John Henry Haven

John Henry Haven

John Henry Haven was Richard White's great-great uncle.

John Henry Haven, known as Henry Haven, was the older son of John Shepard Haven, and the brother of Richard White's father's mother's mother.

Henry Haven was born in Thomas County, Georgia, on 20 December 1844. At age of 17 he was enrolled as a private in Company A, 59th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Macon, Georgia, on 7 August 1862. The 59th Georgia Infantry Regiment was a part of the Army of Northern Virginia and in general participated in its battles.

Henry Haven was shown on the muster roll for 16 June to 31 August 1862 as "sick in quarters". A company muster roll for the period of April 30 to June 30 1863 (which apparently was not written until 30 June 1864) indicates that Henry Haven was present. Various original documents in the Compiled Confederate Service Record show that on 15 June 1863 he was paid ahead through 31 August 1863. The pay documents stated that he was "returning to duty" and they appear to bear his actual signature. In July of 1863 (no specific day stated) he was issued clothing at 1 Div. Gen. Hosp., Camp Winder, Richmond, Virginia. From that it might be concluded that he was wounded or became ill during the Gettysburg campaign, but the surviving records do not clearly indicate that. Company muster rolls for July and August, 10 September, and November and December 1863, show him absent without official leave starting 26 or 27 August 1863. The records also show that the 15 June advance pay was issued in the hospital, but they do not indicate why he was in the hospital. There are obvious gaps in the surviving records, and in general it does not seem that communication between Confederate hospitals and unit commanders was all that could be desired. Also, the advance payment seems most unusual. Confederate Army pay tended to lag months behind. A more likely conclusion might be that Henry Haven was ill or injured in June of 1863 or before, and was that he was sent home on convalescent leave... and stayed there till January of 1864. Although the documents Henry Haven signed stated that he was returning to duty, the advance pay makes it appear that he was actually being given money to be able to travel... as might be done with convalescent leave. If so, it would not be the only time that the Confederate medical corps gave a soldier leave while his unit carried him on the books as AWOL (absent without official leave). What exactly happened to Henry Haven during the period of June to December 1863 is not recorded clearly enough in his Compiled Confederate Service Record to say with any sense of certainty. However, a casualty list for the Battle of Gettysburg which was published in the Macon Telegraph on 22 July 1863 under the heading "Casualties in the 59th Regiment at Gettysburg, Pa." included the following information: "Henry Havens (sic), in arm severely". John Henry Haven was wounded at Gettysburg!

The muster roll for January and February 1864 is apparently missing, but the muster roll for March and April shows Henry Haven present. On 4 June 1864 he was admitted to Jackson Hospital, Richmond, Virginia, with a diagnosis of "Chro Dia" (chronic diarrhea). The hospital returned him to duty on 16 June 1864. He was captured at Deep Bottom on 14 August 1864 and arrived at Burmuda 100 on 15 August 1864 and at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, on 16 August 1864. He arrived at Point Lookout, Maryland, Prisoner of War Camp on 17 August 1864 and remained there until released under General Order no. 85 on 14 May 1865.

Henry Haven ran a general merchandise store in the town of Lee, in Madison County, Florida, with his brother Green Berry Haven, and was probably involved in the creation of the town of Lee with Green Berry Haven as well. The town was named in honor of Henry Haven's old commander in the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee, and there is an interesting story about the general visiting the town which is to be found on the page concerning Green Berry Haven. Henry Haven was a leader in the Lee Methodist Church. That church was organized in 1828, was probably called Norton's Creek Methodist Church, and was located closer to the Suwannee River. After a great revival meeting in 1869, preached by a man named Lowrey, a new church building was built in 1870, and the name Stonewall was used. A new church building was erected about 1 1/2 miles west of the original one about 1884, and shortly after that a new building was erected in Lee as a part of the town's creation, and the name was changed to Lee Methodist Church. Information about Henry Haven's church activities appears on page 43 of A History of Madison County, Florida, by Elizabeth H. Sims.

Henry Haven married Levinia Colvin in Thomas County, Georgia, in 1869. Her widow's Florida Confederate Pension record indicates that he had resided in Florida since 20 December 1872. He died on 21 May 1900. At the time of her pension applications in 1907 and 1909, his widow lived in Lee, Madison County, Florida. Henry and Levinia Haven are buried just north of Green Berry and Cornelia Haven in the cemetery of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church on U.S. Highway 90 between the towns of Lee and Madison, in Madison County, Florida.

I am very indebted to information about casualties in the 59th Georgia Infantry Regiment that was received by e-mail on 17 January 2003 from John R. Adams, editor of the Taylor County Tracer, the newsletter of the Taylor County, Georgia Historical-Genealogical Society Newsletter.