ROBERT CLOUSTON

Company "C" 6th Iowa Infantry

Researched & Compiled by Linda Fluharty

WIDOW'S PENSION FILE

Iowa Death Record indicates that Robert Clouston died at Keokuk, Iowa on Jan. 15, 1863, and he is buried there. He is named in the Index cards of the 6th Iowa Infantry, Co. “C”.

The 1890 Marshall County, W.Va. census of veterans and widows contains information from Sarah (Pelley) Clouston, the widow of Robert, who returned to West Virginia following his death: “Enlisted 7/1861; died 1/15/1863. Length of Service: one year, six months. Address: Wells, Marshall Co., W.Va. Disability Incurred: Died from Smallpox. Remarks: Pension $12.00 per month.”

Robert was the son of William and Jane (Glass) Clouston and is memorialized on a stone shared by his parents and his brother, William Morgan Clouston, in the Clouston Cemetery, Marshall County. The gravestone reads: “Robert Clouston born in Wheeling Feb. 23, 1826, died in the service of his country Jan. 16, 1863 and buried near Keokuk, Iowa.”

The Clouston family resided in Marshall County at the time of the 1840 census. The soldier was first married to Elsie McCollough and had two sons, William Morgan and Basil (many variations in spelling), and a daughter, Margaret J. They were residents of Iowa at the time of the 1850 census, and the wife died soon after. Robert married Sarah Pelly/Pelley in Marshall County on Jan. 5, 1851 and they returned to Iowa. In the 1860 census, Robert, 34, and Sarah, 42, resided with his 3 children & their 4 children. Their children, per widow’s pension, were Martha Elizabeth, Lydia Ann, James Colbert, Mary Louisa. Basil L. Clouston filed a pension application in 1885, but per laws in place, claim rejected. Sarah Pelly/Pelley Clouston is buried at Big Run Cemetery, Marshall County.


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