My mother’s great-grandfather, George C. Spiegel, was a German-born seegarmaker who joined the US army in October 1862 as a private in Company E of the 58th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (XI Corps). He was 23 years old at the time. The 58th was known as the “Polish Legion” and also the “International Regiment.” I sent the following prompt to Gemini and asked it … Continue reading George C. Spiegel – Seegarmaker and Soldier
I have an ancestor who was at the Battle of Stones River. His name was Frank Gaume and he was with Co. I of the 19th Ohio Volunteer Infantry under the command of Major Manderson . With this information is it possible to place his whereabouts during the Battle of Stones River in Tennessee on Dec 31, 1862 to Jan 3, 1863? Yes, it is … Continue reading Frank Gaume & the Battle of Stones River
This history is in regard to my father’s 5X great-grandfather, Samuel Stearnes, who was at the Battle of Monmouth on 28 June 1778. Lately, I’ve been using AI more and more to help me sort through questions about family history and history in general. It’s become a really handy way to explore ideas, check facts, and think through problems from different angles. Sometimes I’ll even … Continue reading Samuel Stearnes (Starnes) & the Battle of Monmouth
John McMullan, my mother’s 4X great-grandfather, of the 11th Virginia Regiment was listed as “Killed 11 September” on a muster roll dated Oct 1777. Later in April 1778 he rejoined the unit. Comments read “omitted since Battle of Brandywine and since joined.” Time in Service reads 11 Sept 1777 to 1 Apr 1778 – 6 mos. and 19 days. I documented this in previous blog … Continue reading More on the Individual Presumed Dead
John McMullan, my mother’s 4X great-grandfather, of the 11th Virginia Regiment was listed as “Killed 11 September” on a muster roll dated Oct 1777. Later in April 1778 he rejoined the unit. Comments read “omitted since Battle of Brandywine and since joined.” Time in Service reads 11 Sept 1777 to 1 Apr 1778 – 6 mos. and 19 days. I asked chat GPT to help … Continue reading Follow-up on the Individual Presumed Dead
Faced with an early termination fee for my mistakenly purchased annual Adobe Premiere Pro subscription (that is, annual paid monthly), I decided on a new video project instead of canceling. I’ve dubbed it “A Plan 9 From Outer Space”—If you know, you know.. The project involved restoring and then animating a series of old photographs using Adobe Firefly, with the final video edited in Premiere … Continue reading The Making of ‘Night Gallery’
A few years ago, my brother Patrick, while on a business trip to Atlanta, paid a visit to our great-grandfather’s hometown of Marietta, Georgia, and there he bought me a book titled “A Short History of Cobb County in Georgia” by Sarah Temple. Several chapters of the book are devoted to the details of what occurred in Cobb County in the spring and early summer … Continue reading Marietta July 1864
I have written about my great-grandfather’s family and their experiences at the tail end of the Civil War in a number of blog posts on this site. In the construction of the book, Gathering More Leaves, those blog posts became the foundation of a chapter that detailed the events experienced by my great-great grandparents in the final year of that horrible war. While reviewing the … Continue reading A Problem Timeline
I’ve written several times about my 5th great-grandmother, Theodosia Beck Beazley, wife of John McMullan. (See “Bad Grandma” and “The Legend of John McMullan – Gathering Leaves.“) Recently, new information about Theodosia has come to light from Gayle, a distant cousin who descends from one of John and Theodosia’s daughters, Catherine Schifflet. In response to “Bad Grandma,” Gayle wrote: “You probably share DNA with a … Continue reading News of Theodosia
Growing up in Texas, I experienced an identity crisis. Because I wasn’t born there, I felt disconnected from the state’s rich history and culture. Looking back, if I had the understanding then that I have now, it would have profoundly impacted my self-perception and my place in the world. While this morning’s discovery may seem trivial, I strongly believe that this knowledge would have made … Continue reading My Texas Roots
Gathering Leaves 