It all started with the letters. Letters found in family records, written by a doomed young Civil War soldier to his wife. John Williamson was 22 years old, six months married, with a wife three months pregnant when he was mustered into military service as a sergeant in the Union Army in October 1861. The … More You Dream Every Night That I am Home
Today is Veteran’s Day, 2021. It’s the first Veteran’s Day that William Boyd of the town of Jim Thorpe, PA finally has a military marker. William Boyd was a Private in the 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry in the Union Army during the Civil War, and for a time he was a prisoner of war in Richmond. … More A Civil War veteran was finally honored for his service on Veteran’s Day
Life can be really unfair. I’ve been doing research for a book that I’m writing based on the letters of the first husband of my great x4 Aunt Hester. John Williamson wrote these letters home to Hester while he was serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. He didn’t make it home. John … More Beyond the battlefield: how one little girl lost not only her father, but her entire family during the Civil War
A few years ago, I started learning about the part of my family history that is rooted in the anthracite coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania. I discovered an old coal town, Eckley, that was preserved because it was used as the location of a historical movie (“The Molly Maguires”) in the late 1960s. It’s a … More Broken breaker, broken heart
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