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Archiver > ADVANCED-RESEARCH > 2008-07 > 1215650092
From: <>
Subject: Re: [ADVANRES] William H. Bestor
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2008 19:34:52 -0500
References: <014b01c8e160$f334c150$01fea8c0@GRAN> <487515B3.5070408@gmail.com>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michele" <>
To: <>
Sent: 09 July, 2008 2:46 PM
Subject: Re: [ADVANRES] William H. Bestor
> Beston, Vestor, Veston, Fester, Foster, Boston, Hestor, Hester, Heston,
> Hesten, Easter, Baseter, Bister, and the list could go on from there.
> This is a really tough one. Didn't you say that he had a son named
> Corwin? There was an earlier Corwin Bester in Mantua, Portage Co., Ohio
> in the 1850 census. Maybe that could lead somewhere. That Corwin was
> born in 1843.
>
> wrote:
>> Can anyone think of how my William H. Bestor could be misindexed, so that
>> he cannot be located as a child in his parents' family in 1850 or 1860,
>> or in the 1880 census?
>>
>> Here is what I know about him:
>>
>> Stated as father of Barbara Mae Bestor on her 1890 marriage to Murdock
>> McKenzie in Colfax County, Nebraska.
>> England stated as father's birthplace by Mae McKenzie, 1900 census,
>> Colfax County, Nebraska.
>>
>> Have not found in 1850 or 1860 censuses, not for lack of trying.
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>> CIVIL WAR:
>>
>> DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL REGISTER OF ENLISTED SOLDIERS OF THE ARMY.
>> Ancestry.com; time frame 1798-1914.
>>
>> William H. Bestor, born Bainbridge, Ohio; age 20; Blacksmith; enlisted 1
>> August 1861 at Cleveland for 5 years; Eyes gray, hair light, complexion
>> ruddy, height 5 feet [illegible] inches; 6th Regiment, Company B; FUTURE
>> HISTORY Discharge 1 August 64 [math doesn't work] at expiration of
>> service. Remarks: "At in this field A Private" [?]
>>
>> William H. Bester 38 Ohio Infantry Union Company B Soldier's Rank_In Pvt.
>> Soldier's Rank_Out Pvt. Alternate Name William H./Bestor Notes Film
>> Number M552 roll 8.
>>
>> http://www.footnote.com/searchdocuments.php?query=bestor&collection=27436&submit=Search#27900741:
>>
>> Publication Number: T289Publication
>>
>> Title: Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between
>> 1861 and 1900.
>>
>> Publisher: NARA
>>
>> State: [Blank]
>>
>> Arm Of Service: Cavalry
>>
>> Regiment: 6 Company: B
>>
>> Name: Bestor, William H.
>>
>> Date: 15-NOV-1892
>>
>> State/arm Of Service: [Null]
>>
>> Company/regiment: [Null]
>>
>> Roll Number: 700
>>
>> Collection Title: Civil War Pensions
>>
>> 1890 Veteran's Census of Michigan, Bay City, Bay County, Supervisor's
>> District 5, Enumeration District 244; William H. Bestor, Private Company
>> B, 6 U.S. Cavalry, Enlisted 1861, discharged 1865, served 5 years. Post
>> office address Bay City; no disability listed; served 5 years regular
>> Army (this last in remarks).
>>
>> Sons of Union Veterans Website, www.suvcwdb.org, William H. Bester, birth
>> 28 Sep 1841, death 12 Mar 1899 age 58, Private Co. B, 6th U.S. Cavalry,
>> enlisted 1 August 1861 discharged 12 July 1865. Buried Ohio Soldier's &
>> Sailors' Home Cemetery, Columbus Avenue, Sandusky, Perkins Twp., Erie
>> County, Ohio, Lot 5, Section G, Grave 13, with military headstone.
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>> On the LDS International Genealogical Index: Marriage, William H. Bestor
>> and Barbara "Nichols" (Niggli), 29 July 1865, Lake County, Ohio. He had
>> been discharged from the U.S. Army 12 July 1865. Lake County marriage
>> film does not give further information except that they were married by
>> S. B. Webster, GM. (?) A Silas B. Webster was a Baptist minister on the
>> 1850 and 1860 Lake County censuses. He was in Plainsville in 1860.
>>
>> Family found in Cuyahoga County Ohio in 1870 before Barbara's birth:
>> William Bester 24 born Ohio, *boilermaker*, literate, parents of foreign
>> birth.
>>
>> Barbara 22 born Prussia, literate [really born Switzerland]
>>
>> Erwin 3 born Ohio
>>
>> Erwin must be the "Corvin Bester" age 12 and a servant in the Jacob
>> Custer family in Colfax County, Nebraska, 1880."Corbin" was still in
>> Colfax County living in the John Riley family on the 1885 Nebraska State
>> Census.
>>
>> Cannot find any of this family except Erwin/Corvin/Corbin etc. in
>> 1880--Corvin in Colfax County, Nebraska.
>>
>> On the LDS International Genealogical Index: Marriage, William H. Bestor,
>> age 34 [1846 birth], born Ohio, and Anna M. Fitz Henry, 18 June 1880, Bay
>> County, Michigan. Actual marriage record gives marriage date of 18 June
>> 1879.
>>
>> This marriage seems to indicate that Barbara (Niggli) Bestor had died
>> before 1879. The children must have been sent to relatives. Were Mrs.
>> Jacob Custer and Mrs. John Riley some relation to either the Bestor or
>> Niggli families? Daughter "May" (Mae) was with Barbara's sister Caroline
>> Niggli Patterson in Iowa county, Iowa in 1880 and 1885.
>>
>> 1890-1891 Bay County, Michigan Directory, Bay City: Bestor, Wm. H.
>> *boilermaker*, res 113 Fraser, Bay City.
>>
>> Application for pension on 15 Nov 1892 seems to indicate that his health
>> had failed by then. See Civil War data, above.
>>
>> See Civil War data above for death and burial information.
>>
>> Conclusion: Occupation Boilermaker seems to make the tie that Barbara's
>> husband was the man who was later in Bay City, Michigan. The Bay City
>> 1890 veteran's census ties this William to the soldier serving from and
>> dying in Ohio, because the company, regiment etc. are a match.
>>
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