Joseph (Treffenstadt) Travis (1831 - 1862)

Born 17 Aug 1831 in Catawba, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Rebecca (Longcrier) Treffenstadt — married 25 Mar 1855 in Catawba, North Carolina, United States

Descendants

Died 17 Nov 1862 at age 31 in Culpeper, Virginia, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Becky Simmons [send private message]

Biography

Joseph (Treffenstadt) Travis lived in Appalachia, in North Carolina. See Appalachia Project.

Joseph Treffenstadt / Travis (some records show Traflestrette or as "Travs") was born on August 17, 1831 in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States to parents Daniel Treffenstadt and Kathrine (Winebarger) Treffenstadt.

On March 25, 1855 a Joseph "Travenstad" and Rebecca "Longerein" were issued a marriage license in Catawba County, North Carolina.^[1] The marriage took place the same day.^[2] Together they had four children:

1. Mary Ann (1855 - 1941)^[3]
2. Lydia Lucinda "Lou" (1857 - 1941)^[4]
3. Henry Elias (1859 - 1943) ^[5]
4. Rebecca Caroline (1862 - 1920)^[6]

Although he wasn't amongst the first to enlist during the War Between the States (a young father of four) he fell under the "Compulsory Act" and did so in April of 1862. He became a Private In Company B, 57th Regiment North Carolina Infantry, United States Civil War.

He passed away on November 17, 1862 in Culpeper, Virginia during his service with the Confederacy. His body was later interred at Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery in Conover, Rowan, North Carolina, United States.^[7]

• [8]

Notes

The following is added by Robert Beard:

"By April 1862, Joseph Traffenstedt had a wife, Rebecca, and four children, Mary, Lydia, Henry, and Rebecca Caroline. He did not enlist at the beginning of the war.

The Confederate States of America enacted compulsory conscription in April 1862. [9] In July 1862, Joseph was enrolled in the army of the CSA, in Company B , 57th NC Regt. [10]

In October 1862, he died as a result of "brain fever" (dysentery) in Culpeper, VA. [11]

The 57th Regt. would not see action until December 1862, in the Battle of Fredericksburg., VA. [12]

My father, Robert Franklin Beard Jr., age 93 at the time of this writing, will tell you that Joe Travis was killed at the Battle of Manassas. So goes family history. This, of course, was not possible, but was preferable to the truth that he never participated in battle and died of dysentery, leaving four children, including Rebecca Caroline "Callie" Travis, without a father."

Facts

• Fact: Also Known As Joseph Traflestrette or simply "Travis"

• Fact: Military Service (April 1862) Private, Co. B, 57th Regiment, NC Infantry, US Civil War North Carolina, United States

• Fact: Burial (1862) Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery, Conover, Catawba, North Carolina, United States of America
• Fact: Military Service SERVED IN THE CONFEDERATE WAR DIED AND WAS BURIED IN CULPEPPER, VA

CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL AT FAIRVIEW CEMETERY, CULPEPER, VA

In the course of trying to locate the burial site of Joseph C. Traffenstedt (“Travis”), my 2nd great-grandfather, I uncovered the following information which may (or may not) be of interest to other researchers.

[Quote begins]

During the Civil War, in Culpeper Court House, Virginia (as the present-day town was then known,

[begin quote]

. . . in various buildings and camps, was established under Confederate jurisdiction, what was collectively known as the "Culpeper General Hospital". To that hospital were brought many of the sick and wounded soldiers. Some were treated and released; others remained until they recovered—or died! Of these latter, the names of 567 are now known, for their names were preserved on one or more sets of records.

A Surgeon's Report, listing the name, rank and unit of the treated and the dead was supposed to have been submitted to a central medical office every month. These reports for July, 1861 through February, 1862 and for September and October, 1862 are part of an unpublished holding of the National Archives in Washington, D. C.

Most of the dead were buried in a "Confederate Cemetery" established on one acre of land at the southern edge of Fairfax (as the town of Culpeper Court House was then known). . . .

The first burial in the cemetery was probably [on] June 25, 1861. The last burial was probably [on] September 1, 1864.

All of the graves were supposed to have been marked with a wooden headboard giving the name, company, regiment and home state of the dead. In the course of time, some of the headboards wore away, but in May, 1866 the Ladies of Culpeper prepared a list of those remaining. The list was published in the May 27, 1866 issue of the Culpeper Observer newspaper and was reprinted in the Culpeper Exponent of May 26, 1921.

In 1880, sixty-nine acres of land were annexed by the town of Culpeper, and these included the Confederate Cemetery. For some reason, it was decided to disinter the dead Confederates and reinter them in a common or mass grave within the town's Fairview Cemetery. Following this move, the Ladies Memorial Society collected subscriptions for a monument designed to be placed atop the mound of the mass grave to “mark the sacred dust of those who died, believing their cause was right and just.”

The Confederate Monument, a granite shaft "elegantly cut; about fifteen feet high, tapering towards the top" was inscribed “In Memory of our Confederate Dead" and displayed four metal tablets. These tablets were supposed to contain the names of the known dead and the states they represented. It was said the states were not known for twenty-six and that there were eighty-seven unidentified bodies interred under the monument. The unveiling and dedication ceremony took place July 21, 1881 before a crowd of 5,000 and featured orations, music and military pageantry [sic].

[Quote ends]

• Hodge, Robert A., A Death Roster of the Confederate General Hospital at Culpeper, Virginia, at 3-5 (Fredericksburg, VA 1977) (Culpeper County Library, Culpeper, VA) [13].

Hodge’s book contains the names of 567 men known to have died during treatment in Culpeper during the Civil War, but not the names of all those who died there. As noted, there were eighty-seven unidentified bodies. As many of the medical reports were either lost or destroyed, and as the wooden grave markers didn’t weather well, there are undoubtedly a number of men who died in the “General Hospital” whose names are not contained in Hodge’s list.

Pvt. William H. Smith, Company F, 23rd Infantry N. C., is in the list. He died of typhoid November 20, 1861 at Culpeper, Virginia, on a date for which the medical reports are available. The index further indicates that, at age 19, he entered the service in Catawba County, North Carolina on June 6, 1861. He died after having served 5 months. Hodge, at 91.

Similarly, Pvt. Sparkman Smith, Company E, Second Infantry (North Carolina) died of typhoid fever September 29 or 30, 1862 at Culpeper, Virginia, again on a date for which medical reports are available. He entered the service July 15, 1862 and died two months thereafter. His "effects" were recorded as $1.00 and 1 pocket knife. Hodge, at 91.

In contrast, Pvt. Joseph C. Traffenstedt died, according to North Carolina Troops 1861-1865: A Roster, Vol. XIV, Infantry, at 121, in Company B, 57th Regt. N.C. , of “brain fever” on November 17, 1862 at Culpepper [sic], VA. This date is a date for which the medical records of the General Hospital have been lost, but is less than two months after the death of Sparkman Smith. It seems most likely that Pvt. Traffenstedt, along with other as yet-unidentified Confederate soldiers, was also interred in this burial mound. Indeed, it is more likely than not that any Confederate soldier who died between June 25, 1861 and September 1, 1864, of disease or wounds in Culpeper Court House, VA, is also interred here.

There are other Confederate soldiers listed in the index, but time and space do not permit listing them all. If you have someone shown to have died in Culpeper, VA, during the dates indicated, I will be happy to look him up for you. As there are a number of Beard researchers who keep track of the Traffenstedt-Treffenstadt-Trefflested-Travis line, I will mention that Thomas Beard of Gaston County, Company H, 23rd Infantry Regt. N.C., is also in the list, having died on January 21, 1862. There are no other Beards in the index.

Added by Robert Beard

Sources

1. ↑ [1]
2. ↑ [2]
3. ↑ [3]
4. ↑ [4]
5. ↑ [5]
6. ↑ [6]
7. ↑ [7]

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 01 January 2024, 02:08), entry for Joseph Travis (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:L4R1-QJQ ); contributed by various users.

• "North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979 ," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VXR5-Q1C : 9 March 2021), Joseph Travensted and Rebecca Longcrein, 25 Mar 1855; citing Catawba, North Carolina, United States, p. , North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History; FHL microfilm 18,788.

• "North Carolina Marriages, 1759-1979", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F8X5-GPD : 14 February 2020), Joseph Travensted, 1855.

• "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDD2-V3D : Fri Sep 15 23:25:33 UTC 2023), Entry for Joseph Traflestrelle and Rebecca Traflestrelle, 1860.

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/79167427/joseph-traflestrette-travis: accessed 22 September 2023), memorial page for Joseph Traflestrette Travis (17 Aug 1831–17 Nov 1862), Find a Grave Memorial ID 79167427, citing Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery, Conover, Catawba County, North Carolina, USA; Maintained by Richard Jordan (contributor 46497047).

Memorial Page Here: [14]

• "North Carolina Marriages, 1759-1979", , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZ1T-DX3 : 14 February 2020), Joseph Travis in entry for Henry E. Travis, 1882.

• "North Carolina Deaths, 1906-1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3XD-489 : 20 February 2021), Travis in entry for Caroline Beard, 08 Apr 1920; citing Coldwell, Catawba, North Carolina, reference 316, State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh; FHL microfilm 1,892,505.

• "North Carolina Deaths and Burials, 1898-1994", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:H462-TN2M : 14 February 2020), Joseph Tronis in entry for Mary Anne Travis Hunsucker, 1941.

• "North Carolina Deaths and Burials, 1898-1994", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HH4F-9VN2 : 21 January 2020), Joseph C. Travis in entry for Lou Travis, 1941.

• See Also:

* See Ancestry for MIlitary Records and other sources: [15]

Acknowledgments

• Travis Wagner, firsthand knowledge.

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