Last Sunday was quite momentous.  I actually went to the movie theater.  This was only the third time in the last eight years I was willing to give up 3 hours of my time and fork over $15 to see a film, but Lincoln was sooooo worth it!  The civil war era is absolutely my favorite period in history, so that was an added bonus.

Leaving the theater, instead of thinking about the war as a historical event, I began to ponder how it affected my ancestors, their towns and communities, and their daily lives.  Mostly, how did it affect their families?

At the start of the Civil War in 1861, both the Union and Confederate sides began mobilizing troops.  Congress authorized recruitment of 500,000 men to form the Union’s volunteer army.  Initially patriotic Northerners and Abolitionists filled this need.   Later, though, bounties and forced conscription were implemented to bolster the troops.  Of the 2.5 million men who served in the Union army, approximately 2% were draftees and another 6% were substitutes paid by the draftees.  However, the overwhelming majority of men serving the Union’s efforts voluntarily enlisted.

The war was never expected to be long, drawn-out affair.  Thus it was not until the Union had been fighting nearly a year that the young men in my Stanwood and Wasgatt families joined in the war’s efforts.

Benjamin and Betsey (Wasgatt) Stanwood moved to what is now known as Woodville, Maine about 1840, where they lived at the time of the civil war.  Several of their adult children also left Eden (now known as Bar Harbor), Maine to join them in Penobscot county, including sons Calvin, David and their families.

Thomas H. Stanwood and his brother George F. Stanwood, sons of Calvin and Betsey (McDermott) Stanwood, both enlisted as volunteer soldiers in the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery unit in July 1862.  Amid reports of the war’s casualties, one can only imagine how agonizing it must have been for Calvin and Betsey to have both sons join the army.

The next month, Benjamin Stanwood Campbell, the son of John Campbell and Calvin’s sister Margaret Stanwood (who was still residing in Eden), enlisted in Maine’s 18th Infantry, a unit which four months later was transfered to the ill-fated 1st Maine Heavy Artillery.  Twenty-three year old Ben was thus serving side-by-side with his cousins, Thomas and George Stanwood.

The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery unit suffered more fatalities than any others during the entire course of the war!  How their families must have worried!  How devastated they must have been when they received the news that George was not coming home; he was wounded by gunfire on May 19, 1864, and died on June 25, 1864, having served nearly two years towards the Union’s efforts.  We learn a bit of George’s life through the pension claims of his parents, images of which may be viewed here.  George was obviously a kind and caring young man who had supported his parents financially before his enlistment.

Despite his cousin’s death, my great-great grandfather, Albert J. Stanwood, enlisted in the 20th Maine Regiment, Company D, just three weeks after his 16th birthday.   How did his grandmother, Betsey (Wasgatt) Stanwood, feel about yet another grandson on the battlefield?  What type of news reports did they receive from the papers?  How did this affect their life on the farm, with the most able-bodied men away at war, leaving farm chores to their elder family members?  One has to wonder if the results of the war didn’t somehow influence their decision to make a major move – in 1870 Betsey Stanwood, matriarch of the family, traveled with several of her adult children to Monticello, Wright county, Minnesota.

While we will never have answers to these questions, there is certainly no doubt that the civil war had a major impact on those living in the mid-19th century.

I was recently asked to research the parentage of Jacob Meiselman, and have summarized the steps in this research below.  If you have additional information on the Meiselman family, or are also researching these lines, I hope to hear from you!

In order to identify our subject’s parents, we first start with known facts, working from the most present information to the past.  Family sources stated Jacob (also known as “John” or “Jack”) Meiselman had the following siblings:

• Izzie of Boston, Massachusetts
• Ben, who resided in North Carolina, and who had a son named Michael, who also resided in North Carolina.  Ben owned movie theaters.
• Herman  (research showed that Herman Benjamin [who sometimes used the middle name Bernard] is the same person as Ben above)
• Lottie

On July 1, 1913, we find Bernard, Lottie and another brother Leon (who also went by Louis) arrived at Ellis Island, having sailed from Antwerp to the U.S. aboard the SS Kroonland.  Listed as parent was “Mechel Meiselman” of Zalischyky, Austria.

Page two of the passenger list states the siblings will be going to live with brother I. Meiselman, likely Izzy.  Confirmation that this is the correct family was made by a review of Herman’s naturalization documents dated 26 Oct 1927 which were witnessed by Jacob Meiselman, and included an address of 2113 71^st St, Brooklyn, NY.

Herman was still at this address in 1930, where he is listed with his sister, Lottie (who was then married to Sol Augenlicht) and mother, “Ida.”

Further confirmation was obtained through published public records that state that H.B. Meiselman “… immigrated to the United States from Austria in 1913. Over the years, Mr. Meiselman accumulated substantial wealth through his development of several family business enterprises. Specifically, Mr. Meiselman invested in and developed movie theaters and real estate. Several of the enterprises were merged into Eastern Federal Corporation [hereinafter referred to as Eastern Federal], a close corporation…”

Herman also listed his mother Ida, and sister Lottie, on his World War I Draft Registration.  He was residing at 190 S. 8^th Street:

The family was still residing there on 19 Jan 1920 when enumerated on the 1920 census:

Jacob (age 29) is listed as head of family with his siblings Louis (age 27), Herman B. (age 25) and Lottie (age 2_), and a 92-year-old woman Lottie.  The latter was enumerated as mother, but this has been determined to be incorrect.  At age 92, she may have been grandmother or great-grandmother of Jacob and his brothers and sister.

On 26 June, 1920, arriving at Ellis Island aboard the SS Vauban which sailed from Liverpool were Michael and Chajcie Meiselman, who were “going to Son.”  Page one of the ship’s manifest is shown below.

Page two of the manifest provides the name and address of the couple’s son, Jacob, who resided at 190 So. 8^th St, Brooklyn, NY:

Michael/Max Meiselman, and Chajcie/ Ida /Clara Hackmeyer, parents of Jacob P. Meiselman

To complete an exhaustive search of available records,  the death certificates for Jacob and his siblings were requested as detailed below.

The following documents demonstrate that Michael and Chajcie also had aliases.  Chajcie was sometimes called Clara and other times went by Ida.

Isador “Izzy” AKA Isaac Miselman:  parents Michael Meizelman and Ida Hackmeyer

Ida Meiselman arrived in the U.S. on the SS Possdam on 9 Sept, 1911 stating she was going to join her son “Issy Meiselman”:

“Isaac” Meizelman and Rosa Brown were married on 3 May 1909 in Boston, Suffolk Co, Massachusetts.  Isaac (also known as Isador) had a marriage registration which listed his parents as Michael Meizelman and Ida Hackmeyer.

Isaac’s relationship to his siblings is confirmed by his obituary:

Jacob P. “Jack”  Meiselman

Florida’s division of Vital Records was unsuccessful in producing a death certificate for Jacob, whose last address according to the Social Security department was in Dade County, Florida when he died in August 1971.  After further discussions with family members, it was revealed that Jacob died in Rhode Island.

Lottie (Meiselman) Augenlicht

Flooding in New York due to Hurricane Sandy eliminated the possibility of ordering the death certificate for sister Lottie at the time of this project.

Louis Meiselman:  parents Max Meiselman and Clara (maiden name unknown )

The  death certificate for Louis Meiselman who died 23 April, 1982 listed parents Max Meiselman and Clara (maiden name unknown).

According to the death certificate, Louis Meiselman was born 23 April 1897 in Austria, which correlates within two years of the birth date Louis provided when registering for the WWI Draft:

As shown above, Louis’ address when registering for the draft was 190 So. 8^th Street, Brooklyn, NY, and he provided a birth date of 23 April 1895 – substantiating that while the year of birth is off by two years (not uncommon when the bereaved are providing information for death certificates) we are tracking the correct Louis.

Herman Benjamin Meiselman:  parents Michael Meiselman and Clara Hadkmayer. 

Unfortunately, the state of North Carolina was unable to locate a certificate for Herman, who is listed as Herman Benjamin Meiselman in the North Carolina Death Index, having been deceased 28 April, 1978 with last known address in  Mecklenburg, NC.   However, later research on FamilySearch.org revealed that Herman Benjamin Meiselman died in Clemmons, Forsyth, North Carolina and the informant stated his parents names were Michael Meiselman and Clara Hadkmayer. 

 Summary

The parentage of Jacob Meiselman is based on the combined documentation of his siblings’ death certificates as well as the passenger list indicating he is the son of Michael and Chajcie Meiselman.  Additional evidence includes:

• Strong links between the Meiselman siblings in documents, often using the address 190 So 8^th St

• Isador M. Miselman (also known as Isaac) marriage record to Rosa Brown, listing parents as Michael Miselman and Ida Hackmayer in 1909.
• Ida Meiselman arrival in 1911, going to join her son “Issy Meiselman”
• Mechal Meiselman listed as father of Leon, Bernard and Lottie on the passenger list in 1913
• The reference to mother “Ida” on Herman’s World War I Draft Registration with Herman’s address of 190 So 8^th St in 1917
• Michael and Chajcie listed on passenger list stating they were going to stay with their son Jacob at 190 So 8^th St in 1920
• Ida’s enumeration on the 1930 census with an immigration date of 1921 near the time that Michael and Chajcie arrived