Selma wrote: "It is possible that Uriah did not enlist under the name that you find him with in 1870...You should attempt to see if he applied for a pension..."
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My response:

I do declare if right after reading this reply to HM's posting, if I didn't find one of the WEST ancestors I have been researching. His Civil War pension card dated 31 May 1900, on Ancestry lists him as WEST, Handy (alias) and on the line just below is the name BETHEA, Handy B. Wow! Soooo, does that mean his last slaveholder was named BETHEA? He apparently preferred WEST because he is found in 1870, 1880, 1900 and 1910 censuses with surname WEST. In 1910, he is also listed as "mulatto", so maybe since he knew his white father was a WEST slavemaster, he chose to carry that surname instead of BETHEA. I got some more digging to do, but now, I can truly say I can risk spending the bucks to obtain a copy of this man's pension file. He most likely IS my half-sister's 3rd Gr-GF. Good luck, HM, and thanks once again, Selma!

Georgia Walker-Adams