Page News & Courier
Heritage and Heraldry
"But I know my great-great-grandaddy served in the Civil War
Article of January 29, 1998
In search of a Confederate ancestor for personal reasons or for membership in organizations such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy or the Sons of Confederate Veterans? First there are several books that have been written as a part of the Virginia Regimental Histories Series published by H.E. Howard, Inc. All of the units formed in Page County have been covered in books written or are on the verge of publication. The units organized in Page County included Company D, 7th Virginia Cavalry; Company K, 10th Virginia Infantry; Company H, 33rd Virginia Infantry; Company E, 35th Battalion
Virginia Cavalry; Captain William Henry Chapman's Dixie Artillery, the 97th Virginia Militia, and Captain Peter J. Keyser's "Boy Company."
The benefit of these books is that the rosters of the units have been nearly entirely transcribed, the only exception usually being the pay records. Furthermore, these books will also provide maps, photos (in some instances) and a unit history of some depth. Readers will note that some books are of greater
length than others due to the availability of actual letters and diaries of the veterans of the units being available to the authors when writing these books. Unlike the advertisements often seen for "capsule histories" that usually costs about $20 each, at $19.95 each the regimentals provide much more information for the buck.
But while the regimental series is a great source for
information on your particular veteran's service with the unit, do not however rely upon the book to give a full genealogical tree as it was not the focus of these books. Another source for information is found in a book entitled Page County Men in Gray. This book list the names of the men alphabetically,
gives the unit in which they served and in some cases parental information, the names of the spouse and/or the names of some of the children.
Spratt apparently also took the opportunity to scan some cemetery books for Page County to give birth and death dates of the veterans. There is an added benefit to this book in that it provides a handy cross-reference guide for further research into the regimentals.
However, do not "put all of your eggs in one basket" with Spratt's book and become disappointed when you do not find your ancestor's name that you KNOW served in the war. In his work
he did cover units organized in Page County and individual soldiers that served from Page in other units. But a big disappointment with his book is the fact that he did not go through the Virginia pension records for Page County Confederate veterans. Furthermore, upon close examination, Spratt has missed a considerably large number of men who served in the units formed within Page County and yet were positively identified in the Virginia Regimental Histories Series.
Upon personal examination of the Virginia Confederate pension records a number of years ago, I found the names of over 80 men who resided in the county at the outbreak of the war and served in companies formed outside the county that were missed entirely by Spratt's work.
I even found one of my own ancestors who served with Keyser's "Boy Company" and later enlisted with 2nd Company M, 62nd Virginia Infantry. Upon close examination of Spratt's book, however, I did not find his name, although he was descended from a family who had been in Page County since its formation, resided there before, during and after the war and even
died here.
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