52 Ancestors Week 16: Oldest Story

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 16:

The theme for Week 16 is “Oldest Story.” What is the oldest story that’s been passed down in your family? Have you figured out if any of it is true?

I can hear that John Williams score....

       My family has no shortage of old stories. In fact, I've told the one about my great-grandfather, my grandfather, my grandma Ollie and others taking a trip to Italy many times in this blog. I've talked about how Alfred Hamel may have helped bootleggers during the Prohibition. Every yarn I've come across has had its own kernel of truth. However, there's one story that's older than any other tale I've ever told in this blog. Is it true? Well, that's for you to decide and for me to find out! Get yourselves comfortable. This one is going to be good!

Nana, the storyteller.

    Around the time I first heard about the adventures in Switzerland, my grandmother Natalie decided to share a story she heard growing up with me.  I forget the details of how she brought it up. However, I have a feeling I might have asked her if she had any good stories from her family. I remember her smiling and telling me that I had an ancestor who fought in the American Civil War AND who was in the White House band under President Abraham Lincoln.

    When I first heard this story, I was like "What?" At the time I knew my dad's ancestors were fairly musically inclined. Imagine my surprise in finding out that my mother's side had musicians as well! And yet through some strange twist of fate the music gene skipped me. It's okay. I can still jam out on Rock Band.....on Easy mode anyway.

       

     Nana never really said which ancestor of hers actually played in the band. She and others in my family were quite adamant in saying that someone fought in the Civil War and was a member of the White House Band. I wasn't about to disagree with them at that point. I was a kid and everyone around me seemed to be sure that actually happened.

    By the time I got into genealogy, one of the first things I wanted to figure out was whether or not this story was true. After all, having a bunch of musicians in the tree sounded like a great idea to me. So, I researched and found three ancestors of mine who served the Union during the American Civil War. Their names were Jeremiah Felker, David Webster Stevens and John Sargent Fisher. Once I had that confirmed, it was time to find out who played in the band and why he didn't tell Honest Abe that the play got bad reviews. Eh, that's probably a fixed point in time.  I am so sorry.

So close with that beard. Sigh...

    Its been quite a while since we talked about my 3rd great-grandfather, Jeremiah hasn't it? I can't remember the last time I wrote about him. To sum up his life as quickly as possible I'll just say this:

    He was born out of wedlock to Elias Felker and Martha Smart in the 1830s. Martha's father Jeremiah sued to get custody of the boy and Martha ended up raising him along with several other half-siblings. 

    Jeremiah enlisted in the August of 1864 shortly after marrying Elizabeth Deborah Fellows. He served in the first New Hampshire Heavy Artillery Unit and by the end of the war decided to retire to Haverhill, Mass in order to raise a family.

    To date I haven't found anything that would indicate that he was ever a musician. He may have had an epic beard like many musicians had. But, I don't think Jerry was in a band. Sorry, Jerry. You're not the next American Idol. At least he had a pretty cool beard. Side note: I still need to see if I can digitally fix this picture somehow.

    One Civil War soldier was down and only two more remain. David Webster Stevens turned out to be an interesting guy. He wasn't a musician or anything. He was actually a minister. And though I would like to call him "The Rock Reverend", I don't think David ever set foot outside of New England. 

    David enlisted in the September of 1862 and served with Maine's 25th Infantry Regiment. He rose to the rank of Private and like Jerry it doesn't look like he was musically inclined. Dave was ordained as a Reverend in the 1870s and he was never called a Rock Reverend by anyone. It's a shame because I'm positive he'd have written a song about losing his first wife Sarah at the beginning of the war and marrying his second wife Huldah at the height of the conflict. There'd be sad violins playing and everything! His life story would then be narrated by Ken Burns or Morgan Freeman.

This article is full of errors. 

    Finally we've come to the last Civil War era ancestor I have in my tree. He definitely has to be a musician, right? I mean the other guys didn't turn out to be musicians  and I'd hate to call my grandmother a liar.  Well, when I dug into John Sargent Fisher's past I found that he enlisted in 1861 as a musician in the company band for Massachusetts' 2nd Infantry unit.

    Finally, I found my music guy! I don't think he was a drummer boy or anything. He enlisted as a thirty-one year old when he was actually closer to forty-one.

    Like the others I've talked about, he didn't stay in the service that long. Johnny here served from the May of 1861 to when he was injured in the June of 1862. He ended up being disabled for the rest of his life.

    Could he have been to Washington D.C. and been a member of the White House Band at any point? It's hard to say. While I do think it would have been awesome if he was a member of the band, I haven't found any evidence that put him as a member of that organization. Googling the White House band only led me to a British noise band called "Whitehouse" that was formed in 1980. 

    I uhh....don't think that was his band! I even checked the White House's website to see if any band members were listed. It looks like the identities of the band members are lost to time.

    At least my grandmother's story was half true. We did have a musician ancestor! The jury's still out on whether or not he actually in the White House band under Lincoln. It's not like I haven't tried to find a list of band members. I have! It's just impossible to know for sure. Could he have gone from Massachusetts to D.C.? Yes, of course. They had trains in those days. It might have taken Johnny a whole to get there. But, he'd be there! Was he ever at the White House? No idea. And I doubt they keep guestbooks from the 19th century hanging around.

    Either way at least we know that John Sargent Fisher was a musician. I'd like to know what instrument he played. It's pretty cool to have creative people in your family tree and Fisher seemed to be creative. It's a shame that after he traded his instrument for a rifle that he got injured. I wonder if that had impacted his music. Did he still play despite being injured? I'd like to think that he did. He seemed like a cool guy with great hobbies. Check out the obit for details. There is an error or two, though.

    Stories like this one are definitely worth checking out. Would I have liked it if my grandmother actually gave me his name? Yes. But, it's okay. I found my three Civil War soldiers and each one of them has a story worthy of a Ken Burns documentary. Did Nana misremember things? Maybe. In the end it doesn't matter. Just being a creative person rising above a disability or a Reverend or a man who raised his own grandson is more than enough for me.  They didn't have to prove themselves to anyone and are still rock stars to me. 

See ya next time!