Uncle George

How I became a student of the American Civil War in Kentucky

    My grandmother called him Uncle George, so I do. Actually, he would be my second Great Uncle. He was the only Reb soldier in my family, born in Western Pennsylvania and moved with his family to (West) Virginia, and then down to Kentucky. 

    George W. Seaman joined the Kentucky Fifth Mounted Rifles, not to be confused with the Orphan Brigade, but I had to learn that there were two regiments that took the 5th designation. Lesson number One. 

     I took a chance and sent for Lt. George W. Seaman's record at the National Archives. Finding a complete record of Confederate Soldiers is unusual, but I was lucky. This record substantiated a "Grandmother Story", as told by my grandmother's mother, Mary Jane Seaman, a woman 10th or so from Capt. John Seaman of Hempstead, Long Island 

     George was elected Lieutenant but only had a small mention in the History of Lewis County Kentucky by Ragan. 

More about Uncle George W. Seaman, Lt. CSA

    In my pursuit of my second great Uncle's history, I made a friend of the Vanceburg, Kentucky historian, Dr. William Talley who was, at that time, teaching at McGill University in Canada. I had access to records at my nearby Family History Center and could assist him long distance when he wrote an article for the Lewis County, Kentucky newspaper, Lee County Bulletin.

    Grandmother had told us about a story that George had come home once and hid some important papers in the dress of a baby who was visiting, too. Why? In case his brother David came in, find them, and arrest him. She thought that Uncle David kept away when George was in town.   

    Who was the baby? Why was it there?

   Furthermore, How much was family lore, and how much could be substantiated?  

    

  

A DIARY OF INTERNMENT
A History of the Capture on Guam
and the Internment in Japan
of
Richard A. Arvidson
During World War II
December 1941-September 1945
Transcribed by Marilyn P. Oppenborn Steber from
Mr. Arvidson’s Original Manuscript
　
　
INTRODUCTION
The following material contains excerpts from a diary that I maintained beginning with my capture on Guam and my subsequent internment in Japan. The entries have been edited along with additional narrative as necessary to make the meaning of the contents more clear to the reader.
The circumstances that found me on Guam at the beginning of World War II are as follows: I was employed by Pan American Airways on July 1, 1941 to be a radio operator on the Island of Guam. At that time, Pan Am was operating weekly flights from the San Francisco area to Honolulu where the aircraft remained overnight and passengers remained in a hotel. The following day the aircraft flew to Midway Island to Wake Island and overnighted then again the next day to Guam overnight, to Manila overnight and finally to Macao which is near Hong Kong. The overnight stops at Midway, Wake and Guam, required that Pan Am provide hotel facilities for passengers as well as facilities for maintenance of the aircraft for fuel and other such items, because at that time these Islands were without such facilities. PanAm also provided radio facilities at each of these locations and I was employed to become an addition to the staff of radio operators on Guam. With my addition to the staff, there were a total of four operators.
The first entry in the diary is dated December 8, 1941, Guam time, and the final entry is dated September 8, 1945 covering a period of approximately three years nine months.

New Blogger

This blog is created to allow me an outlet for various thoughts and rantings, recipes and miscellaneous meanderings that come to mind.

I admit to being a person of many interests. I cannot pass up a bookstore without walking in. I cannot watch C-Span's Book-TV without wishing to read the book discussed.

My family has always been interested in Politics, and the conversation at the dinner table was often about local politics in Alabama. I support several political organizations and have worked on several democratic campaigns.

Even though I confess to being an atheist, my Judeo-Christian childhood calls Biblical verses to mind whenever they seem appropriate. I support a Universal-Unitarian Church monetarily to a small extent. I have trouble with some of the tenets professed by the "Apostles' Creed". I admire John Shelby Spong, retired Bishop of Newark, New Jersey.

I study the American Civil War, and I will be installed President of my Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865 January 2007. It will be my second time in this office. My Great-grandfather Potter was in the Wisconsin 1st Light Artilliary and the 89th Illinois Infantry. My grandmother's uncle Lt. George W. Seaman was in the Confederate Army. I've lost track of him after his trial for horse stealing in Lewis County, Kentucky in 1865.

My dog is a retired Champion Papillon bitch named Wildways Pentangle Pennyroyal. She has been with me since June 2005, and we have a lot in common: two retired old ladies who like a certain amount of exercise interspersed with naps!

Now that I have created this blog, I hope I can find it again, and add to it.

Historybuff