Posted on 10/04/2020 10:46:24 AM PDT by Borges
That’s incredible. And what an unfair way to die at that age. I am sorry.
I can’t imagine hearing stories going further back than the 1930s. I knew one grandmother who died when I was 10. The rest were already deceased.
I have some family and Sicily but though I know them I never really pursued the ancestry.
yours is a fascinating story. To know if family members who were not only alive but were adults when world war I started is incredible.
I have a picture of my pop and Grandpa and Great grandpa. Dad had me late at 48. I am 52.
could tell someone a few things about my grandfather and nothing about my great grandfather
It’s incredible how few generations back some families go to the civil war.
my father came here from Italy in the 1920s and my mother’s parents from Sicily I think in the 1910s.
Pop was only about 6.
I guess in historical terms, a family being in a country a hundred years is not a whole lot
That’s pretty amazing to think about.
No visit to this topic is complete without these facts;
1) William Henry Harrison, 9th President USofA, 2 February 1773 to 4 April 1841, was POTUS for 31 days, shortest term on record. Oldest elected President (68) prior to Ronald Reagan (69), gave 2 hour inauguration speech in the rain and cold. First President that was Grandfather of a President, Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), 23rd President.
2) John Tyler (1790-1862), 10th US President and 1st VP to fill office for death of predecessor. Lost most of the Presidential Cabinet (chosen by Harrison & Henry Clay) as most believed he should only be a caretaker fill-in. Former Democrat-Republican but anti Andrew Jackson and switched to Whig Party after Federalist Party died. Most children (15) of any US President, by 2 wives, with 1st born in 1815 and last in 1860. His Virginia home, Sherwood Forest Plantation, is still owned by his grandson, Harrison Ruffin Tyler (92).
I'd previously discovered letters from Color Sergeant Andrew J. Smith of the 55th Mass., in a collection of papers at Cornell University. The letters were donated by Burt Green Wilder, who was the Assistant Surgeon for the unit. In the collection, I also found a photo of a little girl, who Smith, in a letter, said was his daughter. She was the one who was writing the letters for him because he could not write. Smith had been born a slave, escaped when he learned his half-brother (the master's son) was going to take him and another slave off to the war. Smith, and his fellow escapee made it to the Union lines, and that's how Smith eventually headed east to enlist in the 55th Massachusetts.
I initially tried locating the family through historical societies in Kentucky where Smith had been a slave, and lived after the war. I never got any responses. On a second trip to Carlisle Barracks in Pa., I found a collection of letters from Burt Green Wilder to Andrew Smith, so I had all communications between the two. Since they would not release the contact info for the family member who had donated copies of the Dr. Wilder's letters, I wrote a letter which one of the workers mailed to Smith's family member for me. Within a week I received a communication from his grandson Andy, and he, and his wife met me at the National Archives two weeks later. I met Caruth in Washington a couple of times when the family came in from Indiana. Their son was going to school at Georgetown at the time. In our first meeting, I learned that the photo of the little girl was of Andy's mother, Geneva...Caruth's sister. Andy had never seen a photo of his mother when she was that young. I gave him a copy that I had brought with me.
Years flew by. Geneva, Andy's mother died. One of the things that Dr. Wilder had tried to do, was get the Medal of Honor for Andrew J. Smith because he saved the State and Federal flags at the Battle of Honey Hill, S.C. on November 30, 1864. He was later promoted to Color Sergeant for his bravery that day. Dr. Wilder tried to get the medal, but the statute of limitations had run out. Years later, after finding the info in the Cornell collection, Smith's family decided to try to get the medal for him. It took quite a while, but on January 16, 2001, Caruth received the Medal of Honor for her father from Bill Clinton in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. It was the same day Teddy's Roosevelt's family received the MOH for his bravery at San Juan Heights.
The family wanted Andrew J. Smith's story told, as well as the work that was done to procure the MOH for him. They found a couple of historians in their neck of the woods, and the book was finally published this summer. It's called "Carrying the Colors." I just finished reading it, and it's very good. I was one of the people they dedicated it to. The same authors are now working on a complete history of the 55th Massachusetts, although I don't have any idea when it will be published.
Caruth passed in 2012 at the age of 104. Here's a link to her obituary if anyone's interested:
I forgot to mention that Andrew Smith had been married, but his wife died childless. He later married a much younger woman, who bore him his two daughters. Their mother unfortunately died in a kitchen fire when they were still little. Smith, being up in age didn't feel he could raise a young baby, and sent Caruth to live with her mother's family. Geneva remained with her father for a while, until she too eventually went to live with her mother's family. They did see their father occasionally, when he would make the trip from Kentucky to visit.
Sixty-two and seventy-five?
That’s impressive.
Wow, they guessed his secret. I’m amazed. 8>)
Amazing!!
I’m 52, never had kids, and can’t imagine it now.
I need naps already :)
It would help if you had a passel of servants or extended family to pitch in.
I had to look up passel. I learn at least a word a day on here :)
Yes it would!!
I always though I would have a big Italian family with 5 or more kids.
It didn’t work out that way and it certainly doesn’t look good now :)
I took some brooklyn kids under my wing..two terrors when I met them...13 and 15 year old Puerto Rican kids from brooklyn.
That was 3 years ago.
I got a Father’s Day card this year.
I saved it as it is the first and last one I will ever get :)
“Wow, they guessed his secret. I’m amazed.”
—
The panel on this show and “What’s My Line” got a lot of practice, so it’s not real surprising - especially when you add in his age and ask if it’s related to history.
Sometimes correct guesses would come outta nowhere right off the bat -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbj0uNMfoNI
I’d previously discovered letters from Color Sergeant Andrew J. Smith of the 55th Mass., in a collection of papers at Cornell University. The letters were donated by Burt Green Wilder, who was the Assistant Surgeon for the unit.
My maternal grandmother was an assistant/nurse for Dr. Wilder at the time of his death (late 20s, early 30s). They were living on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts at the time. That is all I can tell you about the this as she died in 1976 when I was 15. I am aware of the Wilder collection at Cornell which has some obscure references to my grandmother.
My grandmother was about 45 when she gave birth to her youngest, my father in 1932.
How are the Van Buren boys doing?
Holy crap...what a small world!! I only researched his papers pertaining to the Civil War. He had a diary from his time in S.C. with the unit, and there was his correspondence with officers, and enlisted men that served with him. He even wrote Confederate soldiers they had fought against. He had wanted to write a new regimental history, as he felt the one published by Charles Fox, Lt. Col. of the unit wasn’t thorough. I know Wilder taught at Cornell, and had a separate collection pertaining to his scientific work, but I never reviewed any of that. That’s probably the collection your grandmother is mentioned in. Dr. Wilder left his brain to Cornell. He was also known for creating his own writing/spelling system...kind of like a short-hand. One of the things he did when the unit was stationed on Folly Island, S.C., was to collect specimens of insects, etc. I gave all my research material on the 55th to the Massachusetts National Guard Museum and Archive in Concord, Mass. several years ago. I didn’t want the stuff to end up in the dumpster after I died. I had done a lot of research on the 54th Mass. as well. It’s all there in Concord.
Only one of the most interesting parts of our history. His grandfather was the tenth President of the united states. An awesome story
That’s great!
I’m glad you can have such a positive influence on some kids lives.
LOL
One was the product of a rape and one’s father is in prison constantly.
They’ve seen the mother beaten, raped...and more.
My old man passed when I was 14 so I knew the hurt of not having a father while young.
Even with a LOT of love, I ran kind of wild into my 20s, then straightened out when my Italian father’s brothers broke a window with my head :) True story.
So yeah they were rough...and visiting brownsville regularly for almost 3 years was an experience for white guy.
Especially when I blasted Italian opera in my car :)
One was in and out of the police precinct and one was lost.
They are doing ok now. The older one can still go either way but is trying.
The younger one has plans on going to college after high school. He is a senior.
He’s going to college or dealing with me.
Sorry this was so long.
And thank you.
I care about them very much even if I want to clobber them sometimes :)
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