Road Trip with a Surprise

Just got back from a trip to Fairfax, Virginia to help DearMYRTLE with 4 presentations at the Fairfax Genealogical Society Spring Conference.

On the way home, I had two stops to make. One was to drop off a book that I had created on the Worthington’s who lived in the Worthington House in the Monocacy Battlefield.

On the way there, I stopped by an old cemetery just south of the Battle field to see the renovations that had been done to the Zion Church and Cemetery, Founded in 1802.

Here is a picture I took in 1999.

and today

Incredible.

Dropped of the book, as promised but stopped by the “Thomas Farm” house, the neighboring farm to the Worthington House. Have driven by it many times, but not close enough to take a photo.

(the surprise is coming)

I have a 2nd cousin who lives just north of Gettysburg, but have never stopped by to visit.

The “back story” is that I works for my 2nd cousin’s father one summer. I knew about “the Gettysburg Farm” but didn’t know where it was. Today, I stopped, not out of the blue, but they were going to be home and it was OK to visit.

The surprise was as soon as the door was open, I thought I had escaped by 60+ years, as the smell of Apple Sauce cooking just rolled out of the door. It was like walking into the kitchen of my grandmothers house, or even my mother as they cooks apple sauce. I had forgotten just how great freshly made, home made, apple sauce really was.

Where was my camera when I needed it. On the stove was an apple sauce grinder just like my grandmother had and used on the stove, with it still dripping the sauce. In fact, the grinder was my grandmothers SISTERs apply sauce grinder doing all of the work, with a little help from my 2nd cousin.

Oh was that good.

After catching up a little and talking about what I had been doing, and sharing my spare copy of the Monocacy book, we talked about my other cousin DearMYRTLE and how we were connected. Now, my 2nd cousin was from Chester County. I mentioned one of the names on a Power Point slide the Myrt showed in Fairfax the day before, and my cousin know immediately the surname. I didn’t have to say any more. We talked a little more and mentioned Conrad Weiser, one my Myrt’s ancestors.

This is the Conrad Weiser Homestead in Womelsdorf, PA.

As soon as I mentioned “Weiser”, my cousin’s face lit up, her husband got up and went to a collection of CDs and brought back a Music CD by a Weiser. (sorry, forgot the artist name). But my cousin’s children KNOW the many Weiser family members living in the area. Now the homestead is probably 45 minutes away from where I was, but to make that connection, was NOT Expected.

09/11 Flight 93 Memorial

Another anniversary is here. We are reminded of what happened in New York and Washington, but not so much about Pennsylvania. Two years ago, Patti and I decided to take a trip to the Flight 93 National Memorial.

When we arrived, there was a delay for our entry into the Memorial area. What we didn’t know, was that President Obama was meeting with the families of those that died 10 years earlier, on that sacred ground.

The presidential choppers took off from a near by field, and we were allowed in. We passed many family members leaving as we walked in.  The press was there, of course, asking questions. but for many of us, it was a time to remember. Not necessarily for our family members, but for those who lost family on that day.

There are family members in the picture above.

Below, is the resting place for Flight 93. We would find out later, that our President put flowers on that sacred place.

The memorial was very plain, but appropriate. On this day, many people were taking pictures.

There were many stories, left behind.

Looking down the wall, which was the actual final flight path, beyond a wooden gate, was the mound of dirt, where the plane rested.

Of course the media was there, as you can tell by the satellite trucks on the hill

And the reporters ….

 

As with other memorial services, these bells were rung.

And motorcycles, many, many motorcycles, many with American Flags.

The entrance to the Memorial, with the wall just to the right of this picture.

The Whitall House

I have been following a Blog, Historic Places in South Jersey, for some time and have been in contact with the Blogger. Afterall, she is a docent at my 5th Great Grandparents home. Yesterday, Sunday, I noticed this entry.

http://historicplacessj.blogspot.com/2012/09/sunday-91612-at-red-bank-battlefield.html

Gee, a Genealogy Day at the Whitall House.

Quickly had Patti text to Carrie, to let her know what I was doing, showered, and out the door in record time. Once again, I am reminded how nice it is go live within 4 or 5 hours from where my ancestors lived. This one is about 1 1/2 hours away.

My first item on the agenda was to meet my blogger buddy. Found her in the “hospital”.

Finally, got to meet her in person. Way cool.

Carrie arrived, and the fun began. We went back to the “hospital” and introduced Carrie to the “nurse”.

This room was presenting what the room may have looked like, during the battle that took place at Fort Mercer, right next door. Ann Cooper Whitall opened the house to “both sides”. This, as I understand it, would not allow Carrie to join the DAR, due to recent activities that took Ann Cooper Whitall from being a Patriot, as she took in both the both sides of the war.

In the next room, we would meet “new cousins”. A gentleman and HIS daughter, for the same reason, visiting our Ancestors home.

We are in the “front room” with the “hospital” behind us. We would spend the next hour or so, walking through the Whitall House, sharing stories.

More photos can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hrworth/7996137965/in/photostream

Now to begin our journey in sharing our research and see how we are related. We are descendants of James (1716-1797) and Ann Cooper Whitall (1717-1808).

One item of interest, is that Ann Cooper Whitall kept a Diary and it was on display.

More information on this historic place can be found here>

http://www.nj.searchroots.com/Gloucesterco/redbank.html

What a great day !!!

Special Orders #191, the Lost Orders

A month or so ago, I posted this: 

Planned Weekend Trip – Day 1

It was a day trip, for me, to be in Frederick, Maryland to hear more about Special Orders #191. I went and had a great time. I learned a lot, not only about what happened to the Lost Orders, but why it was important to the Civil War.

The National Park Service, just posted a YouTube Video about Special Order #191

Special Orders 191

 

There was a lecture on the topic, and a panel discussion by three Civil War Historians. In attendance were descendants of the two gentlemen who discovered these orders.

I won’t go into the details, but what is important to me, and why I spend the day driving, was that the Monocacy National Battlefield has, within it’s borders a Worthington House.

I got to see the actual paper that these orders were written on, as seen in the video and are on display at the battlefield, but to be WHERE they were found. Or at least the area. That was close enough for me.

 

What I learned from that visit, was not so much about the orders themselves, but more about what I learned from the Inferential Genealogy study that I did “in Second Life”. You may recall I mentioned two people, at the Battle of Gettysburg, who fought against each other and that their Grandfathers fought with George Washington. Brother against Brother took on a new, real, meaning for me.

Author Dennis E. Frye, “September Suspense, Lincoln’s Union in Peril” was the presenter and was on the panel, described Frederick, Maryland during the time of the Civil War. What surprised me, was that Frederick was “Union” friendly. Knowing that Baltimore was 50 miles (plus or minus) away, but was a “split town”, as was Maryland, split between the North and South. The study I did was on Confederate’s during the Civil War. Why were towns, so close together in my mind, so far apart at the time of the Civil War.

I had a chance to ask Mr. Frye about this. What he explained to me, was that the settlers of Frederick were Welsh and had come down to this part of Maryland from the port of Philadelphia and not the port of Baltimore. Knowing the Philadelphia area, and a bit of it’s history, that all made sense to me. Having just driven from northern New Jersey to Frederick that morning, it made total sense.

The lecture was fantastic. He told the STORY of Special Orders #191, “including citations”. Of course a Historian would have citations, but the reading of the articles he quoted helped put the “story” into a real place. His book has 23 pages of End Notes, and 6 pages of Bibliographical information.

The Panel included two other Civil War historians. The moderator took questions from the audience and asked the panel, in turn, to answer the questions. That is when the discussion became interesting, as each historian, had their own interpretation of the data from their studies.

Fort McHenry, Maryland

Last weekend’s “day trip” became two Day Trips. Unfortunately, Patti was not up to the trip, but we agreed that I would make the trip to Frederick, Maryland and the celebration of Special Orders 191 (will blog later on that). Our plan was to spend the night, visit Worthington Valley, then proceed to the Worthington Reunion. (already blogged about that).

It was hot, but there was time.

Since doing my research last summer (Inferential Genealogy), I wanted to Visit Fort McHenry.

 

The Howard family played a role at Fort McHenry early in the Civil War. While doing that research I realized that Frances Scott Key was in my family file. I had known of other Worthington / Key interactions in the past. There is a house in Anne Arundel County that belonged to Key and Worthington. (but that’s another story).

As you may be able to tell from the above picture, that is was a beautiful day. Fort McHenry has programs in the evenings on the weekends, War of 1812 Twilight Tattoo. Why not …. it gave me a chance to re-visit the Fort, as it’s been a number of years since I last was there AND had no pictures. Great day to visit and to that Pictures.

As may have been a tradition at Fort McHenry, in the evening, there was a gathering of the troops (Tattoo), and as was presented this evening, a band was there, along with the local “ladies”.

The Chesapeake Concert Band and the Fort McHenry Fife & Drum Corps played for those in attendance.

Period music was presented, including some music specifically created for Fort McHenry.

 

The Traditional Canon Salute was included in the ceremony.

So why all the fuss about Fort McHenry and Frances Scott Key? According to my database, he was the Father-in-law of my 10th Great Grand Uncle. What ??? OK, he’s distant, but still related. Looking at HOW we are related, I run into TWO, not one, but TWO Revolutionary War “Hero’s”. As reported on this Blog, John Eager Howard, grandfather of David Ridgely Howard and McHenry Howard, of Civil War fame, but also Ann Cooper Whitall, wife of James Whitall. (The Battle at Red Bank, New Jersey).

The Whitall House it across the Delaware River from Fort Mott. Another visit to the Whitall House is in order.

In this one line, I have Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the Civil War hero’s.

 

More Photo’s can be found here: