Biographies of Thomas Guy, Thomas Heathcock, and George W. Jeffries

Biographies of Indians
Who Served With Company C

There were several Indians who served in the 60th Ohio. They were part of an Indian community or were of Virginia/North Carolina origin (Saponi) and settled there beginning in the 1820's. Other Indians from the community served in other units, such as the 94th and the Squirrel Hunters. Those in the 60th were:

THOMAS GUY (1826-1901)

Thomas Guy was the son of Vines Guy and Elizabeth (Sylvia) Jeffries, and a grandson of two Revolutionary War veterans, Jacob Jeffries and William Guy, all Virginia Indians (Saponi). His parents migrated to "Little Texas," North Carolina about 1800, and he was born there in 1826. He may have served in the Mexican War while living there, but this is not clear. Thomas Guy and his wife, Adeline Burnett, were both Indians of Saponi ancestry. They were married in Orange County, North Carolina on May 8, 1848. Adeline's father was Abner Burnett and her mother was Mary Jefferies. It is believed that her mother was related to Thomas' mother who was also a Jefferies. In 1859, he moved his family to Greene County, Ohio and purchased a farm. They lived for a time among the Jeffries, Jones, Corn, and other Indian relatives from the North Carolina/Virginia border region.

Thomas Guy joined Company C of the 60th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, along with two other members of the Indian community in Greene County (Thomas Heathcock and George W. Jeffries), when it was reorganized in 1864. He was severely wounded at Petersburg, but returned to duty after a month in the hospital. After the War, he sold his land in Greene County, and moved to Delaware County, Indiana where he bought a farm. He applied for his pension from Delaware County, Indiana, but the affidavits in support of the application came mostly from Indians then living in Greene County (such as James and Mason Jeffries), or from Indians who had lived there at the same time as Thomas Guy did, but who later moved away.

Thomas Guy's death certificate, found in his pension application, states his race as Indian; his wife's death certificate states her race as white, although she was also Indian or mixed Indian and white.

A number of Thomas Guy's cousins who remained in North Carolina served in Confederate units.

THOMAS HEATHCOCK

Thomas Heathcock was the youngest brother of Benjamin and Samuel Heathcock who also served in Greene County units. His parents' Indian ancestry was Saponi, and they migrated to Greene County from Virginia in the 1820's. He joined Company C of the 60th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, along with Thomas Guy and George W. Jeffries, when it was reorganized in Greene County in 1864. He died in a military hospital in the District of Columbia of wounds suffered in an assault on Petersburg.

His mother applied for a widow's pension after the War. (Descendants still living in Greene County now spell the surname Heathcook.)

GEORGE W. JEFFRIES

George Jeffries was the son of Jordan Jeffries, an Indian of Saponi descent who migrated to Greene County from Virginia in the 1820's. George Jeffries enlisted in Company C of the 60th Ohio Volunteer Infantry when it was organized in March, 1864. He died on April 13, 1864 at Camp Chase, Ohio, of pneumonia, after contracting measles in camp.

The majority of this information was written by David Sciacchitano on May 26, 1998 and was found on the GenForum bulletin board. There has also been information added to Thomas Guy's biography from Rob Altenburg's Genealogy Page.