The photo of the member badge came from Wikimedia Commons. It was posted by Tmccoydc.
The painting was obtained from picryl.com, courtesy of the Library of Congress. The artist was F.O.C. Darley and the engraver was Alexander Richie. This 1868 picture depicts General Sherman’s March to the Sea.
Transcript
Vern: Hi, Vern Hall back here again. But anyhow, back to Truman. He went to war in the first Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. And when he came back from the war, he took advantage of President Lincoln’s Homestead Act to get him 160 acres of free land. And that free land turned out to be, at that time, Michigan, near today’s Grand Rapids. And he got his 160 acres up there. And right next door to him were the acreages of his future wife. And these were the Bigelow’s.
And the Bigelow’s were loaded with money. They had lots of acreage. They had a sawmill and they had a grist mill. In 1859 They pay property taxes of $2,500 that were to build a two story brick house. That was a lot of money to pay taxes on. Well, he married her and they had two children. But then, as happened to a lot of all lumber men, because he worked for his father in law, he got killed by a falling tree. And his wife Printhia, isn’t that an interesting name? She remarried to an Englishman and had five more children. And in ten years he, I guess, had enough and committed suicide by drinking poison. And she lived for a few more years, but her children scattered out, both the two from Mr. Hopkins and the other five.
And the two from Mr. Hopkins, one was Charles Wesley, and that was my great granddad, and I knew him as a child. Him and his younger brother relocated to northeast Ohio, and to this day, I haven’t the faintest idea of why did they go there? They were from western Ohio. Why did they go to Northeast Ohio? Well, the only conclusion that I have drawn is when they were back in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the property right next door was owned by the man, Mr. Benton, who was my great great grandfather as well, and he moved back to Ohio and worked on the railroad. And that’s the only reason that I can think of why they went back there was because they were neighbors, and one of their kids ended up marrying one of their daughters.
And so then I met Pete and became a member of the sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War. And we have our meetings once a month, except during the summer months, and like a lot of other organizations, we’re kind of losing membership. And that was especially true for a lot of groups. I think Covid started a lot of that, but it had already been going on. But we’ll see how it plays.
Vern: Hi, Vern Hall back here again. But anyhow, back to Truman. He went to war in the first Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. And when he came back from the war, he took advantage of President Lincoln’s Homestead Act to get him 160 acres of free land. And that free land turned out to be, at that time, Michigan, near today’s Grand Rapids. And he got his 160 acres up there. And right next door to him were the acreages of his future wife. And these were the Bigelow’s.
And the Bigelow’s were loaded with money. They had lots of acreage. They had a sawmill and they had a grist mill. In 1859 They pay property taxes of $2,500 that were to build a two story brick house. That was a lot of money to pay taxes on. Well, he married her and they had two children. But then, as happened to a lot of all lumber men, because he worked for his father in law, he got killed by a falling tree. And his wife Printhia, isn’t that an interesting name? She remarried to an Englishman and had five more children. And in ten years he, I guess, had enough and committed suicide by drinking poison. And she lived for a few more years, but her children scattered out, both the two from Mr. Hopkins and the other five.
And the two from Mr. Hopkins, one was Charles Wesley, and that was my great granddad, and I knew him as a child. Him and his younger brother relocated to northeast Ohio, and to this day, I haven’t the faintest idea of why did they go there? They were from western Ohio. Why did they go to Northeast Ohio? Well, the only conclusion that I have drawn is when they were back in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the property right next door was owned by the man, Mr. Benton, who was my great great grandfather as well, and he moved back to Ohio and worked on the railroad. And that’s the only reason that I can think of why they went back there was because they were neighbors, and one of their kids ended up marrying one of their daughters.
And so then I met Pete and became a member of the sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War. And we have our meetings once a month, except during the summer months, and like a lot of other organizations, we’re kind of losing membership. And that was especially true for a lot of groups. I think Covid started a lot of that, but it had already been going on. But we’ll see how it plays.