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William Whitley Wynn was born 10 Jan 1834 in Lee County, Virginia, the son of Robert Whitley Wynn and Mary Crabtree. On 17 Jan 1860, in Lee County, Virginia, he married Eliza Flanary, daughter of Elkanah and Nancy Flanary.(1) Lee County Death Records list William's death, as it did many other deaths of local soldiers in far away locations. It gives the cause of death as consumption but military records state he died of typhoid fever and are more likely correct.
His father Robert, son of Josiah and Mary (Whitley) Wynn, was born about 1788 in Tazewell County, Virginia. He was a popular Methodist Clergyman and a prosperous farmer near Dryden, Virginia. William's mother, Mary Crabtree, whom Robert married 19 May 1825, was born about 1794 in Washington County, Virginia. The 1850 census(2) of Lee County, Virginia, lists three of their children still at home, William, William's younger sister Clarinda born about 1836 and younger brother Robert, born about 1839. In the 1860 census(3), Robert's household included 18 year old servant Catharine Wilson and Mary Crabtree Wynn's mother, Rebecca Crabtree, age 85, widow of Josiah Crabtree, as well as William's wife Eliza (aka Louisa). William was survived by his parents (his father died near Dryden 6 Dec 1873 and his mother 24 Apr 1887); his wife Eliza who died 6 May 1881; his daughter Nannie (born 31 Oct 1860 died Harlan County 20 Dec 1918, md Luther Slemp of Turkey Cove b 14 Jan 1855 died near Pennington Gap 2 Feb 1917. They had 5 children); perhaps his two oldest sisters, priscilla born 5 Sep 1826 and Rebecca born 25 Jan 1829; his sister Clarinda and for a short period of time, his brother Robert. One brother, Job, was born in 1832 and died as a boy, 28 Dec 1843. His brother Robert Wynn had also served in the 64th Virginia, in Company A, and was also captured at Cumberland Gap on 9 Sep 1863. Like most of the captured 64th Virginia, Robert was sent to Camp Douglas on 24 Sep 1863 where he was held until transferred to Point Lookout 21 Feb 1865 for exchange. On the 4th of March 1865, Robert was in Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond, Virginia, where he died five days later. He is buried there in Oakwood Cemetery. Thus, not one of Robert and Mary's sons survived them and they had no grandsons to carry on the Wynn name. An excellent account of the activities of the Confederate unit, the 64th Virginia, including the capture at Cumberland Gap and a detailed roster, is presented in Jeffrey Weaver's 64th Virginia Infantry volume of the Virginia Regimental Histories Series. It is available from Morningside Books, 175 pp., photos, cloth, $19.95.
The 8 men of the 64th sent to Johnson's Island, who survived are:
Footnotes:
The Late Unpleasantness, Civil War in Southeast Kentucky |