QUERIES
BY KAREN HANSEN
I received an email from Matthew Johnson, who was looking for information on the Samuel and Sabrina Place family. He said that they were listed in the 1860 Census as farmers in the Walnut, Iowa area and Samuel enlisted to serve in the Civil War in 1862.
I found the family in 1860 about 10 miles south of Walnut in Walnut Creek Township, with a Lewis Post Office. Walnut Creek Township is now Waveland Township.
Samuel Place was not in the 1870 Census, but there was a Sabrina who was married to John Collins. I asked if Samuel had died and she had remarried. Matthew said that was correct; Samuel died of illness during the war and is buried at the Vicksburg National Cemetery in Mississippi.
Pvt. Samuel Place’s memorial on Findagrave.com gives this information: He was the husband to Sabina Place, and father to four children: Thomas J., Aurilla, Ella, and Rosamond Place. He enlisted as a Private on August 9, 1862 at the age of 41. Samuel joined Co. I, 23rd Iowa Infantry Regiment on August 28, 1862. He died of disease on August 10, 1863 at Milliken’s Bend, LA. Gravesite Details: Cemetery records & headstone incorrectly spell surname as “Prag.”
After Samuel’s death, Sabrina married John Collins. Their family was listed in the 1870 Census in Walnut Creek Township. John was 44; Sabrina was 40; John Collins was 2; Saml. Collins was 3 months; Epheim Powell was 23; Aurilla Powell was 16 (appears that she was married); E. (Ella) Place was 13; Rosanna (or Rosamond?) was 10.
I suggested that Matthew may want to look for additional information in the newspapers available through the Atlantic or Griswold Libraries.
We received a letter from Michele Gibbons of Longview, Washington, seeking information on Miles Gibbons and Mary Craney. We found obituaries and a census that listed their children.
KH