Ancestor Spotlight: William S. Golden

I'm really bouncing from limb to limb on my family tree, aren't I?  So no questions here, just a run down of some information I have. :)  If you have information or questions of your own PLEASE comment or PM me on FB if you don't want to comment here. I completely understand.  I am writing these posts in hopes of opening up dialogue and learning more about my family, as well as providing information you may not have known.

Off the soap box and on to the ancestor! ;)

How is he related? My third great grandfather (so for those who are in the same generation as my Dad, this would be your second great)

William S. Golden

(August 17, 1836 - April 25, 1906)

William S. (Maybe Sibbitt) Golden was born August 17, 1836 in Indiana to parents Joseph B Golden and Nancy Sibbitt.  The family moved from Indiana to Missouri before 1843. In 1850 the Golden family was living in Miller County, Missouri.  Most likely William grew up helping to farm, and on November 1, 1859 he bought 80 acres of land of his own in Miller County, Missouri.

William was first married to Leticia Amanda Ulman on September 20, 1857.  This marriage ended in divorce.

A little over a month before William joined the Union in the Civil War, he married Elvira Morgan, daughter of Levi Morgan and Lydia Drum on May 12, 1861 in Miller County.   The family had their first child, Nancy Golden, on September 23, 1862. 

At the age of 26  William Golden was five feet 8 inches, had a fair complexion with blue eyes and auburn hair. 

William spent his time in the military in the following ways:

From June 28, 1861 to October 1861 he was part of the Osage County Regiment Missouri Home Guard.  He was a Private. The Osage County Regiment and Hickory County Battalion Home Guard Infantry was organized by authority of Gen. Fremont June and July, 1861. Duty in Camden, Miller, Hickory, Benton and Cole Counties, and at Jefferson City until December. Disbanded December, 1861.

On June 2, 1863 he became a private in Company A of the 6 Missouri State Militia Cavalry. To not overwhelm you with the little details, I wont put all the locations this unit was at.  If you would like to know, please let me know and I will post.  This, however, was written of this company:

 "THE 6TH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY, MISSOURI STATE MILITIA, Headquarters at Springfield, is well mounted and equipped, and armed with Austrian rifles, not at all suited for Cavalry service. The discipline and efficiency of the Regiment is very good, taking into consideration the inferior quality of the arms, and its efficiency would be materially increased if the men were armed with a good breech-loading carbine.
The Regimental and Company books and papers are well and properly kept, and the returns, etc., regularly made out and transmitted in accordance with the Regulations and existing orders."

On July 19, 1864 William Golden as part of an organization of veterans of Missouri State Militia Regiments he became part of Company A of the 13th Missouri Cavalry.

The following is a detailed report of the regiment's service by Major John E. Mayo from the Missouri Adjutant General Report for Missouri, year ending 1865 (*If you want to skip this, it basically details the service of the regiment. Scroll past it for further info about William S. Golden):

Headquarters 13th Regiment Missouri Cavalry, Volunteers,
Camp Wardwell, C. T. December 10, 1865.

To: Colonel Samuel P. Simpson, Adjutant General of Missouri:

Sir: The regiment now known as the 13th Regiment Missouri Cavalry, Volunteers, existed on the 29th of May, 1864, as a detachment of veterans, reinlisted from the 6th Missouri State Militia, Cavalry, who on that day received at St. Louis, Missouri, their furloughs for thirty days, returning to their rendezvous in St. Louis on the 29th of January, 1864. These men receiver a temporary organization into companies; were officered and equipped for field service. It was not until July 22, 1864, that the organization of the regiment was authorized by orders from Headquarters Department of Missouri, under direction of Colonel E. C. Catherwood, of the 6th Missouri State Militia, Cavalry, but on the day of issue of this order, the detachment was ordered into the field, under command of Colonel Catherwood, to meet an emergency created by guerrilla operations in Caldwell, Ray, Clay, Clinton, and Platte counties, Missouri. During the campaign in these counties, Colonel Catherwood returned to St. Louis to labor in the formation of the regiment, while the detachment, under command of Major Austin A. King, continued in its work of dealing death to ambushed foes. Proceeded to Glasgow, Missouri, to meet in that vicinity the notorious Anderson and his barbarous band; scouting through the counties of Howard, Randolph, Monroe, Callaway, and Chariton, killing in the frequent skirmishes about fifty guerrillas, capturing from the enemy many horses and arms. On the 29th of September, this detachment, with the exception of Captain Mayo and twenty men, who were left at Glasgow, proceeded by boat, with General Fisk, to Jefferson City, and participated in the defense of the capital, against General Price’s last raid into the State. The detachment of twenty men and all the equipments and horses left at Glasgow, fell into the hands of the rebels, by the surrender of the place by General Harding, on the 10th of October, 1864. Captain Mayo (now Major), during the day’s fight, was gallant, repulsing with his detachment about sixty! ! Ray a nd Clay country militiamen, the repeated charges of two rebel regiments, to take a bridge which he was ordered to hold. During these operations along the Missouri River, the ranks of the regiment were being filled in St. Louis by representatives from the various Missouri State Militia regiments, resulting in the following organizations:
Company E, organized August 29th, 1864, A, B, C, D, and F organized September 5, 1864, companies G and H on the 12th, Company I on the 14th , K on the 20th, and L on the 19th of September. These companies, without having a regimental organization, marched on the night of September 26th to meet General Price, then invading the State at the head of the rebel army, and reported to Major General A. J. Smith, at De Soto, Jefferson County, returning under him to St. Louis before the close of the month. Leaving the Meramec bridge October 1st, these companies marched under Colonel Catherwood, arriving in Union on the 5th inst., and spending there days in scouting to the south and west to a distance of forty miles, thence proceeding on the 7th and arriving at Jefferson City on the 10th inst., where they were joined by the detachment under command of Major King; thence, on the 12th inst. to California; on the 13th to Georgetown; on the night of the 13th to Higgins’ farm, and on the 14th to Milkey’s farm. On the 19th of October, at Killpatrick’s Mills, the regiment was assigned to the 2d Brigade of Major General Pleasonton’s cavalry division, and accompanied the same, marching on the 20th, mostly at night, to Lexington; on the 21st to Fire Creek Prarie; on the 22nd to Independence, losing Major W. C. Lefever and two men wounded, and one man killed. At Independence the regiment made a gallant charge upon a division of the enemy, having two guns in position, cut down nearly every man at the battery, capturing the guns and driving the enemy from the ground. In this charge Captain Turner, Lieutenants Ringen and Vanbebber, and seven men were wounded. Marched the same night to Little Santa Fe; thence to the vicinity of Fort Scott, where the enemy had agin formed for battle. On this day the regiment was in the rear, but was brought to the front, reporting only one hundred and fifteen men, the remainder being disabled by the loss of their horses, by exhaustion; with this small force another charge was made upon the ! left of the enemy’s line, using the saber upon the heads of the rebels, who fled in great confusion, closely followed up until the colonel commanding finding himself far in the rear of the enemy’s line and in danger of being flanked, was compelled to fall back. (Portions of the above are extracted from Colonel Catherwood’s official report.) Nine men were wounded in the last engagement.
On the 29th of October the regiment was at Newtonia, where Major Austin A. King assumed command, and returned to Springfield by November 1st, 1864. One hundred and twenty men of the command, the only ones remaining mounted, proceeded under Major King to Cassville, Missouri, Ozark, Linden, and Huntsville, and on the 15th to Rolla, wither the dismounted body had already proceeded on the 9th inst.
Here the close of the year found the main body of the regiment building winter quarters, while several companies were garrisoning outposts within the district. At the beginning of the year 1865, the regiment was stationed at Rolla, Missouri, where it remained building winter quarters, doing outpost and guard duty, scouting, escorting trains, fighting guerrilla bands, and doing much service in resisting lawless depredations, until May 18th. On the 26th of February, the last company M was organized. May 17th, orders were received at regimental headquarters for the regiment to march via Linn Creek and Warrensburg, Missouri, Lawrence, and Fort Riley, Kansas, to Fort Larned, Kansas. In compliance with these orders, the regiment marched on the following day, leaving four companies, F, H, C, and A, still on duty in the district of Rolla, proceeding with much annoyance from storms and scarcity of forage to Fort Riley, where it arrived the 6th of June, and reported at headquarters District of Upper Arkansas, where the following disposition of companies was made: Company L was sent to Republic County, Kansas, and stationed at Salt Marsh; the other seven companies were ordered to report to the commanding officer of the 2d sub-district (Colonel Catherwood), and were assigned to stations as follows: companies B and D to Little Arkansas Crossing, I, K, and M to Cow Creek Station, E and G to Fort Zarat, Kansas, all on the Santa Fe road. Headquarters was established at Council Grove, Kansas. The duties of these companies consisted in escorting mail coaches and trains, and protecting the road against Indian depredations; the duty was severe and constant, and was performed a great portion of the time without forage for the horses, and some times without rations, and until July the men were so destitute of clothing that for several weeks an entire company was excused from duty, owing to the impossibility of their appearing with decency outside the holes they had dug in the banks of the Walnut Creek for their shelter ! from the severe storms and scorching sun of the plains.
Companies A, C, F, and H arrived in the district during the last days of June. C and H were assigned to Fort Zarat, A and F to escort the Butterfield surveying party to Denver, Colorado Territory, from which expedition they returned in September. On June 29th, the regiment suffered the loss of its respected and efficient commander, by the resignation of Colonel E. C. Catherwood, who felt himself mistreated and neglected. Colonel Austin A. King succeeded to the vacancy thus created, on the 10th of July, 1865.
On the last day of July, nine companies stationed in the district were concentrated at Fort Zarat; from thence headquarters of the regiment, with these squadrons, marched under command of Major Mayo, on the 3d and 4th of August to Fort Larned, Colonel King having been ordered to Council Grove to assume command of the 2d sub-district. Upon the arrival of the command at Fort Larned, it was reported to Major General Sanborn, for service in the field in the contemplated expedition against hostile Indian tribes south of the Arkansas River; here they were joined by Company L. The expedition being abandoned, the regiment furnished a detachment of one hundred men, who returned with General Sanborn to the vicinity of the place appointed for an Indian Council, near the confluence of the Arkansas with its little namesake. Colonel King, in pursuance of orders from Sanborn, accompanied by companies B, C, H, and I left Fort Larned August 26th for Fort Riley, to assume command of the 1st sub-district; the companies also left Fort Larned on the 28th for Fort Zarat, under the command of Major Mayo. While Colonel King was at Fort Riley the sub-districts were discontinued, and he received orders to assemble five hundred men of the regiment at Fort Ellsworth, properly equipped, to proceed to Denver, Colorado Territory. The regiment was then equally divided, one half reporting to Major General Elliott, in the district of Kansas, being stationed, A and F at Fort Ellsworth, D and K at Fort Larned, G and M at Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory. Colonel King, with regimental headquarters, and companies B, C, H, and I started from Fort Riley on September 6th, accompanying Brevet Major General Upton, en route for Denver, Colorado Territory. On September 12th companies E and L also started from Fort Zarat, under Major Mayo, marching over trackless prairie to Smoky Hill, to intercept regimental headquarters, which had already preceded them, overtaking the command of the 17th, after marching day and night. This march occupied the ! column u ntil October 2d. The hardships encountered by the troops were of the most discouraging character; as the expedition had been indifferently provided with forage, nearly three-fourths of the march had to be made without the necessary supplies for their horses. Under ordinary circumstances the animals might have subsisted on the extensive meadow lands, but even this was denied, from the fact that the route traversed was almost wholly destitute of grass, resembling a burnt and barren waste, from which even the native buffalo had been driven to search for greener pastures. As a consequence, the number of dismounted men increased every day, while the exhausted beasts were either left to bait the prarie wolf or urged along the rear in the vain hope, excited by glowing reports, of soon reaching a kindlier soil.
The patience of the troops was much tried, also by the poisonous alkali which they were compelled to use during a great portion of the march, and by the lack of wood, of which scarcely any was found between Big Creek, a tributary of the Smokey Hill, and the Pinery, which we struck about sixty miles from Denver. Having arrived at Denver on the 2d of October, the command went into camp, where it remained until October 5th, when the Colonel received orders to send Company I to Fort Garland, where it is now located, companies H and L to Camp Collier, under command of Mayo, and himself to proceed with companies B, C, and E to Camp Wardwell, and there assume command of the post. The necessities of the service brought Company H also to Wardwell. These four companies have for the last two months been actively engaged in protecting the Platte route from Wardwell to eighty miles below, against the frequent assaults by Indians.
Justice to the men serving at the posts demands a statement of the neglect from which they have suffered to such a degree as to task the utmost endurance of human nature. Being located in a bleak desert, accessible at all points to the rough winds in the season of frost and snow, they have up to the present time, been unprovided with quarters of any description, being compelled by the necessities of the climate, to shelter themselves in the low and moist banks of the Platte. Being removed near a hundred miles from the woodlands, no provision has been made up to the present time for fuel, the men being left to battle with the rigors of the season without firs, frequently not even the amount requisite for the preparation of their food. The repeated efforts of Colonel King to correct these evils have this far failed to produce the necessary remedies. It cannot be surprising that the men should be turning longing eyes towards their homes and being anxious to be relieved from a service in which their labors appear to be so little appreciated, and their claims to meet with no attention. I have the honor to be, Colonel, your obedient servant, John E. Mayo, Major Commanding

As read above, William was given a 30 day furlough, in which time Elvira became pregnant with her second child Joseph Golden who was born on March 1, 1866.  William may not have seen his son before his time in the cavalry ended on July 19, 1866.  No doubt the transition must have been difficult for him, but it also brings up the question of how Elvira Morgan Golden handled the farm/home while he was away and how difficult it may have been.

William continued to farm throughout his life, most likely in or near Jim Henry Township as that is where the family was living in the 1870, 1880, 1890, and 1900 censu , but at some point he owned a mercantile store in Tuscumbia. 

"William Golden and Company"---William had a general mercantile store in Tuscumbia. In 1880, William and his wife, Alvira, were living in Jim Henry Township with their 7 children. When he opened his store, I do not know if he remained on his Jim Henry farm or moved into Tuscumbia.   - http://www.millercountymuseum.org/newspapers/vindicator.html

William and Elvira had in total 7 children (I have included who they married, and their children's names I could find)

1. Nancy Golden September 23, 1862-December 16, 1952 married Ben Berendzen about 1886
1. Verona Berendzen
2. Fred Berendzen
3. Lena Berendzen
4. Louie Berendzen
5. Emil Berendzen
6. George Berendzen
7. Leo Berendzen
8. Josie Berendzen
2.  Joseph Golden (Great Great Grandfather) March 1, 1866-January 2, 1947 married Mary Elisabeth Stepp daughter of Joseph and Isabell Freeman Stepp on February 10, 1889
1. William Golden (Great Grandfather)
2. Isabell Golden
3. Ida Golden 
4. Gracey Golden
5. Joseph Golden
6. Mary E. Golden
7. Bertha Golden
8. Beulah Golden
9. Leonard Golden
3.  Eliza Jane Golden August 10, 1867-March 22, 1948 married John Kohenskey August 17, 1888.
1. John William Kohenskey
2. Nettie Kohenskey
3. Mary Kohenskey
4. Oliver Kohenskey
5. George Kohenskey
6. Theodosia Kohenskey
7. Hattie Kohenskey
8. Henry Kohenskey
9. Charles Kohenskey
10. Elizabeth Beulah Kohenskey
11. Dorothy Kohenskey
4.  Oliver George Golden September 15, 1872 - August 6, 1939 married Iva Rosalee Jenkins daughter of George and Julia Williams Jenkins on Feb 8, 1903 in Miller County, Missouri
1. Raney Golden
2. Archie Rado Golden
3. Julia Opal Golden
4. Lawrence William Golden
5. Elmer Earl Golden
6. George Gail Golden
7. Margaret Golden
5.  Robert Golden August 27, 1873-October 8, 1954 married Arizona Batty on November 28, 1898
1. Orville Golden
2. Opal Golden
3. Harvey Golden
4. Dolly Golden
6.  George William Golden February 4, 1877 - 1965, married Magnolia Ann Williams on May 21, 1899 in Miller County Missouri.
1. Maggie Ethel Golden
7.  William H Golden April 18, 1880-Mary 12, 1919 married Lucy Anna Maylee
1. Nellie Golden
2. Ruby Lucille Golden

On April 25, 1906 William Golden passed away, 6 years before his wife Elvira.  He is buried in Jenkins-Bungart Cemetery next to her.