IMAGES
FROM SERVICE RECORD
contributed by Mark Councilor: "Thomas
was my Grandfather's Great Uncle."
ITEMS
OF INTEREST FROM THE PENSION RECORDS:
Pension
#MC 93-719
Thomas
Councilor: |
|
|
|
Enrolled:
|
24
Mar 1864 |
|
Mustered-in:
|
14
Apr 1864 |
|
Killed
in action: |
17
Jun 1864, Petersburg, VA. |
|
Date
of birth: |
[not
given] |
|
Place
of birth: |
[not
given] |
|
Date
of death: |
17
Jun 1864 |
|
Place
of death: |
Petersburg, VA |
|
Married
first to: |
Never
married. |
|
No
children |
|
Among
the affiants / witnesses for Thomas' mother Rebecca: (none with
apparent connections to Mitsawokett-related families).
OTHER
ITEMS OF NOTE:
Mother/claimant's
residences as noted in the pension records
:
Fulton, Gratiot Co, MI (as of 20 Dec 1866).
Fulton, Gratiot Co, MI (as of 12 Apr 1867).
Springbrook, Gratiot Co, MI (as of some point after 20 Apr 1867).
Thomas'
father Elisha's death date is given as 12 March 1864, in Fulton,
Gratiot Co, MI.
Thomas'
parents' marriage date is given as 09 Feb 1842, in Kent Co, DE.
Thomas'
mother Rebecca is noted as being aged 40 as of 20 Dec 1866.
OTHER ITEMS PERTAINING TO THOMAS COUNCILOR, NOT FROM THE PENSION
RECORDS:
Per
Joseph Romeo's website:
Thomas
is listed as age 3 in the 1850 census, Dover Hundred, Kent Co, DE,
making him b. ca. 1847.
Thomas is listed as age 11 in the 1860 census, Van Buren Twp, Wayne
Co, MI, making him b. ca. 1849.
Per
Chuck Councellor as relayed through Donald Fisher:
Thomas
was born 04 Sep 1847 and died 17 Jun 1864.
A
brief history of Thomas' regiment, as shared by Donald Fisher: http://www.hardylaw.net/2d_27th_Mich_Inf
Another
regimental history, from a site shared by Donald Fisher: http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unmiinf1.htm#2nd
A
roster
of men in Company C of the 2nd Michigan Infantry, showing Thomas
"Councilor or Counsellor"
On the official National Park Service's "Soldiers and Sailors"
website, Thomas is noted as having an alternate name of "Thomas
S. Councilor," thus giving a middle initial.
To go to the "Soldiers and Sailors" website, go to the
following site, and in the boxes select or type "Union,"
"Michigan," unit number "2" and function "Infantry."
Then click on the 2nd Regiment Michigan Infantry. Then, scroll down
to the bottom for the links to the specific soldiers: http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/regiments.cfm
QUERY
ITEMS:
1.
It is suspected that Thomas' mother, Rebecca Dean Councilor, was
the daughter of William Dean and Mary Ann Cork. Does anyone have
any records to substantiate this?
(Here is an excerpt from an email from Donald
Fisher detailing the circumstantial evidence):
"We
cannot find absolute identification of Rebecca Dean's family. We
have pretty fair circumstantials, but no smoking gun.
Main problem: she got married before 1850 in Delaware and no documentation
mentioning her parents has been handed down through the family.
The thinking is that she was the daughter of William Dean and Mary
Ann Cork. She fits into the 1830 and 1840 census numbers for William
where no other known daughter would be. Rebecca fits nicely between
sons James (m Angelica) and Wilson (m Nancy A Perkins).
William and Mary Ann moved to Michigan at the same time as Elisha
and Rebecca. After going to Gratiot Co., Rebecca certainly maintained
contact with the folks still in Wayne County, and after she had
been widowed, she herself returned to Wayne Co. to marry widower
Mitchell Perkins (my g-g-grandfather). None of her own children
were in Wayne Co., but her presumed parents and siblings were still
in Wayne Co.
The marriage to Mitchell was a late-in-life thing for both of them,
no children, but Rebecca is buried with Mitchell in Wayne Co., not
up in Gratiot Co. where her first husband was buried and where some
of her children were when she died. Mitchell, first wife Sally ("mother"),
and Rebecca ("wife") all share the same headstone.
"The connections to Mitchell Perkins are also suggestive. Assuming
Rebecca's connection to William and Mary Ann, her brother Wilson
was Mitchell's son-in-law and two of her sisters, Mary Ann and Sarah,
were his daughters-in-law. It's not a far stretch to assume that
these family connections are what helped to bring Mitchell and Rebecca
together after their first spouses had died. The connection wasn't
made by proximity, with Rebecca about 125 miles away from Mitchell
in 1870. If Rebecca wasn't related to these Deans, there's no reasonable
explanation for her leaving her family to return to this exact same
spot in Wayne Co prior to marrying Mitchell. Her siblings and his
kids probably encouraged them.
Both William and Mary Ann were still alive at the time of Rebecca's
wedding to Mitchell in 1872. Both Mitchell and Rebecca still had
children at home when they married. Later (1876), Rebecca's daughter
Rebecca Ann married Mitchell's son Peter. For a while, the two of
them had lived as step-siblings in the same household, and then
they married."
2. A couple of people seem to show Thomas as being killed on 18
Jun 1864 rather than 17 Jun 1864. What is the source of the June
18th date? All of the documents in the pension records I received
from the National Archives show him as dying on 17 Jun 1864.