The August 13, 2009, meeting of the Madison County Genealogical Society was held at the Edwardsville Public Library in Edwardsville, Illinois.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the meeting to order.
Reports:
In the absence of our
Treasurer LaVerne Bloemker, Secretary Barbara Hitch presented
the financial report for the month of June 2009.
and the financial report
for the month of July 2009.
New pages (Fort Russell
Township) have been added to the Index of the 1900 Census
for Madison County. Barbara Hitch is doing the indexing.
The History of the Heron Family by Henry Eugene
Heron, 1979, 130 page, unindexed. MCGS member, Kay Kulfinski,
graciously loaned her copy of this book to the Society to allow
us to reproduce it.
Old Families of Louisiana by Stanley Clisby Arthur,
Huchet de Kernion, and George Campbell was donated anonymously.
This work consists of 432 pages in two volumes and has a combined
index.
On August 13, 2009,
Tom Pearson of the Special Collections Department of St. Louis
Public Library, presented a program titled Dirty Rebels and Damn
Yankees: Researching Civil War soldier Ancestors. Mr. Pearson
started his presentation by defining a few technical terms:
A civil war soldier enlisted in a regiment, which consisted of
roughly 1,000 men.
A regiment was made up of 10 companies, each of which consisted
of roughly 100 men.
A regiment was normally commanded by a colonel, while each company
was commanded by a captain.
The ten companies of a regiment were lettered from A to K, omitting
J. The letter J was not used because a handwritten I and J look
too much alike and can be easily confused. A cavalry troop of
12 companies would add companies L and M.
A regiment was part of a larger group called a brigade, which
usually consisted of 3-5 regiments.
The commander of a brigade was normally a brigadier general.
Union Civil War armies were mainly named for the major river in
the area in which they operated, i.e., Army of the Potomac or
Army of the Cumberland.
Confederate armies were normally named for the geographic areas
in which they operated, i.e., Army of Northern Virginia or Army
of Tennessee.
Tom stated that finding information about a Civil War soldier
involves discovering six key pieces of information:
1. Which Side Was He
On?
2. What State Did He Serve With?
3. Was He a Regular, a Volunteer, or Militia?
4. What Was His Arm of Service?
5. What Was His Regiment and Company?
6. Did he survive the war?
Mr. Pearson had a handout
that contained a lengthy list of Websites, essential reference
books, and basic reference books for Civil War soldier and Regiment
research. This list, with the website links can be found at Researching U.S. Civil War Soldier Ancestors
If you should have questions, or would like help with a particularly
vexing Civil War question, Mr. Pearson can be contacted at: [email protected]
This presentation was well received and prompted several questions.