Jesse (Willman or Wilman) Mullenix
Served in Company A of the 15th Kansas Cavalry
Great grandfather of US101 Marie Mullenneix Spearman

Like many of us, I never had the capacity while my grandfather Edward was alive to ask him about his father Jesse, including any stories he was told about his father’s service in the Civil War. In 1997 I received copies of Jesse’s pension file, and the file of his widow’s application for a pension, from the National Archives. I highly recommend the process because of the wealth of information that may be contained therein. The price has certainly increased since 1997 when I received Jesse’s 6-pound file for $46. Copies can now be requested online: http://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war/civil-war-genealogy-resources/index.html

Jesse’s declaration for Pension dated 12 June 1912 states he was 67 years old, and had “lung and eye troubles”. He states he enrolled at Shawneetown, Kansas on 14 August 1863 as a private in N. H. Morrison’s Co. A. 15th Regiment, Kansas Cavalry Volunteers in the Civil War, and was honorably discharged at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas on 19 October 1865. He was 5’10”, fair complexion, grey eyes, light hair and occupation farmer, and he was born 14 June 1944 at Wayne Co., Illinois. His widow’s file for pension benefits include a copy of their Marriage license: Jesse W. Mullennix of Humbolt aged 24 years and Mary Amanda Shigley of Independence aged [blank] married on 3 July 1870 at Independence, Montgomery Co., Kansas. The file further informs that Jesse “was pensioned at $8 per month from 13 March 1883 for disease of the lungs due to his service. This rate was increased from time to time to $30 per month, which he drew until his death 5 May 1915.” The file also contains an affidavit signed with his mark by Jesse’s father Nathaniel Mullenix, and co-signed by Martha Jane Daniels, a sister. They stated Jesse was “afflicted with heart disease to such a degree as to render him unable to perform manual labor about all the time.” This document dated 21 December 1891, when Jesse would have been 47 years old.

Another document in the file states his “lung disease was contracted on guard escort between Ft. Leavenworth and the Sac & Fox Agency, Kansa” and that he was “treated by a citizen surgeon while at Sac & Fox Indian Agency, October 1863.”

Links re Sac and Fox Indian Agency:
http://www.nanations.com/civilwar/removal-refugees.htm
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~texlance/civilwar/1863censusindex.htm

Jesse’s tombstone was photographed and posted to findagrave.com by US362 Toni Lyn Mayo http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=39885928

Pension files received 31 May 1997 from the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. and in the possession of US101 Marie Mx Spearman.