May 18

Civil War Certificate of Non-Liability–The Breuninger Collection

We have quite a number of old documents, papers, letters and various other items that once belonged to my great-great-grandfather, Louis Breuninger (1819-1890). Most of the items had been stored away for years in the crude wooden trunk that held his possessions when he came to this country in about 1839.

There are enough of his papers and items that I like to refer to the whole group as the “Breuninger Collection”. Fortunately, most of the items are still in pretty good condition.

I have already blogged about a couple of documents from the Breuninger Collection: a letter from his brother (“A Letter to Louis Breuninger, 1840”, 24 February 2012 blog) and a copy of Louis’ baptism record dated 1837 (“For Whom the Bell Tolls”, 10 February 2012 blog). The 1837 paper is one of the oldest papers Louis brought with him from Germany. I have many letters written in the mid-1800 from his father in Germany. Unfortunately, most have not been translated.

Below is another Breuninger document, Louis’ Certificate of Non-Liability from the Board of Enrollment. The document was issued in 1865, during the Civil War. My transcription of the document follows the image below and I have typed the handwritten items and the signatures in UPPER CASE.

Louis Breuninger's Civil War Certificate of Non-Liability, dated 7 January 1865.

Form 30
Certificate of Non-Liability, To Be Given by the Board of Enrollment.

We, the subscribers, composing the Board of Enrollment of the FIFTH District of the State of WISCONSIN provided for in section 8, Act of Congress “for enrolling and calling out the national forces,” approved March 3, 1863, hereby certify that LOUIS BREUNINGER of PREBLE, of BROWN county, State of WISCONSIN, having given satisfactory evidence that he is not properly subject to do military duty, as required by said act, and the act approved Feb’y 24, 1864, by reason of OVER AGE, is exempt from all liability to military duty for the term of THE PRESENT.

Description:
Name: LOUIS BREUNINGER
Age: 45
Height: 5’ 4 ½“
Complexion: RUDDY
Eyes: BLUE
Hair: BROWN
Drafted:
When: DEC 28/64
Where, Town & State: GREEN BAY, WIS
By Whom: CR MERRILL, CAPT, PROV. MAR 5TH DIS. WIS.
Period: 1 YEAR

Signed, C. R. MERRILL, Provost Marshall and President of Board of Enrollment.
Signed, W. A. BUGH, Member of Board of Enrollemnt.
Signed, H. O. CRANE, Surgeon of Board of Enrollment.
Dated at GREEN BAY WIS., this 7TH day of JANUARY, 1865.

Note.—This certificate is to be given in all cases where it is applicable, according to the acts of Congress referred to above. [end of document]

What did this document mean? A little history will help to explain it.

The Civil War was the first time the United States used conscription to raise armies. Conscription is also referred to as compulsory military service, or the draft. The Union and the Confederacy both used this process.

Under the Union Draft Act men faced the possibility of conscription in July 1863 and in March, July, and December 1864. Louis was drafted 28 December 1964.

An amendment to the original enrollment was passed in February 1864 and stated that persons between the ages of 20-45 were subject to military duty. Louis was 45 years old.

A certificate of non-liability was issued to men who were not available for conscription for a specified number of years. The document could have been issued for a variety of reasons.

In some cases the person provided a replacement, also called a substitute, to take their place. A person could avoid service by paying commutation money. In this case Louis was just too old to be drafted.

According to Wikipedia, there were about 2,100,000 Union soldiers and of that number about 2% were draftees and another 6% were substitutes.

Conscription was not popular with the general public or with many of the volunteer soldiers. Problems included substitutions, desertions, enforcement and loopholes in the laws.

What other information can I get from the document? It gives me a nice description of Louis that I would not otherwise have. It also tells me where Louis was living in 1865.

This would have been the document Louis brought home with him proving that he was exempt from military service. I wonder how many similar documents have survived.

 

Sources of information and further reading about Civil War conscription:
Home of the American Civil War, Conscription (Military Draft) In The Civil War.
Civil War.com, Series III, Volume V, Pages 618-19, Union Letters, Orders, Reports.
Conscription in the United States, Wikipedia.

 

May 15

Tombstone Tuesday–Peter L. Breuninger

Peter L. Breuninger, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Van Wert County, Ohio.

This is the tombstone of Peter L. Breuninger, located in row 3 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed BREUNINGER, Peter L., 1870-1939.

Peter Breuninger was the sixth and youngest child of Louis and Maria (Seckel) Breuninger. Louis and Maria were my great-great-grandparents and Peter was my great-granduncle.

According to the records at Zion Lutheran, Schumm, Peter Ludwig Breuninger was born 27 January 1870 and was baptized 6 April 1874. His sponsors were Ludwig Breuninger and Johann Büchner.

The church records also record his death and burial: Peter Ludwig Breuninger, born 27 January near Willshire, Ohio, died 2 August 1939 near Willshire, age 69 years, 6 months and 5 days. He was buried August 4 in Zion’s Cemetery. His funeral verse was Romans 3:23, 24, Rev. A. Moeller.

Funeral Rites Held for Peter Breuninger—
Funeral rites were performed at the Zion Lutheran Church in Schumm Friday afternoon for Peter Louis Breuninger, who died last Wednesday at the Richard Allmandinger home, two miles southeast of Schumm. S.S. Buchanan & Son of this town were the morticians.

He was born Jan. 27, 1870, on the old Breuninger homestead, the son of Louis Breuninger and his wife, Anna Maria, nee Seckel. He was baptized by the Rev. G. Schumm and confirmed in 1884 by the Rev. G.F. Seemeyer.

After a stay of many years in Toledo, he returned here with the intention of spending his declining years at the home of R. E. Allmandinger, Mrs. Allmandinger being one of his nieces. After having resided here less than a month, it pleased the Lord to call him out of this life on Wednesday, Aug. 2nd, at the age of 69 years, 6 months and 5 days. He was the last of his family, one brother and four sisters preceding him in death a number of years ago.

Burial was made in the congregation’s cemetery at Schumm by the Rev. A. Moeller.

Of the descendants of the late Mr. Breuninger’s brother and sisters, eight nephews and nine nieces mourn his departure, namely: Prof. A.G. Schumm, Cleveland; Geo. Schumm, Pittsburg [sic]; Rev. Paul T. Schumm, Sabin, Minn.; Richard L. Stamm and Victor Schumm, Ft. Wayne; Arnold Schumm, Cornelius L. Schumm and Martin V. Stamm, Willshire; Miss Bertha Schumm, Lafayette, Ind.; Mrs. Alvina E. Muntzinger, Convoy; Mrs. Ida C. Hollenberg, Fort Wayne; Mrs. Bertha A. Smith and Mrs. Lizzie Linser, Van Wert; Mrs. Hilda Schumm, Mrs. Lydia Schumm, Mrs. Saloma Schumm and Mrs. Frieda Allmandinger, Willshire. (The Willshire Herald, Willshire, Ohio, Thursday, August 10, 1939, p.1.)

Peter’s mother passed away in 1910 and according to her obituary Peter was a patient at the Toledo Hospital at that time. (Van Wert Daily Times, Van Wert, Ohio, 21 June 1910.) According to Peter’s obituary he passed away at the home of Richard and Frieda Allmandinger. Frieda was his niece and was also the sister of my grandfather Cornelius L. Schumm. Peter never married.

 

May 13

2012 NGS Conference in Cincinnati–A Pictorial Wrap Up

Thanks to the planners, sponsors, volunteers and everyone else who made the 2012 NGS Conference in Cincinnati successful.

Exhibit Hall

Genlighten

Myrtle & Elissa

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Dwane & Miriam

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Genealogical Studies

1940 Census Indexing

FamilySearch

BCG Booth

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

I attended 2 sessions Saturday morning before we left at noon:

  • “Research Reports for Ourselves” by Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FMGS, FUGA.
  • “Information Overload? Effective Project Planning, Research, Data Management & Analysis” by Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS.

Yes, by Saturday I was on Information Overload! Both of the above lectures were excellent. I just need to put what I have learned to use in my research and report writing.

Before I left the conference I purchased a DNA kit from Family Tree DNA. My goal is to see if my paternal side descends from the Mayflower Brewsters. Either way, perhaps this will help us discover who Jackson Brewster’s parents were. The DNA sample needs to come from a male so I will be visiting one of my uncles soon. I’ll let you know how the test turns out.

May 11

2012 NGS Conference in Cincinnati, Day 3

One optional feature for this conference was the Guidebook app. What a great idea! I have not used something like this before and it is so very handy.

This app gives the latest conference news, several versions of the schedule, speaker and exhibitor information and has maps of the conference center and Exhibit Hall. I was easily able to make my own schedule of sessions and a to-do list. And I have all this with me at all times on my phone. I got the app for my Android phone from the app store and chose the 2012 NGS Conference. I highly recommend this app for future conferences.

 

 

Exhibit Hall 2012 NGS Conference

Sessions I attended today (Friday):

  • “Okay, I Got the Neighbors, Now What Do I Do with them?!” by Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA. Elizabeth gave us some very good information and some great research methods that I will definitely use in my general research and for my brick walls. One thing I learned is that in census records I should look at 15-20 families in both directions from my person of interest.
  • “Tracking Pennsylvania Ancestors: Keys to Successful Research” by Kay Haviland Freilich, CG, CGL. This was a very good session detailing where and how to research in Pennsylvania.
  • Shaking the Myth: Proving/Disproving Family Legends” by Jean Wilcon Hibben, PhD, MA, CG. I really liked this lecture where she explained the reasoning process to analyze family myths. The only problem with the lecture was the projected images. She used a small projector (about the size of a deck of cards) and the images from it were faint and very difficult to read. I’m sure the very small projectors are good for traveling but this one just didn’t have the brightness for the large room we were in. It was about 20 feet from the screen. Perhaps the images would have been clearer if the projector had been closer.
  • “German Language Skills for the Genealogist” by John Humphrey, CG. Another good session by John although I feel as though I took a crash course in German grammar. His explanation about verbs was very helpful.
  • “Lost in Pennsylvania? Try the Published Pennsylvania Archives” by Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer, MLS. Back to Pennsylvania again. In this session Christine explained how to use the 138 volumes of the in the 10 Series of the Pennsylvania Archives. The whole series is available on Fold 3 (www.fold3.com) for free. Her tips will surely help to search these records.

We attended the National Genealogical Society Quarterly 100th Anniversary Reception this evening. They provided a nice buffet and it was good visiting with friends.

I now have HappyFeet. After hearing several people talk about how good these insoles make their feet feel, I went down to the Exhibit Hall at the last minute and purchased a pair. Now I feel as though I’m walking on water! I even convinced fellow blogger Ruth to get a pair. Ruth, The Passionate Genealogist, http://blog.familyhistorysearches.com/ . (Thank you Ruth for the shiny Canadian penny. It is special to me because they just quit minting pennies.)

There is also a Junior Olympics competition going on at the Duke Energy Convention Center. It is fun to stop and watch them as we pass by on our way to sessions.

We’ll be saying good-bye to Cincinnati tomorrow.

May 10

2012 NGS Conference in Cincinnati, Day 2

Bruce Buzbee & Roots Magic

Over 1800 genealogists registered for the 2012 NGS Conference and it seems many many of them planned to attend the German sessions. The German sessions were packed today!

That should be of no surprise since Cincinnati is one of the major German cities in the country. If you were a smart conference-goer you would arrive at the room about 20-30 minutes before the start of the session.

Today I focused more on attending sessions than visiting the Exhibit Hall. Sessions I attended on Day 2:

  • “RootsMagic: Publishing Your Family History with Complete Documentation” by Bruce Buzbee. I always learn a lot when I attend one of his Roots Magic sessions. Bruce gave more information about the program than the title indicated. All of his tips will help as I clean up my Roots Magic program and when I upgrade to Roots Magic 5 after I get home.
  • “So, You’ve Found Your German Town of Origin: Now What?” by Teresa McMillin, CG. This session was packed. There were about 30 people standing outside the doors, not allowed to come in because the room was already full. One man graciously gave up his seat to another man who was very upset because he came to the conference to attend this particular lecture.
  • “The ‘www’ of German Genealogy” by John Humphrey, CG. This was another excellent German talk by a great German researcher and lecturer. They also had to turn away about 40 people because the room was full. John showed us many websites for German research. Thank you John! I can’t wait to try some of these websites.
  • “German Marriage Laws and Customs” by Warren Bittner, CG. It was interesting to learn about old German marriage customs. Many traditions seem to be carried over today. For example, “undertrunk”, an all-male drinking party before the wedding. Does that sound familiar??
  • “Locating and Understanding the Law: An Essential Part of Good Research” by Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FVGS. A lot of good advice for law research which seemed to focus a lot on Virginia.

John Humphrey, CG

As for the Exhibit Hall, so far I have gotten 2 free T-shirts, one for the 1940 Census from FamilySearch and one from Fold 3. I also received a nifty 1940 Census bag to carry all my stuff around. The bag was a gift from FamilySearch for becoming a 1940 Ambassador.

Tonight we will be attending an Evening at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, sponsored by FamilySearch. This is free to conference attendees.