) in August 1862, saw when trying to climb over a fence fell and hurt himself badly; he reported himself sick and was ordered to hospital.". "He was found to have an inguinal hernia of the right side and it was disabling him for any duty.".

Peter was admitted to to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Montgomery County, Ohio on the 3rd of April in 1874.  Records indicate that he "stayed there until his death.". However, he was reported that he was living in El Paso, Illinois in 1877, according to Pension Records.

Death Records from Montgomery County, Ohio state that Peter Bechel died on the 30th of May in 1886, was age 82, born in France, and was a laborer; he died of pneumonia;  the death announcement from the newspaper listed his time of death as 5:40 am; Peter Bechel was buried in the Dayton National Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio.

#52Ancestors-Week 20-Another Language: Charles and Ingrid Seeber

This week's prompt is Another Language.  Immediately I thought of my great-grandparents who both came here from Sweden.  Two very different stories, though.

My great-grandmother, Ingrid Olauson, came to the United States on a freight boat without any friends or family accompanying her.  She did not speak any English at all when she left Sweden.  Ingrid arrived at Ellis Island in March of 1894.  Somehow, she got on a train and went to Chicago where her cousin and the cousin's husband were living, and she stayed with them.  She found work as a housekeeper and cook there.  She said that her employer could not pronounce "Ingrid", so the employer changed her name to "Ida" (which is what she went by for the rest of her life).  She slowly started learning English as she worked and lived here.  She had a Swedish accent throughout her life, however.  I can't even imagine what it must have been like to come to a foreign country to live and not know any of the language.

Then there was my great-grandfather, Karl Oscar Seg.  He told the family that he had been born in Liverpool to Swedish parents and was sent to the United States when he was about nine years old and that he spoke no Swedish.  This was the story the family believed for almost 100 years, until I finally learned his true story.  Karl (whose name was changed to Charles) came to the United States in 1892 when he was nineteen years old.  He had been born and raised in Sweden and lived there all his life until he immigrated.  So clearly, he spoke Swedish, although no one ever knew that.  When he came over, he went to live with an aunt and uncle in Indiana and worked in the brickyards where most of the workers were Irish and he learned English with an Irish accent!

#52Ancestor's-Week 19-Mother's Day

Mother's Day is an easy prompt!  Here is a picture of four generations taken in 1950: my mother, my grandmother, me, and my great-grandmother! Clearly, my great-grandmother was excited to have her picture taken!

#52Ancestors-Week 18-Close Up: questions for William Adamson

For the topic Close Up, I decided that I would choose the one ancestor that I have the most questions for/about and would like to have a close up one-on-one with. And I chose my great-great-great grandfather, William Adamson, born about 1790 in North Carolina.

First questions: who was your father? There has been much speculation, but no one actually knows. When were you born?

Next: who were your brothers and sisters? Again, there is only speculation on this.

Next: who was your wife's parents? I have a fairly good guess on this, but not proven facts.

Next: exactly how many children did you have? I only know what census records have shown.  Were there other children?  Exactly when were all your children born? I don't even have the date of birth for your son Aaron, my great-great grandfather.

Next: exactly what became of each of your children? Again, I don't know when Aaron died.

Next: when did you die? Were you blind?

Next: What war did you serve in? War of 1812? Where and when?

I'm sure that I could think of more questions, but these are the basic ones I would love to have answered!