Monday, April 15, 2013

Military Monday - Learning Civil War Research from Amy Johnson Crow

On Saturday Amy Johnson Crow came to town to talk about researching our Civil War soldiers.  Amy's presentation was sponsored by the St. Joseph County Public Library and the South Bend Area Genealogical Society in conjunction with this years One Book, One Michiana event.


I have so many civil war ancestors (53 at last count) that I have a separate tab on this blog to keep track of them!  I have completed an online class on researching civil war ancestors, own many books on the subject and have years of research behind me.  But I learned so much from Amy on Saturday!

I learned more about the draft and why my ancestor might appear on the draft record but never in a regiment.  I learned more about the GAR then I ever knew including the fact that they were integrated at a time when segregation was the norm!  I learned to pay more attention to those county histories instead of just skimming the index for my ancestors name.

Mostly I had a wonderful time with my genealogy friends talking about our ancestors who fought in the war and learning about research strategies from one of the best!

Thank you Amy for an enjoyable Saturday!



7 comments:

  1. I learned a lot! We are so stoked because one of Amy's examples dealt with a Civil War soldier buried in Hammond, IN. The cemetery has seen a lot of problems with badly kept records, missing stones, etc. and we had no knowledge of William Guthridge. Now we can see if his headstone is missing, or just buried.

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    1. That was so exciting! Genealogy serendipity strikes again!

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  2. I've been researching a Civil War Ancestor. Never expected to find him in a National Cemetery (future blog post). It was fun to learn about him and his part in the Civil War.
    Regards, Grant



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    1. I can't wait to read that blog post, Grant! I love the unexpected finds!

      Lisa

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  3. I would to know more about why folks enlisted (signed up for the draft) but didn't serve. And I'd love to know if there was a record as to why that next step wasn't taken. It might solve a mystery I have.

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    1. Hi Devon!

      Amy said that some men who were drafted never served because of two reasons:

      1. They paid a substitute to serve for them. The sub then served under their own name, not the drafted man's name.

      2. They should never have been a part of the draft due to age, disability, etc.

      I learned so much from Amy's lecture!

      Lisa

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