52 Ancestors 2026: A Record that Adds Color – Tragic Endings

 

This story begins with the extensive Civil War pension file of Benjamin C. McWilliams. In the 1990s, I made a trip to the National Archives to examine his service and pension records for clues to his experiences during and after the Civil War. I was puzzled when the archivist brought out a large folder containing files for two soldiers—alongside Ben’s file was one for Hiram Carter. I was about to point out the apparent error when I realized the connection: both files were linked through Ben’s second wife, Mary Ann Case Carter McWilliams. Ben’s first wife, Mary Ann Cloud, had died in 1907, and he later married her first cousin, Mary Ann (Case) Carter, the widow of veteran and pensioner Hiram Carter.

More recently, my cousin Cindy sent me a large cache of image files containing the complete pension material for both Ben and Hiram. I have been cataloguing the 359 images and made detailed notes for the McWilliams file, intending to simply set aside the Carter materials for later study. While doing so, however, I came across a card that immediately caught my attention. It was a simple Form 3-1143, used to record family members who had served in the World War. Three names were listed:

Lyle R. Voorhees, deceased

Harry Carter, living

William Carter, living

The fact that one family member had served and died—and that Mrs. McWilliams had received compensation—piqued my interest. I suspected there was a deeper story behind this small document. There was.

Using FamilySearch, I identified all three men as grandsons of Mary Ann Carter McWilliams. I also found a death date for Lyle Voorhees: January 20, 1919. He had served with the 2nd Engineer Regiment, a unit that constructed fortifications and filled in as infantry when needed, earning him the rank of sergeant. Notes attached to his Find A Grave entry state that he died of lobar pneumonia at age twenty-two. This was a common complication of the influenza pandemic sweeping the world in 1919–1920 and serves as a stark reminder of the role disease has played during wartime.

But why did Mrs. McWilliams receive compensation? That answer lies in Lyle’s childhood. He was born on April 18, 1896, to James Voorhees and Mary Margaret Carter, daughter of Hiram and Mary Ann Carter. James and Mary had married in 1894, when Mary was just seventeen years old.

The young family’s happiness was short-lived. In 1899, a daughter, Ruby, was born, but she died on August 11 of that year. Within two months, both parents had also died—James on October 1 and Mary on October 10. The 1900 census shows young Lyle living with his grandparents, Hiram and Mary Ann Carter. A guardianship record from 1901 indicates that his aunt, Carrie Carter, assumed legal guardianship. Yet the 1910 census still places Lyle in the household of his grandmother and step-grandfather, Ben McWilliams.

Adding another layer of complexity, newspaper articles referenced on Find A Grave list Lyle’s next of kin as his uncle, Charles Carter, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and note that Lyle graduated from high school there. This raises many questions. Was Carrie’s guardianship largely legal rather than practical? What circumstances led Lyle to live with his uncle in Colorado and attend school there? And what caused the deaths of so many family members in such a short span of time?

In the era before vaccines and antibiotics, diseases such as diphtheria and typhoid claimed countless lives. Childbearing and the death of an infant placed additional physical and emotional strain on young mothers—Mary Margaret was only twenty-one when she died. We may never know all the answers to questions surrounding events that occurred more than a century ago, but family tragedies shaped by disease and war have been part of the human experience for as long as humans have existed.

All of this—uncovered from a single card buried deep within a pension file.

52 Ancestors 2025: Overlooked - A Hidden Branch of My Family Tree

This week’s theme is “Overlooked”—a family member I haven’t thoroughly researched yet. Choosing just one is a challenge because FamilySearch has provided so many ancestral lines to explore, each one a project in itself. However, one intriguing “overlooked” branch stems from my 2nd-great-grandmother, Mary Ann Cloud.

Her husband, Benjamin Cruiser McWilliams, is a well-documented figure in my maternal family history. A veteran of the Union Army during the Civil War, he’s a name that often comes up in our family’s stories. But what about Mary Ann?

I knew a little about her. Her parents were Samuel Cloud and Eliza Ann Case, and they had made their way to Iowa. Beyond that, her story was a mystery. While researching Benjamin’s pension record, I had an unexpected surprise. The librarian handed me not one but two folders—one for Benjamin and another for someone named Hiram Carter. That name gave me pause. What was the connection?

It turned out that after Mary Ann’s death, Benjamin remarried. His second wife was the widow of Hiram Carter. And here’s where it gets even more intriguing: Mary Ann Carter McWilliams’s maiden name was also Case. This discovery opened up a world of possibilities!

One of the first steps when faced with such a discovery is to verify the connections suggested by FamilySearch. Are these relationships accurate? This task requires careful digging and meticulous analysis.

Exploring Mary Ann’s lineage reveals an array of fascinating ancestors. Among the names are immigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Germany, as well as Kentucky pioneers and soldiers who fought in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Questions naturally arise: Who were these people? How did their paths cross? What roles did they play in Colonial America and the early years of our nation?

Researching Mary Ann Cloud and her ancestors promises to be an exciting journey. These “overlooked” lives deserve attention, and their stories are waiting to be uncovered. They will be overlooked no more.