Helbling Family, Cooper Family, Broida Family, (Click for Family Trees)

Today is a very special day in our family- there will be a wedding!

Young brides and grooms think that their wedding is a celebration of their love, and it definitely is that. It is their most special day, to long be remembered by themselves and all the loving family and friends who share the joyful event.

But…

♥ Every wedding is a reaffirmation of love and how it endures through the years.

♥ Every wedding is the start of something- a new chapter in the book of life, in which one builds a career, maybe a business, a set of new relationships, and (hopefully) a lifetime of love and support.

And…

♥ Every wedding is a reinforcement of the new family as a small unit within a much larger set of families.

So it is also a time to think about all those marriages that came before and helped to make us who we are, with our random inheritance of DNA.

Today, let us take a bit of a walk through the past, remembering the marriages of our ancestors and the happiness they must have felt on their own special day, or that of their children. Joy fills our hearts as we think of the life these couples built together, and the legacy they have left us.

The above is the oldest wedding picture we have.

Cooper was Helen’s maiden name- they were second cousins- so that made things easy name-wise.

Some folks eloped so we have no actual wedding picture of them:

Sure seems like there would be wedding pictures somewhere within the Payne-McMurray family, but don’t have any for this couple either:

Lynette was just nineteen, and had been living with her maternal uncle, Court K. Burnell, after she moved from California to Iowa. C.K. travelled quite a lot, and that may be why A. S. Burnell gave permission for Lynette’s marriage.

A.S. Burnell was most likely another maternal uncle, Arthur Strong Burnell, who was living in Newton, Jasper, Iowa, in the 1900 US Federal Census. Both uncles had daughters around Lynette’s age (and C.K. also had sons) so Lynette had quite a bit of family in Newton, where she and Will McMurray spent the rest of their lives.

These were all long marriages.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Today’s wedding ceremony fills our hearts to bursting, and it surely will overflow into tears- but they will be (mostly) happy tears.  Today, it is our child- a product of our love- who marries, and who continues the legacy of love through time.

Oh, Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!!

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest of photos.

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Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Helbling Family, Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

We continue our posts of the Springsteen Family Bible with the small piece of paper clipped to the “Memoranda” page:

It reads:

Baby Born 2/26/06

”      Baptized 4/22/06

Mary My then died 4/15/06

Jefferson Springsteen died 4/14/05

John           ”    died 5/2/06

Ed married 10/19/05

Mother           4/2/07

Baby died      6/12/07

The dear “Baby” who has a birth, baptism, and death listed was the first child of Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling (1881-1954) and William Gerard Helbling (1882-1971). Anna May was the daughter of Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower (1854-1939), probably the original owner of the bible. The baby’s name was William Francis Helbling. Anna Missouri had two of her own five children die young- one just a day old, the other only nine weeks- so she surely understood the pain that her daughter felt at losing a child. It was probably doubly painful to Anna Missouri because she had lost her first grandson (she did have a granddaughter at that date), but also to see her own baby in pain from losing a baby must have been almost unbearable.

If memory serves, Mary T. (Helbling) McMurray said that the handwriting was that of her grandmother, Anna Missouri, but the last 3 entries on this scrap were written by her own mother, Anna May.

Mary Mythen is Mary G. (Springsteen) Mythen (or Mithen), married to John Mythen. See next week’s “Mystery Monday: Mary G. (Springsteen) Mythen” for the little bit we know about Mary and John.

The Jefferson Springsteen who died 4/14/05 would be the younger family member, known as Thomas Jefferson Springsteen, born in 1848. He was the brother of Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower, the bible owner, thus son of Jefferson Springsteen (1820-1909) and Anna M. (Conner) Springsteen (1824-1887).

Anna Missouri’s other brother John William Springsteen is listed on the scrap with his death date. The rest of her siblings died in the 1930s, except baby Joseph Springsteen who only lived not quite two years, and Mary Elizabeth (Springsteen) Beckwith, who died in 1928.

The Ed who married in 1905 was Edgar Springsteen Beerbower (1876-1940, Anna May’s brother. His wife was Rosabel K. Hoppe (1885-1976), but sadly their marriage did not last, and they divorced sometime between 1920 and 1930.

The next entry for “Mother” likely means that Anna May’s mother married on 4/2/1907. Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower had divorced her husband years before, but had, as was common, been listed as ‘widowed’ on the census and even in an 1897 Indianapolis, Indiana city directory. This marriage entry is curious, as Anna Missouri was living in St. Louis in 1900, and she and Edgar Peter Beerbower (1849-1916) did remarry. A marriage record has been found for her husband dated either 26 or 28 December 1908- a very different date than what is in the bible. The marriage record is  for E. P. Beerbower (Edgar did use his initials) and a “Mrs. Mae Clore.”

This does not make sense with anything we know of the family, as in 1910 Anna Missouri and Edgar P. Beerbower were living together in Indianapolis. No re-marriage certificate has been found for them in Indiana (their 1873 first marriage is a record available on Ancestry.com), and none with Anna Missouri’s name on it. Clerical error, perhaps, with the marriage register? Anyone have other ideas?

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest.

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Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Helbling Family, Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

What is generally called ‘shopping’ became ‘foraging’ of the hunter-gatherer style once a man became a soldier. This was true for Abram F. Springsteen as well. Mary T. (Helbling) McMurray, his great-niece, told her descendants the story she had been told about his foraging. Since he was so little at about age 12, Abram could get in and out of little places easily, like through a broken fence, board, or hole and into a barn or chicken house. He used to hide eggs inside his drum as he departed, and calmly leave the area with ‘only’ his drum. Abram’s comrades were always happy to see that their enterprising young comrade was out looking for a tasty supplement to the generally awful Army grub.

This is one of the many family stories that rings true. Abram included some of his ‘shopping’ escapades in his diary. He did not specifically note the ‘appropriation’ of eggs by the Union Army from the Confederates (or even Union sympathizers), but that most likely happened as well.

Abram’s diary describes a cold January ‘shopping’ trip with fellow soldiers:

“On the 17th we joined in the pursuit of Hood’s, going as far as Clifton on the Tenn river where we remained until the 16th of Jany 1865. During which time our rations ran out and one morning after reveille I proposed to one of the drummers by the name of John Ellis, that we start out on a foraging expedition. He being much older than I, we started after providing ourselves with a musket and some cartridges. After going about a mile from camp, we saw a house across a field from which we made a break but before reaching it we heard some firing to our left and upon looking around saw three men coming along a lane near by one of which was leading a mule and supposing them to be rebels, we hid behind a stone fence until they came out of the lane when we recognized them as being Yanks. Upon seeing us, they called to us to join them but Ellis would go no further, so bidding him good bye I joined the party who proved to be of the 24th Ky. Inf. [Kentucky Infantry] of our Brig. [Brigade]”

Abram was fearless, to take off from camp with just one other soldier- and a drummer at that! Back in those days, the boys were likely to have experience with a rifle, as they would have gone hunting or just out to shoot back home. But  then to join up with other Union soldiers by himself- he was either brave, very trusting, or possibly, foolhardy. (Men are not always so nice in war- even to their fellow soldiers.)

“After going about a mile further, I was put upon the mule to ride which suited me exactly. We soon sighted a house near where we found nothing save a few dried pumpkin parins’. Soon after leaving the place, we came across a pig rooting by the road side, one of the boys sent a bullet thro him and after cutting him up, hid the parts wanted in the bushes and started on and after traveling about a mile sighted another house situated about a quarter of a mile from the road. Here we found chickens, hams, bacon, Tobacco and a general assortment of provisions and were compelled; in order to carry all we wanted , to enlist the services of an old family nag [horse] we found on the place.”

Although Abram and the Kentucky soldiers spoke to the woman of the house and learned that her husband was “a loyal union man,” they decided they would confiscate food. Also, the woman had “a little babe in her arms”- so they knew they were taking food from a family who sorely needed it, despite being on the Union side. (Or so the woman said. Since homes and farms were raided by both sides, it would be smart for a family to claim they were on the side that was on their doorstep; survival was paramount.)

The soldiers knew that Hood’s forces were likely close by, so they needed to expedite their ‘shopping’ trip before they could get caught. They loaded up the mule Abram had been riding on plus took the old nag- probably the only horse the family had for plowing by that point. They started back to camp in the late afternoon, and stopped to pick up the parts of the pig they had butchered earlier. They wanted to reach camp after dark anyway, so others would not know what they had brought.

By the time Abram got to his tent, which he shared with Major Pickard, he heard the voice of Ellis, the fellow drummer he had started out with that morning. He also heard the Major giving Ellis,

“… a severe turning over for allowing me to go on with the parties we had met as they supposed me either captured or killed and just then I popped my head in the tent and then there was a time. I told the boys to keep quiet and just follow me. I then took the hungry dogs over to the 24th Ky. where my share of the proceeds of our trip were awaiting me. The boys having given me more than an equal share of what we had captured.

Well, to say the boys were delighted at the sight of all the good things would be drawing it entirely too mild, they were perfectly overjoyed and for the time being I was the hero of the camp as I divided the provisions up as far as they would reach.”

Another time, near to when he was discharged at Greensboro, North Carolina, Abram took a number of foraging expeditions with  his “chum” Bruce Hardy of the 112 Illinois (whose father was an officer, also in the 112 Ill.). During one of the ‘expeditions’ they  fired their guns within a few miles of camp, probably trying to hit some birds or possibly a wild hog- Abram doesn’t say why. The two boys were actually arrested by the Union pickets (guards) for that offense, as they would have feared that the enemy was nearby. (There were still southern enemies even after the Civil War officially drew to a close.) The boys were taken to General Stiles’ headquarters, and severely reprimanded before being released.

“On another occasion, we got an old mule and started out in search of something good to eat. After going about 6 miles, we … having been informed there lived a beautiful daughter of a Rebel officer, we decided to have a peep at the young lady and, hitching the mule to a little bush, we proceeded with the use of a small pocket mirror, to arrange our toilet and while thus engaged our mule, who by the way was loaded down with butter, eggs, chickens, milk and a general assortment of provisions [from their ‘shopping’ trip], pulled the bush out of the ground and before we could realize what had happened was on his way back to camp.

“We made a grand attempt to catch him but he was too much for us so we gave up the chase and also the idea of taking a peep at the beautiful maiden we had heard about. We arrived back in camp about dark where we found the mule plastered from head to tail with butter, eggs, milk, etc. and looking as though he had been run through a thrashing machine.”

The mule must have high-tailed it back to camp, smashing the provisions on his sides as he trotted through dense woods.

Abram reported that a few days later, they returned to the home of the beautiful maiden,

“… and this time saw the young lady but she hated the Yanks and would have nothing to say to us.”

The fact that the young lady would not even speak to them likely made the loss of all those good victuals doubly disappointing.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Images from the Indiana Historical Society are low resolution for uses such as in blogs. Higher resolution images can be found on their website, with links to each image provided below.
2. “On the Potomac” courtesy of Indiana Historical Society. Their description: The tintype shows members of the Twelfth Indiana Infantry eating around a campfire. The men posed for the camera, holding plates and cups. One soldier appears to be feeding another with a spoon or fork, and another holds a tin cup above a coffee pot. Identifications scratched on the back of the tintype state the photograph was made “On the Potomac, 1861.” The list of names derived from an examination of the tintype under a microscope is as follows: Lieut. Wm. W. Angel; Sargt. Jacob Kenagu [Kenagy, Private according to Terrell]; Corp Nat ?reenfield [Greenfield, Recruit according to Terrell]; Privt Geo Burwell; Jno Campbell [John S. Campbell according to Terrell]; Sanford _arns [Karns, Recruit according to Terrell]; ?; Drummer Gilly [Gilmore Hollingsworth, Musician, Company H?]; Jas St ?. via http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/dc008/id/190/rec/1932
3. “Land of Milk & Honey” by Edwin Forbes, 1876. Plate 32. Indiana Historical Society description: In 1861 Edwin Forbes was hired as a staff artist by “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.” He covered the Army of the Potomac from 1862-1864, and was known for his ability to draw quickly. His primary interest was in recording the everyday activity of soldiers. Plate 32, is from his publication “Life Studies of the Great Army.” The sketches are titled: Gone Off for the Yankees; A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey; A Scouting Party; An Old Campaigner. http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/dc008/id/573/rec/1974
4. “Diary of Abram F. Springsteen” transcription, completed by family members. Thank you for sharing!

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Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Helbling Family, Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

Tuesday’s Tip:

Explore your family stories.

They may hold a bit of truth- or even more.

℘℘℘℘℘

While researching and writing the stories of Abram F. Springsteen for recent posts, a memory of Mary T. (Helbling) McMurray’s story that Abram and his family saw President Abraham Lincoln sparked an interest in checking out that old family story. Mary’s grandmother, Abram’s sister Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower, had moved in with her daughter and son-in-law, Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling and G.W. Helbling, during her later years. Mary and her grandmother were very close and spent quite a bit of time together. They did talk about family a lot, and Mary always knew more about that line of the family than of her father’s.

Many genealogists and historians will say that a good number of family stories are just that- stories. But I have found that our older generations were actually pretty accurate in their storytelling. So off to research and see if there was at least a grain of truth in the oft-told lore.

If memory serves (which it doesn’t always, lately), the reason Abram ran off to the Army was due to him seeing President Lincoln, per Mary, his great-niece. So finding out if Lincoln was anywhere near Indianapolis during 1861 was what was needed to verify this story, since that year was when Abram first enlisted.

It was harder than thought to find a detailed timeline of Lincoln’s activities. After a Google search that did not show me what I needed, I decided to look through Doris Kearns Goodwin’s most excellent book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.

Some tidbits but not exactly what I was looking for, though of course it was hard to stop reading through the book. It did give great context for the times, including the tug between sides to prevent or ‘render asunder’ our precious Union that had existed for 85 years.

The Indiana state capital, Indianapolis, was a major railroad and transportation hub. It also was the home of Gov. Oliver Hazard Perry Morton, who was one of Lincoln’s major supporters. Indianapolis was therefore a major base of Union support, so it was highly likely that Lincoln would have paid the city a visit.

The best clue came from waymarking.com, of all places. (They provide ways to log your visit to a particular spot using a GPS.) The site showed an Indianapolis monument commemorating a visit by Lincoln- on 11 February 1861. Bingo. A quick trip to Wikipedia.org led to more and then much more, and the number of open windows on my laptop increased rapidly with all the information I had been seeking, and more.

Tomorrow: the real story

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. History of Indianapolis, Indiana, Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Indianapolis
2. Lincoln’s Inaugaration Journey – Indianapolis:  http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM11MR
3. Lincoln- assassination attempts just after election (Baltimore Plot):
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Plot
4. “Mr. Lincoln Goes to Washington” by Paul Fatout in the Indiana Magazine of History, Volume 47, Issue 4, pp 321-332. http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/8077/9867
5.  A maul is a large, heavy, hammer with a wedge-shaped head that is used to split rails, which Lincoln had done quite a lot of as a young man on the Illinois prairie. Rails are the horizontal supports on a fence.

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Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Helbling Family, Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

Abram F. Springsteen (1850-1930) was considered by many to be the youngest regularly enlisted Civil War soldier, and his picture as a drummer boy was in a museum stating this fact. Mary T. (Helbling) McMurray remembered seeing it when she went to Indianapolis, Indiana, as a young girl, for the funeral of her maternal grandmother, Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower. Anna was Abram’s older sister, but he had predeceased her, so Mary never got to meet her Great-Uncle Abram at the 1939 funeral, but she always wished she had known him.

Not only did Abram serve admirably and also survive the war, but he worked for the War Department in Washington D.C. and advocated for veterans the rest of his life. He was  very active in the G.A.R.- the Grand Army of the Republic. The GAR was a fraternal organization, born out of the need for Union veterans of our most terrible war to share their experiences, both during the war and after. So many were wounded or had health problems stemming from their service, and the camaraderie was good for them. It started out with secret handshakes and rituals, but the GAR also worked politically, supporting the effort to make a national holiday on Memorial Day, fighting within Congress and the government for veteran’s pensions, working toward voting rights for black veterans, and even campaigning for Republican candidates. (The GAR had incredible political clout, and 3 presidents were GAR members.) The GAR promoted patriotic education and commemorative monuments, as well as organized veteran marches in parades on holidays.

Local posts were formed beginning in 1866, and at its peak in 1890, the GAR had 490,000 members. Membership was only available to “veterans of the late unpleasantness,” although they did have an auxiliary for their wives. (There were also 2 women who served in the Civil War who were members.) When the GAR’s last member died in 1956, the group ceased to exist. Its work has been continued by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (S.U.V.C.W.).

The 27 September 1915  Elkhart Daily Review (Elkhart, Indiana) headline read: “Youngest Drummer Boy to Meet Hoosier G.A.R.” Abram F. Springsteen was working in Washington, D.C., and planned to meet his former comrades-in-arms of the Indiana delegation at the train depot “with his old war drum to escort the Hoosiers from the depot to the Raleigh Hotel.”

Abram also regularly marched with his drum on patriotic days, at GAR encampments, or even to help recruit soldiers for World War I. It was evident that he was proud of his service, and that of his comrades. He surely wanted younger folks to have that same sort of commitment to our country, and he worked tirelessly through his life to achieve that.

Since Abram worked in the War Dept. in DC, he had some pretty good connections. His request for government workers to be granted extra days of paid leave so they could attend the 1915 encampment in Washington, DC went all the way to President Woodrow Wilson and was approved. Abram set up the Pension Department, where he worked, so that veterans could tour it and also review their pension file. They could discuss with staff any changes needed, and   the decisions made concerning their pension or rejection of their claim. He also set up special rooms in many of the hotels for the Indiana Regiment in which he served. Abram was in charge of many facets of the 1915 Encampment, including the RSVPs of about three thousand Indiana veterans and their spouses.

The 1915 Encampment was a very special event- it was the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Civil War, when troops marched in review down Pennsylvania Avenue in our Capitol. The veterans planned to recreate that march, though sadly, the Union numbers were quite smaller in 1915. The passage of time contributed heavily- a young man of 20 enlisting in 1861 had aged to 74 by 1915, and many men who served were older than 20 at their enlistment. This encampment was thus considered to be the last held by the GAR- “at least the last one to be held on anything like a pretentious scale.”

The military continued to be a part of the lives of all these veterans through the GAR. Even their death was honored by their comrades- the GAR provided help when a member was ill, and a color guard with full military honors at their funeral.

So Abram Furman Springsteen, beating his drum at the 1915 encampment, had much to reflect upon. He was 65 years old, but again calling to his comrades with the steady beat of his drum.

Addendum: The 83rd National G.A.R. Encampment in 1949 was in Indianapolis, but there were only 16 veterans still members. Just six were well enough to attend, with 100 years old being the youngest, and the oldest 108 years of age. Joseph Clovese, 105, attended for the first time in 1949. He had been born a slave on a sugar plantation in Louisiana. Sadly, Abram was not present, since he had passed away in 1930, and there were no Indiana veterans left. It was fitting that this last encampment was held in Indianapolis, as the first had been held there in 1866. The last of the GAR vets died in 1956 (Albert Woolson was 106, and had enlisted as a drummer boy in 1864, at about age 15; his unit never saw service in battle), and the GAR was officially disbanded.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. “pretentious scale” quote from “Hoosier Vets Asked for Address” in Evansville Courier, Evansville Indiana, page 6, column 2, via GenealogyBank.com. (Great newspaper website!)
2. GAR and other Civil War reunions including date and place- http://www.civilwarcenter.olemiss.edu/reunions.html
3. Elkhart Daily Review, 27 September 1915, page 4, column 1, via GenealogyBank.

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Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.