You Just Never Know

A couple of weeks ago I received an email and it was from my great-grandmother's first cousin!  Now my great-grandmother was born in 1873, so you can imagine my surprise!  This first cousin of hers was born in 1928, the same year as my mother!

So she is able to fill in lots of lost information for me and also has a couple of pictures to share, one of which she said is of my great-grandmother!

I just love these kind of genealogical surprises!

Book about Civil War Missouri

 The Homefront in Civil War Missouri by James W. Ervin is a good overview of how the Civil War

affected Missouri.  I was interested in the book because of my genealogical research that involved members of the family from Missouri who fought for the Confederacy.  This book does a good job describing what it was like on the homefront for the family members left behind while their loved ones were off fighting.  There were marauders, bushwackers and guerrilla fighters everywhere and no one was safe.  Wives and mothers watched as the husbands, sons, and fathers were beaten, or worse.

Below is an example that I have found doing research on my family:

To be technical, Richard Douglass was the husband of my 2nd great granduncle's wife's niece. Richard Douglass was married to Mary Saunders. Richard was a 1st Lieutenant in Company F, 1st Missouri Regiment (CSA). He fought for the Confederacy.

In August of 1863, Richard Douglass was a prisoner at Gratiot St. Prison in St. Louis.  In the Texas County (Missouri) Heritage book it was written about Richard Douglass:

 "Was beaten to death with the fire shovel until his brains spilled out by bushwackers at his brother, Andrew's house near Union late 1863.  The women had to bury Richard since the rest of the men had to leave the area." 

 This book is an excellent resource for anyone researching in Civil War Missouri. It was well-written and easy to read, with lots of resources sited.