Page 318 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

“Regarding your interest in the members of the U.S. Military Academy Class of 1854, I have enclosed a listing of that class ...You will note that although George Custer is portrayed as a member of the Class of 1854 in the movie The Santa Fe Trail, he is not listed with class in the Register. George Custer was not admitted to the Academy until 1857, and, consequently, graduated with the Class of June 1861.
It seems probable that the name of Charles Greene Sawtelle is the one you understood to be ‘Soothill’.
The archivist kindly forwarded the obituary of General Charles G. Sawtelle whose family had emigrated to America from Somerset early in the seventeenth century. Sadly, the Soothills involved in the American Civil War were foot-soldiers rather than generals!
In terms of pioneers going to the United States then, there is Seth to consider, but there is no evidence yet that Seth had any descendants who carried forward the Soothill name beyond the late seventeenth century. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, however, there are three male contenders – Joseph who is shown to be married when he enlisted for the Civil War, George who arrived in New York in 1856 but about whom nothing more is known, and Thomas who was already married when he came to the United States and does not seem to have started a family in the United States. Hence, Joseph – among the males at least – seems the best bet to produce descendants in the United States. Perhaps he married Loisa and they came across from England together but, as I will suggest below, this idea is not altogether convincing. As stated earlier, Loisa’s young family is shown in the 1860 census but with no husband listed. However, whatever the story, Loisa and the three male Soothills demonstrate that they certainly qualify as pioneers in the United States.
William and Sam emigrating to South Africa
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