The worst part of doing a jigsaw puzzle might come after you lay out all the parts. The box says there are 100 pieces... but you have counted 102... What to do????

Just like the puzzle, in the John Hanna story we need to throw out a few parts.

The last two blogs in this space brought you part of this story. A fellow from Nova Scotia by the above name moved off to the US pre Civil War days, and signed up when the war began. Gunshot wounds saw him in and out of hospitals and doing service in three different army outfits. In the third, he was selected to serve as one of the 29 honor guards of the remains of President Lincoln during the escort from DC after  the assassination to his final resting place in Springfield. For this incredible honor John was awarded the Medal off Honor as where the other 28.

But in 1917 the government decided to take back the medals... illegally,.. with hundreds of others in the purge, a matter well documented in this space over the past 4 years.

All that aside, for years the whereabouts of John's grave has been a mystery to family and anyone else interested in the case. Recently, with the incredible help of a researcher based in the DC area and a great supporter of this blog, John's pension file was located and within that, both his and his wife Julia's  graves were identified as being in Pottsville Pa, where both had lived from pre CW days until his 1891 death.

Here is a picture of Nova Scotia's Medal of Honor recipient, First  Sergeant John Lindsay Hanna, some years  after his retirement in the US Army's Veterans Corps in 1865.

File documents talk about how well he was liked in Pottsville and, from the image here, he looks like he was  a most dignified member of the community.

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As noted in an earlier blog, this is the pension index card for Canada's John Hanna. The card shows that his first regiment to serve in was the 40th NY Volunteer Infantry, in H company. At the bottom the card also shows he then served in L company of the 2nd US Cavalry, and lastly, in B Company of the 14th Volunteer Reserve Cops.

This card gave the application number, and the subsequent granting certificate number for pensions, for both John, and after death, for his wife Julia.

It was from these numbers supplied to my friend in DC, that a trip to the national archives and a search produced the widow's files and lots of info about John's service, widow's pension, their deaths and burial.

Sounds simple... but then comes along an extra piece in the puzzle. Here it is....

This is another pension index card for another fellow named John Hanna. But note that he  is not listed as serving in any of the above 3 regiments. In fact his service is limited to just one... the 95th Pennsylvania Infantry.

The Pottsville cemetery  feels that it is this Hanna,  born in Philladelphia, rather  than the Canadian Hanna that is buried at their cemetery. As does web site called www.pennsylvaniagravesites.org.

Here are the grave markers at Pottsville...

And here is what the web site featuring these grave markers says about John....

It clearly says the man at Pottsville is the soldier from the 95th PA infantry. A net search of Medal of Honor recipients from that regiment will reveal the names of three Medal of Honor heroes, but none had the surname Hanna.

Back in 1880 a Pottsville Pa. census lists John and Julia Hanna. The document claims he was born in "Mass" as where his mother and father. I suggest that it may have been a  little easier for the person taking the information down, to add in MASS, rather than Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia, as supported by various NS Genealogical record.

Pre the Civil War John had moved to the US. It is known that 2 brothers either went with him or came earlier or later. One served in  the navy and the other also in the army during that war. There  are a number of family connections in the Norfolk area, and thus, if he wrote down he was from "Mass", that might be part of the reason.

Moving on, here is an obit found for one of the John's  the very day the Canadian John died back in 1891. It was sent to me by one of a group in the US who are now trying to help get to the bottom of this puzzle.

Note that Hanna is reported as having lived in Schuylkill Avenue. The number was # 706 and is often mentioned in the Canadian Hanna pension file. The obit also noted service in 3 regiments. The American Hanna is only mentioned  as serving in one. This document... created the very day he died, says that the Hanna being reported on was a member of the Lincoln Honor Guard.

It also notes a birth... over 50 years after the fact, that he was born in the Norfolk area, as stated re the census details of  1880, and also above commented on.

I think from all that I have mentioned so far, you can see that there are  a  few pieces of the puzzle that ought to be discarded. So now its time to look at some more smoking guns.

I showed you the American born Hanna's pension index card for a reason. Once it was found I also asked my DC friend to have a look for the Yank's file, and soon is was located and portions sent to me.

This certificate, though difficult to read,  came from the file. It states that Hanna, a Philadelphia born soldier served in the 95th and served  from Sept. 1861 to Aug. 1862. It adds that he was then discharged due to disability. If discharged, how he could be possibly be still in the military three years later and be involved in the Lincoln honor guard?

Here's a bigger smoking gun...

From the same file comes this document. At item 6 it says this man Hanna died in 1897, while the marker at Pottsville clearly shows the Cdn soldier died in 1891. Item 12 shows that he died at Philadelphia and item 14 says he was was buried... NOT AT POTTSVILLE.   but at Mt Peace Cemetery which happens to be in Philadelphia Pa. 

From the same American soldier's file comes this document..an affidavit seeking a pension for his wife. She signs the document as SARAH Hanna. The Pottsville grave gives the name JULIA. The above pension certificate number.. 14910, is the very number found on the above index card for the American soldier. The above also claims that the ONLY regiment he served in was the 95th...so how in the world can he be the fellow buried at Pottsville Pa. ?

From the American's file also comes this notice of his wife Sarah's death in 1924. The Pottsville grave shows Julia passed away in 1905.

And  from the above certificate of Sarah's death, if you look at bottom center of the page you will see that she joined her husband at rest in the same plot at Mt Peace in Philadelphina ... not Pottsville Pa.

And perhaps the biggest smoking gun is the one I saved for last. I have spoken to a descendant of the Hanna who was born in Canada. I am told that as a youth that individual was handed the actual Medal of Honor by that person's grandmother.  Curious!  If not the family, how did the family get the medal.

I anxiously await being sent some images of the medal. I hope to to here from the cemetery at Pottsville, the group from the US looking into this matter, and the website with the incorrect info with regards to what steps will be taken to correct this story so that the family, and the public, including descendants on both sides of the border can see history corrected and shared heritage preserved.

See you next week with yet another MOH mystery being worked on  and partly resolved.

Bart