Uncovering Family Secrets - John Milton Chivington

Col. John Milton Chivington

Genealogical research can lead to discovering important and well-known people back there on the distant branches of the family tree. But there should be some caution taken to prepare to find someone you might have just as well not wanted to know about.

Such was my discovery that the husband of my 2nd great grand aunt was John Milton Chivington.

Some of you Rowlison cousins have not heard of this fellow; others will think the name sounds somewhat familiar but can't quite place it; and others will have gasped a bit.

James Demetris Rowlison's aunt, the sister of the younger Aaron Rowlison was married to a one-time Methodist preacher who was commissioned by the Territory of Colorado and led a Colorado infantry unit in engagements against Confederate forces in the West. So far, so good.

Then in 1864, Colonel Chivington led a rag-tag army of Denver bar flies on a 100-day enlistment to fight Indians in southeast Colorado. Nearing the end of the 100 days of army life and with nothing to show for their efforts, the Colorado 3rd Infantry, early on the morning of November 29th attacked a peaceful village of mostly Northern Cheyenne Indians, mostly women, children and elderly killing a large and disputed number.

A consensus eventually developed that put the deaths in the village at about 140 of which 110 were women and children. The engagement was called the Battle of Sand Creek but that name became the Sand Creek Massacre or the Chivington Massacre.

The Park Service built a new visitor center on the site of the massacre in 2007. The web site for the site is:
http://www.nps.gov/sand/index.htm

Several books and web sites tell the story of this tragedy. You might as well start with wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Creek_massacre

On a visit to the visitor center in 2011, I purchased a couple of books including a large-format, 300-page book titled The John Milton Chivington Record, June 2, 1813 - October 4, 1894.

The cover of the Chivington Record, a compilation of accounts and military records
concerning Chivington's military career

The Back page of the Chivington Record

Col. Chivington's particular brand of behavior didn't stop with massacres; he left a peculiar mark in his home life too. After James Rowlison's Aunt Martha died in 1867 and their son Thomas had died in 1866, John Chivington married his son's wife Sarah - his daughter-in-law.

This marriage was not looked on kindly by Sarah's family. Her parents had the following published in The New York Times on January 11, 1868: 

We, the undersigned, take this method to inform the public that the criminal act of John M. Chivington, in marrying our daughter, Mrs. Sarah A. Chivington, the widow of Thomas M. Chivington, was unknown to us, and a thing we very much regret.  Had the facts been made known to us of the intentions some measures would have been taken to prevent the consummation of so vile an outrage, even if violent measures were necessary.  Hoping that this may be a sufficient explanation, we remain,        JOHN B. LULL & ALMIRA LULL

The dating of these events is tight between the deaths of Martha and Thomas, the marriage between John and Sarah and the public notice by Sarah's parents.

The colonel remained true to form by soon abandoning Sarah.

A real Peach of a Guy.

The Nebraska Historical Society has a reprint of an article that tells the story of our fellow:  http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH2007Chivington.pdf

My initial look at the piece convinced me that I need to revisit it for further study. There were two interesting notes though. One described a meeting between John Chivington and his brother Lewis in Oregon, Missouri after twenty-five years. John recognized his brother; Lewis did not. Turns out Lewis was a solid sympathizer of the Confederacy and the institution of slavery and that's what they talked about. After Lewis caught on that he was talking to his brother, a solid Union man he warned John to get out of Missouri as his crowd.intended, "...to hang all of your class of preachers."

The other note indicates that a grandson of John M. Chivington named Thomas McKnight Chivington was the President of the American Association. I found this reference among others:  http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=266&dat=19110211&id=oPJEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Q7cMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5030,2604113

Of further interest, that middle name of McKnight comes from this fellow's great grandmother, Elizabeth McKnight who was also James D. Rowlison's grandmother.

The following is posted here as a note a few people who appear in a "DNA Circle" on ancestry.com as having DNA connections to John Chivington's granddaughter Jessie Fremont Pollock, and in some cases, with DNA connections to our Rowlison family.

I discovered a new DNA Circle on ancestry.com which includes five of us connected to Jessie Fremont Pollock (1861-1904). She is my second cousin twice removed with common ancestors of Aaron Rowlison (1762-1837) and Elizabeth McKnight (1776-1837).

Jessie’s line to Aaron and Elizabeth is: Mother Sarah Ann Chivington (1844-1900),  her mother Martha L. Rowlison (who was married to likely the foulest individual in your tree also, John Milton Chivington – the lowlife responsible for the Sand Creek Massacre in southeast Colorado in 1864), Martha’s parents were Aaron and Elizabeth (McKnight) Rowlison mentioned above.

My line to our common ancestor is: myself, Jerrell R. (Jerry) Johnson, my mother Mildred L. Cassell, her mother Maggie A Rowlison, her father James Demetris Rowlison, his father Aaron Rowlison (1809-1875) brother of (Martha L. Rowlison) Chivington and their parents Aaron (1762-1837) and Elizabeth.

Our Rowlison immigrant Aaron Charles Rowlison (1680?-1745) likely came from England to New Jersey. There is shakey evidence that his parents may have been Anthony Rowlison and Anna Buntinge. Aaron and “Katarina” had at least four sons, Charles, Stephen, John and Nathaniel. John (1725-1776)  and Mary were the elder Aaron’s parents.

The elder Aaron Rowlison and the McKnights were in Rockbridge County, Virginia when the younger Aaron and Martha and their older brother George McKnight Rowlison were born.

This was the second marriage for both Aaron and Elizabeth; Aaron’s first wife was Margaret McConkey (d. 1807); Elizabeth’s first husband was John Chambers. Aaron had two sons and two daughters by the first marriage, Elizabeth had one daughter. Elizabeth’s daughter Jane Chambers later married one of Aaron’s sons, Nathaniel (have fun drawing those lines.)

My great grandparents, James Demetris Rowlison (Indiana 82^nd Infantry) and his bride Rhoda Walton made a multi-stop 20 year migration from Indiana through Missouri, Iowa, multiple Nebraska stops to Hoxie, Kansas. My grandmother Maggie stopped in Nebraska and married a Scot, David Cassell and some of are still in Clay County, Nebraska.