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Condon, Kleckner, Gilles, Ethen, Milton, Meyer, Mitchell, and Liston Family History

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A potential event in Michael Condon's life, which I recently became aware of, was his possible service in the U.S. Army in the Civil War. At first I embraced the idea, because it came from a relative with whom I have had no previous contact, but the more I've considered all the facts, the less I'm inclined to believe that he served. I'll lay out the facts below.

To summarize, according to information I received, Michael Condon enlisted in the 11th Regiment Volunteer Cavalry of Illinois. I believe the main evidence for military service is a scan of a page from an enrollment book that shows an entry for a 'Michael Condon' of Ireland, and possibly information from an online database. The book is apparently a list of men subject to military duty, i.e., those subject to being drafted. It does not indicate actual enlistment. Michael Condon's entry is the fourth from the bottom.

However, there are several lines of evidence that lead me to believe that our ancestor was not in the military.

First, is the entry in the enrollment book. The name is correct, 'Michael Condon', and the place of birth is also correct, 'Ireland'. But the column next to the name indicates that this Michael was 36 years old at the time of enrollment. Michael's tombstone indicates that he died on August 5, 1887 at the age of 66 years, putting his birth date at 1821. He would have been 42 years old in June or July of 1863 (the dates of the enrollments), not 36 as the book indicates.

Second, the Illinois GenWeb website lists a Michael A. Condon (not Michael Patrick Condon) who was enlisted in Company L, of the 11th Cavalry Volunteer Regiment of Illinois on February 27, 1865 and was mustered out on September 30, 1865 at Memphis, Tenn. The different middle initial suggests that this is a different Michael Condon. [This web page initially listed the muster-in date as 1863; when I checked with the site coordinator it was determined that the date should have actually been 1865.]

Third, another database search at the Illinois State Archives turned up this same Michael A. Condon. As indicated on this site, Michael A. Condon was in Company L of the 11th Cavalry, Illinois, but he was only 18 years of age. He was born in Ireland, was from New Milford, IL, and was also a farmer, but was apparently from a different Condon family. Here is a screen shot of this database.

Finally, my own oral family history. It seemed strange to me that my grandfather (Michael's grandson) or my father or uncles had never mentioned an ancestor who had been in the Civil War. Memories fade, but an event this important would probably have been part of the oral tradition of the family after this short a time. The lack of any mention of a grandfather or great-grandfather being in the war suggests that he was not.

So, although it was an interesting prospect to have discovered that Michael Condon was a Civil War veteran, it appears that this was a case of mistaken identity.