Posts
I knew it.. Knew it… K.N.E.W. I.T.!! Yes, I knew it! <---- this is a genealogical happy dance.
I have a lot of blog space dedicated to William F. Duncan and his father, George W. Duncan. William filled out that glorious Tennessee Civil War Questionnaire that gave a lot of information and clues to follow. But there is one big.. Huge! Gaping! bit of information he did not put on that questionnaire…. Ready? His Confederate service. I thought it strange his father joined the Confederate Army in 1862 and William joined the Union Army in May of 1864 at the age of 21. So then I thought maybe he did something else those two years but my mind was constantly brought back to that two years difference in their service. So the other night I was checking out what Footnote had by way of War of 1812 records as I might have War of 1812 Veterans. I didn't have any luck, that collection is in its infancy yet so something drew me back to the Civil War record section. It might have been me feeling cocky, I had just found a census record I had been looking for what seems forever. Spelling was off on the surname and a County I would not have looked for them in! Who knew. George W. Duncan and his family were very transient. Something made me take a stab at Confederate records and look for William and I have to say that even if I knew I was looking for him I was still very surprised to find him. The two years that puzzled me makes sense. There are 8 pages to this compiled record of Company Muster Rolls. There won't be a pension record since he defected I have his Union service documentation so will now have to figure out if there is another service file with more information. I am not very good finding records like these, NARA boggles my mind completely. I will be going through the State of NC Archives online catalog and hoping I can find something there. I struck gold there by accident once before over this family!
I am a dreamer… I want to know the why's. Dates of battles can be interesting, kind of, I love history but its about the people. What were they thinking, what did this split do to he and his father and how did it affect the rest of their family. Did William keep in touch with his mother after the war was over? His father died a month after he enlisted in the Union Army, they were both in Tennessee, did he know? So many questions that I will probably never have the answers to. To find even the smallest bit of information to give a better understanding to this would be so exciting.
The last Muster Roll for William Franklin Duncan in the Confederate Army:
