From: findagrave.com
Birth: Dec. 18, 1815
London
Madison County
Ohio, USA
Death: Mar. 16, 1909
Los Angeles
Los Angeles County
California, USA
Civil War Nurse - Nicknamed "Mother" due to her loving care and being old enough to be the age of most of the wounded boys' mothers, Ransom was a nurse during the Civil War. Her first assignment was in a Union hospital in Tennessee and then to New Orleans were she went aboard the Government Transport Ship NORTH AMERICA to nurse wounded and sick Union soldiers during their trek back to the North by sea. The ship sank in heavy seas during a storm of the Florida coast on December 22, 1864. Of the 203 Union enlisted soldiers, mostly from Illinois and New York regiments, 194 were lost in the sinking. Ransom witnessed many of her beloved patients drown during the sinking. Ransom was placed in a lifeboat and while it was nearly swamped by the waves of the storm, she was able to make it to the ship LIBBY and rescued. She was sent to a hospital in New York City to recover from her ordeal. While there, she received visits from relatives and friends of the soldiers who were lost on the NORTH AMERICA who beseeched her to tell them if she knew of their lost loved one and/or about the storm and sinking; something she never refused to do as she felt she should try and ease the families sorrow as best she could. On July 25, 1866, a grateful Congress authorized a payment of $400 to Ransom for her wartime services aboard the NORTH AMERICA.
Ransom's parents were both Georgians by birth. She was born in Indiana (some researchers say it was in London, Madison County, Ohio). She married Stillman Ransom of Vermont on 1/19/1837 in Ripley County, Indiana.
The 1850 US Census shows the family living in Franklin Township, Ripley County, Indiana. Her husband is shown to be a farmer and Ransom is recorded as having been born in Maryland. The following family members are recorded as living in the home:
Stillman Ransom M 39 Vermont
Eleanor C Ransom F 35 Maryland
Nancy Jane Ransom F 12 Indiana
Sarah A Ransom F 10 Indiana
Her daughter Nancy Jane "Jennie" Ransom would marry twice (Walter Horace Dennison and then Civil War veteran Charles Henry Haskins). She died in Los Angeles, California, on 1/16/1881 and was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery.
In the 1900 US Census Ransom is shown to be a widow and one of many boarders in the home of a Jennie Bowlsby. Most of the boarders are young women with babies. Her obituary tells of Ransom's support for such a home and it is believed by this author that Ransom was being a "mother" and nurse to the girls at the home as well as a monetary benefactor.
Ransom was a member of the Women's Relief Corps and is mentioned in histories of that society as having been an Army nurse. Her obituary which accompanies this memorial, reported her philanthropic activities in the Los Angeles area.
Mother Ransom died at age 95. (Bio by Rick Lawrence, MSgt., USMC/USAFR (RET)
Family links:
Children:
Jennie Ransom Haskins (1837 - 1884)*
*Calculated relationship
Inscription:
U.S. Army Nurse
Burial:
Evergreen Cemetery
Los Angeles
Los Angeles County
California, USA
Plot: Section D
Maintained by: Rick Lawrence
Originally Created by: TLS
Record added: Aug 07, 2011
Find A Grave Memorial# 74595993
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