Grandma's Granny's Family Album

  Gettysburg gift shops should sell a kids T-shirt reading “My great-great-great-grandfather fought here.” (see Wendel Pedigree Chart) We looked all over for one when we walked in the footsteps of the 45th New York Infantry. The 45th fought hand-to-hand as they ran thru the streets and hid in doorways, so we drove our van thru town, turning at each street corner to follow their route. Only to find that my kids’ 3xgreat-grandfather never fought in Gettysburg. He had been captured at the Battle of Chancellorsville. That may have saved his life. Valentin, a Bavarian emigrant, enlisted in August 1861 at age 33, leaving son Joseph and pregnant wife Christine at home. Why? Germans had a cultural respect for the military. Or he felt he should fight for his new country. Or to get citizenship. Or for the paycheck. Christine had a community, since her brother and brothers-in-law fought too. Valentin mustered into the 5th German Rifles, as the 45th was known since the vast majority were immig...

Flat Isaac travels around his namesake county looking for fun things to do to celebrate America's 250th birthday! Follow him on Facebook!  Of course, he didn't look like this.  He looked more like the guy sitting on the rock in plain clothes.  Isaac was a militiaman, and they didn't have uniforms, but brought their own supplies from home.  - Isaac Van Wart, Revolutionary War Hero - when three regular guys stopped the death of a newborn nation What's another word for traitor?  Back-stabber?  Two-timer?  Snake?  If you look the word  traitor up in the dictionary, the name Benedict Arnold is actually there as a synonym.  Not a joke.  You know it's really bad if your name has become a word that means selling out your own people. A legend in my first husband's family was that some ancestor, Isaac Van Wart, had captured Benedict Arnold during the American Revolution. Back in the olden days when all we had for home research were boo...