Jacob Wilcox
1st Michigan Cavalry
My Great-Great Grandfather
Nancy Simmons - 1947
Josephine
Martin - 1923-2006
Edward Jacob Martin - 1895-1966
Nina Pearl Wilcox - 1866-1944
Jacob Wilcox - 1835-1901
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| Jacob Wilcox and his Grand Army of the Republic medal |
THE MYSTERY! So where did my
great-great-grandfather, Jacob Wilcox, come from? I know his birth date, marriage and death
date. I know about his life after he married Margaret Smith in 1860. But his
life before he married is shrouded in mystery.
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| Jacob Wilcox Enlistment |
According to his Civil War
military records he was born February 3,1835 in Onondaga County, New York.[1] In the 1850 federal census
he is listed as a sixteen-year-old, farm laborer, living with Oliver Frink and
Oliver's two sons and daughter in Dundee township, Monroe County, Michigan.[2] Where are his parents?
When and why did he leave New York and move to Michigan? I have searched for his parents for over 40
years with little success. On Jacob's
death certificate his son states his father's name is Isaac Wilcox.[3]
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| Jacob Wilcox - Death Certificate |
In the 1860 census Jacob is nowhere
to be found! Where is he? Who is he living with at that time? Two years later according to a marriage
certificate in the Wilcox Bible owned by Jacob's daughter Nina, he married on
July 5,1862 to Margaret Smith in Dundee, Monroe County, Michigan.[4] I have a photo of Jacob
and Margaret I believe was taken when they traveled back to New York shortly
after they were married. The photograph was taken by a studio in Wolcott, New
York about 20 miles east of Victory where Margaret's family lived in Cayuga
County. Cayuga County is west of
Onondaga County where according to Jacob's Civil War record is where he was
born.
A year after Jacob married on
July 5, 1863, Jacob and Margaret's first child, Hubbard Wilcox, was born in
Dundee, Michigan. Then in the summer of 1864, President Abraham Lincoln made a
request for men to enlist and on August 27,1864 Jacob answers the call. He musters in at Grosse Point, Michigan in
the First Cavalry of Michigan.[5] Below is a photo of
Margaret and Hubbard that was probably taken as Jacob left for the military.
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| Margaret Ann (Smith) Wilcox and son Hubbard 1864 |
The fact that Jacob enlisted in
the Civil war and was injured in the Battle of Cedar Creek in Virginia enabled
me to find many documents about Jacob after the war.
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| Jacob Wilcox - pension paper - wounded at the battle of Cedar Creek, VA |
On October 19, 1864, Jacob is
injured at the Battle of Cedar Creek and transported to a hospital in Maryland.[6] On the 30 May 1865 Jacob
mustered out of military service and returned home to Dundee, Michigan.
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| Jacob Wilcox - Pension papers path of ballistic injury |
The following year on September
5,1865 Jacob applies for an Invalid Civil War pension. For the next 36 years
Jacob continues to prove that his battle injury created long-term health
problems for him.
Jacob and his wife, Margaret,
live the next 20 years on a farm a couple miles north of Dundee on land he
purchased from his brother-in-law, Daniel Smith. They add six more children to
their family: Nina Pearl born Nov 22, 1866, Theressa born Sep 24, 1870, Isaac
Newton born Dec 24, 1873, Eunice born Jul 8, 1875, Harry Ellsworth born Dec 19,
1877, and Blanche L. born Sep 15,1881.[7]
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| Wilcox Siblings: Theressa, Isaac, Nina, Hubbard, Blanche and Harry |
In 1885, Jacob loses the family farm during the
1882-1885 depression and Jacob and Margaret move their family into the village
of Dundee. In 1900 federal census Jacob is listed as 66 years old, he is a
widower, works as a carpenter and is living with his 19-year-old daughter,
Blanche.[8] Jacob’s wife, Margaret
Ann, died January 25,1900 at the age of 59 and Jacob died June 23,1901 at the
age of 67.[9] Both Jacob and Margaret
are buried in the Azalia Methodist Church Cemetery in Azalia, Michigan.
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| Jacob and Margaret Ann (Smith) Taken in Wolcott, New York summer 1862 |
[1] Jacob Wilcox (Pvt, Co. E, 1st Mich. Cav, Civil War), pension
no.89.117, Case Files of Approved Pension Applications…., 1861-1934; Civil War
and Later Pension Files, Department of Veteran Affairs, Record Group 15;
National Archives, Washington, D.C.
[2] 1850 U.S. census,
Monroe County, Michigan, population schedule, Milan, Monroe, Michigan, page
381B, (Ancestry: accessed 31 May 2021)
[3] Michigan, Death
Records, 1867-1950, Ancestry; accessed 31 May 2021.
[4] Wilcox, Nina
Martin, Wilcox Family Bible, The Holy Bible, (Toledo, Ohio, W.E. Bliss), marriage
record Jacob Wilcox and Margaret Ann Smith, privately held by Nancy Simmons
Roberson.
[5] Volunteer Enlistment State of
Michigan, Form 86 Military Service Records, National Archives, Washington, DC
[6] Jacob Wilcox
(Pvt, Co. E, 1st Mich. Cav, Civil War), pension no.89.117, Case Files of
Approved Pension Applications…., 1861-1934; Civil War and Later Pension Files,
Department of Veteran Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington,
D.C.
[7] Wilcox, Nina
Martin, Wilcox Family Bible, The Holy Bible, (Toledo, Ohio, W.E. Bliss), marriage
record Jacob Wilcox and Margaret Ann Smith, privately held by Nancy Simmons
Roberson.
[8] 1900 U.S. census,
Monroe County, Michigan, population schedule, Dundee, Monroe, Michigan, ED 67,
page 1A.
[9] Michigan, Death
Records, 1867-1950, Ancestry; accessed 31 May 2021.
