Hagerman - Searle - Yeager - Yeatts

nickname: \"Old Billy\" Served in the Civil War as 1st Lieutenant in Co. I, 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry. Enlisted 15 Jan 1863, mustered out 27 Mar 1865

Larry Rutherford, http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/r/u/t/Larry-Rutherford-WV/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0978.html , lists Old Bill's birthplace as Kentucky, and birth year as 1820. He also lists the name as William Hagerman, Jr. but does not provide details of his parentage.

excerpt of personal email from Bonnie Sparks: I don't know if your Old Billy Hagerman is our William or not because in the memoirs of a relative who died in 1964 he told all the tales that had been told to him by his father,Harvey Hardin Hagerman, a son of John and Cosby. He tells of an Old Bill getting shot by the Confederacy at Grundy, Va and goes on to tell that William and his son John kept fighting off the Rebels. They were with the 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry out of Pikeville , KY. where William was a 1st Lt. William resigned in March 1865 according to the 39th historian due to illiteracy not wounds. Why he was asked for his resignation so near to the end of the war is a mystery after he had served two years with his\"illiteracy\". I believe that it was a politcal thing within the command. He drew a pension from the goverment. Martha applied after his death in 1911 but was denied. or died before it was processed. Hmmm... I've got a death date of 1880 for Martha. I wonder which is right.

Rutherford also has some interesting war notes about Big Billy: William was a 1st lt in the 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry. George Charles a family member was captured and killed by the confederate army. This is a note from William:) `Wm. Hagerman & S. L. Payne, 1st & 2nd Lieuts., testify that the soldier was captured with others while leaving Prestonsburg, Ky, Dec. 4, 1862, while with them in line of duty on the march to meet gunboats, that the rebels came up in their rear and captured the soldier with several others of their regt. That other prisoners returned and stated that they were taken with the soldier to Saltville, Va, and that the soldier was shot and killed by order rebel Genl. John B. Floyd on the 1st day of January 1863. H. A. W. Stephens testifies that he was a soldier in the C. S. A., stationed in Saltville and he was detailed to guard the soldier and that said soldier was shot by order of Gen. John B. Floyd, January 1, 1863, in presence of affiant.` William`s family was in constent danger during the Civil War.Martha home was raided several times.

Mandy Smith lists WMH's marriage to Patsy Wise in 1837, but doessn't cite specific documents. Makes some sense, since John was born in 1839. But Patsy would have been 13. http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/15903945/person/376700969

Mandy Smith also lists two Richards and two Sarahs among the offspring of WMH and Patsy. Maybe different Hagerman families are being conflated, maybe different sources provide different dates for the same people.

From Bonnie Riffe Sparks: William Hagerman, Jr, was born 18 May1821 according to his Civil War Records. I have found no parentage for William, although some researchers say his was the son of a William Hagerman born 1795. No mother was listed . By the naming patterns in the 1800's we might assume, but merely assume, that William's mother was named Sarah or Elizabeth since his eldest daughter carried that name. He married Martha \"Patsy\" Wise. Even the surname Wise is debatable since no birth record has been found though she gave her birth as 1813, making her some 8 years older than William. A marriage record for a William Hagerman and a Patsy Johnson can be found in the Lawrence Co, Ky database. This is in all probability our William and Martha. Since Patsy was a nickname for Martha in her day she was called Patsy and we shall refer to her as Patsy hence forward. On her son Mose's death record his mother's name is given as Patsy Martin. William gave his age as 42 on his enlistment in the 39th Ky Mounted Infantry {Union} at Peach Orchard, Louisa, Lawrence Co. Ky. He was enlisted as a 1st Lt. in Company I. Two of his sons, John and William were with him in his company. According to the fieldstone rock which marks her gravesite in the Puckett Cemetery atop Raysal MT. Patsy Wise Hagerman was born in 1813. I cannot read the death date scratched on the rock . She was still living in 1911 since that is the last date which she applied for William's Civil War Pension. She was 98 years old. She outlived William by 8 years at least. She had applied for his pension numerous times , but was always denied. This gives us some hint that she had no proof of marriage at her disposal or was not married to William. Patsy had a daughter before her marriage to William by a Henry Davis. He is listed as father on Elizabeth Hagerman Davis' marriage record to Richard Webb in 1850. She and Richard moved back to Ky where they spent their lives. If William{called Old Billy Hagerman in his later years} and Patsy were the two people who married in 1842 in Lawrence Co. Ky then their oldest son John would already have been two years old. In 1850 William was given a land grant of 47 acres on the Slate Creek of the Dry Fork, as we know now as Raysal. He moved his family atop raysal Mt. and began farming the land and raising farm animals. {The farm is now owned by Jesse Mullins from his father, Tom Mullins.} Willam and Patsy are buried on the farm in the Puckett Cemetery{formerly known as Hagerman Cemetery} adjoining the Puckett Cemetery , on the other side of the fence , is the Tom Mullins family Cemetery. Many of William and Patsy's children, grandchildren and in-laws are buried in the Puckett Cemetery. Willaim and Patsy were already the parents of 3 children when they moved to the mountain, John, born 1839-1840, in Lawrence Co. Ky., Sarah Elizabeth born in 1841, in Inez , Martin Co. Ky. William {later to be called Big Billy Hagerman} born 1844 in Tazewell Co. VA. and Patsy's daughter Elizabeth. She can be found with them in the 1850 census. Mose, their next child was born in McDowell Co. 31 Dec. 1845 . In the 1850 census a Jackson, age 3 , born in 1847 is listed, but disappears in the 1860 census so it is assumed that he died in childhood. I want to search for his gravesite in the Puckett Cemetery. Isham was the 6th child born in WV in 1849. 7th was Rebecca born in 1853 and Richard born in 1855. William later came into possession of land on Bradshaw Mt.. Groundhog Hollow, the entire area of Three Forks to the VA line, and large areas in Jim Aldridge Fork, which is now know as Bug Hurley Hollow. William and Patsy Hagerman are the progenitors of almost all , if not all , of the Hagermans in this area. And their blood continues to flow in the veins of man others who do not carry the Hagerman name.

1850 Census lists Wm Hagerman, 32 Martha, 36 John, 10 (or is it 11?) Illegible, must be Sarah, 8 Wm, 5 Jackson, 3 Isham, 1 and Betsy Davis, 17

findagrave lists Old Billy's death date as 08 JUL 1899