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Civil War Veteran?

 

This is a photo of our ancestor, Joseph F. Motier.  In records, he is sometimes called Joseph Motie and sometimes his middle initial is listed as G, but I think that may be confusion with cursive handwriting.  I think his middle initial is F for Francis, his father's first name. Joseph was born in 1818 in Portage Des Sioux, St. Charles County, MO.  Motie's ancestors were French, both from French Canada and France. 

Joseph spent most of his adult life living in Iowa, both in Dubuque and Davenport.  He was a brick mason and later a contractor.  As is apparent from having a professional photograph taken in the mid 1800s, he was a man of means.  He built a home which was listed on the historic register.  It is no longer standing, but has a wikipedia entry!  See here: Wikipedia Motie House

Here's the home listed with the National Parks: Motie House

Motie married an Irish immigrant, Mary McGuire, and together they had many children, but his youngest was a daughter named Eleanor "Lillie" who married Edward M. Keating in 1893 in Chicago. Eleanor and Edward had nine children, including Louis Joseph, who is my grandfather.

In 1863 when the Civil War was raging and the Union was faltering, many men received draft notices, including Joseph Motie.  The record below is a listing of men from his district in Iowa who were called up at that time.  As you see, Motie's age is not listed but it includes the notation "Claims to be over age." Cousin Brian told me that men up to age 45 were eligible for the Union draft. Well, did Motie have to serve or was he too old? I figured that if he did serve, we'd be able to find his military records, so I did some digging and found nothing. 

My brother Ed says that many Civil War records were destroyed in a fire in the St. Louis area, so maybe his records were lost... but I did find his obituary from 1880 (see below) and that does not include any mention of military service.  Interestingly, some documents have Motie's birth year as 1818 and others (including his obituary) as 1820.  If he birth year was 1820, he would have been eligible for the army in 1863, if he birth year was March 1818, he would have been too old.  I have concluded that Motie did not serve.  Anyone have thoughts?  Please share!



 


Comments

  1. Jane KeatingApril 1, 2023 at 4:39 PM

    More great information on the Motier side. The house is very nice and how cool it is on the National Register. It would have been neat to see pictures inside. I would tend to agree with you that he probably didn't serve in the Civil War because his obit made no mention. It would be interesting to read obits of other men who did serve to see if their obits mention their Service.

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