William Lyons Metcalfe

files a claim against the

4th Illinois Cavalry

 

William was born on 30 September 1849 in Natchez [1] and baptized there on 30 May 1851. [2] He adopted the use of the middle initial L (which does not appear in his baptismal record), and it is highly likely that it stood for Lyons, after his mother's family. Not much is known about his life. He trained for the law and ultimately qualified. It was noted that on 16 November 1872, while an Assistant in the Chancery [Court] Clerk's Office in Natchez, he petitioned the Southern Claims Commission for $300 in recompense for one light gray horse taken from him on 15 August 1863 when he was thirteen years old. [3] George S. Whitcomb, Frank Howe, Orin Metcalfe and Charles Smith ("colored"), all residents of Natchez, were "witnesses to prove the taking, use, and value of the property." William based his claim on the following incident:

[The horse] was taken from your petitioner on or about the 15th day of August AD 1863, by Major Warden of the 4th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry. And his Command and turned over to S. S. Whitney, Captain and A. Q. M. [Assistant Quartermaster] of the Post & District of Natchez, Miss. for the use of a portion of the Army Stationed at said post and District as he fully believes. That Brig. Gen. Ransom [4] Commanded said post at that time.

Your petitioner would State that said property was previously taken by the Troops of said post at Natchez, and on application to General Ransom, Commanding, the property was returned to your petitioner, but was again taken as above stated; --No receipt or voucher was ever given for said property.

William deposed that he had never voluntarily served in the Confederate Army or Navy, and that he never voluntarily provided supplies to the Confederate Army or Navy--a standard declaration appended to virtually all petitions at the time. He was fifteen years old when the War ended.

His claim was disallowed, and we don't even know the horse's name!

Metcalfe, William Lyons (1849-?) He was born on 30 September 1849 in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi, fifth child of Oren Metcalfe and Zuleika Rosalie Lyons. He married Mary H. Roche in 1881 in Washington, DC when he was about 32 years old. They were the parents of:

Daughter=Bernice Roche Metcalfe (1882 to 1952

Son John Rousseau Metcalfe (1885-?) +

They were later divorced.

William married Mary (Mamie) H. Roche of Washington, D. C., in 1881. [5] While William was a Protestant son of the Confederacy; Mamie was a Catholic daughter of a Union officer. It apparently wasn't a completely successful marriage, ending in the last half of the 1880s, and William was subsequently noted as a lawyer in Oregon in 1891. [6]

Mamie married second Lemuel J. Barber on 19 December 1891 by whom she had no children. She died on 21 June 1919 in Washington D. C.

William and Mamie had two children.