Potential breakthrough in the search for James Loveless’ family

As we know, Martyr James Loveless was the younger brother of George. When he was transported, he left a pregnant wife and two children in England. While away he then became the father of three children. When he returned home, he was the father of only one child, as the youngest two had died in 1835 only a week apart. Eli Wesley Loveless was then his only surviving child.

Descendants of James Loveless:

.. +DANIEL, Sarah b: 1806 m: July 06, 1830 Father: DANIEL, John Mother: WOODSFORD, Elizabeth
…….. 2 LOVELESS, Eli Wesley b: April 13, 1831
…….. 2 LOVELESS, Emily b: 1833 d: January 21, 1835
…….. 2 LOVELESS, Theophilus b: April 23, 1834 d: January 14, 1835
*2nd Wife of LOVELESS, James:
.. +DAGG, Ann b: 1809 m: April 19, 1849 d: April 25, 1879

We have no record of Eli or his mother in England or Canada after James emigrated. It is suspected that they did not emigrate with him.

We had found (see previous post April 4, 2021) an Eli Wesley Loveless of the same age who was mustered into the Union army in the U.S. civil war. Communication with NARA produced the muster in/out records, but no information potentially tying him to England or to his parents.

Thanks to the diligence of Sally McMahon, she discovered a FOLD3 record which indicated that this Eli was from Tolpuddle, was single, and was of the right age.

This information is given in a record of Volunteer Union Soldiers who served in the 1st Delaware Infantry.

It seems highly likely that this Eli is James’ son. Great work Sally!!

We now wish to know the fate of his mother, and also if he ever married and had children. Perhaps some of the American Loveless researchers might know something about a civil war veteran by the name of Eli Wesley Loveless, and are not sure of how or if he ties into the Martyrs!!

As we believe he settled in the Boston area, we have engaged an NEHGS researcher to hopefully corroborate this information and to see what else we might be able to find out about his life in America.

A small interesting fact is that the war records indicate he was a coach maker.

We have found an Eli Loveless in the Boston censuses whose occupation was given as a wheelwright, which seems a very allied occupation.