Tombstone Tuesday ~ Andrew Walter Nose

Happy Tombstone Tuesday! I must say it is one of my favorite days! In honor of Memorial Day, lets take a look at Andrew W. Nose. My dear 3rd Great Grandfather was born 2 June 1827 in Taylor County, Virginia. He married Celiah Celestial Snider about 1854 in Virginia. They had ten children together, of whom I am descended from their daughter Louisa Virginia Nose.

Andrew served in Company B of the 17th West Virginia Infantry during the Civil War. But it wasn't just his service to his country that made Andrew interesting. Andrew had a busy life, with ten children, the effects on his body after the war, he seemed not to be able to keep a wife. Celiah died in 1877. In 1878 he married Miss Ellen Pierce. They had one child. Then in 1886 he married Miss Annie Thorn. Finally in 1906 he married the young Miss Sarah E. Calls, who was 46 years younger then himself.

After all though, Andrew was a pensioner. But pensioners were not without their problems. It seems one day according to the letters and affidavits in his pension file, some young man taking him to town, forged Andrew's pension voucher and robbed him. In the following letters and court case, many of the persons involved had their characters described. In fact the "Pensioner's wife is notorious for unchastity in the neighborhood where she lives and Pensioner has several times left her on account of her bad conduct in this respect".

Kelly