Person:Jonas Griffith (2)

Jones B Griffith Residence: Johnsonville, Illinois Occupation: Service Record: Enlisted as a Private on 15 September 1861 Enlisted in Company I, 48th Infantry Regiment Illinois on 15 September 1861. Discharged Company I, 48th Infantry Regiment Illinois on 07 December 1862

Jonas B Griffith Residence: Johnsville, Illinois Occupation: Service Record: Enlisted as a Private on 03 December 1863 Enlisted in Company K, 61st Infantry Regiment Illinois on 14 January 1864. Missing on 25 December 1864 Drowned Company K, 61st Infantry Regiment Illinois on 08 September 1865 in White River, AR

This last entry is somewhat confusing, perhaps a data entry problem. 8 September 1865 is the date the unit was mustered out at Nashville, Tennessee. The unit was attacked near Nashville on 25 December 1864. The unit was last in Arkansas, according to the published reports, during September of 1864.

Jonas's pension file from his first enlistment in "The War of 1861", from when he tore ligaments in his leg (slipped in mud while searching for firewood) and was discharged after a period of time. The pension was denied because his wounds were listed as "likely to eventually heal". It didn't matter if he was just temporarily disabled - they wouldn't pay for that. There were all of maybe 10 pages to the file, and listed nothing about his family. One thing that did strike me was the penmanship of his signature, indicating that he had a fair amount of schooling. That's not surprising after having read that the Griffith family was involved in establishing the first schools in Jackson county, Tennessee.

1850 US Census - 11Th District, Wayne County, Illinois D/F: 915/943

J. Griffith, 38 M Farmer Tennessee
Pris. Griffith, 40 F Tennessee (nee Jones)
M. Griffith, 7 F Illinois
Pry. Th. Griffith, 6 M Illinois
W. R. Griffith, 2 M Illinois
S. Griffith, 1 M Illinois
J. A. Jones, 16 M Farmer IL (brother of Mary & Priscilla?)

1.   US census 1850.