The 52 Ancestors Challenge for Week 45 is "BEARDED"

​My 3rd Great-Grandfather, JAMES WILLIAM BROWN of Kittery, Maine, is my obvious choice for this week's challenge! Other than a photo of him in 1863, the only other pictures I have of him are from his elder years. 

The photo below is of James and his granddaughter Helen Kramer. No date on back of picture, but she was born in 1893.

James was born in Kittery, Maine on 28 Dec 1841. He died there on 5 May 1923, aged 82, and was buried in Orchard Grove Cemetery. He was married to Emily A. Waitt (1840-1919), and they had five children.

Other blog posts about him and his family on this site:
- The Browns of Locke's Cove, Kittery, Maine
- "Heirloom"
- His daughters: Emily J (Brown) Kramer and "The Maiden Aunt" (May F. Brown)
- His wife: Emily A (Waitt) Brown
​- His father: Elihu D Brown of Kittery

- I also have a page about him on my 27th Maine website:
​https://www.the27thmaine.com/brownjamesw.html

"Heirloom" is the week 8 challenge for "52 Ancestors", and here is my entry: the Medal of Honor awarded to my Third Great-Grandfather, James William Brown of Kittery, Maine. While not technically an heirloom, as it was not in the possession of any member of my family for MANY years and was not passed down to me by kin (it ended up in the hands of a collector out west, whose heirs found me due to my website on the 27th Maine), it nevertheless made it back "home", and I am proud to display it.

What exactly did Private James W Brown do to earn this medal? He was among 300 soldiers of the 27th Maine Infantry Regiment who agreed to stay behind in Washington, DC in July 1863, while the Army of the Potomac marched to Gettysburg. He was not engaged in battle, nor proved himself by any act of heroism in the face of the enemy. He and his unit were all packed up and ready to head back to Maine, as they were just a nine-month regiment, when Secretary of War Edwin Stanton sent a messenger to their camp with his request for them to stay in DC just a bit longer. When Col. Wentworth and 1/3 of the others agreed to stay, Stanton said that they'd get medals for this. The only medals being issued at that time, though, were the medals of honor. So, that is what they got.

There is a lot more to the story of these medals being issued to the 27th Maine men, and the rescinding of all of them during the "purge" of 1917, but that is all covered in the book "A Shower of Stars" by John Pullen.

More about:
James Brown (blog post: the Browns of Locke's Cove, Kittery)
www.The27thMaine.com

I have four ancestors, two each from my paternal and maternal sides, who served during the Civil War.

ISAAC CHARLES HAVEN PRIDHAM, born in New Castle, NH on 11 Sept 1847; died on 16 Apr 1924 in Brighton, MA. He was buried in Riverside Cemetery, New Castle.

Isaac enlisted for two years into the US Navy at Portsmouth, NH on 23 Sept 1864, and served for 20 months on board the Receiving Ship USS Vandalia, in Portsmouth Harbor. He worked as a landsman from Sept '64 to 1 Jan '65, as an ord. seaman to 31 Jan, and as a lamp cleaner to 18 May 1866, when he was discharged.

When he applied for a pension in 1892, he claimed he was born in Sept 1844, to correspond with the age of "20" he gave when he had enlisted back in 1864, when he had actually been only 17 years old. When he needed to send in a birth record to the pension dep't to verify his identity, he had to admit to falsifying his birth date. He still received a pension. 

See also: my blog page on the Pridham family:
http://www.mynewenglandancestors.com/1/post/2014/03/the-pridhams-of-puddle-dock-portsmouth-nh.html

JAMES WILLIAM BROWN was born 28 Dec 1841 in Kittery, Maine; died there on 5 May 1923. He was buried in Orchard Grove Cemetery, Kittery.

He served as a private in Company G, 27th Maine Infantry, enlisting at Kittery on 10 Sept 1862. He was mustered into US service at Portland, Maine on 30 Sept 1862, and served until 17 July 1863, when the regiment was mustered out at Portland.

(at right) James W Brown at his home in Locke's Cove, Kittery, on his way to a GAR convention in Washington, DC, likely the one in 1915 (the 49th Annual Encampment).

For more on the 27th Maine Infantry, please see my website:
www.the27thMaine.com 

THOMAS STEWARD (aka Stewart, Stuart), born abt 1838 in Skowhegan, Maine; died 22 Oct 1897 in Embden, Maine. He is buried in Sunset Cemetery, North Anson, Maine. 

He was drafted on 15 July 1863 at Skowhegan, ME, to serve in Co F, 7th Maine Infantry, but did not report for duty. He was arrested on 27 Jan 1864 and brought to camp, only for him to return home the next day. They arrested him again on 3 Feb. It is not clear in the records whether the recruits were still in Maine, but Private Steward deserted on 12 July '64, and was again arrested, on 23 July. He deserted a third time in August and was arrested a week later, this time being shipped to Carlisle, PA. By this time, the 7th Maine had been mustered out of service, except for later recruits and those who chose to re-enlist, and were transferred to the 1st Maine Veteran Infantry. The monthly muster rolls after this date would show him "absent, sick", right up to the muster out roll of the regiment on 28 June 1865. An affidavit in his pension file claims he suffered from scurvy, chronic diarrhea, piles and a trouble in the head, spending the entire winter quarters at Petersburg in the hospital. In the spring of 1865, he was transported to City Point Hospital. In the 1865 Maine Adjutant Report, it shows him being discharged on 2 July '65.