Looks like I have finally confirmed what I had always known in the back of mind to be true : there is a Confederate in the attic (well, I don't have an attic, but I guess he's in the closet). So, lets bring him out and see what he did. If my assumptions are correct about my grandmother's (Vivian Dabney) family being from Wayne County, Kentucky - then this record that I found on fold3.com is pretty clear evidence. Looks like Robert J, Dabney (if genealogical calculations are correct, is my great-great-great-grandather), donated the produce of his farm to the Confederate Army in 1863. Willingly given or not, they took the forage and he received a receipt.
So, although its not the most damning evidence in the world, it is the reality of family-research in America. If you have an older American lineage, there is a good chance you have a Confederate ancestor. It is nothing to be ashamed of, but needs to be explored carefully. The last two generations of my immediate family all come from Missouri, which is truly one of the gateways of America migration, a place that drew people from all over the world to that central point on the Mississippi. So, my Northern family roots and Southern family roots all met in Missouri sometime in the 1880s, and eventually ended up in St. Louis by the middle of the 20th century.
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| Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, 1861-65 |
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