Ancestors and Mysteries

Last week I mentioned looking for two ancestors and not being able to find an actual record of them other than word of mouth through the family. Well, I found one of them last weekend when I couldn’t find it in me to write.

“Finn” it turned out was named Fendall, or Fenelon, depending on which Civil War record, or which census, you read. He, of his own will, joined the Confederate Army in 1862 and was wounded in battle at Gettysburg. He recuperated, was listed with honors for the battle, and rejoined his unit. Then this happened a few years later….

Rebel Deserter.

You know that sinking feeling you get from head to toe, but especially in your gut, when you ride that swinging boat at the fair? That. Then I found the record of him taking the oath into the Union Army. It’s hard to have that nugget of knowledge because we who are alive now will never know why he deserted, and “desert” is a strong word. But it does explain why, according to oral history, he came home from the war in a blue uniform.

There are a lot of strange things going on with him, not least of all is the 1870 census showing his twin boys at eight months old (when Eugene’s gravestone says they were born in 1864), living in separate family households (which matches family stories), and his wife not being Blondene Whitedeer, but someone named Catherine. He was listed on that census as “not living in the home.” After that, he disappeared. Some say that after the war he went to New Orleans to survey the break-up of the plantations, some say he went west. All say he left and never came home.

That twin son in the other household? I was told he died in a “buggy accident” with his mother, Blondene. The mysteries deepen.

It took me years to find anything about Finn, only to have him disappear again. Maybe he didn’t want to be found? Why not? Where did Blondene go? Where did she come from?

What happened? 

I may never have my answers, but I will always keep searching.

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