Looking at the photographs Ritchey and I took in the Asbury-Center Cemetery in Metcalfe County, I found something unusual. Thomas Bastin and William M. Bastin, father and son, have veteran markers for their participation in the Civil War. This is my first time to find a father and son, buried side by side, who fought during a war.
Thomas was 45 when he volunteered at Camp Andrew Johnson, November 1, 1861, for a period of three years. From his war papers we find that Thomas was born in Caswell County, North Carolina. We are given the following description – blue eyes, brown hair, dark complexion, standing at 5’8”. He was a member of Company B, 21st Kentucky Infantry – a musician. Perhaps that was the reason he was accepted into service as an older man.
But that didn’t keep him from harm. On September 2, 1864, in Lovejoy, Georgia a bullet hit his left arm, which fractured the bone. His arm was amputated in the middle of the upper half. March 4, 1865, he was given a certificate of disability that said he was ‘physically unfit to enter or re-list.’
Son William M. Bastin served with Company E, 3rd Kentucky Infantry. This is the only piece of information I have for William. Father and son fought for the Union army.
Let’s go back a bit further. By the census of 1850 Thomas Bastin and his young family lived in Barren County, Kentucky. It is very interesting that three generations of Bastin’s lived next door to each other at this time.
In the above chart, dwelling number 1094, we find Thomas Bastin, Jr., aged 32, with wife Luanne, 34 (her maiden name was Shoftner). William is their eldest son, at the age of 8; James B., 6; Joseph H., 4; Richard E., 4/12; and Mary A. Shoftner, 25 – most likely a sister to Luanne.
Dwelling number 1095 is Thomas Jr.’s parents – Thomas Bastin, Sr., 66, born in North Carolina; his mother, Mary W., 69, born in Maryland; and an Elizabeth E. Carver, 16, probably a granddaughter of Thomas and Mary.
Dwelling number 1096 is another son of Thomas, Sr. – John Bastin, 39, born in North Carolina; his wife Martha, 30; and children Thomas, 14; Dorinda, 12; Adaline, 10; Mildred, 7; Frances, 5; and John, 3.
Ten years later, just before the war begins, the family has moved to Green County.
In 1870 Thomas and William are found in Hart County. William M. Bastin married Nancy Jane Ennis in 1865; their first child, Martha H., was born in 1866. James G, 3, and Clarence, 1, round out the family in 1870. His father remains in Hart County, but William moved to Metcalfe County, where he lived the rest of his life.
In 1880, above, William is 40, Nancy, 38; James T., 13; Clarence M., 12; Mallory T., 8; Maggie L., 5; Charles L., 3; and Claudius D., 10/12. Additional children born after 1880 were Mary J., Bertha Helen, and Pearlie D.
Thomas Bastin, III, Pvt CO B, 21 KY INF, April 7, 1818 – May 22, 1889. Asbury-Center Cemetery, Metcalfe County, Kentucky.
Thomas Bastin died May 22, 1889.
Nancy Jane Bastin, November 15, 1845 – May 26, 1900.
Nancy Jane Bastin, wife of William M., died May 26, 1900, just before the census was taken.
William Bastin, Pvt CO E, 3 KY INF, August 30, 1842 – March 11, 1917.
William lived another 17 years after his wife, passing away March 11, 1917.
Categories: Family Stories
