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Hi David,
I've been away from my researching for awhile. I had gotten tied up with work over the summer. I just recently read your posting on your trip to Philadelphia. Sounds like you had a productive visit. And I saw that we have another cousin on the board - Lois Orth Hanson. Hi Lois. Thank you for providing Christiana's maiden name - another piece of the puzzle found.
I'd like to hear more of your trip to Philadelphia, and if you've found out any other information about Alexander.
Here's what I found out from the pension files (for Sophia's claim) from NARA - I'm truly amazed that these documents didn't get discarded long ago...
The saga of the soldier’s “widow”.....
According to the NARA Civil War Pension files that I received several months ago, Sophia CLEWELL (nee ORTH) tried unsuccessfully for over thirty years to obtain a Civil War widow’s pension. Her first application in 1865 was denied because the government had no records showing that her husband Joseph R. Clewell, originally from Nazareth PA, had died during the war. Sophia had no evidence either, just the presumption that since her husband never came home, that he must have died. In later documents, she mentions that the regiment’s captain, a Mr. John Smith (of all names), had told her that Joseph had died from Typhoid Fever. Sophia’s lawyer requested that the Army perform a search on the hospital records for Joseph’s unit. They come back with a list of various ailments that Joseph was admitted for, such as frozen feet, bronchitis, dysentery, and lumbago. The last discharge date from a hospital was June 1865. He was then sent to a Veteran Regiment Corps. The government also stated that he was discharged and paid on December 5, 1865 in Benton B??? Missouri.
There are several other attempts made throughout the next thirty years to acquire a widow’s pension. It is now 1897, more than thirty years since Sophia has last seen her husband, and there is a new twist to the story. Not only does she have the problem of proving that her husband died during the War, but she must prove that she is his widow. Apparently, Sophia’s marriage to Joseph was her second. Her first marriage was to Charles Alexander (Nov 13, 1845). Affidavits describe him as a Frenchman, who abandoned her and their young child after only a couple of years of marriage. In later affidavits, it is stated that Charles Alexander was an alias, and the man’s true name was Paul Fidler. Sophia’s testimonial reads that “When he left me, I believed he was a rascal...he did not use me right....I knew he was going with another woman.” She never obtained a divorce from him. Their child, a son, whose name is never mentioned, is stated as having died at the age of three or four. Sophia’s brother Harry “buried the child”. (I’m not sure how to interpret this; did he handle the burial arrangements, or did he just bury the child in his backyard?) At this final meeting with the pension bureau, Sophia brings in one of her brothers, Henry Orth, and her two sisters, Louisa (Orth) McCully and Caroline (Orth) Taylor. All three of her siblings tell the same story of Sophia's first marriage to the rascal Alexander/Fidler who left her and their child, then her marriage to Joseph, and the belief that if he were alive that he would have returned to his family. Especially touching was reading Sophia’s affidavit - “I am sure he must have died or he would have written home. Our relations were always of the most affectionate character, and he was very fond of his children. If he was discharged from the service he must have died on his way home.”
The lawyer for the government gives his opinion on Sophia’s plight. “This poor woman is entitled to great sympathy and I would be glad if the Bureau would regard her as the legal widow of soldier. I am not aware of any precedent for this action however, and I reluctantly recommend rejection of claim on the ground that she had a husband living, from whom she was not divorced, at the date of her marriage to the soldier.” Her application was denied.
I was glad to have had the opportunity to read these documents. I now feel as if I’ve actually met one of my ancestors, if only for a very brief time. To be able to read her own words was an absolute thrill.
Some things just don’t add up.
1) There is one document that is sent by the government in December 1867 that states that according to the muster rolls of June/July, Joseph is listed as “Died June 15, 1865”. Later, during the executive review in 1897, the government attorney says that he doesn’t know why the December 1867 document was sent out, and that there were no muster rolls for those months.
2) John Smith - Sophia first mentions him in papers from 1867 as the captain of Joseph’s company. Again in 1897, there is an affidavit from Smith stating that Joseph died in June 1865 from Typhoid Fever in Memphis Tennessee, and that he knows this because he was the captain at the time. The government’s papers state that not only was John Smith never a captain, he never served in that company or regiment.
3) Coincidental that Sophia’s and Joseph’s son Joseph (Jr) would die of the same illness, Typhoid Fever, as Joseph (Sr). Joseph (Jr) died March 1865.
4) Paul Fidler, alias Charles Alexander. I found it interesting that her first husband used a false name, according to the affidavits of Sophia and her siblings. I figured this was probably typical behavior of someone who would abandon their wife and child, and it just added to Sophia’s bad luck. Here’s the strange part...I was looking over the 1870 Census for Sophia’s daughter Pauline (Lyons). It lists Pauline, her husband August, Sophia (age 3), and a PAUL FIDLER (age 19). Who in the world is this man, Paul Fidler??? It can’t be “Charles Alexander”, because he’s too young. Did Sophia and her siblings just use this man’s name in their affidavits twenty years later? Why would they do that? Could it be just a coincidence? I’ve never been able to find Paul Fidler in any other Census.
5) Was Joseph really discharged in December of 1865 in Missouri? What happened to him? I’ve sent away for Joseph’s Service records. I don’t know if there will be any useful information in those documents or not. One more oddity - the government has Joseph’s last name listed as CLEWETT in most of their documents, not CLEWELL.
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