John Randall was born 1833 in Pulaski County Kentucky to Peyton Randolph and Elizabeth Rurark. (Names often morphed during this time in American history. Several of Peyton Randolph's children continued to go by Randolph, but several became Randalls.)

In 1853, John Randall married a young woman named Nancy Bobbitt. Nancy was 17 at the time of the marriage, and John was 20. John and Nancy had their first two children while they still lived in Kentucky. Their daughter Permelia was born in 1854, and their son George was born in 1856. The family moved to Pettis County, Missouri sometime between the time George was born and the time their next child, Mary, was born in 1858. They had two more children after Mary: Sarah in 1860 and John in 1863 (or 1864).

Nancy remarried in 1866 to a man named George Arnold, but she died within a year of that marriage.

John and Nancy are buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Dunksburg, Johnson County, Missouri. This summer, I took a trip to Missouri to find their graves. John's stone has obviously been replaced and is not the original stone. It may have been replaced by a veterans group or historical organization. It reads: "In Memory of John T. Randall/Husband of Nancy Bobbitt Randall/1833-1863/Pvt. 27th MO Mtd. Inf./Co. E GAR."

I'm wondering, could John have been in both the 27th MO Mtd. Inf. and the 40th E.M.M.?

When I was in Dunksburg, I found that "Johnnie T. Randall" (John's son) was burried with his parents. According to his stone, he died at the age of "17 ys. 8 m. & 19 d." The date of death was May 6, 1882. I did the math and realized that this would put his birth date in the Summer of 1864. This presents two possible scenerios. One: if John died in 1963, Johnnie was born after his father died. This would also have meant that John Randall's death at the hands of the Bushwhackers would have to have happened late in 1863, and that Nancy would have been only a few months pregnant when he died. If John died in November or December in 1863, and his son was born in August of 1864, that math works out. But he could not have been killed much earlier than that for Johnnie to have been his son. Scenerio two is that John really did die sometime in 1864 and not 1863, in which case he could have been alive at the time of his son's birth.

One interesting note is that Johnnie T. Randall (the son) died by suicide. I found the article about his death in the The Knob Noster Gem, May 12, 1882. Apparently he was accused of taking money from his foster family and was so distraught that he shot himself with a revolver. But more telling, his foster father was Capt. Clifton Bondurant, who was also in the 237th MO Mtd. Inf. AND the 40th E.M.M. The newspaper article says that Bondurant had raised Johnnie Randall from the age of 4, which would have been around the time of his mother Nancy's death.

Awhile back, I requested John Randall's records concerning the 27th MO Mtd. Inf (this was before I knew about the E.M.M.) and I just got two pages. On one page is the Company Muster-in Roll, which says he joined Aug. 4, 1861, and the Co. Muster-out Roll, which is dated Jan. 27, 1862. However, in the "Remarks" space it says "No service rendered." But then I found the E.M.M. information that says he enrolled July 28, 1862 and was relieved from duty on Feb. 28, 1863. Can anyone help me understand this timeline or what might have been going on here?

That's much of what I know about John Randall. Thanks again for your help! Any additional help will be much appreciated!