Military Monday: Memorial Day

Today is the day that we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country. I am remembering family members who died while in service.

My great-grandfather's first cousin Ferdinand Constand Schneider (4 November 1887 - 15 July 1918) was killed in action during World War I at the Battle of Château-Thierry. He was the son of a German immigrant, and died fighting against the Germans.

Photo from page 165, Missouri - Soldiers of the Great War, compiled by W. M. Haulsee, F. G. Howe, and A. C. Doyle. Washington, DC: Soldiers Record Publishing Association, 1920. Available online at http://www.usgwarchives.net/mo/wwi/missourisoldies-greatwar.htm.

 The map  below shows the Western Front of the war at the time that he was killed.

 Chicago Daily Tribune, 16 July 1918, page 2

Thomas J. Tarkington, whom I suspect was my 3rd-great-grandfather Joseph Tarkington's brother, was killed in the Battle of Buena Vista (23 February 1847) during the Mexican War.

Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the Mexican War, compiled 1899 - 1927, documenting the period 1846 - 1848. Thomas J. Tarkinton, Wheeler's Co., 2 Illinois Foot Vols. (Bissell's), Mexican War. NARA M616. Available from Fold3.

Map of Battle of Buena Vista. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

Although my 3rd-great-grandfather Davidson Binkley did not die in battle, he was serving his country when he died. He was a private in Company G, 128th Illinois Infantry during the Civil War. He was stationed at Cairo, Alexander County, Illinois during the winter of 1862-1863. He died of measles on 9 January 1863.

Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Illinois. Davidson Binkley, Company G, 128th Illinois Infantry. NARA M539. Available from Fold3.

Harper's Weekly, 1 June 1861, p. 350. Available from Son of the South.

Fred Logan Trickey, Jr., the husband of my second cousin once removed Peggy Lorraine Clark, was one of five World War II heroes that died when B-25 bomber 227 crashed on Cold Mountain, Haywood County, North Carolina on 13 September 1946.
 

Fred and Peggy (Clark) Trickey. Milwaukee Journal, 10 October 1943.

Cannon, Doris Rollins. Cold Mountain Bomber Crash: The Enduring Legacy. Printed by Edwards Brothers, 2005. ISBN: 0-9772101-0-3

Military Monday: Memorial Day

Graves at Arlington National Cemetery, Memorial Day 2008. Photo by Remember. Public domain. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

On Memorial Day, I would like to honor those who have died in service, including the following relatives:

Thomas J. Tarkington, who died in the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican War
Davidson Binkley, who died of measles while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War
Ferdinand Constand Schneider, who died in the Battle of Château-Thierry during World War I
Fred Logan Trickey, Jr., who died in a B-25 bomber crash in 1946

Thankful Thursday: Peggy Lorraine (Clark) Trickey Lampley

Fred and Peggy (Clark) Trickey. Milwaukee Journal, 10 October 1943.

I am thankful for my second cousin once removed, Peggy Lorraine (Clark) Trickey Lampley. Peggy was the daughter of Clifford Irwin Clark and Nina Lorraine Leech. Nina was the daughter of Patrick Henry Leech and Laura Belle Tarkington. Laura Belle was my great-grandmother Anna Gertrude Tarkington's oldest sister.

I never met Peggy, but I have several family group sheets that she compiled, which she probably sent to my paternal grandfather. Most of the information was taken from the family Bible of Laura Belle (Tarkington) Leech, and from notes that Laura Belle wrote before she died.

My 3rd-great-grandfather's name was recorded as Benjamin Davidson Binkley. All the other documents that I have found give his name as Davidson Binkley. The name of his wife, my 3rd-great-grandmother, was recorded as Angeline Isabelle Mayo. I wonder if her middle name was actually Isbell (her paternal grandmother's maiden name),

The names and dates of birth and death of Davidson and Angeline's children are recorded. Their first two children, Sara Elizabeth and Louise Jane, died very young; Sara Elizabeth lived for about two weeks, and Louise Jane lived for just over a year. These children never appeared in census records, and there were no Tennessee birth and death certificates in the 1850s. If I did not have Peggy's family group sheet, I would not know about these children.

The family group sheet for Davidson Binkley and Angeline Mayo includes a note which states that Davidson Binkley had worked for Spillers (possibly for the Spiller family; he is buried in Spiller Cemetery in Williamson County, Illinois), that Lee Mayo (Angeline's brother) had worked for "old Mrs. DeMoss" at Bellevue,  and that Lee Mayo gave "Grandma Binkley" (his sister Angeline) money to buy a house at Vaughn's Gap, Tennessee. The family group sheet for my 3rd-great-grandparents Joseph Tarkington and Amanda Russell includes the note "Pauline Chilton Tarkington told Maydell that Amanda Russell was a great beauty & southern belle who married beneath her" and also mentions that Pauline has a picture. (I would love to see this picture someday!)

If Peggy had not compiled these family group sheets and shared them with my family, I never would have known these things. I am very thankful that she shared them.

I wonder what happened to Laura Belle (Tarkington) Leech's family Bible. I suspect that Peggy probably had it; her mother was Laura Belle's only daughter, and family documents are often passed down to daughters. Peggy died in 1985. When I learned that she had a son with her husband Fred Logan Trickey (also named Fred Logan Trickey), I hoped that I could get in touch with him. I found out that he had been living in New York City, not too far away from me, but then I learned that he had died in 2010. Her other son is sportscaster Jim Lampley; because he is a public figure, it may not be easy to get in touch with him.

Cold Mountain Bomber Crash

Cannon, Doris Rollins. Cold Mountain Bomber Crash: The Enduring Legacy. Printed by Edwards Brothers, 2005. ISBN: 0-9772101-0-3

On Friday, 13 September 1946, B-25 bomber 227 crashed on Cold Mountain, Haywood County, North Carolina. Five World War II heroes were killed instantly in the crash:

Major General Paul Bernard Wurtsmith, the youngest general in the Army Air Force, pilot
Lieutenant Colonel Fred Logan Trickey, Jr., co-pilot
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Richard Okerbloom, air inspector
Master Sergeant Hosey William Merritt, radio operator
Staff Sergeant Hoyt Woodrow Crump, flight engineer

In Part One, Cannon gives an account of the crash. In Part Two, she tells the stories of the five men who died. In Part Three, she writes about the impact the crash had on others.

This book is of particular interest to me because Fred Logan Trickey, Jr. was the husband of Peggy Lorraine Clark, my second cousin once removed.

More information about the book is available at http://coldmountainbombercrash.blogspot.com/.