A Soldier
US Army, Union
Family members report that Jonathan Calvin Cunningham was the son of Hugh Cunningham (son of Jonathan & Hannah Cunningham) and Nancy (Ford) Cunningham.
There is not a military gravestone for Jonathan Calvin Cunningham, but from military records, penison files, and histories, much can be extracted. He was born December 15, 1820, according to his military records and pension files, even though his gravestone has the date of February 27, 1829. Family members indicate that his birth date in a family Bible is recorded as December 19. 1929. He was born in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and moved to Marion County (now Baxter County), Arkansas, about 1858, and settled near the present day Buffalo.
He joined the Union Army at Pilot Knob, Missouri, and was mustered in the 2nd Ark Vol Cav, Co C as a PVT on July 5, 1863. He was listed as a Corporal in September 1863 and until November 1864 when he became a Sergeant. He was hospitalized in the General Hospital, Springfield, Missouri, from August 22, 1864 to February 3, 1865 with orchitis and hemoturia. He was mustered out with his unit at Memphis, Tennessee, on August 20, 1865, as a Sergeant.
Married (1) Sarah Pamella Hiddard (name may have been Whitted) and divorced at the end of the Civil War.
Married (2) Mary Erskin
Married (3) Minerva Elizabeth Caststeel
Married (4) Tabitha Narcissa Caststeel
The Caststeel wives were daughters of Dr. William Riley Caststeel & Martha A. Akins Caststeel. Dr. Caststeel had been a physician with the CSA, and according to one history, his hatred for the Union supporting Jonathan Cunningham was so great that he disowned his daughter Minerva when she married Cunningham. Dr. Caststeel refused to tend Minerva when her third child was born and she died in childbirth. Apparently not all of the Caststeel family shared the animosity toward Cunningham that Dr. Caststeel exhibited since Minerva's older sister became wife number 4.
In her History of Baxter County, Mary Ann Messick had other details about Cunningham. She wrote: "Jonathan Cunningham had laid out a large plantation near Buffalo in 1858--without the help of slaves. His mother had generously offered to send him 16 of her slaves from Covington, Tennessee to help clear his 300 acres, but Cunningham had come to Arkansas because he was so opposed to slavery."
----
His wife Tabitha's confederate pension filing (as a widow) was made in November 1896, which means he died in 1896, not 1898. A closer inspection of the headstone photograph seems to support the 1896 date.
US Army, Union
Family members report that Jonathan Calvin Cunningham was the son of Hugh Cunningham (son of Jonathan & Hannah Cunningham) and Nancy (Ford) Cunningham.
There is not a military gravestone for Jonathan Calvin Cunningham, but from military records, penison files, and histories, much can be extracted. He was born December 15, 1820, according to his military records and pension files, even though his gravestone has the date of February 27, 1829. Family members indicate that his birth date in a family Bible is recorded as December 19. 1929. He was born in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and moved to Marion County (now Baxter County), Arkansas, about 1858, and settled near the present day Buffalo.
He joined the Union Army at Pilot Knob, Missouri, and was mustered in the 2nd Ark Vol Cav, Co C as a PVT on July 5, 1863. He was listed as a Corporal in September 1863 and until November 1864 when he became a Sergeant. He was hospitalized in the General Hospital, Springfield, Missouri, from August 22, 1864 to February 3, 1865 with orchitis and hemoturia. He was mustered out with his unit at Memphis, Tennessee, on August 20, 1865, as a Sergeant.
Married (1) Sarah Pamella Hiddard (name may have been Whitted) and divorced at the end of the Civil War.
Married (2) Mary Erskin
Married (3) Minerva Elizabeth Caststeel
Married (4) Tabitha Narcissa Caststeel
The Caststeel wives were daughters of Dr. William Riley Caststeel & Martha A. Akins Caststeel. Dr. Caststeel had been a physician with the CSA, and according to one history, his hatred for the Union supporting Jonathan Cunningham was so great that he disowned his daughter Minerva when she married Cunningham. Dr. Caststeel refused to tend Minerva when her third child was born and she died in childbirth. Apparently not all of the Caststeel family shared the animosity toward Cunningham that Dr. Caststeel exhibited since Minerva's older sister became wife number 4.
In her History of Baxter County, Mary Ann Messick had other details about Cunningham. She wrote: "Jonathan Cunningham had laid out a large plantation near Buffalo in 1858--without the help of slaves. His mother had generously offered to send him 16 of her slaves from Covington, Tennessee to help clear his 300 acres, but Cunningham had come to Arkansas because he was so opposed to slavery."
----
His wife Tabitha's confederate pension filing (as a widow) was made in November 1896, which means he died in 1896, not 1898. A closer inspection of the headstone photograph seems to support the 1896 date.
A Soldier
US Army, Union
Family members report that Jonathan Calvin Cunningham was the son of Hugh Cunningham (son of Jonathan & Hannah Cunningham) and Nancy (Ford) Cunningham.
There is not a military gravestone for Jonathan Calvin Cunningham, but from military records, penison files, and histories, much can be extracted. He was born December 15, 1820, according to his military records and pension files, even though his gravestone has the date of February 27, 1829. Family members indicate that his birth date in a family Bible is recorded as December 19. 1929. He was born in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and moved to Marion County (now Baxter County), Arkansas, about 1858, and settled near the present day Buffalo.
He joined the Union Army at Pilot Knob, Missouri, and was mustered in the 2nd Ark Vol Cav, Co C as a PVT on July 5, 1863. He was listed as a Corporal in September 1863 and until November 1864 when he became a Sergeant. He was hospitalized in the General Hospital, Springfield, Missouri, from August 22, 1864 to February 3, 1865 with orchitis and hemoturia. He was mustered out with his unit at Memphis, Tennessee, on August 20, 1865, as a Sergeant.
Married (1) Sarah Pamella Hiddard (name may have been Whitted) and divorced at the end of the Civil War.
Married (2) Mary Erskin
Married (3) Minerva Elizabeth Caststeel
Married (4) Tabitha Narcissa Caststeel
The Caststeel wives were daughters of Dr. William Riley Caststeel & Martha A. Akins Caststeel. Dr. Caststeel had been a physician with the CSA, and according to one history, his hatred for the Union supporting Jonathan Cunningham was so great that he disowned his daughter Minerva when she married Cunningham. Dr. Caststeel refused to tend Minerva when her third child was born and she died in childbirth. Apparently not all of the Caststeel family shared the animosity toward Cunningham that Dr. Caststeel exhibited since Minerva's older sister became wife number 4.
In her History of Baxter County, Mary Ann Messick had other details about Cunningham. She wrote: "Jonathan Cunningham had laid out a large plantation near Buffalo in 1858--without the help of slaves. His mother had generously offered to send him 16 of her slaves from Covington, Tennessee to help clear his 300 acres, but Cunningham had come to Arkansas because he was so opposed to slavery."
----
His wife Tabitha's confederate pension filing (as a widow) was made in November 1896, which means he died in 1896, not 1898. A closer inspection of the headstone photograph seems to support the 1896 date.
US Army, Union
Family members report that Jonathan Calvin Cunningham was the son of Hugh Cunningham (son of Jonathan & Hannah Cunningham) and Nancy (Ford) Cunningham.
There is not a military gravestone for Jonathan Calvin Cunningham, but from military records, penison files, and histories, much can be extracted. He was born December 15, 1820, according to his military records and pension files, even though his gravestone has the date of February 27, 1829. Family members indicate that his birth date in a family Bible is recorded as December 19. 1929. He was born in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and moved to Marion County (now Baxter County), Arkansas, about 1858, and settled near the present day Buffalo.
He joined the Union Army at Pilot Knob, Missouri, and was mustered in the 2nd Ark Vol Cav, Co C as a PVT on July 5, 1863. He was listed as a Corporal in September 1863 and until November 1864 when he became a Sergeant. He was hospitalized in the General Hospital, Springfield, Missouri, from August 22, 1864 to February 3, 1865 with orchitis and hemoturia. He was mustered out with his unit at Memphis, Tennessee, on August 20, 1865, as a Sergeant.
Married (1) Sarah Pamella Hiddard (name may have been Whitted) and divorced at the end of the Civil War.
Married (2) Mary Erskin
Married (3) Minerva Elizabeth Caststeel
Married (4) Tabitha Narcissa Caststeel
The Caststeel wives were daughters of Dr. William Riley Caststeel & Martha A. Akins Caststeel. Dr. Caststeel had been a physician with the CSA, and according to one history, his hatred for the Union supporting Jonathan Cunningham was so great that he disowned his daughter Minerva when she married Cunningham. Dr. Caststeel refused to tend Minerva when her third child was born and she died in childbirth. Apparently not all of the Caststeel family shared the animosity toward Cunningham that Dr. Caststeel exhibited since Minerva's older sister became wife number 4.
In her History of Baxter County, Mary Ann Messick had other details about Cunningham. She wrote: "Jonathan Cunningham had laid out a large plantation near Buffalo in 1858--without the help of slaves. His mother had generously offered to send him 16 of her slaves from Covington, Tennessee to help clear his 300 acres, but Cunningham had come to Arkansas because he was so opposed to slavery."
----
His wife Tabitha's confederate pension filing (as a widow) was made in November 1896, which means he died in 1896, not 1898. A closer inspection of the headstone photograph seems to support the 1896 date.
Family Members
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