Family Civil War Project

Three Veterans in One Family Line

This home page brings together three connected Civil War veterans in the McGarvey family line: Matthew McGarvey, his son Hamilton McGarvey, and Hamilton’s father-in-law Isaac Heading. Each site presents the documentary record of military service, family relationships, and later life through linked evidence and narrative interpretation.

Veteran Profiles

Linked sites for each Civil War veteran

Each profile explores a different branch of the family’s Civil War story. Together they trace military service across connected households and generations in the McGarvey family network.

First generation

Matthew McGarvey

Matthew McGarvey stands at the earlier generation of this family line and anchors the beginning of the documented military story.

Relationship: Father of Hamilton McGarvey
Site focus: Military service and family record
Born:about 1802
Service:Civil War veteran
Unit:Company A, 1st West Virginia Cavalry
Died:July 7, 1887
Open Matthew Site
Second generation

Hamilton McGarvey

Hamilton McGarvey connects the McGarvey and Heading families and forms the central link between the paternal and in-law branches documented in this project.

Relationship: Son of Matthew McGarvey
Marriage connection: Husband of Lucinda Heading McGarvey
Born:January 1, 1837
Service:1861–1865
Unit:Company H, 2nd Virginia Infantry, later 5th West Virginia Cavalry
Died:March 22, 1923
Open Hamilton Site
In-law branch

Isaac Heading

Isaac Heading adds the maternal-in-law side of the family story and provides a documented connection between Civil War service, furnace labor, and family continuity in southern Ohio.

Relationship: Father-in-law of Hamilton McGarvey
Family connection: Father of Lucinda Heading McGarvey
Born:about 1817
Service:1862–1865
Unit:Company A, 1st Ohio Heavy Artillery
Died:March 27, 1900
Open Isaac Site
Family Line

How these three veterans are connected

The three sites can be read individually, but they are strongest when viewed together as part of one interconnected family history.

Matthew McGarvey is the father of Hamilton McGarvey.
Hamilton McGarvey married Lucinda Heading.
Isaac Heading is the father of Lucinda Heading McGarvey, making him Hamilton’s father-in-law.