My third great grandparents are Joseph Frank and Nancy Rice. Joseph Frank was born around 1823-1824 in France. Nancy Rice was born in October 1834 in Kentucky to John Rice and Margaret Brite.
I have Joseph and Nancy, together with their children, in the 1860 and 1880 Census in Shawswick, Lawrence County, Indiana. I have been unable to find the family listed on the 1870 Census.
And honestly, I hadn’t really thought about Joseph serving in the Civil War until I stumbled upon his FindAGrave Memorial. On his memorial I found a comment by a man named Bill that appears to be an obituary. This comment/obituary says that Joseph served in the Civil War and even gives the exact company and regiment information: Company A, 67th Regiment, Indiana Infantry.
After doing a quick search on Google, I found “The history of the 67th Regiment Indiana Infantry Volunteers, War of the Rebellion” on Archives.org. This showed a Joseph Frankle enlisting in Company A, 67th Regiment in Indiana on 19 Aug 1862. There is nothing under the “remarks” column.
History of the 67th – Joseph Frankle
My next step was to try finding Joseph Frank in the enlistment records somewhere. However, Fold3 does not have the Indiana enlistment records online – they only have index cards. But I did find an index card for Joseph Frank – and his name is spelled right!
Joseph Frank – Indiana Service Index Card
My next step was to look for his pension record. Sure enough, I found his Civil War Pension Index Card. This time, his name was listed as Joseph Franikh.
Joseph Franikh Civil War Pension Index Card
I noticed that the Civil War Pension Index Card listed a widow’s pension, so I went off looking for that and found one for Joseph’s wife, Nancy. She is listed as Nancy Franikh.
Nancy Franikh Widows Pension Payment Card (Front)
Nancy Franikh Widows Pension Card (Back)
The pension card reports that Nancy died 4 Jan 1910. The day and month aligns with the death information I already have, but I have Nancy’s death as occurring in 1909.
Based on this evidence, I’m gonna make a guess and say that yes, Joseph Frank served in the Civil War. The extent of his service, whether he was injured, and the details of his pension are still unanswered questions and avenues to explore.
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