My new project is a biography of Union Brigadier General Patrick Henry Jones (1830-1900). According to a sister of his and Civil War veterans who knew him, Jones had a brother who served in the Confederate army. By process of elimination, that brother must have been Richard Jones, who was born in County Westmeath, Ireland, circa 1835. In 1840 the Jones family emigrated to America, settling in Cattaraugus County, New York. In 1853 all of the family except Patrick moved west, eventually helping to found a Catholic colony in Dakota County, Nebraska.
At some point Richard Jones moved south and went into business, reportedly in Vicksburg, where family sources place him in 1857. After that, his life is a mystery. A family story indicates he returned to the Joneses in Nebraska after the Civil War ended, wearing his Confederate uniform. Family legend also indicates that he died young, but when and where is unknown.
My hope is to track down Richard Jones's life in Mississippi, his service in the Confederate army -- presumably in a Mississippi regiment -- his postwar life, and his death and burial.
Any help that anyone can provide will be most welcome and gratefully acknowledged in the finished book. Thank you for your consideration.