150 Years Ago Today: The Death of Wiley Powell

     150 years ago today, Wiley Powell died from disease while fighting in the Civil War.  He had already done a stint in the Georgia militia 26 years prior and was 42 years old when he enlisted again. This time he was serving as a replacement for another man.  He almost certainly received payment for his service, and I have to assume that the family needed that money.

     Almost as soon as Wiley joined the regiment, he went into the hospital.  He suffered from rheumatism and tuberculosis and was in and out of hospitals throughout his service.  He was admitted to Lynchburg Hospital No 3, where he stayed for a number of months before he died on 24 Jan 1864.

     Wiley was buried at the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia.  There is a cenotaph for him in Elbert County, Georgia at the Rock Branch Cemetery where many of his family are buried.

No Turning Back

Fort Sumter, 2010

     One Hundred and Fifty years ago, artillery fire was exchanged at Fort Sumter, starting the Civil War. A US army Major had taken control of the Charleston, South Carolina fort and refused to leave when the new Confederate government told him to.  On April 12, 1861, the Confederacy attacked, which eventually lead to the surrender of the Fort. The first battle of the Civil War ended with a Confederate victory and no fatalities.

     That I know of, all of my ancestors were living in the South when the war broke out.  Many of those ancestors ended up fighting in the Confederate Army. Two ancestors died in service, as well a many uncles and cousins. I can't really know their personal thoughts on the war, but they did actively take part.

     I will be presenting profiles on many of my Civil War era ancestors in the coming months, highlighting all parts of their lives. Here's a list of my known Civil War soldier ancestors (I assume that there must be more that I have yet to prove):

• William A Craft (1840-1909)
• John F Powell (1846-1920)
• Wiley Powell (1819-1864) killed
• Thomas T Albea (1845-1905)
• Nathan W Hyler (1835-1903)
• Franklin E Leaphart (1834-1865) killed
• Richard T Smith (1829-1920)
• William W Sprouse (1840-1905)
• Elijah A Dorn (1827-1903)

32 Years

     Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad! Today marks their 32 wedding anniversary. If you didn't see it earlier, check out mom's memories of her wedding day.

Happy Blogiversary to me!

My first entry to a blog style format was on 25 June 2007. I started a blog on a self-made page on my Reunion created website (here). The entries were mostly updates on my research efforts. When the page began to get too long, I moved my entries to a blog at Bravenet. A while after that, I became aware of the genealogy blogging community as a whole. I felt stifled by the option of my Bravenet blog and moved once again, this time to Blogger. This post will be my 226th.

To celebrate, cake for everyone.