Article 2007

Take That Chance!

I have been researching my family tree for quite a while, and wanted to

find out about my Great, Great, Grandmothers Father.  I had been stuck 

on her family for a while.  All I had was a very common last name and 

first initials for her possible father, C.B. Campbell.  I found a basic 

record on Ancestry.com for Civil War Veterans and it had a C. Campbell,

in an area that was in a near by town in Iowa, and dates would be close

to his age. I took a chance and ordered the Civil War Records on C. 

Campbell, in the Co. F, 20th Reg Infantry.  When I received the papers,

I discovered that it was my C. B. Campbell. The pension papers listed his

wife and children’s names. I now had a first name Claridon! WOW! Now 

I finally knew where my grandfather got unusual first name. My grandpa 

didn’t even know he was named after his great grandpa.But the nice 

discoveries didn’t stop there. Now that I knew I had the right C.B. Campbell. 

I started to look more into the 20th Reg. Infantry Co. F and found a group 

that was formed to connect descendants of this group.  From there, I was

connected with a lady named Roxy at the Soldiers home where my Great,

Great, Great Grandfather C.B Campbell was being taken care of after he 

was discharged.  Roxy informed me he was one of the first residents of the

 home and she was recently given permission to give the old archives of the 

Civil War Veterans of the home to descendants.  Since I was the first to 

contact her, I got the package! I got an envelope full of copies and originals 

of his papers, civil war discharge papers, and his personal letters that 

described our family. They had his children (my great, great grandmother) 

listed with dates. There were notes of whom he wanted his possessions to

go to if he died. He also had papers of how he wanted no association with

 his wife.  She was, to put it in a nice way, not faithful while he was away 

at war.  There were notes of people pleading his case of disability too. And 

another great letter was a note written by my great grandmother Olive 

(Stripes) Appleby.  This package just opened the door, along with the Civil 

War papers I received. I now know he came from New York, and traced his

ancestors back to Scotland.   So take a chance once in a while when it comes

 to research, once in a while you’ll get a great package!

PUBLISHED:

ANCESTRY MAGAZINE SEPT/OCT ISSUE 2007

WRITEN BY : TAMMY ALTONEN SCHENEKL