Van Wart - Schaffner Family History

 I wrote this history of her family for my mother-in-law in 2020.  Eva May Sorenson was her mother, and Maud Van Wart was her grandmother.

Van Wart – Schaffner Family History

On April 25, 1861, an eager and enthusiastic Edwin Forrest Van Wart, only 20, either very patriotic or very bored with his cap cutting job, answered President Lincoln’s call to arms to suppress the rebellion.  New York was required to send 17 regiments of men who appeared to be over 18 and under 45 and in physical strength and vigor.   To circumvent this problem, Edwin claimed to be 21, and his father, William Van Wart, claimed to be 40 instead of 44 when he signed up to join his son on muster day, May 9, at Fort Schuyler, for 2 years.  As a police officer, William must have thought he was in perfect shape to be a soldier.

Colonel Abram Duryee had been asked to raise the regiment.  He must have given stirring rousing speeches because he raised the regiment in less than a week.  Edwin and William’s company, H, was recruited mostly from York city, Brooklyn, Flushing, Greenpoint, Tarrytown and West Point. William was from the Tarrytown area, but the family had been living in Manhattan during Edwin’s whole life.

Battle Flag of the 5th NY Zouaves, Companies A - H

 The fancy uniforms of the Zouave units certainly helped with recruiting, which also capitalized on the reputation of the original Zouaves, elite French soldiers with a fierce reputation. They began when France conquered Algeria and derived their name and dress from the Zouaoua, a Berber tribe in North Africa.  The uniforms might differ, but each was distinctive and included a fez, embroidered jacket, vest, sash, and baggy trousers, all in bright colors.  Zouave uniforms were tremendously popular in the US Civil War on both sides.  At the start of the war, each regiment’s uniform was unique; standardized uniforms were not begun until the confusion began to kill people who couldn’t tell friend from foe.  

“Also known as the National Zouaves, …the regiment became renowned for its parade ground precision… in the 2nd Division, V Corps…  (Their) first taste of action occurred at Big Bethel on 10th June 1861…  One Zouave could proudly state, “I have seen enough to satisfy me first, that war ain’t play and second, that our regiment ain’t got no cowards in it.”  The regiment suffered 6 dead and a Confederate commented that their bright uniforms contrasted greatly with the pale, fixed faces of their dead owners.”  For 8 months, until 30th March 1862, the Duryee Zouaves occupied the divided city of Baltimore and eventually became much admired by the townspeople.”

The regiment left the state May 23, 1861; served at Fort Monroe, Va., from May 25, 1861; in Pierce's Brigade, at Newport News, Va., from May 27, 1861; at Baltimore, Md., from July 27, 1861; and with the Army of the Potomac from April 11, 1862. Duryee’s Zouaves, as they were known, participated in one of the first major battles, the Battle of Big Bethel, near Newport News, Va., a Confederate victory.   See https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-big-bethel.htm for more description of Edwin and William’s participation in the battle.

Disease during the war killed more soldiers than bullets, and Edwin and possibly William follow that example.  On April 30 and June 30, 1862, Edwin was absent from his company, sick with a fever (a description applied to any unknown disease with fever symptoms) in General Hospital, Annapolis.  The USA General Hospital muster rolls show him present with pneumonia.  From May 20, 1862 to May 21, 1863, he was attached to the hospital as a nurse.  Many recovering soldiers not well enough to return to battle were used as nurses, and I think it would enable them to get paid.   

Possible confusion between the names Edwin and Edward may have led to him being officially listed as a deserter during his time in the hospital, but when his widow Margaretta applied for a pension in 1901, the War Dept “determined the charges erroneous.”

Before the regiment set out for its next assignment, Edwin and William were discharged at Baltimore; William on May 31, 1862 upon being “certified with disability” not related to his service by the army surgeon for being unable to fight for 2 months due to hemorrhoids.

The Van Wart family’s fate took a completely different turn when Edwin joined up.  On 26 February 1863, he married Margaretta Shaffner in Baltimore.  Legend says they met in the hospital where she was a nurse also.  Why, you ask, would anyone let their 17-year-old daughter marry a 22-year-old New Yorker?  Because Margaretta’s life had completely fallen apart in the last 3 years and she needed a provider, a home, and a future.

Margaretta Shaffner

The Shaffners were Unionists in a city of Southern sentiment.  Margaretta’s father, William Shaffner, was born in Baltimore in 1808.  He was a porter and later a provision packer in the meat industry and rented a house in a less expensive area of Baltimore. He owned $50 of personal estate, twice as much as his neighbors, enough money to have his photograph taken.  When he married Mary Ellen Forrest on 4 November 1836, she may have been a young widow.  

 

Mary Ellen & William C. Shaffner

Mary likely belonged to the Buckley family, who have a large presence in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Baltimore, because she inherited the Buckley family Bible.  She was born in the City of Washington on 19 October 1807.  (It would be interesting to know what happened to her and William’s families when the city was burned during the War of 1812.)  Southern families had a much higher death rate than northern families because of insect-borne diseases and lack of killing frosts.  Consequently, blended families of step-parents, half-siblings, third spouses, and orphaned cousins made up intricate family trees.  The Shaffner household consisted of people with 4 different surnames.  That’s why we don’t know how Mary fits in with whom.

Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Baltimore, approximate area of Buckley plot

5 months before Lincoln’s election made war inevitable, William Shaffner died at age 51.  Besides dealing with secession debates and troop transports in Baltimore, the family had to find money for Mary and 3 teenagers to live on. Oldest son John J. A. Shaffner may have enlisted to support his mother and siblings, as when the draft came to his neighborhood in July 1863, he was already a private in 2nd Maryland Union Infantry, Company B.  

The 2nd Maryland was raised between May and October 1861 in Baltimore under Colonel John Sommer.  They stayed in Maryland until the next spring, when they joined Maj. Gen. Burnside’s IX Corps of the Army of the Potomac in New Bern, NC.  They joined in the Peninsula Campaign, raided Clark Mountain, and then participated in the debacle at 2nd Manassas with James Nagle’s brigade, losing 200 men in 15 minutes.  The 2nd Maryland took more casualties at the Battle of Antietam.  

At some point, John became a corporal in 14th Veterans Reserve Corps, Company B.  The VRC was the Invalid Corps, started in the spring of 1863 and made up of soldiers who had some injury that made them fit for light duty.   Margaretta lost her brother also when he died on 3 April 1864, age 21, at Harewood Hospital in DC and was buried in the neighboring Soldiers Home Cemetery, the oldest national cemetery in the US. I am going to assume he died of disease because the 2nd Maryland hadn’t fought in a battle recently.

Harewood Hospital, Washington DC, 1864

After their marriage, Edwin and Margaretta remained in Baltimore long enough to birth 2 daughters and bury one.  Then they decided to go north to Westchester County, NY, where Edwin’s father William had been born, have another 2 children and bury one more, move to Queens, have another child, and finally settle in Brooklyn.  Margaretta’s mother Mary lived with them in Brooklyn but was in Baltimore when she died at age 67 on 7 December 1876.

Isabelle Van Wart

Edwin and Margaretta had 10 children altogether, 6 of whom lived to adulthood, not a bad statistic for the time:  Isabelle Virginia, Mary Elizabeth, Edwin Jr., Anne A., Joseph Alexander, and Eva Margaret (called Maud).  Margaretta died at age 83 on the 4th April 1929, and Edwin on the 18th April 1900.  They are buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.  

                                    Margaretta Shaffner with Margaret Van Wart

Their youngest living child, Eva Margaret (Maud), married Leonard Sorenson at her home on 40th St. on the 11th of April, 1899.  Maud and Leonard ran a boarding house for sailors at 52 3rd Avenue.  Their first child, Leonard Jr., lived for only a day, 28 February 1900.  

                         Maud & Leonard Sorenson, 50th anniversary 

After that, Eva May was born May 20, 1902 at 465 49th St. and Gladys Margaret was born 6 February 1908 at the same home.

Maud Van Wart Sorenson, Eva May Sorenson Ashfolk, Mae Sorenson

Once returning from war, Edwin worked as a ship joiner, carpenter, and in his father’s chair-making business.  Edwin’s father William had had his chair-making business since at least 1840, and his wife Annie carried it on after his death in Brooklyn on 30th March 1876 of pneumonia caused by emphysema.  Your cousin Karen Van Wart still has one or two of his chairs.  

William was born in Haverstraw, Rockland County, in 1817.  We don’t know who his parents were, but a Van Wart has been in New York since the first Van Wart came here from the Netherlands in the mid-1600s.  A relative, Isaac Van Wart, was one of the 3 American militiamen, called Skinners, to capture Major John Andre, foiling Benedict Arnold’s plot to turn over West Point to the British in 1780 and arguably saving the nation.  Monuments honor him and Van Wert County in Ohio is named for him.  If we could figure out what the relationship is, maybe we could join the Sons of the American Revolution.  Read more about this at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot%27s_Park.

William Van Wart married Anna Hughes on 5th November, 1836, by Methodist Episcopal minister M. Brown in New York City.  Annie was born in England and immigrated here with her family when she was 17, marrying William 2 years later.  They likely met as neighbors in the 13th Ward of Manhattan.  William later witnessed his father-in-law’s naturalization on 17th April 1845 in the Marine Court.  Joseph Hughes was a mariner, born in England in 1795 and emigrating with his wife Anne Holland Hughes and their 6 children around 1834.  They died in 1859 and 1866, respectively, and are buried in Green-Wood.

The Van Wart-Shaffner Family has left a legacy as builders of America.  They transported our goods and food, crafted our everyday tools and furniture, housed and fed others who did, nursed our sick and wounded, and raised our families.  They sacrificed their health, their lives, their children, and chose to leave their families and homes behind to fight for their country in harrowing conditions.  You can be very proud to be part of this family.

Sources:

From Karen Van Wart:

Concerning the entry about Edwin Forrest Van Wart, I have a copy of a paper from the War Department Record and Pension Office dated December 6, 1901: Edwin F. Van Wart, age 21, Co, H.5, Reg't NY Inf. was enrolled May 9 1861 and held the rank of private and during that period the rolls show him present except as follows: April 30, 1862. Absent. sick in General Hospital, Annapolis, Md. June 30, 1862, Same. Aug. 31, 1862. Absent without leave since April 21, 1862 Oct. 31, 1862. Reported as a deserter Oct. 2, 1862. Muster rolls of U. S. A. Gen'l Hospl. Annapolis, Md. reports him as follows: June 30, 1862. Present, attached to hospital as nurse May 20, 1862. To April 30, 1863, Same No personal description found except occupation cap cutter. The medical records show him treated as follows: April 21, 1862, Fever April 19, 1862 to ______ (Diagnosis not stated) April 22, 1862 to May 21, 1863 - Pneumonia No additional record of disability found. It has been determined by this Department that all charges of absence without leave and desertion against this man are erroneous, and that he was discharged the service May 21, 1863, having been retained in service by competent authority after the muster out of his company. By authority of the Secretary of War: F C Ainsworth, Chief of office, Dec. 6, 1901. Commissioner of Pensions 

NYS Military Museum & Veterans Research Center

First Legion Miniatures

New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. Frederick Phisterer. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 1912.

Written by Anne Wendel, January 2020, researched by Anne Wendel & Karen Van Wart