Congrats
The Dunhill lighter is a cool recovery.
It's a Scoville - Info from owner, old township maps & Grave search info established ownership dating back to 1840s of the farm and military information on burials. Turns out the owner of the farm from 1884-1914 had a father (private) serving in the 1st Michigan, KIA in 1864 and burried in Nashvile, TN., finding his grave indicated his father, his father had 4 sons who served as well. Further, as the father died when the owner was a young boy, and well before he moved to the farm, and a private, he was ruled out. Of the 3 remaining, only 1 was a Sgt., lived nearby and died in 1902. The other 2 were privates and did not live nearby. The button provided info as to the rank of the owner, the insignia within the shield indicates its a "staff" button belonging to an officer, at least the rank of "non-commissioned". Deduction reduced the ownership to one possible relative, who lived nearby, lived until 1902, and fit as to his rank. He very likely visited his nephew from time to time and the local town nearby, (center for the township) would've offered opportunity for him to wear his uniform at events. The button was found in the front yard, near the driveway entrance as well certainly a pathway for visitors to the farm. Took some time sleuthing it but very confident of the ownership.
Thank you for the explanation of how you figured that the button belonged to a certain person.
As you know we deal in probabilities based on deduction as these items don't come out of the ground with names on them, always possible the button got in that front yard by other means. Through deduction, I distilled it down to the most probable owner. based on my research of property owners from 1850s-1914, the current owner's grandfather bought it in 1914 and confirmed no military veterans in his family. Post civil war was a thought but didn't fit the place where it was found and the possible droppers visiting the farm, all of the relatives served during the civil war, discharging in 1865 or KIA, I viewed the index cards of these veterans to confirm regiment, muster in/out years an ranks and the Scoville mark got my attention immediately on the button. At least for me, it was sufficient to tag it to the Sgt. whose nephew lived there based on the totality of info gained through research as the most probable owner. Is it still possible a civil war vet with the rank of non-commissioned officer or above visited the farm and dropped it other than the Sgt. I identified, its possible, but as of now, the facts don't point elsewhere. Thanks for taking time peek at it and providing insight as good researchers are always looking to hone skills.
