I once read a suggestion, urging genealogists to honor their military ancestors by writing a profile of one of them for Memorial Day.
I thought it was a great idea.
As most of you probably know, Memorial Day in the United States is a day set aside to honor those who have died in our nation’s service. This year Memorial Day falls on Monday, May 26.
Last year I wrote a biographical sketch of H.E. (Harlon) WINCHESTER, a Michigan Civil War soldier. He did not die serving the Union; however, I still wanted to honor his service to his country.
As far as I know, he is not one of my ancestors, but I have an interest in his family.
This year I will profile one of my Civil War ancestors who fought for the Confederacy.
In the meantime, I’d like to urge you to consider writing a profile for one of your military ancestors. You can post it on your blog or another Web site or on a mailing list. For example, I posted Harlon’s biography on the MI-Genealogy mailing list and the Genealogy of the Winchester Family Surname web site.
You also could share your biography in many traditional ways — by sending it to your interested family members, for example, or donating it to a genealogy collection at an appropriate archives or library.
If you don’t know whether one of your ancestors served in the military, there are many great sources to help you in your quest, such as the National Archives web site Research in Military Records and the Web sites connected with the USGenWeb Project.
I’ve discussed a number of sources for military records in my books, Michigan Genealogy: Sources and Resources and Virginia Genealogy: Sources and Resources. Of course, the sources are specific to those states. More information about my books, including limited previews, is available from my publisher’s web site, Genealogical Publishing Co.
Let me know if you write a biography, where you shared it, and if you connected with any distant “cousins” as a result.
Good luck!
