Family Military History (Continued)

John M Richard Duvall
John M Richard Duvall, commonly known as "Richard", was born 26 Oct 1841 in Grayson County, Kentucky, the oldest child of Jonathan Duvall and Nancy J. Ray.  He married Mary J. "Polly" Whobrey on 11 May 1865 in Grayson County, Kentucky, shortly after the Civil War ended.  Richard and Polly had at least 9 children, one of whom was Ellis Duvall (see previous blog).  Richard enrolled in the military on 20 Dec 1861 and was mustered out 29 Mar 1865 (some records indicate 4 Jun 1865, but that is probably not correct as he and Polly married 11 May 1865), serving for over three years.  During his years of service he was hospitalized in Louisville for illness in May and June 1864; he may also have been "absent" due to illness Apr to Oct 1862 and hospitalization in Grayson Springs 22 Feb 1862 (this is probably correct as the first Company Muster Roll on which his name appears was for Nov/Dec 1862).

Richard served as a Private in Company A of the 27th Regiment Kentucky Infantry which was organized 21 Mar 1862 and with a muster (ending) date of 29 Mar 1865. The 27th Regiment was organized 16 Dec 1861; Richard enlisted four days later.

The 27th Regiment participated heavily in the war.  Due to his illnesses, Richard would not have participated in all of the battles but certainly would have participated in many, including those in Georgia that led to the fall of Atlanta.  He probably did not participate in the Battle of Perryville as it occurred in October 1862, and Richard did not return to battle until about November 1, 1862.
 

"About Sept. 20, 1861, Maj. Ward opened camp for recruits at

Greensburg, within 24 miles of Gen. Buckner's Confederate

forces at Munfordville, with whom he had many encounters,

losing men in killed, wounded and prisoners before he had a

regimental organization and often before the company to which

the men were attached had been organized.

"Many of the recruits came from inside the Confederate lines,

or very near to them, and had to fight on the way to camp.

Under these difficulties, with the name of Gen. Ward to

assist, Lieut.-Col. Ward and Maj. Carlisle recruited from the

counties of Casey, Green Taylor, Hart and Nelson, five

companies; Col. Pennebaker, with the aid of Col. Alfred Allen

and Larkin Proctor, recruited five other companies in Hardin,

Grayson, Breckinridge and Meade counties, a few men were sent

from about Covington, some of them coming from Madisonville

Ohio.

"The regiment was with Gen. Nelson's division when it occupied

Corinth; thence moved to Iuka and Rienzi, Miss., thence to

Tuscumbia and Florence and Athens, Ala., and was on the march

of Buell's army to Louisville, Ky., in the summer of 1862. It

was at the battle of Perryville with Gen. Crittenden's corps,

but was only engaged in skirmishing as the fight was to its

left. After Bragg's retreat it returned with Buell to the

south via Glasgow, Ky., and Gallatin, Tenn., and with the army

to Stone's River.

"It was sent from there back to Munfordville, Ky., to recruit

and was engaged in fights about that place. In Sept. 1863, it

was mounted and sent to join Burnside in East Tennessee. In

October it joined the cavalry forces and other mounted

infantry in an attack on Philadelphia, but found there a

strong force of infantry and artillery upon which it could

make no impression.

"In the fight at Leiper's ferry the regiment suffered severely.

During the siege of Knoxville, with other troops and

artillery, it sustained a charge the same morning that the

Confederates met with the famous defeat at Fort Sanders. At

Bean's station the regiment was fiercely engaged after which

it marched on foot to Cumberland Gap and then into Lee County,

Va., where it camped for a time, when it was ordered to Mt.

Sterling, Ky., to be remounted.

"The regiment joined the army at Pumpkin Vine creek, GA, and

was with it in its almost continued battle from there until

the fall of Atlanta, being in Strickland's brigade, Hascall's

division, 23rd corps. After the fall of Atlanta, as the

regiment had already served over three years, it was sent back

to Owensboro, Ky., to drive out the guerrillas in that part of

the state and reduce the country to order.

The loss of the regiment in the Atlanta campaign was 66 in

killed and wounded.

Source: The Union Army, vol. 4, p. 336

Battles Fought

Fought on 13 Aug 1862 at Murfreesboro, TN.

Fought on 19 Oct 1862 at Nelson County, KY.

Fought on 20 Oct 1862.

Fought on 16 May 1863.

Fought on 29 Aug 1863.

Fought on 4 Sep 1863 at Munfordville, KY.

Fought on 30 Oct 1863 at Liepers Ferry, TN.

Fought on 31 Oct 1863 at Lupers Ferry, TN.

Fought on 31 Oct 1863 at Lowe's Ferry, TN.

Fought on 14 Dec 1863 at Bean's Station, TN.

Fought on 5 Jan 1864.

Fought on 15 May 1864 at Hospital, Burnt Hickory, GA.

Fought on 30 May 1864 at Corinth, MS.

Fought on 1 Jun 1864.

Fought on 10 Jun 1864.

Fought on 2 Jul 1864 at Lost Mountain, GA.

Fought on 17 Jul 1864 at Lost Mountain, GA.

Fought on 8 Aug 1864 at Athens, GA.

Fought on 28 Aug 1864 at Athens, GA.

Fought on 4 Oct 1864 at Atlanta, GA."

Source Information:

Historical Data Systems, comp..

 

American Civil War Regiments [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com

Operations Inc, 1999.

Original data: Data compiled by Historical Data Systems of Kingston, MA from the . Copyright 1997-2000

Historical Data Systems, Inc.

PO Box 35

Duxbury, MA 023.
©2012, The Generations Network, Inc.

The best description of the 27th Regiment and it's battles can be found in Thomas Speed, The Union Regiments of Kentucky, Courier Journal Job Printing Company, 1897.

Family Military History

Today is Veterans Day and I thought it an appropriate time (thanks to a reminder from my cousin Linda Gough Johnson, granddaughter of Julius Forest Duvall and great-granddaughter of Ellis Duvall) to review the military service records of our ancestors.  Today, we will review the records of Julius Forest Duvall and Ellis Duvall.  Over the next several days we will look at the military history of earlier Duvall ancestors.

JULIUS FOREST DUVALL
Julius Forest Duvall (known as "Forest") was born 06 May 1905 in Edmonson County, Kentucky, the son of Ellis Duvall and Vashti Willis.  He married Gladys Mae Hawkins 01 Jul 1940 in Big Reedy, Kentucky; they had 6 children.  Forest enlisted in the United States Marine Corps 18 Feb 1930 when he was 24 years old.  He served initially in Parris Island, South Carolina (Recruit Depoe) (he was there again in March, 1932). By June, 1930 he was in Quantico, Virginia (Aviation Service Company One, Aircraft Squadrons, Ecef, Mb); he was in Quantico until April, 1931.  He was then sent tothe Naval Air Station in San Diego and was part of the 2nd Brigade that in Nov 1931 sailed from San Diego, California to Managua, Nicaragua via USS Sirius (Vj Squadron 6m, A S , Second Marine Brigade, Managua, Nicaragua).  He was in Nicaragua until January 1933 when he returned to Quantico, Virgina (rank:  Private): Vj Squadron 6m, Aircraft Squadrons, Ecef, Mb, Quantico, Virginia.   Forest was discharged in January or February, 1934 and cited with "Excellent" character.

ELLIS DUVALL
Ellis Duvall was born 17 Jun 1880 in Grayson County, Kentucky, the son of  John M. Richard Duvall and Mary E. "Polly" Whobrey.  He married Vashti Willis 02 Sep 1902 and they had two children, Wilma Duvall (Whittlesey), born 02 Jun 1903, and Julius Forest Duvall, born 06 May 1905.  Ellis's military career was short, and it is unknown why it was not longer.  He enlisted in the United States Army on 07 Sep 1906 and was discharged 20 May 1907.  He enlisted in Columbus, Ohio, but listed his home as Grayson County, Kentucky; he was 26 years old at the time, and reported his occupation as "tailor".  He is described as have brown eyes, auburn hair, having a dark complexion, and being 5'7 3/4", which was about the average height of the other enlisted men.  Ellis was in the infantry.  Interestingly, unlike almost all of the other discharges, there is no information other than the date of discharge on his record; also, most who enlisted at the same time as Ellis were dischard in 1909.    Ellis did register for the World War I draft on 06 Sep1918 when he was 38 years old; there is no record of him ever having served during World War I; his draft papers show him living with his wife Vashti in Franklin, Kentucky, and working as an "operator" for Dupont Engineering Co. in Jacksonville.  Ellis died 01 Apr 1949 in Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Peter Ricketts - Another Possibility

It is possible that Peter Ricketts (the father of Elizabeth Ricketts who married Jacob Duvall II in Nelson County, KY in 1802) was the son of John Ricords who's will was probated 27 April 1776 in Sussex County, Delaware (Peter Ricketts served in the military out of Delaware during the Revolutionary War).  John lists as his heirs his son, Peter Ricords, his wife Neoma Ricords, and a Mary Watson.  Before the probate was finalized in 1782 Neoma had remarried to a Thomas Jones.  It would be helpful to see the actual will and the probate file.   It is located in Sussex County, Delaware Probate Records, Will Book:
Page: A95; , Liber C; 172; folios 58-59.

Ricketts Ancestors

Jacob Duvall II married Elizabeth Ricketts, daughter of Peter and Mary (surname unknown) Ricketts in Nelson County, KY on 22 June 1802.  According to census records Elizabeth was born in Pennsylvannia about 1782.

Elizabeth's father, Peter, and presumably her mother and and some of her siblings, were in Nelson County, KY no later than 1792 when Peter appears on a tax list as 1 white male over 21 with no land.  In 1796 Peter purchased 400 acres of land on Wilson's Creek from the Hawn's.  He appears on the 1800 tax list for Nelson County and the 1810 census for Bullitt County (Bullitt County was carved out of Nelson County, KY in 1797; his land straddled the Bullitt/Nelson County line).  He is believed to have died about 1814 to 1817.

It is my belief that Peter was probably born in Pennsylvania, and that he is the Peter Ricketts (also spelled Records, Rickets, Rickitts, Ricords) who enlisted 26 February 1778 in Col. David Hall's Company of the Delaware Regiment (Delaware broke off from Pennsylvania in 1776).  He was sick from July through September 1778 at "Brunswic", and again from May through July 1780 in "Jersey State" (though on May 2, 1780 listed as "sick at Baskin Ridge").  He deserted 1 January 1781.  These dates mesh perfectly with the birth of his children:  Jonathan, the oldest, was born probably in 1776 either in Virginia or Pennsylvania (the lines between Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia were very "fluid"); Polly and Elizabeth were born about 1782.  Also, both a Zachariah and a Robert Ricketts served in the Eigth Battalion of the Cumberland County (Pennsylvania) Militia; Zachariah SR. & JR. were on a list of tithables for Nelson County, KY in 1791.  "Zack Ricket" (presumably JR) married Sarah Phillips in Nelson Co., KY 15 Mar 1792, but was on the Washington County, KY tax list (Washington Co. is adjacent to Nelson County) for 1792.  Robert Ricketts married Elenor Allison in Montgomery County, MD in 1778 and later settled in Mason County, KY no later than 1790 (I believe that Zachariah SR also, after Nelson County, settled in Mason Co. as there is a Zacharia Ricketts on the 1800 tax list for Mason County); Elenor's parents however settled in Bullitt County, KY as evidenced by a will probated there in 1808 leaving part of Enoch Allison's estate to his 3 granddaughters who were the daughters of Robert Ricketts and his deceased wife Elenor Allison.  There were 2 other Ricketts in Nelson County during this early time period:  one was a Shippy Allen Rickets who was the grantee on a 1786  land grant for 500 acres in Nelson County (no other record can be found for him); and in 1788 a Marg T Ricketts married Michael Myers in Bardstown, Nelson Co., KY..  I am wondering if Marg T. Ricketts might have been the widow of Shippy Allen Rickets?

Further research needs to be done to find out how/if these Ricketts are related but there is just too much circumstantial evidence pointing to Peter being the Revolutionary War private who deserted from the Delaware regiment, and to him being somehow related to Zachariah and Robert Ricketts.

JACOB DUVALL II

Jacob Duvall was the son of John Miles Duvall and Anne Rosella Philomena Tarleton. He was probably born about 1777 in St. Mary’s County, Maryland (the 1850 Census states he was born in Pennsylvania; a daughter, in a later census, has her parents born in Virginia; both of these are highly unlikely). John migrated to Nelson County, Kentucky with his mother and several of his siblings probably around 1787 at a time when many Catholics moved from Maryland to Kentucky, including many Tarletons (his older sister married in Nelson County, KY in 1791 and his mother married her second husband in Nelson County in 1792).

While there is not “paper trail” to prove that Jacob was the son of John Miles Duvall and Anne Tarleton, all profession researchers have come to the conclusion that he was, and circumstantial evidence certainly supports that fact.

We know that Jacob and two of his brothers were apprenticed out to learn a trade in 1795. PIONEER, VOL. 5, P. 41 cites the Nelson County, KY deed book 5, p. 109: “Jacob Duvall, poor child, apprenticed to WM Chinowith Tanner. 1795”. Jacob would have been about 18 at the time.
On August 17, 1812 he enlisted to fight in the War of 1812. He was in the 8th Regiment of the Kentucky (Wilcox’s) Militia.

In 1802 Jacob married Elizabeth Rickett(s), the daughter of Peter and Mary (surname unknown) Rickett(s).
During the early years of his marriage he lived on the Nelson/Bullitt County line (a section of Nelson County became Bullitt County in 1797), Kentucky, and it appears he became prosperous (from the information I have obtained on his father-in-law, Peter Ricketts, it may be that Jacob's wealth was derived through his wife). In 1818 and 1819 he purchased a total of 244 acres along Wilson Creek which was both in Nelson and Bullitt Counties.

By 1830 Jacob and Mary had moved to the Bear Creek area (near the Grayson County line) of Edmonson County. He eventually accumulated at least 293 acres, perhaps more. The 1850 census lists the value of his real estate as $4000 (about $102,000 in 2010 dollars). He built what has been described as an “impressive” house: A detailed description of the house was given in the Edmonson County Family History Book:

"A SLAVE HOUSE"

"There is an old house in Edmonson County that is fascinating and rich in history because it was built by slaves and used as an auction site for the selling of slaves, prior to the Civil War.

"Jacob Duvall...accumulated 150 acres of land along Bear Creek in 1842 and 1843. On this parcel of land, Jacob's slaves built him an impressive house. The slaves made the solid, clay bricks and baked them in a furnace located near the building site. The brick walls were three bricks (about 12 inches) thick. At eyelevel inside, a few bricks were inserted endways with no mortar, so that they could be slipped out, perhaps for gun use.

"The house was approximately fifty feet long and it had a basement under the entire floor. The basement was made of hand-hewn rocks and was divided into three rooms", where the slaves were kept. "The small basement windows had wooden frames and spokes" to hinder escape. The only entrance to the basement was on the front porch. The wooden, front porch ran the entire length of the house and connected to an auction rock by a wooden walkway.

"The main house was also divided into three very large rooms was a fireplace on both ends of the house. The end rooms had a front and back entrances, but the middle room did not have any outside doors. There were two large glass windows in each room - probably some of the first in Edmonson County. The wood trim and the glass were brought from Bowling Green by mule wagons.

"Hessie Duvall sold the house to William Jasper Vincent in 1915."

Like his ancestors before him, Jacob had slaves. Over the years we really have no information as to how many slaves, but by the 1850 slave census it appears he only had 1 male age 10 and 1 female age 9. Interestingly, his grandson, Richard Duvall, fought for the Union in the Civil War.

Jacob died in Edmonson County, Kentucky in about 1856.

John Miles Duvall

It is believed that John Miles Duvall, son of Jacob Duvall and Mary Miles?, and 2nd Great Grandfather of Ellis Duvall, was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland in the 1750's.  We know he lived on the "western shore" in 1782 because the Council of Maryland ordered at that time that John Miles and others be paid by the western shore treasury; most of the men who received payment were from St. Mary's County. See Newman at 562.   Various family records indicate that John Miles Duvall married Ann Tarleton, who was of the Catholic Tarleton family who resided in St. Mary's County.

John and Ann had the following children:  Mary, William, Eleanor, Sinnett, Thomas, Jacob Duvall II (Great Grandfather of Ellis Duvall), John Miles, Polly Mary, Sarah, Simon, Priscilla, Ann and Gabriel (Gabriel is the direct ancestor of President Barrack Obama). 

John served in the Revolutionery War (DAR Ancestor #A035674).  He was part of the Maryland militia and signed an Oath of Allegiance in 1778.  He also furnished supplies. 

Family legend has John Miles Duvall dying in Virginia by drowning in the Potomac about 1787.  He was supposedly taking his family, along with several other Catholic families, to Kentucky.  It is known that his wife and children were residing in Nelson County, Kentucky sometime before 1790.  John's widow married for a second time to Benjamin Loan on 20 Jan 1792 in Nelson County, Kentucky. 

Jacob Duvall

Jacob Duvall, the 3rd Great Grandfather of Ellis Duvall, was born to Mareen Duvall the Younger and Elizabeth Jacob Duvall in Queen Anne's Parish, Prince Georges County, Maryland on 19 April 1715.  http://files, usgwarchives.org/md/princegeorge.  At some point he moved to Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and we find him in the 1790 census.  He died there 07 March 1796.

He married probably Mary Miles about 1740.  Some researchers believe he was married to Mary Bourne.  If Miss Bourne was his wife, her parents were probably Thomas Bourne & Elizabeth Sinnett. Jacob Duvall & John Miles Duvall both had sons named Sinnett which mitigates toward there being a Sinnett in the family. Need more research on this. But, John Miles Duvall may have been named after his mother, Mary Miles. Also, Mary Bourne was born before 1702, and Jacob Duvall was born 1715, so highly unlikely they would have married.


We do know that Jacob inherited 300 acres of Pleasant Grove from his father which he sold when he moved to St. Mary's County in 1743.  We also have record of  an assessment for 260 acres in Anne Arundel County known as Huntington Hundred.  We know of at least three children born to Jacob Duvall and his wife Mary; all were probably born in Anne Arundel County (but possibly St. Mary's County), Maryland:  John Miles Duvall, the 2nd Great Grandfather of Ellis Duvall, was born about 1745; Sinnett Duvall was born about 1747; and Priscilla Duvall was born 09 November 1755.  Jacob Duvall is believed to have died 07 March 1796 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

It is not known how Jacob Duvall's property was disposed at his death.  He died after his son John Miles, so it would not have been him who inherited.  By the time of Jacob Duvall's death John Miles' wife and family had migrated to Kentucky, and John Miles Duvall's wife had remarried.