Great Genealogy Stories...

Great Genealogy Stories

Previously published by Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG, Missing Links


TREASURES IN AN OLD DRESSER by Lynne Kennedy, [email protected]

I have been doing genealogy research for the past 11 years. There's one line on my mom's side that really fascinated me -- the KERSHAW line -- probably because I had a cousin, Katherine (Kershaw) Sweeney who lived with my grandmother and us until she passed away in 1967.

My grandmother used to tell me stories about how her Uncle Lewis (Kershaw) knew Buffalo Bill Cody, and I wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not. One story she told took place in 1897 when she was about 11 years old. Her Uncle Lewis was dying, and she said Buffalo Bill got word of it and decided to pay Lewis a visit. Well, one day, my grandmother said, the whole neighborhood got upset when a bunch of Indians rode down their street. It seems Buffalo Bill brought his Wild West troupe to cheer up my great-granduncle Lewis. (Lewis died shortly thereafter.)

When Cousin Katherine died, my brother and I took her dresser upstairs to store. When I started researching the Kershaw line recently, I asked mom if I could go upstairs and look through that dresser. Mom didn't think I would find anything worthwhile, but said "sure, go ahead."

I started looking and came across Lewis E. Kershaw's 1873 discharge papers from the U.S. Army, his enlistment papers, and a letter from a general stating that the flag would be flown at half staff in honor of him when he passed away in 1897. These papers clearly stated that Kershaw was assigned to the same unit (5th Regiment, Company E) as Bill Cody [Editor's note: Buffalo Bill's real name was William Frederick Cody (1846-1917)], better known as Buffalo Bill. I noticed the dates and they were the same years as Cody's.

[Editor's note: William F. Cody first enlisted February 1864 in Co. H. Seventh Kansas Volunteer Cavalry; mustered out 29 September 1865; he also was in the Army from 1868 to 1872 where he became chief of scouts for the 5th Kansas Cavalry, and was with that unit in the Sioux War of 1876. According to the author of this article, the 5th Regiment, Company E was involved in the battle of Summit Springs, Colorado in 1869.]

I then in turn, checked again and found Lewis Kershaw's gun, with Indian carvings on the handle and the chamber barrel -- you could have knocked me over. All this stuff up there all those years and no one had looked at it. Today I came across a letter, from Lewis' father, Jonathan Kershaw. It was written in 1859 to his mother back in England, but it was never mailed it as he passed away before it was finished. In the letter he mentions the cost of things in America such as: Butter, 20 cents a pound; bread: one cent a loaf; and milk, three cents for a half-gallon.

Looking closer I found a small photo of Lewis Kershaw. He was dressed as a cowboy and holding the gun I found among Cousin Katherine's belongings. On the back of the photo it says "Nebraska," so it probably was taken between the years 1868 and 1873, as best I can determine.

I took everything but the photo and the 1859 letter to an appraiser, and, got a pleasant surprise. The appraised value is $50,000 to $60,000. I did not think that the collection was worth that much, but as the appraiser said, "It's history."

Thanks to Lewis Kershaw and his daughter, Katherine, I have all his belongings in a safe deposit box, preserved for history. I hope to pass these treasures down to my family. While I am not an only child, I am the only one interested in the past.

Anyway, my advice to all: Check every nook and corner, you never know what you will unfold, good or bad, but with luck it will be as good as I found.


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