family history – His Smile Lit Up a Room and Other Things to Say at My Funeral

The Real Winner of the Battle of Antietam

On Thursday, I took the cousins and Graham to the Antietam National Battlefield, and oh boy. Before we went, I looked up some family ancestry. We picked someone from the Laws family tree and someone from the Settle family tree. Eli’s job was to learn all he could about Charles Foster Settle and the 5thContinue reading “The Real Winner of the Battle of Antietam”

Among the Dead I Have Known

This is a series of life sketches and is not part of the daily short stories I have been posting. Lewis McSpadden was born into slavery in a year he could not recall, on a Tennessee farm he didn’t remember to a mother he would not know long. She was from Virginia; the documents sayContinue reading “Among the Dead I Have Known”

How the Christmas Ball Caused the Salem Witch Trials

I collect old letters and records, mostly from the Civil War era but some going back to the Colonial and Revolutionary periods. In the last six months, I acquired a letter between two cousins in the Putnam family of New England; I also acquired a Putnam letter from the early 1800s confirming the family’s involvementContinue reading “How the Christmas Ball Caused the Salem Witch Trials”

Remembering a Cousin Lost at Pearl Harbor

When he was born, we named our oldest son Grant Derby Laws. Grant became the seventh generation of oldest sons in my family with the middle name Derby. The first was William Derby Johnson, son of Ezekiel Johnson of Grafton, Massachusetts. When he was sixteen years old, William’s grandson Carl Spencer Johnson lied about hisContinue reading “Remembering a Cousin Lost at Pearl Harbor”

We All Sit on Thrones of Lies

When we are in Lewisburg, we like to do runs and walks on the Buffalo Valley Rail Trail—a long, paved walking/biking trail that follows the path of old rail lines no longer in use. Lewisburg is home to the Bucknell Bison, and the logo is a charging buffalo. A sign along the trail refers toContinue reading “We All Sit on Thrones of Lies”

The Sunday Night Draper of Eternity

Lauren and I used to watch Mad Men on Sunday nights, but the show was so relentlessly dark and my moods were so blue that I tapped out about halfway through the series. A year or two later, I was reading a Q&A by sportswriter and owner of Grantland (now The Ringer) Bill Simmons inContinue reading “The Sunday Night Draper of Eternity”

The Friendship Quilt

This is a deceptively simple fictional rendering of a story in my family history. It’s meant to be coupled with the “The Littlest Nurse,” and then for further perspectives, you can learn far more at my page on Sadie Bushman. You might wish to read the actual primary sources, as well. It’s worthwhile to thinkContinue reading “The Friendship Quilt”

To Defend One’s Home

At 5 am, the Confederate army had every reason to believe that they were on the cusp of a great victory. On April 6, 1862, they had caught the Union army under Grant unaware and had driven them to the edge of the Tennessee River. Twenty-seven-year-old John Ashby was in an ideal position. A memberContinue reading “To Defend One’s Home”

Burial Location of John K. Alexander, 36th MA

I have corresponded with the Fredericksburg Battlefield National Park personnel in reference to John K. Alexander of the 36th MA. Below is what they noted to me. This adds color to the story “The Tomb Is Empty.” Gordon,I appreciate your desire to locate the burial sites (both initial and final) of these soldiers. The deadContinue reading “Burial Location of John K. Alexander, 36th MA”