Soldier Information
Name: Newman Furman
Alias:
Place of Birth: Nelson KY Year of Birth: 1846
Occupation: Laborer
Eyes: Dark Hair: Dark Complexion: Dark
Height in Feet: 5 Inches: 9
View Ledger
Enlistment Information
Enlistment Date: October 12, 1864
Enlistment Place: Louisville
Enlistment State: KY
Compiled Military Service Record
Document: View
Congressional District: 4
Company: E & A Regiment(s): 122nd USCI
Mustered Where: Louisville, Kentucky
Mustered Out Date: February 8, 1866
Rank at Muster Out: Sergeant
Notes:
Newman Furman was promoted to corporal on March 1, 1865; promoted to sergeant on October 1, 1865. When he was mustered out at Galveston, Texas, he owed $11.50 to the regiment’s sutler, Daniel Haverty (1816-1882). Not long after Furman settled his debts, Haverty garnered headlines for allegedly defrauding John McClane, a one-time Confederate blockade runner and who later the sheriff of Nueces County, Texas. McClane accused Haverty of stealing over $21,000. Haverty sold a large shipment of wool for McClane in New Orleans, but instead of sending to proceeds back to McClane in Texas, took the money and fled to Chicago. McClane chased Haverty down and arrested him. Haverty then accused McClane of kidnapping and false imprisonment, among other things. It was not the first time that Haverty ran into trouble with the law. Before he was the sutler for the 122nd USCI, he was dismissed from his position as sutler for the 19th Regiment Illinois Volunteers. For more details about the case of the 122nd Regiment’s sutler, go to: https://www.newspapers.com/image/812749912/?terms=%22Daniel%20Haverty%22%20sutler&match=1.
Soldier Death Information
Died in war? No
Military Death Date:
Military Death Location:
Military Cause of Death:
Death Date: October 22, 1920
Cause of Death: Atherosclerosis
Soldier Pension Information
Pension Card Link: Pension Card
Pension Application Date: June 28, 1905
Application No.: 1337526 Certificate No.: 1126871
Alternate First Name: Alternate Last Name:
No widow pension card found
No other family pension card found
Pension File Information
Pension File:
Pensioners:
Pensioner County: Jefferson Pensioner State: KY
Number of Pages:1
Pension Notes:
Newman Furman was admitted to the Veterans’ Home in Dayton, Ohio on September 3, 1908. His medical condition was described as having, “Various ulcers outer aspect of both legs. Chronic rheumatism, slight cardiac hypertrophy. General condition fair.” He was described as 63 years old, 5’5” tall, brown complexion, brown eyes, black hair. He was unable to read and write. Furman was a Protestant, worked as a farmer, lived in Louisville after discharge from the USCI, and was a widower. His birth location was listed as Kentucky, but no specific location was given. His contact person was his son Harry Furman, 2826 W. Madison Street, Louisville, Kentucky. Newman Furman’s pension rate when he was admitted was $12/month, then increased to $14 (June 7, 1912), $16 (October 12, 1912), $20 (October 12, 1916), $24 (October 12, 1921) $30 (June 10, 1918), and finally $35. He lived the rest of his life in the Dayton Veteran’s home and died there on October 22, 1920. He was buried in the Veterans’ cemetery in Dayton.
Freedman’s Bank/Freedmen’s Bureau Information
No Freedman’s Bank information found
No Freedmen’s Bureau Documents found
Family Information
Mother First Name: Mother Maiden Name:
Father First Name: Father Last Name:
Siblings:
Wife #1 First Name: Alice Maiden Name:
Wife #2 First Name: Maiden Name:
Wife #3 First Name: Maiden Name:
Children: Robert Furman 1869
Henry Thomas Ferman 1872
Nannie Ferman 1878
Bettie Ferman 1879
Mary Furman 1880
Family Notes:
Soldier’s death date obtained from National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers source. Some of Newman Furman’s children changed the spelling of their surname to “Ferman.” Few verifiable records for Newman Furman’s wife, Alice Furman, were found after 1880. No record of their marriage was located and her maiden name is difficult to determine. The death certificate for Nannie Ferman Dover (1878-1915) includes her mother’s name and it was transcribed as “Alice Surey.” No person by that name was found in the record.
Family Tree: View
View Family Tree on Ancestry.com Please note: this requires a paid Ancestry.com account to view
1870 Census
1870 Census Link: View
1870 Profession: Dray Driver
1870 Live with/near former enslaver? No
1870 Real Estate Value: 0 1870 Personal Estate Value: 0
1870 Ability to Read? Cannot read Ability to Write? Cannot write
1870 Census Notes:
1880 Census
1880 Census Link: View
1880 Profession: Teamster
1880 Live with/near former enslaver? No
1880 Ability to Read? Cannot read Ability to Write? Cannot write
1880 Census Notes:
1890 Census
1890 Census information not found
1900 Census
1900 Census Link: View
1900 Profession: Hostler
1900 Ability to Read? Cannot read Ability to Write? Cannot write
1900 Own/Rent: Rent 1900 Home Free/Mortgage: Unknown 1900 Farm/House: House
1900 Census Notes:
1910 Census
1910 Census Link: View
1910 Profession: None
1910 Ability to Read? Cannot read Ability to Write? Cannot write
1910 Own/Rent: Unknown 1910 Home Free/Mortgage: Unknown 1910 Farm/House: House
1910 Census Notes:
1920 Census
1920 Census Link: View
1920 Profession: None
1920 Ability to Read? Cannot read Ability to Write? Cannot write
1920 Own/Rent: Unknown 1920 Home Free/Mortgage: Unknown 1920 Farm/House: House
1920 Census Notes:
Newman Furman’s surname appeared in Census records in three different forms: Furman, Firman, and Forman. For the last 12 years of his life, he lived in the Disabled Soldiers’ Home in Dayton, Ohio. He died there on October 20, 1920, and was buried in the Veterans’ cemetery at the Soldiers’ Home in Dayton.
Enslaver Information
Name: Andrew Jackson Armstrong Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Previous Enslaver: Elizabeth Forman Kalfus
Enslaver Notes:
The story of Newman Furman’s enslaver is a bit complicated. By the time Newman Furman mustered out of the Co. A 122nd USCI, his enslaver of record of Andrew Jackson “A. J.” Armstrong (1830-1887). But his previous enslaver was someone else–Elizabeth Forman Kalfus. Newman Forman most likely came to be enslaved by A. J. Armstrong through his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Forman Kalfus (1838-1888). Armstrong’s wife, Charlotte Forman (1838-1894), her sister Elizabeth, along other siblings, inherited real estate and enslaved persons from their father, Joseph Forman (1794-abt. 1858) a wealthy farmer in Nelson County. Elizabeth Forman married Columbus Clay Kalfus (1830-1868) in 1853. When Elizabeth married Columbus Kalfus, her property (including enslaved persons) transferred to her huband’s name. Columbus Kalfus, also an enslaver, moved his family moved to Charleston, Missouri before 1860. Kalfus served was a lawyer by trade and served as an officer in the Confederate Cavalry in Missouri. However, it appears that Newman Furman did not travel with Kalfus family to Missouri and remained in Nelson County, most likely enslaved in the household of one of Elizabeth Forman Kalfus’s siblings. When Newman Furman enlisted in the USCI on October 12, 1864, the name of “Columbus Calfus” (a common misspelling of “Kalfus”) was the original Ledger entry as Furman’s enslaver. Later, on January 5, 1865, “Columbus Calfus” was crossed out and replaced with the name, “A. J. Armstrong.” Based on the Ledger, it is reasonable to conclude that Newman Furman came to Elizabeth Forman from her father’s estate, but when she married, her husband, Columbus Kalfus became the enslaver of record by 1864, the year in which Newman Furman enlisted in the USCI at Louisville. A. J. Armstrong was a gambler and speculator, but not a successful one. Prior to marrying Charlotte Forman in 1860, his property was worth just $500. In the 1870 Census, A. J. Armstrong had no assets listed, but his wife owned $5,000 in real estate, and $500 in personal property. He squandered his wife’s inheritance on bad investments, and by the time he died in 1887, left his family in financial ruin. Despite the economic uncertainty of their childhoods, two of Armstrong’s four sons achieved fame and notoriety, albeit for two completely different reasons. Dee Waddell Armstrong (1868-1914) was a Louisville City detective and one of the primary investigators of the assassination of Gov. William Goebel (1856-1900). A. J. Armstrong’s youngest son, Dr. Andrew Joseph Armstrong (1873-1954), was an internationally known scholar on poet Robert Browning, and had a successful career as a professor at Baylor University. Unfortunately, Dr. Armstrong’s biography, “Boundless Life,” by Scott Lewis (published by Baylor University in 2014), paints an incomplete portrait of the A. J. Armstrong family in Louisville. The book fails to mention that A. J. Armstrong was an enslaver or that Charlotte Forman Armstrong’s wealth was largely the result of the labors of enslaved people in Nelson County, Kentucky.
1850 Enslaver Census
1850 Census Link: View
1850 Slave Schedule Link: View
1850 Number of Enslaved: 21
1860 Enslaver Census
1860 Census Link: View
1860 Real Estate Value: $3,000 1860 Personal Estate Value: $4,000
1860 Number of Enslaved:
1870 Enslaver Census
1870 Census Link: View
1870 Real Estate Value: $0 1870 Personal Estate Value: $0
1880 Enslaver Census
Compensation Information
Compensation Application not found