How to find a great grandfather

wife Mary and children

My great grandfather, Dominick Corbett,  lived less than 50 years. My grandmother, Kathryn (standing in photo) my main source of my maternal family history, did not remember her father who died when she was very young. All she knew was that he was from Kilkenny and a carpenter who worked at a local scale factory in St. Johnsbury, Vermont where he was married in 1867 to Mary Shea (far right). She thought her mother had gotten a military pension and hence that he had served in the Civil War. She knew that his death was considered suspicious, even a suicide,  by some of his contemporaries and was sudden, as a result of taking medicine. That was all I had to start with and my assumption was that he had come, as did many of the Irish, as a young adult without any family. My further research proved me wrong.

I started with his marriage record which gave me little information and the 1870 census – the only one in which, at first, I could locate the family. Birth records for his children, including my grandmother, mangled his first name and gave widely different records of his birth place. A local newspaper had an account of his death (fortunately a local historian had indexed stories in the town newspaper saving me a long laborious page by page search) The death was attributed to an overdose of landunum (an opiate) which probably was the source of the gossip about a possible suicide. The article only indicated he had been ill and had taken the medicine and did not awake. His father was listed as John Corbett and his mother as Ana S. Grace.

I tried to “jump the pond” too soon – a mistake of beginning genealogists but fortunately Corbett in Kilkenny is not a common surname. Using the Griffiths Land Valuation (a tax record giving land occupiers and owners in mid 19^th century, I located 14 Corbett families among them a couple of John’s. The parish records of these towns were only available then in Ireland and I was fortunate to be able to visit Dublin’s National library and search the microfilms for the Corbett families I had. I struck out on the John’s – no connection but decided to try the one woman listed Anastasia Corbett in Turkstown, Fiddown. Because she is listed I can assume that she is a widow with John deceased in Ireland before 1850.  Bingo! The early parish records (of Owning and Templeorum) were extremely hard to decipher so the first hit I had was a Richard Corbett born to John Corbett and Anty (a nickname for Anastasia ) and then my great-grandfather Dominick. Another child with the same parents was listed but without a first name or sex given. Later when parish records went on line I searched for all the Corbetts in that parish with those parents and came up with others: Patrick and Johannah. 

When the 1860 census records were indexed by Ancestry.com I was able to find him in that census (Dominick is a fairly uncommon first name for the Irish) living in New London, Ct. a carpenter of about the right age.  That opened another mystery – since I had no idea he had lived outside of Vermont. I then tried the city directories which were on line for Vermont and other New England states. I came up with an entry in Taunton, MA for both a Patrick Corbit, carpenter and a Dominick Corbet living in the same town. A search of the census did not come up with any hits for 1850 but the state of Massachusetts took a state census in 1855 and there was my Dominick with Patrick and his mother Anastasia living in Taunton.

Using the “Missing Friends” database I was able to find two entries where Patrick Corbett from Taunton MA was searching for his brother Richard from the parish of Templeorum in Kilkenny. Richard, who had “followed the sea for some years” had evidently come first and headed out to the Gold Rush in California. They had heard from him in 1855 and he was in San Francisco on his way north to the Shasta area. A passenger list in 1851 into NYC had a Richard (carpenter) and an R.Corbett is on a ship to SF after having crossed the Isthmus of Panama in both 1852 and 55. This might be Richard. There were two postings on Missing Friends but no indication he had been found. Two R.L. Corbetts were found on lists going to California via the Isthmus of Panama or Nicargua one in Oct 1851 and one in 1855. In a "Missing Friends ad of 1855 it notes that he "left some years ago, followed the sea for some time and was in San Francisco in May1854"  Yreka, Sisyou Co is noted in the 1857 ad saying he had been in Shasta Co in 1856 and had about to leave for Yreka.  

          

The 1860 census had some Corbetts in the Shasta area including Richard Corbet 25, a miner in Liberty, Klamath, postoffice Sawyers Mill in northern California. An M. Corbet also lived in the same area.  Our Richard was born in 1830 but the age is close enough to be him. After that he doesn’t appear in either census records or death records for the area.  No one that fits appears in subsequent census except for an Idaho miner in Idaho city, Boise named Richard Corbott in the 1870 census.  A Roger Corbett appears in the Shasta area of No. California in local records origin Massachusetts. So what happened to Richard remains a mystery. A 1914 "Missing Friends" ad is looking for the heirs of a Richard Corbett about the right age but birthplace is listed as near Carrick on Suir, says he was in California in 1854 and from 1871-1896 in Montana, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Said to have relatives in Pittsburg, Vernon Co Missouri and NY. (age fits, Fiddown is near Carrick but cannot find in any census for 1900, 1910 for the states listed.)

I could not find Anastasia Corbett and her family in 1860 census in Taunton even though she is listed as living there in the city directory. On the census index for Taunton the census taker put ID as the abbreviation for Ireland and consequently the index listed them from Idaho when I finally found her by using her first name and birth date and place. The last name is hard to read but was indexed as Comfur rather than Corbett. He son Patrick by now married is also listed in Taunton. Now there are more children with Anastasia, two girls Johannah and Ellen and a boy William b. about 1842. In the Templelorum records I was able to find Johannah’s baptism as well as Richard and Patrick’s. Ellen’s birth date corresponds to the unnamed child in the same register but William’s baptism is nowhere to be found.

The Taunton MA census and city directories help to trace the family in that town. Patrick and wife Anne Curry’s marriage record is on a MA database of marriages as well as their children. No records of marriage for the two girls have been located. There are several possibilities for William in census. Patrick’s marriage and the baptisms of most of his children are in St. Mary’s parish in Taunton, MA. A search of that register shows Dominick as the godparent of his first daughter Catherine in 1858. That child died young and perhaps Dominick named his daughter Kathryn, my grandmother, for his little niece, 

By going through the St. Johnsbury, Vt parish register page by page I located Dominick there as a wedding witness twice in 1861 long before he married his wife Mary Shea in 1867. He appears in military and pension records validating a family oral tradition that his wife Mary received a military pension. The following information comes from that listing: Dominick Corbett , Occupation: Carpenter Enlistment Date: 11 Feb 1864 Enlistment Place: Boston, Massachusetts Side Served: Union State Served: U.S. Navy Service Record: Promoted to Full Carpenter's Mate.Enlisted as a Landsman on 11 February 1864 at the age of 25. Enlisted in Navy Regiment U.S. Navy  on 11 Feb 1864. Discharged from Navy Regiment U.S. Navy  on 1 Mar 1865. Dominick Corbett Publication: M1279 Pension Approval: Approved File Number: 15835 Certification Number: 5297 Fiche Number: 4555 Archive: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Collection: U.S. Navy Pensions Index (1890 wife Mary listed as widow of veteran in Veterans schedule) 

According to other records  He served on the Tristam Shandy from August 12, 1864 to June 17, 1865 (doesn't correspond with above) as well as the Marrasoit and the Ohio widow Mary - pension applied for 1885 - This ship was a captured Confederate blockade runner that was converted at the Boston Navy yard for service in the US Navy - was it possible that he worked on the ship which was put to sea in August of 1864 and decommisioned in June of 1865.Dominick Corbett Publication: M1279 Pension Approval: Approved File Number: 15835 Certification Number: 5297 Fiche Number: 4555 Archive: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Collection: U.S. Navy Pensions Index

The full pension application (available on Footnote) and accessed at the National Archives in Waltham,, MA gave me the entire digital copy of his wife’s pension application. From that I learned the exact dates he served on each ship from his enlistment in Feb 1864. He was a landsman, lowest Navy rank, denoting a person with less than a year of sea experience. Until March 7 he was on the Ohio, an obsolete “ship of the line” of the same vintage as “Old Ironsides”. It was used as a training vessel. On March 8 he was assigned to the Massasoit  (commissioned on that date) as Carpenter’s Mate until July 27 1864 when that ship was decommissioned (later recommissioned in August) This ship did not leave the Navy Yard during that time. Then he found himself back as a Landsman very briefly July 29 until August 12 on the Ohio. Because the Tristram Shandy his next ship was being refurbrished in Charleston Navy Yard near Boston, Dominick might have worked on the refitting of that ship. On August 13 when he was assigned to the Tristram Shandy first as a Landsman and then as Carpenter’s Mate which was his rank on discharge. It was on this ship (later called the Boxer) that he served until March 1 1865.

Looking at the Navy records using Google books to find correspondence and histories, Dominck’s movements during his Navy career can be followed. His pension record includes a record of wounds received around Dec 5 and of his treatment on Dec 7-10 on board the Tristram Shandy. His wife noted he was wounded in left thigh and side and she attributed his later heart disease to this war experience. (since his father and at least two of his brothers appear to have died before the age of 50 probably from heart disease it seems the cause was probably genetic) The medical record from the log of the Tristram Shandy quoted in the pension record says that the cause of the illness was not noted. His wife indicated that they were wounds not just an illness, The treatment appears to have been only a cathartic pill and another medication which is hard to read and may be “doveri or Dovers grx with the notation “at nightly rush”.  After three days the notation is “much improved, Whiskey duty”. 

A study of the movements of the ship Tristram Shandy show that it is part of the North Atlantic Squadron which blockaded the North Carolina coast and was situated off Wilmington, NC. The diagram of ships for the 2^nd assault on Ft. Fisher shows the ship as part of the “reserves” behind the main warships. In a book from google.com I discovered the correspondence of the Navy during this time including some from the Tristram Shandy captain and from other ships mentioning the ship. In the pension records it is noted that he received “prize money” and the incident that led to this, capture of the blockade runner Bleinheim coming from Nassau to Wilmington, is described in the Navy reports.. The Blenheim was active Oct. 1864 to Jan. 1865, 4 for 5 in successful trips; and captured by the U.S.S. Tristram Shandy at Wilmington on Jan. 25, 1865 Although it does not say how much Dominick received a sailor (John Dunlap alias Isaac Babb a former Confederate soldier) who also served on the Tristram Shandy as a Landsman received $18.26. This sailor also enlisted in Boston and served on many of the same ships as Dominick Corbett.[1]

From the Navy correspondence there is no mention of the Tristram Shandy participating in any military action on the dates when Dominick was wounded. Some sailors participated in the battle of Pickets Landing early in December but the ship Tristram Shandy is not named as participating. 

In 2005 his great great granddaughter Kathryn Parocai was married on the beach in North Carolina almost exactly opposite the position Dominick Corbett's ship had in 1865. Coincidence but a bit spooky. 

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[1]  http://jebabb.us/images/Vignettes/Babb/BabbImages/01-INBabb.htm “Prior to the parole and exchange, (of his captured Confederate unit) Isaac enrolled from the Confederate Prisoners at Camp Morton, Indiana on June 11, 1863 in the 23rd Battery of the Indiana 8th Artillery Volunteers in the rank of Private and was mustered on June 18, 1863. Fearing possible capture and execution as a traitor by the Confederacy, Isaac quit his post on September 17, 1863. He then enlisted under the alias "John Dunlap" in the U.S. Navy at Boston on February 17, 1864. He served as a Landsman on the USS Ohio from 02/17/1864 to 03/09/1864, on the USS Massasoit, a 1173-ton Sassacus class "double-ender" steam gunboat, from 03/10/1864 to 07/28/1864, again on the USS Ohio from 07/29/1864 to 08/12/1864 and finally on the Tristam Shandy, a schooner-rigged, iron-hulled sidewheel steamer,  from 08/13/1864 until discharged on 03/01/1865.

Until the last few months of the Civil War, Fort Fisher kept North Carolina's port of Wilmington open to blockade-runners supplying necessary goods to Confederate armies inland. By 1865, the supply line through Wilmington was the last remaining supply route open to General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The Union army and navy planned several attacks on Fort Fisher and the port of Wilmington, but made no attempt until December 24, 1864. After two days of fighting with little headway, Union commanders concluded that the fort was too strong to assault and withdrew their forces. However, they returned for a second attempt on January 12, 1865. For two and one-half days, Federal ships bombarded the fort on both land and sea face.

On January fifteenth, Union sailors and more than 3,300 infantry, including the 27th U.S. Colored Troops, assaulted the land face. After several hours of fierce hand-to-hand combat, Union troops captured the fort that night. The fall of Fort Fisher, after the massive assault, helped seal the fate of the Confederacy. Isaac was one of 18 (possibly 22) from the Tristram Shandy that took part in the amphibious phase of the assault.  The Tristram Shandy, although classified as a reserve, participated in two assaults on the fort; the first under the command of Acting Ensign Ben Wood and the second under the command of Acting V. Lieut. F. M. Green.

As was the practice at the time, a bounty was paid for the capture of ships belonging to the opposing forces. On January 25, 1865, after the fall of Fort Fisher, the Tristram Shandy and her crew captured the blockade runner Blenheim. Isaac’s share of the bounty was $18.26 (See Tristam Shandy for more about the capture of the Blenheim). ‘

Immigrants and Native Americans

(my grandparents Ida Emma Desrosiers and Paul Marcel Chicoine)

My father Elphege Bernard Chicoine's roots are deep in French Canada. His ancestors started to immigrate from France early in the 17^th century with the earliest being Abraham Martin (for whom the plains of Abraham near Quebec city are named) who arrived around 1619. Abraham died in 1665 which was around when the first Chicoine, Pierre may have arrived in New France. Pierre was born about 1632 in Chaunay-sur-Lathan, a town near Angers in the Indre-et-Loire region of France. Pierre is mentioned in the 1666 census of Montreal as a servant who by 1678 has received the title to Bellevue under the feudal system in place at the time. In 1670 Pierre married a Madeleine Chretien, originally from Paris, who was about 10 years his junior. She had arrived as one of the “Daughters of the King” : imported brides from France who were imported to civilize the frontier settlement. A number of these women appear in my father’s family line which will be the subject of a future blog.

Pierre and Madeleine had 10 children, 7 girls and 3 boys but only two of their sons had children to carry on the Chicoine name and it is from those sons: Pierre and Paul that most Chicoine families in the US are descended. (Another Chicoine line, so far unconnected with this line, is found on the Gaspe peninsula)

Dad was born in Bedford, province of Quebec but his parents were both born in the US and his family had been going back and forth across the Canadian border since the early 19^th century. Although he spoke French at home, his schooling was in the US in English after the family immigrated in 1906 to Highgate, Vermont. Dad never lost the French Canadian accent.

The earliest record of a Chicoine ancestor in US so far is the marriage of Jean Baptiste Chicoine and Marguerite Beaulac (Desmarais dite Beaulac) before a Justice of the Peace in 1822 in Swanton Vermont. Marguerite’s mother Marguerite Gray was possibly full or half Native American. Jean Baptiste is a mystery man since my father was convinced that he also had some native blood. On a baptism record for Jean Baptiste’s daughter Eulalie, his father served as godfather  (also Jean Baptiste Chicoine) and is identified as the grandfather of the child, his wife Archange Valade is listed as the godmother but not the grandmother of the child. Jean Baptiste appears to have been born before his father married Archange and his baptism record has not been located.  It is entirely possible that he might have had a native mother since the Chicoine’s did some fur trapping. Swanton, where the marriage took place, was home to the Abenaki people.

Signature of Jean Baptiste Chicoine

Jean Baptiste learned how to write his name in US and his signature on sacramental records is “John Chiquoine” (see image).  Jean Baptiste also kept ties to his only surviving sibling Emilie Chicoine Gosselin who lived in Vercheres near Montreal. . The family traveled to Vercheres from Vermont in 1826 so that his sister and her husband could serve as godparents to his daughter Marie Emilie. The family appears to have returned to Canada in the 1830’s settling around Henryville but by the 1840 US census they are again in Vermont and Jean Baptiste is  listed as John Chequin or Chiquin. The same census lists Dad’s maternal and paternal grandmothers’ families (they were cousins) Marcel Raymond and his brother Jules Raymond under their “dit” names (perhaps another blog topic – in brief an alias used by French Canadian families) as Marshall and Jules Toulouse. Based on birthplace of their children the couple appear to have moved at least once during the 1840’s to Canada and returned to Vermont for birth of Dad’s grandfather Paul in 1846 and his brother Anselm in 1848 but by 1848 daughter Marguerite is born in Henryvile.  By 1851 Jean Baptiste  is working as a blacksmith in Henryvile.  He died there in 1867. The 14 Chicoine children appear to have settled not only in Canada and Vermont but also in Kankakee county, Illinois.