Charles DeFord, Company B**

**Today’s post includes research notes for documents dated 1901-1932. Last week’s post included research notes for documents dated 1883-1889.


Testimony was presented by a half-sibling and a cousin, neighbors, friends, and former tentmates. Men and women identified their parents, spoke about their experiences as freedom seekers, and gave information about the families of former enslavers. They identified officiants and attendees at marriages and funerals. There are conflicting eyewitness accounts of a gruesome accident at Fort Monroe and the medical treatment that followed. People described the comings-and-goings of soldiers (and their spouses) between Fort Monroe and their homes and declared their presence at “the birth of said children” and at “the death of said soldier.” Witnesses offered specific information about farms, dwellings, and geography.

Widow — 280,317 / 257,637, Silvie Ann Deford

Deposition, Silvie Ann Deford, 3 January 1901
about 65 years old; occupation, housekeeper; post-office address, 34 ½ E. North St., Norfolk, Va.
“We were married according to slave custom, when I was 18 years of age. … His father’s name was Pompy Creekmore.  He was always known as Charles Deford. …He was sick when he came home. He came home before the other soldiers came. Lewis Dawley, Church Street; Humphrey McCoy and James Langer served with him… He died in the county near Bear Quarter, near Hickory, Norfolk Co., Va. and did not have a physician.”
“I came to Norfolk immediately after he died and have resided here ever since. I have lived with my children and been employed as a domestic ever since soldier died.
“Mary Eliza Page, Church St., is the only living witness who testified in my pension claim. I have known her from the time I was a small girl. I first resided in Brewer St. Then in Cumberland St. Then in Church St., Mosly St., Willy St. At my present address for 3 years. I lived in Brewer St 10 or 12 years.”
“William Ward (who was convicted of violating the pension laws and who died about 4 years ago) was my attorney… E.T. Nottingham… executes my vouchers. I go to his office on the 4th. Sometimes I take one witness. Sometimes I do not take any witness.”

Deposition, Mary Eliza Page, 25 April 1901
58 or 59 years old; post-office address, 647 Church St., Norfolk, Va.
“I first knew Silvie Ann Deford when we came into the union in 1862 or 1863, when the colored men were enlisting in the army. She and I came to Norfolk about the same time. We came from Norfolk County. She and I resided in Norfolk during the war and I have resided in Norfolk ever since.  A few years after the death of her husband she and I lived in the same house for about 6 months. … During the war she resided with her father and three sisters, all of whom are dead. … I never saw the soldier after they removed to the country.… Ann was born several months after the soldier died.… When Florence was born the pensioner lived on Brewer St. with her father and sisters. When Ann was born they all lived on Cumberland St. The pensioner lived with her father until he died and since then she has lived with her children…
“…I don’t know the father of Annie nor did I ever hear who he was but she does not look anything like Florence as the latter is a great deal darker. Florence looks a great deal like her father. …”
“L.W. Charlton who gets his mail at Gertie, Va. furnished the coffin for the soldier and he has told me that he remembers that the soldier died in 1867. The book he had the record in though was burnt up he said.”

Deposition, Mary E. Hopper, 25 April 1901
about 56 years old; residence and post-office address, 11 Gordon’s Ave, Norfolk, Va.
“I knew Silvie Ann Deford and her late husband before the war. We all resided in Norfolk Co., Va. beyond Great Bridge. After the war broke out I met her in Norfolk where she was living and where I saw her frequently. I saw her said husband here in Norfolk after he came home from the army and I happened to be visiting at Bear Quarter and Horn Quarter when he died and attended the funeral. He was buried in the cemetery near Bear Quarter. He was carried near a church. The soldier was in bad health when he came home and they went out to Bear Quarter to his mother’s house where he died. They removed to his mother’s house soon after came home from the army.”
“After her husband died she came back to Norfolk and lived with her father and I know that the younger daughter, Ann, was born after the soldier died. I don’t know when Florence was born … [Silvie’s father was] Charles Miller who died a good many years ago.”

Deposition, Jordon Deford, 9 May 1901
about 60 years old; post-office address, Bartee, Norfolk Co., Va.
“Charles Deford was my cousin. I remember when he came home from the army and I attended his funeral. Daniel Williams, dead, or Joe Creekman, dead, buried him. I am unable to recall which of these men was the undertaker. He died at his mother’s home on the Dudley farm … He died of consumption… He was confined to his bed several months before he died…. I am certain that he was sick at his mother’s house about a year …”

Deposition, Horatio Hardin, 3 June 1901
55 or 60 years old; post-office address, Gertie, Norfolk Co., Va. “and residence about north of there.”
“I knew Silvie Ann Deford as she was the wife of my half-brother Charles Deford  who was a soldier during the war between the North and South. I can’t tell you when he enlisted for I was not in this neighborhood then as I was in the West Indies…. I don’t know where he was born but he was raised right in the neighborhood of where I am now living. He was older than I am – probably 10 or 12 years. John Deford (decd) who lived up near Gertie was soldier’s last master and he got his name from the Deford family. Soldier’s mother was my mother but his father was Tom Creekmore (decd). My father was John Hardin and I got my name from him. My mother who was also soldier’s mother was Mary Hardin (decd).”

“I was working as a ‘lighter’ on wood boat and in Jan 1867 and I heard of Charles Deford being bad off up at [illegible] this side of Gertie and I went up to see him and stayed with him a month before he died. … He died of consumption…
[Do you know what caused his final illness?]
“Well, he worked in the shingle swamps om South Hampton [sic], Va. before the war. He hired himself out to the shinglemen, paid his owner so much for each day and was allowed to keep the balance. …
“I went to the West Indies the April following the capture of Norfolk (by the Union troops (Mar 9/62) I mean the April 1863 for it was April of the same year soldier enlisted.”

“I came back to Norfolk from the West Indies the year before Richmond fell and kept on up to Petersburg, Va. where I waited on a white regiment the 62 Ohio Vols and I was at Drury’s Bluff when the mine exploded at Petersburg (July 30/64). About a month or two after the later I came back to Norfolk and have remained around here ever since. … I remember that Pompey Deford his son who is now dead was the only child he had alive. …Florence was the youngest child soldier had by pensioner during service … Pensioner had another child, a girl, about six months after the soldier died. This child was born up near where soldier died in Pleasant Grove Twp. “

Deposition, Ferebee Cuffee, 5 August 1901
about 62 years old; employed by the US Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va.; residence and post-office address, 14 Wilson Ave., Norfolk, Va.
“I did know [Silvie Ann Deford] by sight once but have forgotten her husband’s name was Charles Deford and he was a member of my company. … I did not see the horse fall on him but I saw him when he was getting up. No one helped him. He was not bleeding & I didn’t notice how he was hurt…. [After his discharge in 1866] he lived out near the line of Princess Anne and Norfolk Counties. …”

Deposition, James Langley, 13 August 1901
about 62 or 63 years old; occupation, laborer; residence and post-office address, 96 Nicholson St., Norfolk, Va.
“I served as a sergeant in Co. B … … Pensioner’s husband’s name was Chas. ‘Ford’ that’s what we called him. He served in the same company with me. I never bunked nor messed with him though and I never saw him to know him until we met at Fort Monroe…. I saw him here in town [after discharge] but am under the impression he lived in the country somewhere but I won’t be sure as to that.

Deposition, Ellen Burford, 15 August 1901
about 50 or 60 years old; occupation, housekeeper; residence and post-office address, 165 Newton St., Norfolk, Va.
[no new information]

Deposition, Humphrey McCoy, 23 August 1901
about 53 years old; occupation, “nothing but I formerly drove an express wagon’; residence and post-office address, 506 Princess Anne Ave. “I get my mail there because the letter carrier doesn’t come out as far as this.’
“I know Silvie Ann Deford as I have been acquainted with her since some time during my service. I knew her husband Charles Deford who was a member of my company. I never knew him before I met him during service. He got discharged the same time we all did. … I never bunked with him…. He got flung by horse in the stable yard and the horse ran off the drill field into the stable yard. This was at Fort Monroe but I can’t give the date. This was before we went to Petersburg. He fell on his butt and the jar was so great blood came out of his mouth.… I saw him about a year after my discharge. …once or twice a year. I saw him here in Norfolk.

Deposition, Mary E. Page, 7 September 1901
58 or 59 years old; residence and post-office address, 647 Church St., Norfolk, Va.
“Q. Who was the father of Annie?
 A.  I don’t know.
Q. Who have you heard was?
A.  John Butts. I heard some say was the father of Annie…. I heard she was the soldier’s child about the time she came to Norfolk after his death but after some time the Butts story came around…. I don’t know where Butts is now. He was a married man … John Butts’ wife’s name was Eliza Butts. …”

Deposition, Isaac Kellum, 26 September 1901
82 years old; post-office address, Soldiers Home, Elizabeth City Co., Va.
“I am an inmate there & I am now on furlough … [Silvie’s] husband’s name was Charlie and not John. I never tented with him as I was detailed as a cook. … I did not see him thrown from his horse but was there when he was carried into the tent on a stretcher…. I met him here once after his discharge. He was living up the county somewheres and had come to town. Yes, I just saw him on the street or at the market and talked with him only a few minutes. …”

Deposition, Silvie Ann Deford, 26 September 1901
[John Butts is not the father of my child.] … I swear positively that Anne is the soldier’s child  begotten by him when he was in a sickly condition a month or two or three before he died.… I certainly told Mr. Ward who was my attorney that soldier lived about a year after his discharge and when I told Special Examiner Tyler differently I told him wrong.  I can explain how I did it though. … Anne and Florence Deford are the soldier’s children.”

Letter from Mrs. Florence Virginia Deford Williams to U.S. Pension Office, Washington, DC, 21 March 1932
“My reason in writing you is that I am now living in Corona, L.I., N.Y. and supported by some of my relatives, but neither have I or my relatives have the means to pay my way back home and I have such a desire to get back there. I am about sixty seven years old and no one wants to hire me now but in case that I can get back home then I can get a little support, you will find enclosed the Pension paper that my Mother received but she died in 1910 [???] and was living with me when she died and buried from my house.”

Letter from Director of Pensions, Veterans Administration, Washington, DC to Mrs. Florence V.D. Williams, Corona, Long Island, New York, 12 May 1932
“Dear Madam, In response to your letter you are informed that as you are over the age of sixteen years, and the soldier’s death does not appear to have been due to his military service, there is no law under which you can have title to pension as his child.”