Genealogy Jottings

One hundred fifty years ago the Civil War began. Many Americans today have ancestors who fought in that conflict. Until now, one had to travel to the National Archives in Washington to view the draft records compiled 1863-65. Recently the NARA-Ancestry partnership posted the records online on the Ancestry website at www.Ancestry.com. Of course I took a look right away. I had no luck finding two of my usually-elusive subjects, John Davis Riddle and Samuel Harvey Reed. I was thrilled, however, to find my third problem child, Thomas Sherman. He appeared as a single man in Johnson County, Indiana–the first Indiana record I have ever found for him even though family lore had always claimed he lived there for a time. The family also claimed that he served in the Civil War, but so far I have found no record of that service. Several men named Thomas Sherman did serve from Indiana, but none of those I have researched so far provide a good match for my Thomas. I need to do an exhaustive search of all military and GAR records to lay this issue to rest.