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Alma Webb is starting a National Society Daughters of the Union chapter for Chattanooga residents who are descendants of Union soldiers.
“I thought it was ridiculous that there wasn’t a chapter in Chattanooga,” said Webb, a St. Elmo resident. “I’m living on property that the Union held. I think it’s just fair to the Union soldiers for them to be recognized like the Confederate soldiers are.”
Webb said the NSDU is similar to the Daughters of the Confederacy in that it honors the memory of the men and women who were involved in the Civil War through battle or civil service.
Alma Webb holds a photograph of her great-grandfather, Andrew Penny, who lived in the Soddy-Daisy area during the Civil War and fought as a Union soldier.
Webb said she is currently a member-at-large with NSDU. She said each potential applicant must research her lineage and provide proof of their relation to a Union soldier in the form of pension records, war records or other evidence for the national organization.
Webb discovered that her tie to the Union Army is through her paternal great-grandfather, Andrew Jackson Penny.
“The Pennys were attorneys in Greene County, which would have been Andrew’s grandfather,” Webb said. “Andrew lived in Soddy near where the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant is today. He’s buried up there in the Penny Cemetery.”
Webb said the entire Penny family supported the Union Army at the Civil War’s outset. Her great-grandfather died when he was shot in the stomach during an engagement in Resaca, Ga.
Webb said finding records of her ancestor was made easier because of pension procedures observed by the Union.
“When Union members applied for their checks, they had to list all their children,” said Webb. “Penny had 16 children. He listed my grandmother.”
Webb said in honor of her ancestor she will name her new group the NSDU Andrew Jackson Penny Chapter. She will make the chapter official as soon as she has seven members who have submitted their ancestry proof, required by the national organization to start a chapter.
“As a group we will meet every two months,” said Webb. “We’ll have lunch, bring in different speakers about the Civil War and give financial aid to the Lincoln Memorial University.”
For more information contact Alma Webb at 825-1281 or e-mail her at almawebblive@comcast.com.
The chapter is open to all women ages 18 and older who are direct lineal or collateral descendants of a man or woman who, through military or civil service, were part of the Union Army from 1861-1865.
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