July 6, 2012
The nice thing about newspapers is that they record everything that happens: births, deaths, and everything in-between. A lot of that “in-between stuff” are the stories of our ancestors’ lives that help us get to know them better.
In general, Americans are a social people. We form groups, make plans, organize, and hold meetings. Milestones are often celebrated with anniversary gatherings and reunions.
These reunions—like the ninth annual reunion of the First Tennessee Cavalry held in 1895—were reported in the local newspaper.
Here is one such reunion story about a gathering of former veterans from that famed Tennessee Civil War regiment that fought in the Union army. This long newspaper article was published in the Knoxville Daily Journal.
This historical news article covers the basics, such as the names of the Tennessee regiment’s officers and the order of the activities in the meeting.
Reading down the article, we find that the “secretary was ordered to prepare a complete roster of the survivors of the regiment, together with rank and post office address.”
Great! Note to self: track down a copy of that roster.
The last half of the old newspaper article is a “very brief history of the First Tennessee Cavalry.” This historical news article provides great genealogical information we can use to trace our military ancestry, gives a glimpse into these Tennessee Union soldiers’ lives, and provides some Civil War history.
Genealogy Search Tip: Did your ancestor serve in the Civil War or other American wars? Then search in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives for newspaper articles and military records about the unit your veteran ancestor served with: its campaigns, reunions, history, etc.
Newspapers are packed with the stories of our ancestors’ lives.
I am interested in the information on the Black volunteer unofficial soldiers that fought in the Civil War 1861-1865…My ggggrandfather Pvt.Preston Roberts was one of these soldiers.