William and Lydia Webb

William and Lydia Webb

George Henry Merritt

The story is the parents of our great grandfather, George 'Henry' Merritt, were a younger former Union soldier and an older Confederate widow named Lydia.

The 1850 U.S. Federal Census

Grandma* Lydia is twenty-three years old on the 1850 Federal census. Married to William Webb, her first child, Rebecca, was born when she was twenty. Her son, William, is an infant. They farmed near the Okefenokee Swamp but owned no land nor personal property of value. Neither adult could read or write.

The 1860 U.S. Federal Census

On the 1860 Federal census, the Webbs added three daughters to their family. Chancy is seven years old; Eliza, four and Martha, seven months. The family lives in Waresboro, Ware County, Georgia. They farm their own land, worth $400, and their personal property is worth $265.

The U. S. Civil War

William Webb joined the 26th Infantry Regiment (also called 13th Regiment), Company H. Known as the "Forest Rangers," its organization completed in October 1861, at Brunswick, Georgia. He last appears on the Muster Rolls six months later; March 31, 1862.

The 1870 U. S. Federal Census

The 1870 U. S. Federal Census found  Lydia Merritt living in Pierce County, Georgia. Her land is worth $200; her personal property, $210.  Her oldest daughter, Rebecca - now twenty-two year old - is gone. Her son William is nineteen.

The seven-year-old Chancey on the 1860 census is called Elizabeth in 1870. Four-year-old Eliza is known as Lucinda. Baby Martha must have died in childhood.

The youngest children - George H and Eliza Ann - are actually Merritt children. George Leonard Merritt is not counted. It's not clear whether he was around or had deserted his family by 1870.

The 1880 Federal Census

The last record we have of Grandma Lydia is the 1880 Federal census. She lives in Blackshear, Peirce County, Georgia. Her marital status is 'Widowed.'

Her thirty-year-old son, William, lives at home. Chancey aka Elizabeth Webb is now Eliza A. Webb. Henry Merritt is our grandfather, George Henry. His younger sister, Eliza Ann, died in infancy.

Conclusion

"...the 1890 Federal Census...was destroyed by a fire at the Commerce Department in Washington, DC on 10 January 1921."
Ancestry.com

On the next surviving Federal census records from1900 Grandma Lydia would be 73 years old. We haven't found her after 1880.

1890 U.S. Census: Where is it? 

George Leonard Merritt: Union Soldier

Part 1 Okefenokee Merritt Family             Part 5 Burning of Jacksonville
Part 2 George Merritt and Lydia Stewart    Part 6 Brothers-In-Law in Arms
Part 3 From the North                                 Part 7 Civil War Stories: Deserters
Part 4 A Connecticut Yankee                      Part 8 Yankee in the Swamp

*Note: Relationships, such as grandmother, 2nd great, etc., are expressed from the perspective of the grandchildren of Willis Edgar and Carrie (known as) Mae (Merritt) Musgrove.

Terms of relationship - grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc.  - are used here generically to include relatives such as fourth great grandfathers, great grand uncles, second cousins twice removed, etc.