Linns From A to Z

Once again, I'm just poking around my ancestral tree, looking for an interesting ancestor or someone I'd like to know more about. While looking through all of the Linns in my genealogy program, I counted 141 with the surname LINN. And this 141 doesn't count those who married into the family and took the Linn name.

There are 3 with the first name Mary; 3 with the name Maria; 4 Donalds; and the winner is John with 7. My list of Linns starts with my cousin Alan and ends with my 2nd cousin, twice removed, Zona Linn. Since Zona is an unusual name, I decided to take a closer look at her.

Zona was born in Minnesota on 28 April 1902 to Louis S. Linn and his wife Florence Stafford, their second child. Shortly after Zona's birth, her mother Florence died. Louis remarried in 1910 to Anna Brockman, who brought 3 more children to the marriage.

The name Louis S. Linn may mean nothing to us, but Louis' parents should sound familiar. Louis' father was Lewis Linn, the stepson of John Linn. Lewis took the last name Linn when John married his mother Sarah Svensdotter. Lewis enlisted in 1863 to fight in the Civil War. He joined the regiment at Athens, Alabama, where he remained for six weeks and then started with Sherman in his memorable march to the sea. He was in two engagements with Sherman in the Carolina campaign. He was later transferred to the 7th Iowa Infantry. He was twice wounded in engagements, and this permanently disabled him. He was mustered out of the service about July 1865 with a most creditable military record.

While Lewis Linn is not a direct ancestor, his wife certainly is. Kerstin Olofsdotter is my 3rd great aunt and sister to my 2nd great grandfather, Olof Olofson.

Back to Zona. In 1920, at the age of 17, Zona married Delbert Rouch, age 25, in Michigan. This marriage, however, didn't stand the test of time as they divorced sometime before the 1930 census. The divorce probably happened before 1925 as I find Delbert Rouch, a carpenter, living by himself in his home state of Indiana. And, in 1930, I find Zona, divorced, working as a telephone operator and living by herself in Minnesota. 

In 1933, Zona marries Thomas Tomek, an orchestra musician of Bohemian descent, who was 7 years Zona's junior. I would venture a guess that Thomas played in a Czech group that played polkas around the Midwest. For a time, they lived in Chicago which had a large number of Czech/Bohemian families.

While it doesn't appear that any children were born to this couple, they had a long marriage until Thomas died in 1987 in Minnesota. Zona passed in 1992. Both are buried at Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Cemetery, Taunton, Lyon County, Minnesota.

So, like most of us, Zona Linn lived a normal, but fairly unremarkable life. Still, I'm happy to share her with you and keep her name alive.

Zona and her brother Lyle were from Louis S. Linn and Florence Stafford Linn's marriage.

A Confederate Soldier?

Minnie Almedia Barquist was my first cousin, 3 x removed, the granddaughter of John Barquist, and niece of my second great grandmother, Maria Barquist Olofson.

Normally, I wouldn't blog about such a distant cousin. There's nothing extraordinary about Minnie's life. Minnie was born in Galesburg, Illinois, to Anders Gustaf Barquist and his wife Christina Anderson on July 23, 1876. Her family moved to Hamilton County, Iowa, sometime between the 1880 US Federal Census and the 1885 Iowa State Census.

But one quiet day as I sat researching the Barquist line, I took a closer look at Minnie. On March 17, 1908, Minnie married Thomas Basket. Thomas was originally from Tennessee. And his father, Jonathan Basket, had served in the Civil War from Tennessee.

My eyes opened wide. Did we have a Confederate soldier in the family? I'm so proud of Gus Linn's service and his strength to survive as a POW. I tell people of how Lewis Linn, John Linn's stepson, marched with Sherman on his famous March to the Sea. Both of these men served in the Civil War--on the Union side.

I admit that I felt a bit of sadness, disappointment, that a Confederate soldier might be an ancestor, no matter how distant. Perhaps that makes little sense today as so many years and distance is between all of us and an ancestor who served in the Civil War. The cause that the Confederate soldiers fought for, no matter how I felt about it, was one that they believed in, just as important as our Gus and Lewis must have felt. But still....

The following map from the National Geographic website shows the breakdown of the states during the Civil War, and clearly, Tennessee was a slave state, a Confederate state.

Jonathan Basket. Civil War soldier. Tennessee. Greene County. I kept reading. Researching. And this is when I learned a bit more about the Civil War. Greene County, Tennessee, in the northeast part of the state, is thought to be one of the few places in the United States that has memorials to BOTH Union and Confederate soldiers. As it turns out, Greene County, Tennessee, provided MOSTLY Union soldiers, even though Tennessee itself was a slave state and part of the Confederacy.

And when the state voted whether to secede, the percentage of citizens from Greene County who voted FOR secession was just 21.7%. Greene County was clearly outvoted, though, as Tennessee seceded and joined the other Confederate states.

According to the Greene County Genealogical Society website, the variance of votes for and against secession by county created a "Civil War within a Civil War" where neighbors and family members killed one another as they chose sides.

So which side did Jonathan Basket, father to Thomas Basket, father-in-law to our Minnie Barquist, choose?

He chose the Union side. Jonathan Basket was a private in the 10th Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry.

After the war, in 1866, Jonathan Basket married Louise McMackin and they had 7 children, the middle child being Thomas Basket. Jonathan died in 1905; his wife died in 1915; they are buried in Tennessee.

Thomas came to Iowa around 1900. He died in 1944 at the age of 68. Minnie died in 1941 at the age of  64. Thomas and Minnie are buried at the South Marion Cemetery just outside Stratford, Iowa.

Thomas Basket and Minnie Barquist Basket, South Marion Cemetery, Hamilton County, Iowa

Jonathan Basket, Greene County, Tennessee

I'll admit that I'm relieved that Jonathan Basket fought for the Union side during the Civil War. But I probably shouldn't have reacted as I did. I have to remind myself from time to time as I research that my ancestors' successes and failures, the choices my ancestors made, were all made at a different time, under circumstances that I may never fully understand. I don't own their choices, their great triumphs or their failures.

So for now, I can say that my ancestors fought ONLY on the Union side during the Civil War. But my research is far from over....

He Marched With Sherman to the Sea

This winter I decided to write what I know about my military ancestors. I was able to find 27 men, from the United States, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, who served in the military. If you have information or photographs of our Linn ancestors who served in the military, I’d appreciate hearing from you. Specifically, I’ve not been able to find much about Great Uncle Frank Linn, or two uncles, Ellis and Ivan Linn. A picture of them in uniform? Unit in which they served? Anything would be helpful and make these 27 men come to life for future generations.

Below is what I know about one of our ancestors who served in the Civil War.

Lewis Linn, born in Sweden in 1844, was the stepson of John (Olausson) Linn, the son of John’s second wife Sarah Svensdotter.   Because Lewis married Christine (Kerstin) Olofson, my 3^rd great aunt, daughter of Olof Olsson and Kerstin Larsdotter, Lewis Linn is also the husband of my 3^rd great aunt, making his descendants blood relatives.

In 1863, at age 19, he enlisted in the United States army and for eighteen months was with the 39th Iowa Infantry under the command of Captain Yeager and Colonel Cummins, General Chorus being division commander.

He joined the regiment at Athens, Alabama, where he remained for six weeks and then started with Sherman in his memorable march to the sea. He was in two engagements with Sherman in the Carolina campaign. Lewis was later transferred to the 7th Iowa Infantry. He was twice wounded in engagements, and this permanently disabled him. He was mustered out of the service in July 1865 with an honorable military record.

Lewis Linn applied for disability for his service on March 2, 1885; and on October 3, 1927, his widow, Christine Linn applied for benefits.

In support of his application in 1885 a letter that describes the scene at Allatoona Pass in Georgia on October 5, 1864, and the injuries Lewis Linn sustained there, was written and signed by his Sergeant, Augustus E. Erickson.

Erickson states that, during the battle, Company I was sent to the top of a hill to support a battery; but because the enemy concentrated its fire on the hill, the battery never arrived.

The company were lying on the ground, not quite to the brow of the hill, loading and firing their muskets. Lewis M. Linn was loading and firing with the rest and a shell or cannon ball struck the earth in front of said Lewis M. Linn tearing the earth and saplings and throwing said Lewis M. Linn several feet into the air, alighting on his side. The cannon ball, after striking the earth, passed under where said Lewis M. Linn was kneeling in the act of firing.

The battle was a Union victory under the command of John Crose who was wounded during the battle. On the following day, Crose sent a message to General Sherman stating “I am short a cheek bone and one ear, but am able to whip all hell yet.” This battle was a small one, but bloody with 706 Union and 897 Confederate fatalities.

It appears that Lewis Linn’s second war injury was a gunshot to the breast also during the Carolina campaign.

He came back to Iowa and married Kerstin Olofson in 1868. They had 7 children, pictured with the couple above. Lewis Linn died on September 6, 1927, in Stratford and is buried in the South Marion Cemetery alongside his wife Kerstin who died in 1941.