Snoopin’ with the Snoop

I was finally able to scan in the Civil War pension records that I bought for Lewis Winnie and his son James Newton Winnie:

Pages 1-12 of the Pension Record for James N. Winnie
Pages 13-41 of the Pension Record of James N. Winnie
Pension Record of Lewis Winnie
Pension Record of Jeremiah Raner

They both enlisted in the 86th New York Infantry Company B out of Jasper, Steuben County, NY. James died from disease shortly after enlisting, and Lewis was discharged in December 1862 due to illness. James was the Winnie’s eldest child, and was 17 at the time of his enlistment.

One of the pensions (or maybe both of them), but I don’t remember which, gives the information that Lewis’ wife Eunice’s maiden name was Raner.

After leaving New York, they lived in both Cumberland and Rhea counties, Tennessee.

Well, I finally decided to pull out my genealogy again. Not so much by desire to immerse myself in non-stop addictive research, but because I’ll probably be heading to Salt Lake City in May, and I’d like to have an inkling of what I will be searching. A trip without preparation is worse than no trip at all. Two months prep? Too much you may say, but I disagree. Besides, with tours, it’s more like one month.

I took photos of the copies I made at various locations across Bledsoe/Cumberland/Rhea Counties in TN in August. I will type out each photo as a post, eventually. But here are all of the photos of the copies, and the links to each larger file. My camera is fuzzy in the middle. Must be time to get a new one. Read the rest of this entry »

My purpose today as I head off to NC not on I-40 as would be normal, is to stop in Spring City, and see if I can track down where Louis and Eunice lived. According to the 1900 census, they lived in Ward 2, 215B on Jackson Ave. Other close locations via census information are Rhea Ave and East 2nd St. From the tax lists in Rhea County for Spring City Ward 2, their neighbors on the North, South, East and West sides are as follows:
1894-1895 Johnson, street, Henderson, Johnson
1896 (Winnie’s weren’t listed, but Winnie’s were to the West of Henderson, North of Lavender, and East of Murray; Henderson NSEW – Jolloway, street, Holloway, Winne; Lavender NSEW – Winne, Miller, Porll, Griffin; Murray NSEW – Holloway, street Winne, Holloway). Would have been pertinent if I’d have copied down the bordering houses’ borders for all years…

Hmmm, changed my mind. I’m going to stop back in Dayton at the Clyde W. Roddy library, and copy down the locations of the Winnie’s neighbors and then up to Spring City to see if I can place where they lived.

Exhaustion. Invigoration. … and 175 miles later.

I speak of my genealogy trip to Cumberland/Bledsoe/Rhea County Tennessee yesterday (Monday) and today. One hundered seventy five miles of driving between libraries, a cemetery, and county courthouses, not including the 500 or so that it took to get here.

I’m staying at Mountain Top Retreat, just south of Lowe’s Gap Rd on Rt. 127 near Melvine, TN. What an awesome place to stay at during a genealogy trip! For just $65 a night you get your own frickin’ house, though some or most would call it a cottage. The screened porch is probably as big as my own room when I was growing up. For an extra $10 a night, the lady who runs the Retreat, Nita, will do your meals. I opted to cook on my own.

Lowe’s Gap Road…the shortest route to Winney Cemetery from Rt 127. Actually just up the road about a half mile from the Mountain Top Retreat. I warn you, if you’re a flat-lander and don’t like anything out of the ordinary, don’t drive Lowe’s Gap Rd. Take the long way down around Pikeville (about 15 miles) and up Summer City Road (about 12). There’s no sign on the Lowe’s Gap warning you of the switch to gravel from paved. I should’ve known then that I was going to go UP on a nearly one lane, gravel, cork-screwy stretch. Whereas Rt 30 East meanders up Walden’s Ridge to Summer City Road, Lowe’s Gap Road just goes up. Perhaps if I had gotten the new tires that I need I wouldn’t have minded so much. On 30, there’s a 180 degree turnaround about 3/4 of the way up, but it has a wide radius. The same 180 degree turn radius on Lowe’s Gap barely stretches long enough to fit a vehicle. And viewing the broken road pieces sliding down…yeah…

More tomorrow. I’m leaving for NC in the morning, and I’m exhausted.