#36--Charles Minarcik--Fighting with General Custer or Not?

Several years ago I found a picture of my great grandfather, Charles Minarcik, in an old photo album.  He was in his army uniform and I had heard that he had fought with General Custer.  I found that puzzling as I thought that Custer and all his soldiers died in the Battle of the Little Big Horn.   Searching for information about him using Ancestry and Google, I I cleared up the confusions over his service in the army.  So today, he is the focus of my blog.

One of the problems of having an unusual name is that is can be spelled in several ways as I blogged about (Joseph Minarzick—How Do You Spell that Name).  Fortunately Charles had better luck in getting his last name spelled fairly consistently and that made my life easier.

In the 1870 census Charles is listed as living in Manhanttan, New York, the oldest son of Joseph Minarzick and Regina Wendel along with their 8 other children.  By the 1880 census, Charles is listed as the head of the family, which consisted of him and 4 of his younger siblings.  Their grandparents—the Wendels-- were living in the same building.  Presumably both his parents died, although I can find no record of their deaths, and his other siblings either died or married.  On May 15, 1872, Charles enlisted in the2nd Regiment Calvary for 5 years.   I think that is a strange choice for someone who lived in New York City, and makes me wonder how and when he learned to ride a horse.

According to the news article about his death, while in the army, he was involved in the first survey of Yellowstone Park.  That park is one of my favorite national parks and I am delighted that he had a part in its exploration.   Charles was also involved in engagements with the Sioux Indians and Cheyenne Indians under General George Crook.  However, Charles did not fight with General Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.  Rather he was in the company of soldiers who were to join Custer’s forces.  However, they were delayed and unfortunately, when they arrived at the Little Big Horn, they found that Custer and his men had been killed.

Their only task was to bury the dead.  Charles was promoted to a first sergeant and received a metal for distinguished service.

After his enlistment in the army ended, Charles returned to New York, where he worked as a furniture carver.  In 1883, he married Elizabeth Lang and with her had four children:  Christina, Edward, Charles, and Regina.  Charles died in 1923 and is buried in Evergreens Cemetery in Queens, New York.

#35--Chester Ingersoll Richards and William Fisher Richards--Where Did You Get Those Middle Names?

This week I am focusing my blog on something I found interesting about two of my great uncles:  Chester Ingersoll Richards and William Fisher Richards.  I wondered about  their middle names.  As far as I knew, we had no close relatives with those names.  I wondered where those names came from.

To help me figure out what was going on. I decided to research middle names and their history.  From what I read, middles names were not used in the United States until after the Revolutionary War.   At that point wealthy families began to give their children middle names.  By the time of the Civil War, middle names were common.

Parents pick middles names for their children in a variety of different ways.  Some use a family name like the mother’s maiden name or the names of the father and mother’s parents.  Others use a name that they like, but would not make a good first name.  Another choice is to pick the first or last name of an individual they would like to honor.

So what about my two uncles and their middle names?  Two of my blog entries shed some light on where those names came from.  While working on the blog about my grandmother’s wedding (#17—Gertrude Richards—Saying I Do?), I found the announcement in the newspaper and among the guests were several Fishers—“Mr. and Mrs. Irving Fisher, Dr. Fisher, Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Fisher.”  With a little more research, I found that the Richards and Fishers were cousins and that they were both in the same business—shoes.    Hence William Richards’s middle name came from a relative, and one that coincidently, was in the same business.

I really stumbled upon the source of Chester Richards middle name.  I was working on my entry about my great grandfather, Abiathar Richards and his shoe business (i#29  Abiathar Richards --Do You Have a Glass Slipper?), when I found an article that talked about his very early years in the shoe business.  It appears that J. D. Ingersoll was one of the first people he worked for in the shoe business and I assume that Chester’s middle name was chosen to honor him.

So it appears that William’s middle name came from a relative, and William’s from a business associate.

#34--John Richards—Continuing a Family Tradition of Service

Last week, I blogged about Edward Richards, one of my emigrant ancestors, who came to Massachusetts in 1632.  This week I thought I would continue that line and blog about his oldest son, John, who was born to Edward Richards and Susanna Hunting on May 1, 1641.  On August 1, 1672 at the age of 31, he married Mary Colburn, daughter of Nathaniel and Priscilla (Clark) Colburn.  John and Mary had five children:  John, Jr., born July 20, 1673; Mary, born June 23, 1675; Deborah, born, Jun 1, 1679, Joanna, born, 1681; and Hannah, born March 3, 1684.  Mary Colburn, died on December 17, 1685.  John then married Mary Fuller, and they had Samuel, born January 1686.

John became a freeman on May 31 and was active in the Dedham community.

He was appointed to view fences.  Since his father was also a viewer of fence, I was interested in finding out exactly what this job involved.  After a quick search of the web, I learned that fence viewer is one of the oldest appointed positions in New England.  The viewer’s job was to make sure that fences were maintained properly and to settle disputes over property lines when a person believed that his neighbor’s fence was on his property.  John was also elected constable and collected taxes from the town’s property owners.  John and his brother, Nathaniel, lent the town money.  According to the Dedham Town Records, Vol. IV, p.190 “A bill is given to Deacon Aldis of ten shillings of jams Sharp constable in may to pay part of five pouds which was Borrowed of John and Nath Richards.”

New England towns had an interesting way of dealing with young single men to ensure that they behaved appropriately and did not cause any trouble—the town required that they live with established and respected families.  On two occasions young men were sent to live with John and his family.

John died on December 21, 1688 at the age of 48.  His wife was appointed the administratrix of his estate which was valued at €327.  I tried to find out how much that would be worth in today’s dollars and several web sites, including one from Colonial Williamsburg, indicated that given the complexities of economics today and in colonial times, such a value would be meaningless.

#33--Edward Richards--Making a Good Life in a New Land

One of my previous blogs (#23—Edward and Nathaniel Richards—Brothers or Not) focused on Edward Richards, my emigrant ancestor and whether or not he and Nathaniel Richards were brothers. This week I thought I would blog about Edward Richards and his life in Dedham, Massachusetts.  Compared to his ancestors in England, it has been much easier to gather information about this Edward.  The records of Dedham are excellent--it appears that all the town meetings were recorded as were births and deaths.  They make for interesting reading, which gives you a real feel for life in Dedham in the 1600's as the town established itself.

Edward came to Massachusetts in 1632.  He married Susan Hunting, sister of Elder John Hunting on September 10, 1638.  They had five children:  Mary, born September 29, 1639; John, born July 1, 1641; Dorcas, born September 24, 1643; Nathaniel, born November 25, 1648; and Sary (Sarah);  born January 25, 1648/49.

Edward moved to Dedham in 1636 and was the 62nd signed of the Dedham covenant.  In 1640, he was admitted to the church, and a year later took the freeman’s oath.  Susan Hunting Richards was admitted to the church in 1644.

Edward was granted Thomas Feakes town lot and later bought Thomas Hastings lot.  In Dedham, land was granted based on the number of people in the family and the value of the head of the family’s estate.  Edward received land on 14 separate occasions.  Typically he was granted more land than the vast majority of other residents of Dedham.  In addition, Edward Richards also bought “Mr. Cook’s Farm,” on which he built Broad Oaks, which remained in the Richards’s family until 1838.  Given his purchase of Broad Oaks and the number of land grants he received, Edward was one of the larger land holders in Dedham.

Like all the inhabitants of Dedham, Edward was required to donate several days a month to work for the community.  He was assigned to maintain fences, survey land, mend bridges and set out meadows.  Edward seems to have been a well-respected member of the community.  He served nine terms as selectman.  He was appointed constable, viewer of fences, and deputized to represent the town in determining the boundary lines between Dedham and Medfield and between Dedham and Roxbury.  In addition, he and Timothy Dwight were deputized to go to Boston and to represent the town in their dispute with the Natick Indians.

Edward died on May 25, 1684 shortly after making his will but before signing it.  Susan Hunting died several months after her husband on September 7, 1684.