Patrick and Ann Elizabeth Newkirk Welch
Return to Woodward Home Page |
| Patrick Welch born 10/6/1845 Wayne Co, In died 12/17/1880 Dallas Co, Ia burial Oakland Cemetery, DeSoto, Dallas Co, Ia |
Ann Elizabeth Newkirk born 12/28/1845 Hamilton Co, Oh died 1/29/1912 Dallas Co, Ia burial East Lynn Cemetery Redfield, Dallas Co, Ia |
| Married: 4/11/1866 Aledo, Mercer County, Illinois
Children: George H. Welch born 4/21/1867 Mercer County, Illinois William S. Welch born 8/24/1870 Dallas County, Iowa |
Patrick Welch in the Civil WarPatrick Welch did not enlist in the Civil War with his brothers William and John in August 1861, as he was still only 15 years old. One can imagine his frustration as he watched the sendoff festivities for the 27th Illinois Infantry and his two brothers. He enlisted in Company G of the 124th Infantry on July 5, 1862. He was mustered in for three year's service on September 10, 1862, still short of his 17th birthday.Eliza Township records tell a very different story of the early history of the 124th than does the Illinois Adjutant General's report. "In September of 1862, the regiment was loaded into freight cars at Mattoon [Illinois] and transported to Louisville, Kentucky, when it was at once put to work under General Nelson to forify the city against Bragg who was then advancing on it in pursuit of Buell. The regiment never had battalion drill and hardly any attempt at company drill so all the officers except the Colonel were 'raw recruits.' On October 8, just 19 days after leaving Mattoon, the regiment was involved in the battle of Perryville, where at least 36 were killed and 180 wounded." The Adjutant General's Report states that the regiment left for the front at Jackson, Tennessee, on October 6 where "in the crisp autumn air and lovely camp at Jackson the discipline and efficiency of the Regiment were rapidly developed and the foundations largely laid for all the distinction it afterwards achieved." The History of Mercer County, 1882 summarizes the service of the 124th: "They went to Tennessee, Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Monroe, Louisiana. They won a prize banner for cleanly appearance and soldierly bearing. They traveled 7000 miles, were in ten battles and 14 skirmishes. They were also in two sieges, one for 47 days and one for 13 days. They were drolly called 'the Bully One Hundred and Two Dozen." Benton Pratt, brother-in-law of Patrick's sister Mary Elizabeth Welch Endicott was one of the officers. The 124th did noble service at Champion Hill, Mississippi, capturing more men from the Forty-third Georgia, than its own ranks numbered. It also killed most of the men and horses of a battery, really capturing the guns. The loss of the regiment in this action was sixty-three killed and wounded. Patrick Welch's medical records indicate he received a slight wound in the arm at the battle of Champion Hill, May 16, 1863, but there were complications, and he was out of service until February, 1865. Oral family history indicates it was his hand that was wounded. An affidavit signed by two of Patrick's fellow enlistees, states that Patrick Welch was a stout and able-bodied man when he enlisted. During his service he contracted chronic diarrhea and a severe hacking cough which settled in his lungs. Patrick Welch was mustered out of the service as a Corporal on August 15, 1865. On April 11, 1866, he married Ann Elizabeth Newkirk. Elizabeth's mother Abigail Newkirk, was present at the wedding and at the birth of Patrick & Elizabeth's son George H. Welch on April 21, 1867. In October 1869 the young family moved to Dallas County, Iowa, near Redfield, where son William Welch was born. A neighbor in Dallas County declared in Elizabeth's pension application that Patrick Welch continued to suffer from a hacking cough, expectoration of blood, and that he was frequently prostrated with aggravated chronic diarrhea, all of which started during his war service. Patrick Welch died in 1880, at the age of 36, from pulmonary consumption (tuberculosis). Ann Elizabeth Newkirk Welch married J. N. Main on 29 May, 1890, as his fifth wife. However, when Elizabeth wrote her will on January 25, 1912, she wrote it as Ann Elizabeth Welch and signed her mark. A letter in her pension application records from J. N. Main in June 1892 indicated that he and Elizabeth were living apart. He claimed she was living a high life in a hotel in a neighboring county. He wrote the letter, evidently as sour grapes, to inform the government that George H. Welch was not the legitimate son of Patrick Welch.Elizabeth was able to provide affidavits from persons present at the birth that Patrick acknowledged George as his son. And she was working as a washerwoman to support her children, hardly the "high life" described by Main. Sons George & William Welch were still alive when Elizabeth wrote her will but we have no further trace of George Welch. Son William Welch married a widow, Cecil Stout, in June 1919 when he was 49 years old. It was her fourth marriage and his first. She was Cecil McKinster, born September 1888, daughter of Dan and Vienna McKinster who married in Dallas County, Iowa on 15 October 1884. The 1920 census shows William and Cecil Welch living at Redfield, Dallas County, with two of her children, Richard O. Hill, 9, and Helen V. Hill, 7, both born Iowa. William Welch's occupation is shown as laborer. By 1930 they had moved to District 11, Union, Pulaski County, Missouri: William S. Welch, rent $6, no radio, age 60, married age 49, born Ia, parents born Il; Cecil, 41, married age 30, born Ia, father New York, mother Iowa; Anna E.., daughter, 9, born Iowa; Iona D., daughter, 8, born Iowa; Mary Fern, daughter, 6, born Iowa; Richard O. Hill, stepson, 19, no occupation. Since William and Richard were not employed we might guess that they had just arrived in Missouri. |