Establishing a Genealogy Theory is Good but you must prove or disprove it!

Robin's Question (edited by me for space)

For many months I have tried to track down the parents of my gg grandmother.

Joseph Dougan Born: 1840, , Spencer, Indiana Died: 3 October 1865 of diesease at a hospital in Pine Bluff Ark while serving for the 1st Calvery, 28th Reg Company F for the Indiana Volunteers under the service of Captin James A. Pine.

Questions:
1. Where is Joseph Dougan Burried?
2. Who are his parents?
3. Any other sibilings?

The Pension Papers state that he enlisted on Jan 4, 1864 in Company F Commanded by Cpt, James A Pine in the 28th Reg, of the Indiana Volunteers of the 1st Indiana Calv, in the war of 1861 and died of disease at Pine Bluff Ark on 3 October 1865

The Marriage Certificate that I have states that Joseph and Nancy married on 12 April 1860 in Spencer Co., Indiana

After the death of Nancy's first husband, she remarried to Marcus Lafayette Goodmon
Nancy and Joseph only had one child before his death.
Amanda Elizabeth Dougan Born: 22 March 1844 in Nashville, Davidson, TN Died: 5 May 1949 om Sherman, Grayson, TX

Olive Tree Answer Hello Robin. I think your information about Amanda, the daughter of Nancy and Joseph, is mis-typed. She cannot have been born in 1844 as that is when her mother Nancy was born. Nancy and Joseph married in 1860, perhaps you meant Amanda was born in 1864?

In any case, I believe your best method of finding out more about Joseph is to follow these suggestions:

1. Send for his military files from NARA (National Archives and Records Administration). You sent me information from online Civil War records and noted that the data does not match. There is a very good chance that more than one man named Joseph Dougan have been put together when they should be separate. Sending for your Joseph's files should solve the discrepancy problems.

2. Look for cemeteries that are in Pine Bluff Arkansas and write to them to ask if Joseph Dougan is buried there. Have you been to the Pine Bluff Library website?

3. Search the Pine Bluff Obituary Index: The index to the Pine Bluff Commercial, Pine Bluff Graphic, Pine Bluff News, Pine Bluff Dispatch, Pine Bluff Press-Eagle, Negro Spokesman, Jefferson Republican, Weekly Echo, and White Hall Journal. Contains over 266,500 entries from 1866 to present day.

4. Have you carefully checked the 1850 census for your Joseph? Be creative with his surname - you may find it as Dugan, Duggan, Dugen, Dogan, Dougan and so on.

I use the census records on
Ancestry.com but Footnote,com also has many online.

I had a quick look and found a 9 year old Joseph Dugan living in Ward, Randolph County Indiana in 1850 with parents and siblings. Since the age is right to be your ancestor, I'd check 1860 and see if this Joseph Dugan is still around or if he might be the man you want. In other words, your Joseph in 1860 is married and living with Nancy in Luce Spencer County. Is the "other" Joseph to be found? If yes then they are not the same man. If no, there is a chance they might be one individual and you will have to do more research to prove or disprove this.

5. Look at the names of Nancy's parents - if her mother is either Amanda or Elizabeth (the names given to Nancy's daughter by Joseph), then there is a good chance that Joseph's mother has the other name given to the daughter. This could provide a working theory for you to try to find the parents and Joseph in 1850 IF it turns out that the Joseph I found is not your ancestor.

6. YOu say you have Joseph and Nancy's marriage certificate. Are there any witnesses named? They may be family members and you may have a clue to other members of Joseph's family. I would take another look at that certificate and make sure you have not overlooked an important find.