Little Girl Lost

I was doing some research on Mary Ann Besse, my 2nd great grandmother.  She was born in Wareham, Massachusetts on the 19 day of May 1845.  She married Thomas Warren Pierce of Middleboro, Massachusetts on May 27, 1865.  Her husband owned a successful business in town named for him, "Pierce Hardware Store". 

They had five daughters, Cora, Dora, Ida, Maude, and Grace, and one son, Carl.  More about the lives of these children another day.   

I was preparing to join the Mayflower Society as a descendant of Myles Standish.  I needed the birth, death and marriage certificates for a number of generations to prove lineage.  It was the marriage certificate of Mary Ann Besse and Thomas Warren Pierce, that took me by surprise.  It stated that this was a second marriage for Mary.

I researched further to discover that her first husband was Andrew E. Thomas.  Rev. George H. Winchester married them in the town of Middleboro on September 29, 1859.  It appears they had a child together, a daughter, born on August 25, 1860.  They named her Joanna, after Andrew's deceased mother. 

At the onset of the Civil War, Andrew joined the ranks of the 4th Massachusetts Infantry as a Union soldier for a period of nine months on September 19, 1862.  It was in the battle at BRASHEAR CITY, LA, June 23, 1863 where Andrew was severely wounded, captured, and taken prisoner on June 23, 1893.  Two days later the confederates released him, for they knew he would not survive. Two days later on June 27, 1863 he died from his injuries.  He was only two days shy from completing his nine months of service and returning home to his family.

The mystery that I am left with is what happened to the little girl named Joanna.  There seems to be no further trace of her.  I will continue my search to find this little girl lost.