Tika & Civil War Ancestors

Tika quite enjoys sitting on my lap and listening to stories. And lately, I've been full of Civil War stories. Our local genealogical society  ( www.EWGSI.org ) has been awash with Civil War stuff. We just had our third annual Walking with Ancestors in a local cemetery.... we chose one where many Civil War veterans rest.... and it was a resounding success. I portrayed the great-great niece of Dr. John Gundlach, who died in 1905 here in Spokane and who served as a teenager in the Union Navy during the Civil War.

Our Society is also wrapping up a year-long writing contest for members, "My Civil War Ancestor." We've had a goodly number of submissions and it will be a judged contest with a years' subscription to Ancestry.com as the prize. Those stories will eventually be published in our Society's Digital Digest (on our website but under Members Only).

And there have been Civil War related stories in our local paper, The Spokesman Review. www.thespokesmanreview.com .

John Caskey gave a very informative presentation to the members of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society a few months ago wherein he detailed all the varied and various reasons why Civil War vets came west and so many of them ended up in Washington state. A primary reason was land.

"Not my ancestors!" sniffed Tika. "I come from Idaho, remember..... and maybe far-back from Germany." Ah, Little Tika........