F B Soles
by Maureen Storey
This article was originally published in the April 2009 edition of Soul Search, the journal of The Sole Society
We were recently sent this photo by Thomas L Jones, who collects ephemera from the American Civil War.
The photo was taken at Brand's Art Gallery, 108 Lake St, Chicago and written on the back is 'F.B. Soles'. Thomas's research has led him to believe that this is Ferdinand Bolivar Soles. Ferdinand's military records tell us that he was born in Ohio, that he enlisted as a private on 7 April 1864 when he was just 15 years old and that at that time his place of residence was Ringgold County, Iowa. He joined G Company, Iowa 4th Infantry on 15 Aug 1861, and was promoted to corporal on 1 July 1865. He left the army on 24 July 1865 at Louisville, Kentucky.
Ferdinand Bolivar Soles has featured in Sole Search before, when his great grand-daughter, Linda Lou Camp appealed for help in finding out who his parents were. She believed that he had been born in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Iowa but she had had unable to find any SOLES in Iowa in the 1840 or 1850 censuses. However, if Thomas's information is correct, then it appears she should have been looking in Ohio! n