1 Reply Latest reply on Jul 29, 2019 9:36 AM by Rebecca Collier

    Family of Henry Wirz (the Andersonville commander)

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    Catherine Biddulph Jul 15, 2019 10:27 AM

      Elderly relatives once told a cousin and me that we were distantly related to the (in)famous Henrich "Henry" WIRZ, commander of the Civil War Andersonville POW camp. Our old aunties--now deceased--didn't know any more than that. Captain Wirz, of course, was executed for war crimes after a trial of, shall we say, questionable validity.

       

      In any event, I recently established that Cuz and I do have an ancestor whose maiden name was recorded as Margarethe WERTZ or WUERTZ. She would have been born circa 1810-1820, birthplace variously stated as Pennsylvania, West Virginia, or Germany. She married John RAY of Bangor Massachusetts/Maine and they eventually settled in Moundsville when it was still in Virginia. She was using the name Margaret RAY at that time.

       

      My last "sighting" of Margaret is in the 1870 Federal Census, where she is a widow still living in Moundsville. I haven't found a death record. on the wvculture.org site or anywhere else.

       

      Would love to have some advice on how I could pursue this possible connection to Henry Wirz.  Thank you for reading!