The widowed veteran was almost twenty years older than his second wife. Both were born in York County, Virginia. He was buried at Hampton National Cemetery.
— Compiled military service records of volunteer Union soldiers who served with the United States Colored Troops [microform]: 1st through 5th United States Colored Cavalry, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), 6th United States Colored Cavalry (1997). Reel 0003 – 1st United States Colored Cavalry: Casey, Thomas – Davenport, John J. (online at http://www.archive.org/details/compiledmili0003akesunit). Cheesmans’s CMSR can be viewed at n287-n310.
Widow — 1,022,930 / 776,313, Elizabeth Cheesman
Marriage License, William Cheesman & Elizabeth Fitchett, 21 February 1884
Elizabeth City County, Virginia
ages, 45 years old and 27 years old, respectively; husband’s and wife’s condition, widowed and single; birthplace, York Co., Va.; residence, Elizabeth City Co., Va.; husband’s parents, Sambo Cheeseman & Phillis Cheeseman; wife’s parents, Joseph and Ann Fitchett; occupation, farmer
Questionnaire, William Cheesman, October 1897
[married] I am a married man, Elizabeth Fidget, maiden; now Elizabeth Cheesman
[when, where, by whom] about 1875 in York County, Va.; Rev. Nash, pastor of Bethel Church, York County, Va.
[marriage record] by licenses filed in Elizabeth City County
[previously married] blank
[living children] Noveller Cheesman, two years old; Esteller Cheesman, five years old; Albert Cheesman, eight years old; Howard Cheesman, fifteen years old; Edward Cheesman, twenty-one years old
Notarized Statement, Elizabeth White & Ella Carter, 18 April 1914
55 and 51 years old, respectively; both reside in Elizabeth City County, Va.; both post-office addresses, Hampton, Va.
“They were personally acquainted with Nancy Cheesman, deceased, wife of William Cheesman, deceased, and that they attended her funeral; that she was buried by undertaker Andrew Toliver, and was buried at the grave yard on Frazier’s Farm in the County of Elizabeth City, Virginia, that said William Cheesman was married once before he was married to Elizabeth Cheesman, the applicant, and that his former wife Nancy Cheesman, died before his marriage to the claimant, that the claimant lived together as husband and wife, from the time of their marriage until the death of the soldier, William Cheesman, and that the claimant has never re-married since the death of the soldier.”
Notarized Statement, Laura Brown, 18 May 1914
47 years old; residence, York County, Va.; post-office address, Box 88, RFD No. 2, Hampton, Virginia
“That she has known Elizabeth Cheesman, the claimant since she was a small girl, before she became of marriageable age, that she went to school with her and has lived near her nearly all of her life. That the said Elizabeth Cheesman was never married before she was married to the soldier, William Cheesman, having known him since she was a very young girl. That when she first became acquainted with him he was married to Nancy Cheesman, his former wife, that the said Nancy Cheesman died over thirty years ago; that said Elizabeth Cheesman lived with said William Cheesman until his death as his wife; that said Elizabeth Cheesman has not re-married since the said of the said William Cheesman.”
1st U.S. Colored Cavalry 
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