Widow Pensions - The widow of William Harney

I decided to do a search for the "Beem" surname in Footnote.com's database of Civil War Widows' Pensions. The database is incomplete, and I really didn't expect to find anything of significance to me. I was in for a surprise that kept me going the rest of the afternoon!

One Lewis C. Beem is named in the widow's pension application for the widow of William H. Harney. The first document I saw was a marriage record for Lewis Beem to Catherine J. Harney. Knowing that my gr-gr-grandfather, Elbridge Beem, had a brother named Lewis, my curiosity got the better of me, naturally, so I went back to read the entire pension application.

William Harney married Katy J. Tallman in Shelby County, Illinois in 1859. In February 1862, he enlisted in Company H of the Illinois 54th Infantry. He died from the measles on May 25th, 1862.

The marriage record for Catherine J. Tallman and Lewis C. Beem is included in the pension application. How, then, did Catherine draw a widow's pension in the 1900's if she married Lewis Beem in 1859? Further reading brought me to a divorce decree. In it, Katy states that Lewis abandoned her in December of 1880, running off to California to join one Alice Tallman, who had already abandoned her husband. Katy was left with two children, William and Cyrus, to support by herself. In addition to leaving Katy with the two children to raise, Lewis had withdrawn their life savings, amounting to $500. He also left her with debts of approximately $1,000. Creditors were threatening to take the 43 acre farm from her, but she was able to secure a loan to pay off those debts.

Lewis and Alice lived together in California, and after six months, Alice filed for divorce from her husband in the California courts. At the time Katy made her statement in Shelby County court, the divorce proceedings between Alice Tallman and her husband had not been completed. At any rate, Katy was granted the divorce on grounds of abandonment, and granted rights to the property that she and Lewis had owned during their marriage.

Because of the divorce, the pension board granted Katy's request to have her widow's pension reinstated. She later moved to Arkansas, where she died on May 17, 1928.

More research is needed to determine whether Alice's divorce was granted. The 1900 census of Oakland, California lists Lewis and Alice as husband and wife, so one could assume the divorce was granted. Is there an official marriage record for Lewis Beem and Alice Tallman, or was this a common law marriage?

It is also interesting to note that Alice's first marriage was to a Tallman, which is Catherine (Katy's) maiden name. More research is needed to determine their relationship, if any.

Which Rhoda?

In her post eenie meeney miney mo, Holly asks "Have you had any knotty problem in your research that made you crazy and gave you headaches? Did you ever get it solved?"

My gr-gr-grandfather is Benjamin Horton, born around 1854 in Anderson County, Tennessee. I've known for quite some time that his mother was Rhoda. In the Anderson County marriage records there are two Horton's who married someone by the name of Rhoda. B.F. Horton married Rhoda Hendrix in 1848. R.D. (Richard D.) Horton married Rhoda Frost in October 1852. I have yet to determine the relationship between Richard and B.F. Horton. At any rate, which of these men is the likely father for my Benjamin and his twin brother, Elijah?

In the 1850 census, R.D. is living with one Rebecca Horton in Anderson County. In the 1860 census, Benjamin and Elijah are listed with their mother, Rhoda, but no father is listed. Neither Richard nor B.F. Horton are found in the Anderson County census records after 1850.

To make matters more complicated, R.D. Horton and Rhoda Horton divorced in 1861. A year later, Richard married Mary J. Trail, and at some point the couple settled in Kentucky, where Richard died. Rhoda maintained custody of Benjamin, Elijah, and a younger brother, George. So, later census years were also of no help in determining the paternity of Benjamin and Elijah.

My Benjamin's obit, published in 1912, offered no clues to paternal identity, as it did not mention either parents. I've yet to find a death certificate for him.

I put this problem aside for several years, and recently came back to it. It didn't take me long to realize that while I had located Rhoda, Benjamin, and Elijah in the 1860 census, I had never looked for B.F. or R.D. in areas outside of Anderson County. A quick search at Ancestry's census database did not show any records for R.D. or Richard Horton, but I did find one for B.F. Horton. In 1860 he and his wife Rhoda were located in Jackson County, Missouri. Bingo! Since B.F. Horton and Rhoda were not in Tennessee at all, the Rhoda Horton with Benjamin, Elijah and George in her household has to be Rhoda Frost, married to Richard D. Horton.