Surprisingly, I found familysearch.org to be the main resource in use in the lobby of the actual LDS family history library in Salt Lake City. Now that resource sits in on my home computer!
Armed with a few notes, family oral history, and names on photographs, I've been finding plenty of interesting facts. (Interesting to me, anyway, conceding that there's nothing quite so boring as somebody else's genealogy...) I'm intrigued to learn the type of lives my ancestors lived, and more specifically, where they fit into the greater historical picture of our nation. I love history, so discovering personal connections seems a natural extension.
Most of my ancestors were Confederates. Dr. Thomas J. Bennett served as an assistant surgeon for the Army of Northern Virginia, freshly out of medical school at Vanderbilt. After the war he married a girl half his age and served as a country doctor south of Nashville. One 3rd great grandfather, Levi D. Jarratt, was a sergeant in the 45th Tennessee and was killed at the battle of Shiloh in 1862. Another 3rd great grandfather, Winston R. Graham, was a private in the 16th Alabama Regiment. Winston also fought at Shiloh, but survived the war, fortunately, as the son he had in 1874 is my 2nd great grandfather.
The sole Union soldier I've found lurking in my family history is Byard Hickman. Byard was from West Virginia but enlisted in the 151st Illinois regiment, too late in the war to see combat. He went on to an interesting life as a Colorado pioneer and cattle rancher, however.
Perhaps the most interesting tidbit I've found is from a Walker family that I'm not certain about my relation, but the story is worth repeating. The Walkers, from Nashville, lost two sons in the Civil War. One to each side. I can't imagine how that must have felt.
Here's the flag Winston Graham fought under at Shiloh, the regimental colors of the 16th Alabama.
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| Regimental colors, 16th Alabama infantry |
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