Trying to finish Marley's old scrapbook pages!
Saturday, August 8, 2020
Monday, July 13, 2020
Friday, June 5, 2020
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Memorial Day 2020
It seems that every Memorial Day and 4th of July I get the urge to dig into either my or Paul's family to find someone who fought in one of the wars.
This year was no different. On the morning of Memorial Day I asked Paul if he knew of anyone in our family who was actually killed during a war. Off the top of his head he said William P. Ramsdell. He was the brother of Paul's maternal great-great grandfather, Amos Ramsdell.
We had researched both of them in 2014. They were from Belchertown / Chicopee, MA. We actually found Amos's grave in Fairview Cemetery, Chicopee. In researching him, we found that he served in the Civil War. We wondered why he did not have a GAR grave marker with American Flag at his gravestone.
In researching them we also found a blog post from a Civil War buff about William P. Ramsdell. It said he was a 28 year old private who died at the Battle of Antietam. His head was blown off by a cannonball. It also said that he was buried at the site of the battle but then later reinterred at Maple Grove Cemetery, Chicopee, MA. We never found his grave. This cemetery has a lot of very old, barely readable gravestones.
This was what we knew as of Memorial Day 2020. We decided to take a ride to Fairview Cemetery to see if maybe the cemetery had added a grave marker to Amos' grave since 2014 or at least added a flag for Memorial Day. There was nothing there. I brought a little flag with me just in case, and put it in front of the gravestone.
We noticed a row of very old graves, all the same size with flags and in checking them out, they were all Civil War veterans' graves. It made me wonder if possibly there was a group of the same type of graves alongside each other at Maple Grove Cemetery where William P. was said to have been buried. We checked most of the graves with flags but, as I said, most of the older stones were not readable. They looked like some type of limestone marble that was disintegrating.
The next day Paul called The City of Chicopee to find out who to talk to about a veteran's grave without a flag. They put him in touch with Veteran's Services who, after given information about Amos Ramsdell, told Paul that they would leave a grave marker and flag out for us at their building that we could pick up. Paul also told them about not being able to find William P. Ramsdell's grave in Maple Grove Cemetery. She said she would leave another flag out in case we ever found him. A little while later she called saying that William P. already had a grave marker and flag in Maple Grove Cemetery and that he was in Lot #24. She also said that someone would be calling to tell us how to find it.
We were so thrilled!
We took a trip to Chicopee to the Veteran's Services and got the marker and flag. We then went to Fairview Cemetery and put it next to Amos' grave. Finally, Amos was recognized!
A little later, the man who oversees all of the cemeteries in Chicopee called with the information we needed to find William P.'s grave.
We found it, but it was not readable.
That was a little disappointing but at least we had found his grave. He, indeed, had the GAR marker and American flag. You can "read" the Ramsdell part if you run your fingers over it. The rest cannot be read at all. We are going to try a rubbing to see if we can "read" anything else.
William was killed a couple months after enlisting. A contemporaneous account said that moments before his death, he said that "if he was going to be hit, he would prefer to have the top of his head blown off". Then he was hit in the head by a cannonball.
Amos actually had three Civil War "lives". He started out in the cavalry and was thrown from a horse and severely injured. He left the service but returned later as an infantry private and became very sick. He recovered again and was eventually commissioned as a first lieutenant officer in a colored regiment. His name is listed on a monument to black Civil War soldiers in Washington DC with the black men he served with.
Doing genealogical research can sometimes be frustrating, but when you uncover stories like this, it brings so much satisfaction.
***Update
We went back to the cemetery to do a rubbing but the only thing we could read was the name. The rest seems to be in some sort of cursive and it did not transfer at all.
Poor William. His father died when he was four and his mother died when he was eleven. Then he gets hit in the head by a cannonball at age 28. We talk so much about the number that died, but it is a different feeling when you look at one individual. I am glad Amos made it. Paul would not be here otherwise!
This year was no different. On the morning of Memorial Day I asked Paul if he knew of anyone in our family who was actually killed during a war. Off the top of his head he said William P. Ramsdell. He was the brother of Paul's maternal great-great grandfather, Amos Ramsdell.
We had researched both of them in 2014. They were from Belchertown / Chicopee, MA. We actually found Amos's grave in Fairview Cemetery, Chicopee. In researching him, we found that he served in the Civil War. We wondered why he did not have a GAR grave marker with American Flag at his gravestone.
In researching them we also found a blog post from a Civil War buff about William P. Ramsdell. It said he was a 28 year old private who died at the Battle of Antietam. His head was blown off by a cannonball. It also said that he was buried at the site of the battle but then later reinterred at Maple Grove Cemetery, Chicopee, MA. We never found his grave. This cemetery has a lot of very old, barely readable gravestones.
This was what we knew as of Memorial Day 2020. We decided to take a ride to Fairview Cemetery to see if maybe the cemetery had added a grave marker to Amos' grave since 2014 or at least added a flag for Memorial Day. There was nothing there. I brought a little flag with me just in case, and put it in front of the gravestone.
We noticed a row of very old graves, all the same size with flags and in checking them out, they were all Civil War veterans' graves. It made me wonder if possibly there was a group of the same type of graves alongside each other at Maple Grove Cemetery where William P. was said to have been buried. We checked most of the graves with flags but, as I said, most of the older stones were not readable. They looked like some type of limestone marble that was disintegrating.
The next day Paul called The City of Chicopee to find out who to talk to about a veteran's grave without a flag. They put him in touch with Veteran's Services who, after given information about Amos Ramsdell, told Paul that they would leave a grave marker and flag out for us at their building that we could pick up. Paul also told them about not being able to find William P. Ramsdell's grave in Maple Grove Cemetery. She said she would leave another flag out in case we ever found him. A little while later she called saying that William P. already had a grave marker and flag in Maple Grove Cemetery and that he was in Lot #24. She also said that someone would be calling to tell us how to find it.
We were so thrilled!
We took a trip to Chicopee to the Veteran's Services and got the marker and flag. We then went to Fairview Cemetery and put it next to Amos' grave. Finally, Amos was recognized!
A little later, the man who oversees all of the cemeteries in Chicopee called with the information we needed to find William P.'s grave.
We found it, but it was not readable.
That was a little disappointing but at least we had found his grave. He, indeed, had the GAR marker and American flag. You can "read" the Ramsdell part if you run your fingers over it. The rest cannot be read at all. We are going to try a rubbing to see if we can "read" anything else.
William was killed a couple months after enlisting. A contemporaneous account said that moments before his death, he said that "if he was going to be hit, he would prefer to have the top of his head blown off". Then he was hit in the head by a cannonball.
Amos actually had three Civil War "lives". He started out in the cavalry and was thrown from a horse and severely injured. He left the service but returned later as an infantry private and became very sick. He recovered again and was eventually commissioned as a first lieutenant officer in a colored regiment. His name is listed on a monument to black Civil War soldiers in Washington DC with the black men he served with.
Doing genealogical research can sometimes be frustrating, but when you uncover stories like this, it brings so much satisfaction.
***Update
We went back to the cemetery to do a rubbing but the only thing we could read was the name. The rest seems to be in some sort of cursive and it did not transfer at all.
Poor William. His father died when he was four and his mother died when he was eleven. Then he gets hit in the head by a cannonball at age 28. We talk so much about the number that died, but it is a different feeling when you look at one individual. I am glad Amos made it. Paul would not be here otherwise!
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
2020 February Scrapbook Pages
Paul and I have been thinking for awhile now how we would celebrate our 50th anniversary coming up in August 2020. We finally came up with a plan to take a 3-day weekend every other month for, well, maybe forever. We started this month, February. What a great time we had! Looking forward to our next trip.
Monday, May 11, 2020
2020 April Scrapbook Pages
Well, this would have been the month that we would have had our second weekend away. We were going to go back to the Cape because April was the month we had always gone there, during the kids Spring vacation. Enter COVID-19 and the world shutting down beginning the middle of March.
We did get in a couple of warmish days for kayaking! Out on the water it felt as if all was right with the world.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Throwback Thursday - Kristen and Mark
This is one of my favorite pictures of Kristen and Mark. I think it was taken at Kristen's college graduation party (note - date pictures, even if you think you will always remember when it was taken). Our good friend Ralph Lathrop snapped it and gave us a print. #lovethesetwo
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Friday, December 20, 2019
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Throwback Thursday - Taylor and Rad
Meet Marc Taylor (left) and Mark Radtke (right). In these pictures they were about 2 1/2.
Karen and David Taylor moved into the house across the street from us a few months after we did in the Spring of 1973.
I never really knew Karen until we both had boys in September of 1974. We were surprised to find out that we both named them Mark, although her son was Marc.
They became best friends and we eventually referred to them as Taylor and Rad.
It seems incredible to me that we let them ride in the street with their Big Wheels at 2 1/2 years old. We lived on a quiet, 26 house circle, but still, 2 1/2?
When the boys were in Kindergarten, the Taylors moved to North Carolina. I really missed them, although they did come back at least once a year to visit family and we would always get together. Visits are infrequent now that their parents are gone, but at least we have Facebook to keep in touch.
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