Is this all porkies ??

[liverpool annie]

Well I'm sorry to say my friend was all over the graveyard in Aztec .... and could find nothing !! .... I bet that's because he's in Washington !!  ( I told her that BEFORE she went to look .... but she looked anyways !!  - just like me she is  )

So I'm not sure where to look for him now ..... do you have a death certificate at all Gallium .... probably not huh ?? but thanks for the extra information ..... !!

Annie 

[forester]

Hello Annie,

It's looking more and more as if Washington is the final resting place of George Baynes. I've had a look for cemetery records this evening, but no luck.
Do you think the Soldiers Home, (now called the AFRH) will hold records?

I've been going through the Aztec cemetery records again as well and can't make any sense of them. I found three other names for the same lot, but none of them deeded. An adjacent lot had been deeded twice.
I hope your friend enjoyed her stroll. Full marks for persistence.

Phil

[liverpool annie]

I've done the same thing Phil .... looking for graves in Washington 

I think I'm going to write to the Soldiers Home and see if they can tell us anything !

I checked the National Archives and didn't see anything I'm afraid .... so I'll see if the Soldiers Home can give us a lead !

Annie 

PS Good job the sun was shining - otherwise my friend would have been "ticked " 

[dollylee]

Have you tried Arlington National Cemetery?

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/contact_us.html

It would seem if he qualified to live in the Soldiers Home he would qualify to be buried there.

dollylee

[liverpool annie]

Sorry to be so tardy answering you Dolly ! .... yes tried Arlington and the Soldiers Home cemetery .... nothing ... at least not that I can find !!

Annie 

[gagilleland]

Hello Annie-

I'm writing about a name you had mentioned earlier in this thread -- William Nelms.  He was married late in life to my great-great-great-grandmother and they lived together in Manassa, Colorado, until their deaths in 1908.  My parents (who actually still live in Manassa) have a ragged reprint of the full page Denver Post newspaper article about his death and, even though we do not share any blood relation to him, it is a treasured family story.  It sounds as though his participation in the Battle of Balaklava and the Charge of the Light Brigade, or both, is either in serious doubt or is now altogether dismissed as fantasy.  I suppose it is human nature for a old man to want to enoble himself with such stories, told to simple people who are apt to take people at their word.  I would be very interested to hear if you've found any further information on Mr. Nelms but I think I will leave my family to continue to believe the legend.

Thank you,

Greg Gilleland
Castle Rock, Colorado, USA

[liverpool annie]

Hi Greg and welcome to RootsChat .... glad to see you !! 

I have to say I really don't know too much about your William ....... but I will be going to the archives in the next week or so and he is on my list of "to dos " !!

It's amazing how many soldiers have Charge of the Light Brigade inscriptions on their gravestone ! ...... it's my belief they were probably at the Crimean War .... just not all at Balaklava ! ( or maybe they were at Balaklava but not at the Charge !! )

Smashing story for you though .... to have that in your family history !

Annie 

PS Did we post this already ? ........

Nelms, William   28 Jan 1819   11 Mar 1908/1   Elizabeth Bruner Nelms   
William Nelums   Edith Morris

Nelms, Elizabeth Bruner   1834   3 May 1908   William Nelms   
Jacob Bruner   

http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/conejos/cemeteries/manassa.txt

[Nick29]

Sounds like you've found yourself a real-life Forrest Gump !   Fascinating !   

[gagilleland]

Hi Greg and welcome to RootsChat .... glad to see you !! 

I have to say I really don't know too much about your William ....... but I will be going to the archives in the next week or so and he is on my list of "to dos " !!

It's amazing how many soldiers have Charge of the Light Brigade inscriptions on their gravestone ! ...... it's my belief they were probably at the Crimean War .... just not all at Balaklava ! ( or maybe they were at Balaklava but not at the Charge !! )

Smashing story for you though .... to have that in your family history !

Annie 

PS Did we post this already ? ........

Nelms, William   28 Jan 1819   11 Mar 1908/1   Elizabeth Bruner Nelms   
William Nelums   Edith Morris

Nelms, Elizabeth Bruner   1834   3 May 1908   William Nelms   
Jacob Bruner   

http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/conejos/cemeteries/manassa.txt

Thanks Annie --

I can't remember what Nelms' original headstone inscription was but I think I bear some degree of responsibility for the current one.  I brought the old newspaper to school when I was about 8 or 9 and caused a bit of a stir.  The local newspaper (The Valley Courier) ran a story on William Nelms and the local VFW post paid to have his headstone, which was in disrepair, replaced.  Of course the inscription on the new stone was based on the facts as we knew them at the time.

Thanks for all of your hard work on this and I hope we uncover some meaningful information on him and the others as well. 

-Greg