Looking for Families of Civil War Veterans - a collaborative effort

A few days ago, KMTV in Omaha ran a piece on the Bellevue, Nebraska Cemetery Committee and their desire to place tombstones for seven unmarked graves of Nebraska Civil War Veterans at Bellevue Cemetery. It caught my interest and I posted the link to my Facebook wall. That generated quite a bit of chatter and included another Facebook friend from Omaha reaching out to the woman interviewed in the story.

We had so much chatter that we moved the conversation to the Nebraska Genea-Peeps group on Facebook - a small but active group of Nebraska genealogists and others who have ties to family in Nebraska.

Before you could blink an eye, our group of Nebraska genealogists was on task - pooling our resources and scouring our various subscription sites and Googling like crazy. We were determined to help find living relatives of these seven Civil War veterans. Other people involved in the project joined the task. Several of our Nebraska Genea-Peeps group adopted one of the seven and worked in tag teams to locate information.

By the end of the day, we were posting documents we had discovered, obituaries found and names of possible living family members. To say we were obsessed is an understatement. By the end of the day, we probably had well over 100 posts/comments on the page and we made our discoveries. A couple of the women worked their clues via Twitter conversation.

This morning, we have some strong leads as well as some brick walls. So we are going back to square one to start over on those. This is such an exhilarating and exciting project to collaborate on! We're having such a good time - and also testing our genealogy research skills.

It's just another example of how the power of social media really works in genealogy.

If you have Nebraska family ties or just want to join in on the project, please come visit our Nebraska Genea-Peeps group on Facebook! A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

Thank you to all of the awesome Nebraska genealogists for their contributions to this random act of genealogical kindess!

Sunday's Obituary: John Laymon - My Civil War Ancestor

John and Eliza Laymon grave
Hardy Cemetery, Hardy
Nuckolls County, Nebraska

John Laymon was my great great grandfather

John J. Layman

Death has again entered our midst, and has taken another one of our dear old soldiers, who fought in the Civil War for our freedom. It is so true that Death loves a shining mark, and this time he laid his icy finger mark upon Uncle John Layman, as he was called by his friends and old comrades. Thus another home is broken and an aged companion left to mourn the loss of one who for sixty-one years has toild and labored by her side to make their home a resting place, that they might enjoy in their last days.

John J. Layman was born July 4, 1831, and died May 19, 1922. He is survived by his aged companion, Eliza Layman, one daughter, Mrs. Clara Pecht, of Hardy, Nebr. four sons, Tilson Layman, of Verona, Neb., Geo. W. Layman, of Republic, Kans.,  Herbert and Frank Layman of Sheridan, Wyo., fourteen grandchildren, three great grandchildren, two daughters, Ida Weir and Martha Layman, having departed this life before their father - Republic City News

Source: Belleville Telescope, Belleville, Kansas, June 1, 1922


Note: the correct spelling of the family name is Laymon. His headstone indicates his year of birth was 1838, rather than 1831. 1838 is consistent with census records.

John Laymon
Civil War Pension

John Laymon was a private in the Illinois Infantry, 91st Regiment.

John Laymon's military page on Ancestry.com

Ken Burns kicks off the opening of the National Archives exhibit "Discovering the Civil War"

Ken Burns, the documentary filmmaker who brought the Civil War to life for so many of us, joined the National Archives in opening a press preview of the National Archives' latest exhibit: Discovering the Civil War.

The exhibit aims to make the Civil War "strange again." While you'll find Manassas and Appomattox, you're just as likely to run across a letter from the Confederate government seeking recognition from Pope Pius IX, or see a facsimile of two separate versions of the 13th amendment--one that outlawed slavery, and one that did not.

Part One of the exhibit runs from April 30, 2010 through September 6, 2010.
 


Related video:
The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns