Last week I talked about my family visit to the churchyard cemetery at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ and the several Revolutionary War veterans we found buried there. Today, I’m going to talk about the Civil War veteran I came across. Because he lived in the 1800s, I was able to find more records on him and fill in the gaps in his life.
Nathan Muthard, Civil War Veteran
The headstone I found was for Nathan Muthard, who served as a private in Company B, 176th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Infantry. He was born in 1827 and died in 1898. This was according to his headstone.
Nathan Muthard, Civil War Veteran
So according to records I found on Ancestry.com, Nathan enlisted in Lehigh County on October 16, 1862 at age 36, which, to be honest, is a little on the older side to enlist in the military. He mustered in Philadelphia on November 7, 1862. Knowing his unit, we can look up where he might have served during the war - the 176th regiment went down to Washington, D.C. and then Suffolk, Virginia. They served there until the end of `1862, then moved to New Borne, North Carolina; Port Royal Harbor, South Carolina; St. Helena Island, Beaufort, and Hilton Head, all in South Carolina, until July, 1863. They were ordered home and mustered out August 19, 1863. The regiment lost no one to battle, but 44 men to disease.
We can also find out more not just about Nathan’s military service, but about his life. Things got a little confusing at first because there is one Nathan Muthard in the area but I finally found him in the 1880 census, age 52, with his wife Susan, 56, his son Leon, 13, and daughter Aquilla, 10. They are living in Upper Macungie, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, where Nathan made a living as a farmer. According to that census, he was born in Pennsylvania. Once you have other names to anchor the person you’re looking for - so we know the Nathan we’re looking for has a wife Susan and children named Leon and Aquilla - it makes it easier to find other records that are correct. So, the 1870 census, 10 years earlier, finds the family in Upper Macungie, with two older daughters - Eliza, born about 1859, and Louisa, born about 1863. So Eliza and Louisa were both born before Nathan went away to war - in fact, Louisa was probably an infant when he left, or Susan may have still been pregnant with her. Leon and Aquilla were both born after he came back.
In older time periods, when people either didn’t want to or couldn’t space out their children further, you often have children born one year after the other. A husband going away to war can explain a 3 year gap between children, like the gap between Louisa (1863) and Leon (1866). The birth and death of a young child can also explain a larger gap, like the one between Eliza (1859) and Louisa (1863). A search turned up an entry for Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Maxatawny, Berks County, Pennsylvania, not far from where Nathan and Susan lived in Upper Macungie . It reads: “John Alfred & Henry Peter Muthart aged 15 days/born Mar. 2 1862 died (Mar.) 17 1862/Parents Nathan Muthart and Susan born Kuntz/Sponsors Alphrin Steinberger and Betsie Manoe Muthart and Kittie/Sickness The one started to complain on Thursday and the other on Saturday died Monday at 9.30 from convulsions.”
So Nathan and Susan (who we now know had the maiden name Kuntz) had twins in between Eliza and Louisa, who died as infants. As twins have a tendency to be born earlier and smaller, I often come across many who died as infants, either one or both. Records from Zion Church also show that daughter Eliza was baptized Eliza Amanda on July 24, 1859, born June 27.
We can also find Nathan, pre-Civil war, in the 1850 census, with his wife, called Susanna, and a son, Benjamin, born about 1846. And again, in 1860, where Nathan’s occupation is described as miner - so it appears he may have been a jack of all trades, career-wise. In 1860, we see Eliza for the first time as well as an older brother, Charles, born about 1850. Benjamin is actually living with the family listed right above them, so either next door, or the same farm - the name of the family is Kuhns. Mathias Kuhns is 31, and based on our knowledge that Susan’s maiden name was Kuntz, we might make a guess that Mathias is her brother, and her son Benjamin is living with (and probably working for) his uncle>
The final record I have for Nathan is the 1890 Civil War Veterans Schedule, which is a valuable document if the Civil War veteran in your family was still alive at that point - especially in light of the loss of the 1890 U.S. Census. Nathan was living in Wescosville, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania at that point.
Nathan Muthard died December 18, 1898. Interestingly, even though he was born in Pennsylvania, his headstone is in German. His gravesite told us when he was born, when he died, and that he served in the Civil War. Those were good enough clues for us to learn about the life he led and the family he built in those years in between.
Websites I used in this research:
Ancestry.com
Civil War Archive