My Civil War Story & Paper Dolls Too

 

Union Woman

 

Good Morning Friends...Happy Thursday!

There's nothing really special about a Thursday, but it's as good as

any other day when it comes to finding your JOY...right! ;)

 

 

I have always been a HUGE history buff...I truly LOVE history, with

American history being top on my list. I also love genealogy, peering

through 100 year old records in search of a clue that will help you

connect the dots to your own family history.

 

 

For me the two go hand in hand...so as I dived into the Ancestry.com

pool, I was amazed to find the military records for my many times

great~grandfathers. My immediate family came from Illinois by way

of Virginia & we have been in this country since 1617. One of my

grandfathers fought in the 1st Colonial uprising, Bacon's Rebellion.

 

Confederate Woman

 

We fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Indian

Wars & of course with all that family history, we also fought in the

Civil War. In fact my family fought in the Civil War on both sides.

The idea that they all lived through these wars is a miracle to me &

had anything played out differently, I would probably

not be here...so crazy to think of!

 

 

As one might think, my Virginia 3x Great Grandfather fought for the

Confederacy, while my Illinois 3x Great grandfather fought for the Union

Army. Two men who had never met, who's lives were so completely

different, who would normally have absolutely nothing in common,

found common ground through the love of their children.

 

 

After the war, Virginia was a battlefield...it was in complete ruin. In the 1st

Census after the war which was in 1870, my Grandfather still lived in Virginia

with his wife & 5 children, one of them being my 2x Great~Grandfather who

was 8 years old. His household also included his mother~in~law & 2 young

women, 1 with a small son. {I love that census, it's my favorite! Can you

believe I actually have a favorite census? lol} I'm sure those women were

family or wives of close friends, who's husbands died in the war. It was

some time after this that he gathered up his family & took them west

to a place where he could start over, a place where he could buy

a few acres of land & begin again.

 

Abraham Lincoln

 

It was here in Illinois, the state of Abraham Lincoln's birth, my Brewer

clan would settle. Grandpa & Grandma would have 5 more children &

they would raise all 10 of them working the land as their father's,

father's had. And here, their 2nd son would fall in love with the

beautiful daughter of a Union soldier, they would marry

& our story would finally come full circle.

 

This is why I Love history so much.

 

For me, it's important to remember our collective past...

it's what creates the cloth from which we are all
woven from.

 

xoxo

vintagesusie