Sleuthing

Here we continue our investigation of  Tillman Andrew (See The Mysterious Tillman).

Tillman Andrew, and John Cozart’s 1895 application to the Bureau of Pensions for Tillman Andrew’s minor children kicked off an extensive investigation. The Bureau requested documentation that Tillman and Lucinda had legally married, that the children were theirs, that Cozart was the children’s guardian, that the children’s birthdates were correct, that Tillman was dead, that Lucinda's other marriages really occurred, and that Tillman Andrew and William W. Downs were the same person. Here, our primary interest is the last—evidence showing Tillman and William to be one and the same. Of course at least one bureaucrat had already made that conclusion since Lucinda received William’s arrears of Army pay as his widow on 25 Oct 1895, before the minor’s pension investigation had even begun.

On 12 Nov 1895 John Cozart, Lucinda’s third husband, received Franklin County court letters of guardianship for the two youngest of Tillman’s children, Nora and Anna Andrews. Within days, on 25 Nov 1895, Cozart filed for minor’s pensions for the two girls based on Tillman’s Civil War service. Nora and Anna Mae were the only two of Tillman and Lucinda’s six children eligible. The others were too old. The Pension Act of 14 July 1862 made Civil War pensions available to widows, children under 16 years of age, and disabled veterans. Widows who remarried, as Lucinda had, were no longer eligible. Evidence that Tillman served under the name “William Downs/Downes” (both names are seen) was provided by affidavits of four men: George T. Russell, B. F. Russell, John B. Flanigan, and A. U. Whiffin. All four claimed that they had personally known Tillman Andrews and that he told them that he had served during the Civil War in Co. A of the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry under the name William Downs.

One witness, George Russell, claimed that in 1886 or 1887 he saw Tillman apply for bounty, stating that his military name was William Downes and that he had served in Company A, Massachusetts 3rd Cavalry. Of course, being illiterate, George could not have possibly read what was in Tillman’s application. Moreover, a bounty request makes no sense. Bounty lands were not awarded to Civil War veterans and William had already received his enlistment bounty. But even if misconstrued, an application like that would show that authorities knew of Tillman’s alias well before his death in 1892.

There are some suspicions about the affidavits of the four men. First, three of the witnesses were related to Lucinda, Tillman’s widow. Two were her brothers Benjamin Franklin Russell and George Thomas Russell and one was the husband of her first cousin Julia A. Russell. A daughter of both a Russell and a Funkhouser, Julia was Lucinda’s cousin by two different paths. And the family was obviously looking out for Lucinda. George Russell stated that his sister “owns 80 acres . . all very thin poor land” and that she had debts including an $85 mortgage on her property.

George and Benjamin, questionable                                            A clean bill for John B.         

Of course, one would expect information about a person to best come from relatives. And British-born Whiffin had no known connection with Lucinda. But one must also be concerned about the characters of the witnesses. George was said to be “not verry good” and his brother B. F., only “some better.” On the other hand, John Flanigan was said to be “of good standing” and truthful.

Another concern is that the depositions of the four witnesses are too consistent. What are the odds that any of them would have remembered the exact name of the unit in which Tillman served from conversations at least ten years earlier? The consistency indicates that the witnesses had exchanged information before giving depositions. But that might be expected even if all was factual.

Eventually, probably in 1897, the claim was abandoned. The pursuit, which was complicated, time-consuming, and expensive, may have ended with Lucinda’s death and thus Cozart’s loss of interest. Besides, pensions would end when the girls reached sixteen. Nevertheless, despite some bothersome points, one must conclude from the investigation that

Tillman Andrews and William W. Downs were indeed the same person.

But who was that person? Our next blog will (hopefully) conclude with that. And don't hesitate to comment. Someday all of this will go into a book.

William Downs

It has arrived! The National Archives file for the Civil War pension application by John Cozart for support of Tillman Andrew’s offspring is here. And additional records for the Civil War veteran William Downs/Downes (both spellings are seen in documents and are used by me) have been obtained from Fold3. Perhaps we can begin to answer the question—Were Tillman and William the same person? [See The Mysterious Tillman.]

Enlistment.

Let’s first look at what we know about William's military stint.

In Holyoke, Massachusetts, on 22 June 1864, at age 21 (born c1843), William Downs, said to be born in Delaware, enlisted in the Union Army for three years. For signing up he received $25 of a $100 enlistment bounty, with $75 to be paid at a later date, plus $13 for one-month’s pay in advance. Bounties were given out to attract recruits by both the Union and the Confederacy. The original enlistment document shows that William Downs, like Tillman, was illiterate.

On 21 June 1865, after exactly one-year’s service as a private in Company A of the 3^rd Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry, William went AWOL in St. Louis, Missouri, while the regiment was enroute from Winchester, Massachusetts, to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where the 3rd Regiment was mustered out 28 Sep 1865. Might he have believed that he had only enlisted for one year?  The Enrollment Act of 3 March 1863 specified a bounty of $300 for 3-year enlistments, but William had been awarded only $100. Then, a month after going AWOL, William was declared a deserter. During the Civil War, desertion was rampant. Out of a little more than 2 million men, the Union Army had over 200,000 deserters, with some estimates going as high as 280,000. Ten percent or more of Union soldiers deserted! But despite the large numbers (or because of them), punishment could be severe with jailtime or even execution. That threat could certainly have caused the missing William to adopt an alias ("Tillman Andrew"?). 

On 5 Jul 1884, the U.S. 48th Congress passed a bill removing the charge of desertion for volunteer soldiers who had served until 1 May 1865 and had served for six months or more prior to that date. William's AWOL and desertion charges were removed and his discharge date was officially made 21 June 1865, the date he went missing.

AWOL, desertion                                             But all was forgiven

Someone decided Lucinda was William’s widow.

    On 25 Oct 1895, Lucinda Andrews, widow of “Wm. W. Downes,” received his arrears of pay to include the discharge date of 21 June 1865. We do not know the date she claimed the money, nor why the record shows her as “Lucinda Andrews,” not “Lucinda Summers” or “Lucinda Cozart.” Perhaps she applied for the settlement when she believed Tillman to be dead, but before she married James Jordan Summers. Death would have been difficult to "prove," explaining a long waiting period.

The payment record states “claim was allowed on satisfactory evidence of claimants heirs wife and soldier’s celibacy.” The phrase “soldier’s celibacy,” seen in a few other Civil War pension records, may mean that that William had no other wives who could be claimants. That there was “satisfactory evidence” that Lucinda was the widow of William W. Downes is startling. She received the back pay a month before 25 Nov 1895, the date that her third husband, John Cozart, applied for support of Tillman’s children. Nearly all the large file obtained from the National Archives concerns Cozart’s claim and documents the extensive investigation to prove that William Downs and Tillman Andrew were the same person, that Tillman was dead, that Tillman was actually Lucinda’s husband, etc. And that investigation was done after someone in Washington had already decided that Lucinda was William’s widow. But records of that inquiry (if there was one) have yet to be found.

The next blog will look at the investigation in support of Cozart’s claim for child support. In the meantime, if any of you would like a free no-strings-attached copy of the National Archive file just click on the link below. You don’t need the Dropbox app. If you get a "Log in or Sign Up" message just ignore it. Press the download button at the top right of the web page. You will then get (another) "Log in or Sign Up" message. Just click "Or continue with dropdown only" at the bottom of that message. You need not log in or sign up. It is not necessary to be a Dropbox user. Leave a comment or send me an email if you have problems.

Pension File Download

The Mysterious Tillman

The Wittenberg, Missouri, Summers are descended from James Jordan and Lucinda (Russell) Summers. But Lucinda had been married once before. On 23 Jan 1870 in White Co, Illinois, Lucinda had married Tillman Andrew. And Tillman left sufficient mysteries to keep a dozen Sherlock Holmeses busy.

The first mystery is Tillman’s origins. According to Illinois census data he was born c1844 in Maryland. The Illinois Roll of Honor, a secondary database maintained by the State of Illinois showing residents who served in the military, claims that Tillman “Andrews” served in the Maryland infantry during the Civil War; however, no reliable military records are found showing such service. Although the database is maintained by the State of Illinois, it was given the State by Fred Delap of Kansas, Illinois. The Civil War entries are said to have come from the Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois. The name “Tillman Andrew” or a variant thereof, however, does not appear in any of the eight volumes of the adjutant general’s report. The creator of the database is now deceased.

Los Angeles death certificate for a different Tillman Andrews

And Tillman’s parentage is unknown. He is sometimes said to be Tilman (also, “Tilghman,” a known variant of the name) D. Andrew, born in Maryland c1845 to Richard and Rebecca Andrew as seen in 1850 and 1860 census records; however, Tilman D. is known to have moved to California, where he married in 1872, lived, and died in 1911. The death certificate shows his parents to be Richard and Rebecca..

The Illinois Tillman, who appears with the surname “Andrew” in earlier documents but as “Andrews” in later (mostly secondary) records, and Lucinda had six known children, all named “Andrews.” Then, around the time the last child was born, 1886, Tillman walked out the door and vanished.

Lucinda waited a couple of years or so and then, assuming that Tillman had died, she married again, with James Jordan Summers, on 30 Jan 1889 in Macedonia, Illinois. James was widowed, his wife Rosetta (“Rosie”) had died, leaving him with two young children, William and Mary Elizabeth.

James died young, around age 38, on 14 May 1890 according to Betty Jenkins Summers, the wife of James Jordan’s grandson Michael, though how she (or Michael) would know is unknown, and both are now deceased. James and Lucinda’s brief marriage produced a single child, John William Summers Sr, born 4 Sep 1889 in Macedonia.  When James died, he left a house full of children for Lucinda, two from James’s previous marriage, six from Lucinda’s first marriage, and newly-born John William Summers, who would not have remembered his father.

And then the unthinkable happened. Tillman returned! In Nov 1892, he walked in the door unannounced, claiming that two detectives were after him. And then, after a few days, on 21 Nov 1892, he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The incident made newspapers across the country. Many with headlines mentioning “Enoch Arden.” (I leave it to the reader to figure out why.) Tillman is said to be buried in Macedonia Cemetery, though no marker is found.

Pension Index Card showing the alias

Following the loss of two husbands, Lucinda married a third, John H. Cozart, on 8 Sep 1894 in Franklin Co, Illinois. Lucinda’s last marriage was short and childless. She died around 1897. But before that, in 1895, John Cozart applied for a Civil War pension based on Tillman Andrew’s service to help support the many minor children John inherited when he married Tillman’s and James Jordan's widow. And this brings us to a final Tillman mystery. The National Archives Pension Index Card for John Cozart’s application states that Tillman Andrews served with the 3rd Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry, not the Maryland infantry, which is shown in the Illinois Role of Honor. And much more mysterious is that the card states that Tillman had an alias — William W. Downes! There was a William Downes, of Delaware, who served in the 3rd Regiment of the Massachusetts Cavalry. And William's approximate year of birth, based on his enlistment age, was 1843, very near that of Tillman Andrew. Furthermore, Tillman’s children often listed Delaware, rather than Maryland, as their father's birthplace on their censuses, possibly having heard something from their mother. Lastly, it is interesting that Tillman’s first-born child was named “William” and none were named “Tillman.” But nothing else connects William Downes of Delaware and Tillman Andrew of Illinois. If only a descendant of Tillman by an all-male line would take a yDNA test, we might have an answer, or at least a clue. But that hasn’t happened yet.

Tillman leaves us with a passel of mysteries:

      

    WHO WAS TILLMAN? 

     WHY DID HE VANISH FOR SIX YEARS?

     WHO WAS WILLIAM DOWNES?

     DID AN ALIAS BRING ON THE DETECTIVES?

We may “soon" have some answers. The entire pension file for Tillman Andrews/William Downes has been ordered from National Archives. Look at this blog in a couple of months, for that is how long it takes for orders to be filled.