My next few posts are likely to be posts about genealogy searching I am doing for friends of mine. My obsession lies not only in my family tree, but in others as well!
One family I am working on is that of Clancy family. This family is of Irish descent and from the early 1900’s to present has lived in and around the Springfield, Illinois area. I first started working on this tree (on behalf of friend MC) late spring, and in the past week or so, have come back to it. It is actually quite interesting what some time away from a genealogy can do for you. Since I last worked on her tree, I have been learning even more about doing better searches, different types of sources, etc., and I have found that some of what I’ve learned these past few months have helped me this second time around.
So, I’d been sharing what I’d found with her, and she in turn shared it with her father. Well, today, she brought me a photocopy of some family history she’d asked her grandfather to write down this summer and it is absolutely fascinating! There is some great oral history in her family, so I am on a hunt to confirm as much as I can.
One such tidbit was that her grandfather had a great-uncle who fought during the Indian Wars in Arizona after the Civil War and for his service won the Congressional Medal of Honor. Her grandfather even has a picture of him wearing it. This is Patrick Golden, brother to MC’s grandfather’s grandmother, Delia Golden Clancy.
So, I searched to find any verification of this and found it! The US Army has a website that lists all recipients of this medal. It is divided into sections, so given that her grandfather indicated when Patrick Golden received the medal, it was easy enough to go directly to the list of recipients during the Indian War Campaigns. And, a quick Find-In-Page command later, there is Patrick Golden. —- “Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company B, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Arizona, August to October 1868. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 24 July 1869. Citation: Bravery in scouts and actions against Indians.”
This could possibly lead to a whole slew of research into his military background, that I can’t even begin to think about yet. But, I thought it is cool that I found this – I hope her family finds it of interest.
Patrick Golden’s Congressional Medal of Honor
