The Quest: Part One

I think I have always been fascinated with history. The Civil War has been a favorite subject of mine. Boyhood memories of Gettysburg seem to remain fresh, though distant. My first memory was seeing my great-great grandfather’s name on the Pennsylvania Monument at about age ten. Somehow the emotion has stuck with me, and at times over my life, I have had some very strong feelings when Civil War era songs were heard.

Over the last few years , I realized that maybe there is a connection somewhere. It all started at my aunt’s funeral when I was talking to my Uncle Don , who is the last of my mother’s siblings, and by the way , a direct descendent of my great-great grandfather, George W. Edinger. I had asked him what he knew about George W. Edinger and I thought I had remembered, as a child, seeing a picture that his mother, (my grandmother) had shown me of George Edinger. At that time he had told me that he had that picture and if I wanted to come to his house some time he would show it to me. Some time went by and it began to cross my mind more often, so one day I gave him a call and he invited me over to see the picture, which I promptly did.

As I looked at the photo ( a group picture), I picked out my great-great grandfather without a moments hesitation. I asked my uncle if I could have it reproduced and he let me take it. After looking for a time to find someone to reproduce the photo, my sister Karen found that Sears could do reproductions at about $40 a print and she wondered if I wanted to spend that much. She also stated she could not afford it at that time. I informed her to go ahead and have it done and to get two copies made, one for each of us and to put it on my Sears card for now because I didn’t have the cash to give her at the time.

Well, that does not sound strange for a person to put something on a charge card if cash is low, but with what had transpired over the last couple of years, would fit into the pattern of events. I have to ask, wasn’t it ironic that I have not dealt with Sears over the years, but on a whim a few months prior, filled out a credit card application???

In the mean time, I was divorced and being that the trip back to Gettysburg had not been in the cards for me over the years, I had decided to take a couple of days and go back to Gettysburg with my son Tommy.
We spent the day on the battlefield and found George W. Edinger’s name on the Pennsylvania Monument and also found the monument of the 155th Pa. Vol. Which is on Little Round Top where the group picture was taken. The emotions that I felt at Little Round Top were teary eyed to say the least. I also felt much the same as I did when I was a child at the Pennsylvania Monument.

Well, being that we didn’t have much time, we came back home. Things slowed down for awhile, then George W. Edinger began to cross my mind more and more. I went to the library and was able to copy some things on the 155th Pa. and also a list of the men in my great-great grandfather’s company (Company-G) and made copies for the family.

All was quiet for the winter and the next summer on a whim, I was talking to Ruthie, my lady friend, at her place of employment and she expressed a desire to go to Gettysburg . I suggested that we take some time and go. Her boss was with us when we were talking and she said that if she needed her vacation, she had better make it soon for she would be needed in a couple of weeks. We decided to go the next week.

We arrived at Gettysburg and spent time going over the battlefield. Still, I had the same emotions at Little Round Top and the Pennsylvania Monument. I looked around at several bookstores looking for something about the 155th Pa., but to no avail. After several days, we decided to head back home, although we had time to stay. We checked out of the motel and headed home. We went about twenty miles or so and I felt like I should go back even though I didn’t express those thoughts to Ruthie. As we rode, I looked over at her and she had a sad look on her face. I then said to her, “Lets go back!”.

She cheered up and said, “ Thats what she was also thinking .” I turned around and back we went and got a room at the same motel. We unpacked and decided to walk the streets and do some shopping. We stopped at a store and I asked about the 155th and the search came up empty. It was recommended that I ask at the visitor center. It was late so the quest would have to wait until morning.

The next morning I went to the center and I looked around and after not finding the 155th, I asked the clerk. She pointed out a section that had a book on the Pennsylvania Regimental Monument at the park, so I bought it and in it was a descriptions of the movement of the 155th on the 2nd of July 1863. I asked Ruthie to drive me out to the battlefield so I could walk where George W. Edinger had marched. It was a very emotional walk with some weeping, but it some how felt, for some odd reason, like a reunion. I had to ask myself, “ Why such emotion?” I started questioning, “Is someone helping me or have I been here in the past?” I didn’t quite know what to think.

I met up with Ruthie and we went back into town. In an inquiry, I was told that I could find out more information on George W. Edinger by going to the ranger station and obtaining a form to send to the National Archives. When I got home and things got back to normal, I filled out the form and sent it in. About three weeks went by and I received George’s army record in the mail and although it didn’t tell us a whole lot, it was information with dates and a hospital record.

I called my sister Karen to let her know that I had received this record and told her some information I felt interesting. She then told me of the last weekends trip to Virginia to see her son John at his marine base which is outside of Washington D. C.. Karen told me John had been helping his captain with some digging on some property he had bought that was once a defense structure used to defend Washington during the Civil War. It was interesting to note that the captain was a civil war buff, and was very knowledgeable of units and events of that era.

My sister told him that her great-great grandfather was in the 155th Pennsylvania Vol. He told her that, “ He was camped somewhere in this area and Old Edinger could very well had been right here where we are standing.” (Small world!)

After I hung up from talking with Karen, I then called my Uncle Don to inform him of my new found information. It was on a Tuesday at about 5:30 P.M. when I dialed my Uncle’s number and he picked it up and said “ Hello.” I replied, “Hello Uncle!” At that point he asked me , “How did I know?” I replied, “How did I know what?” He stated, “That he had been on the phone with my cousin Betty Lou and she had asked if I had found out anymore on George W. Edinger? And that he was just getting ready to call me.”

I made a copy and took it up to him and we talked about taking some time to find out where he lived. He then told of his grandfather George W. Edingers’s son John, as told to him by his mother, that John was born in Germany. This was interesting news, so we took several Fridays and went record hunting. George W. Edinger’s records show that he joined in Clarion, so we started there.

A note before I forget. George W. Edinger’s records show him in the hospital, it was hen scratching as most doctors write. While taking a walk by Warren General Hospital, I thought I would stop in and ask a doctor in the emergency room what it said. The reason I asked an emergency room doctor was I knew most of them from working as a Medic on an ambulance. George W. Edinger spent some time in the ambulance corp also. The doctor told me what it said. The treatment was for stomach problems. It was interesting to note, as I have been plaqued with stomach problems off and on over the years. Also the doctor who read it to me was from the Clarion area.

We went to the library in Clarion and asked how we could find records on George W Edinger. The lady we asked said the courthouse was the place to start. She also offered to help us if we were going to go there. She left the library and met us at the court house. We found some land transactions, but that was about it. We called it a day and went home by way of Cooks Forest. Don took me to the cemetery where his grandfather John was buried ( G.W.E.’s son) and then home. We had talked about finding G.W.E. grave and decided to take another day and search again.

Where would we go next? It was agreed upon to look in Elk County the following Friday and that Don would pick me up. When I got in the car, Don told me that before he left the house, he thought of an old Bible. He got it out and in the inside cover was written Elma Edinger, Emelton, Pa. Now, as Don was
told, Elma was Johns sister and daughter of George W. Edinger. Don asked what I thought of Elk County. I said to him, “That Venango County is where we have to go.” I felt very drawn to this location in my search for more information about George W. Edinger.

Our first stop was at the Franklin Library. (Franklin is the county seat) We didn’t find much on GWE, but found that Elma was the principal of the Franklin 9th Street School. We also found her mother, Kate Umstead Edinger, had lived with her on Elk Street after George W. Edinger died in 1910, moving to Franklin from Emelton. We were given the suggestion to check with the local Veterans Administration as they might
be able to help. Our next stop was at the VA office. We asked about George W. Edinger, and they told us they did have a record of him being buried at Emelton, Pa. But the records were bad and that information could be wrong. Somehow I felt they were right.

Before we got too far, I would point out that most of the Edinger records we found were from around St. Petersburg, Pa. I knew at that point Emelton Pa.is where he was and even though the record could be bogus , again somehow I knew. We started for Emelton and somewhere along the line we missed a turn and ended up on an old dirt road. Don suggested that we should turn around and I told him we would be ok. He asked me if I was sure. I felt very confident, I don’t know why, but I did.

After several dusty miles, we came out on a paved road and wondered which way should we turn? I told Don, “ I thought right was the way to turn.” Just after the turn, we came across a cemetery with a couple of entrances. The last entrance was where I felt we should enter. As we approached a circle, we took the right side and a man and women were mowing. I asked them if they could help me find a grave. They took us beyond the circle about 150 yards to a garage. The man looked through a card index for George W. Edinger, but did not see his name. I had a strong feeling he was wrong, so I approached him with, “are there any Edingers buried here?”

He again looked and pulled out a card with Elma Edinger. Looking at the card, there were other names crossed out, one was George W. Edinger. I asked him where this grave would be and he pointed to the opposite side of the circle and said somewhere over in that area. Don and I set out in that direction and as we got to within about 75 feet, I pointed at a stone and said, “Thats it!” I will comment here that the names on the stones were not visible from my side and it was not the only grave in that area with a Veterans flag.

As we came close enough to see the names, it became obvious I pointed to the right headstone, I just knew! There was George, Kate, Sam, and Elma. We asked the man who helped us if someone might have a better record and was given the name of a woman named Peg along with her address and phone number. We went to her house but she was not at home, so we decided to call it quits for now and go home. Later that evening, I gave Peg a call and told her of my search. She told me the first chance she got that she would go through records and get back to me. A few weeks later, I received in the mail, records of several Edingers along with George W. Edinger’s history.

It seems he was buried in St. Petersburg, Pa in 1910 and Elma had him moved to Emelton in 1923. I called Peg and thanked her and she confirmed the names of George and Kate. She told me that her mother and father had leased a farm from Kate after George W. Edinger died. She made a copy of the lease agreement and a receipt and sent it to me. I called her once again and asked her where the farm was?

I t turned out it was on the corner of the dirt road we had traveled the day we found the graves. Strange! I asked my sister Karen if she and her husband John would like to take a ride some weekend with Ruthie and me to see the graves. Which we did. We agreed, as we departed Emelton, to go to St. Petersburg , just per chance, to see where George was interred originally and to see the other Edingers that might be buried there. We felt at least one of the other Edinger in the regiment was probably a brother. Also a son of George’s who had died at the age of 3 years was moved from St. Petersburg to Emelton.

I was driving and we came upon an intersection in St. Petersburg and wondered which way we should turn, right or left? It was clear that the right one was the most used, so I turned left. We went about a quarter of a mile when we saw a church on the right with a very large cemetery. I pulled in the first road in front of the church and then into its parking lot. .We all got out and started to search.

I went straight and my sister went to the right.

It was a warm day with sunshine and no wind. As I searched, I noticed a cold spot on my right arm, and as I turned left it went away. I didn’t think much about it, but when I turned again in the same direction, I once again felt the cold sensation on my arm. As I turned and headed in that direction, my sister was about 50-75 feet ahead of me and walking toward me saying to me that it was probably here. As we walked over , we saw Andrew Edinger’s grave with two missing graves close by. We wondered if these were the graves of George W. Edinger and his son.

Soon after, I got a tip that the 155th Regiment book was named, “UNDER THE MALTESE CROSS.” went to the Warren Library and they were able to get the book on loan. It was a happy day when they called me and said it was in. I rushed down and picked it up and came home and began to look through it for a picture of George W. Edinger. While looking at a group picture, I got a funny feeling as I examined each face and suddenly got cold chills as there was a man who would pass for my double.

I jumped up and got a magnifying glass and there was no doubt. I took the book up to my sisters house and opened the book to the page and I asked her to look at the picture. She studied it for a moment and exclaimed, “Oh my God, thats you!” I also had some of my co-workers look and everyone picked me out of that picture. Nothing happened for awhile after that until the first of this year, 1997. While on the internet looking for information on Civil War genealogy, I ran across an article suggesting the best way to find out about Civil War vets and family was to get pension records from the National Archives. There was an E-mail address to obtain forms to request these records which I responded to .

A few weeks went by and I received these forms in the mail which I instantly filled out and sent in. This was in February. Also at the same time I sent E-mail to two people who were listed as individuals to contact about the 155th Pa. As I awaited, I resented it because no reply came from either E-mailed contacts. At the end of March, my work schedule changed to the 11-7 shift.

During the first week of April, I awoke talking out loud. I was dreaming I was asked by a small framed man with dark hair and a dark complexion if I was Tommy Hammerbeck? The voice sounded like the man had laryngitis but was very clearly understood. As I awoke, I was answering that, “ Yes, I was
Tommy Hammerbeck. ” thought that the dream was odd and mentioned it to our EMS Director, Sandee Bross, after a Board meeting. She said jokingly that, “ maybe one of your guides was trying to tell you something!” Later, I told Ruthie of it in passing, telling her how I thought it odd.

A few weeks later I had a dream that I was in a field with woods to my front and to my right. There was a blue like mist in the air and a very loud rumble type noise becoming sharp at times. Keep the latter in mind. As April and May had past, I was going to write to the National Archives to see if there was a problem with the form I had sent in February. Also, around the last week of May I sent E-Mail again to the two men listed.

About the 1st week of June, I was awakened by my son. He had handed me a big envelope which contained George W. Edingers’s pension records. I got up, and while I was trying to wake up, I checked my E-Mail and low and behold, there were two replies from the two men I spoke of earlier. Nothing, then at the same time all three replies!

As I sat down to read the pension record, I found several references to his descriptions and also one of his voice. 5’5”, Dark hair, Dark complexion and after his stay in the hospital, he talked with a hoarse voice! It fit the man I woke up talking to!

Memorial Day came and Ruthie, my sister and her husband, and myself took a day and put flowers on Mom’s and Dad’s grave. Ruthie wanted to put some on her Mom’s and Dad’s grave also. Her Mom and Dad were buried in Rockland, not far from Emelton, so we set out for Rockland. After we put flowers on her parents grave, we went to the Cranberry Mall. Since we were so close to Emelton, we decided to get a pot of flowers and take them to the Emelton Cemetery and put them on George W Edingers grave.

We could not find flowers anywhere. We stopped in Emelton and inquired where we might be able to buy some flowers and were told that nothing was open around there. We went to the cemetery anyway, and as I was getting out of the car I made mention that I felt bad because I had no flowers to put on the grave. As I was leaving the cemetery, I turned left to show Karen where the farm was. Turning right would have taken us back where we had came in.

The land has a new church on it and we turned around in the parking lot and turned back to get onto the road, instead of turning right, I felt a strong impulse to turn left. We went a mile or so and on the left side of the road was a green house with pots for sale. I stopped and bought a small one and returned to GWEs grave where I placed it. Then I pulled out, turned right and went home. To parallel these events, we could never figure out how John, George W Edinger’s son, could have been born in Germany.

I found out about getting death certificates and sent for George’s and his son’s John. The certificate states George was born and died in the United States. Johns states he was born in Germany and that the father was George W Edinger. On Johns the information was given by Elmo. But the mother of John is listed as Sara? Father George W Edinger, both mother and father born in Germany?

It appears we now have conflicting information. George W Edinger’s certificate states he was born in the United States of America. According to family history, John came over here from Germany when he was a very young man. Also, George W Edinger is his father. The odd thing is, Elma doesn’t mention John, but John mentions Elma. Uncle Don remembers his mom and dad going to Franklin to visit Elma.

I think the pension records indicated that George W Edinger had been married before and his first wife was Sivilla Mariah Edinger who passed away the first of April, 1869 in Lickingville, Pa and was buried in Stow Church Cemetery, Beaver Township, Clarion County.

The birth of John was March 29, 1869. We now feel that John was not born in Germany, but in Lickingville, Pa and the mother probably died at childbirth. George W Edinger, we know, remarried Kate Umstead Edinger and they had two children, Samuel who died at three years of age, and Elma.

Now I think I can understand why Elma was not too knowledgeable about John. Elma was born in 1874 or 75. What we don’t know is who raised John? I thought one day coming home from the Cranberry Mall (near Franklin) to come home via Lickingville to see if we could locate John’s mothers grave, Sivilla.
We stopped at the only cemetery we could find by Lickingville and found nothing. So we decided to stop outside of Lickingville to get an ice cream and I asked the women who was waiting on us if she
knew where the Stow church was. She stated that she “didn’t know where it was but an older man in the other room might know.”

She pointed him out and I went over to ask him. He told me that what I was hunting for was down by Knox and he gave me directions. Off we went, but couldn’t find it. As we stopped at a stop sign we noticed an elderly lady walking by. Ruthie rolled down the window as I instructed her to do, and we inquired as to where the Stow church was. She told us that it was probably Stone Church and to wait and she would go home and get her car and we could follow her as she would lead us there.

Following her we went several miles before we came to the church and then pulled into the parking lot. I got out of the car as she did, and I thanked her. I informed her of the fact that I was trying to find my great, great, grandmothers grave. She gave me a look as if, I Know, and told me to go down to the next drive way and turn in there and park and you should find her there. She was right!

Back to George W Edinger. This past July (‘97) Ruthie and I set out to explore some of the battles that George W Edinger was in. We stopped at Appomatex and found that one of the four flags of truce sent by General Lee came through the 155th and at the surrender when the Confederate army came to turn in there arms, George W Edinger’s 155th was in front of the McClain house. (where the surrender took place.)

We next went to the Battle of the Wilderness. I asked the ranger of his knowledge of the V corps and the 155th. He looked it up and told us to go down the road to Saunders Field. There we would find a lady ranger who would tell us about the 155th.

Now remember my second dream of the field with woods and blue mist and tremendous noise?

Well, as we were going down the road I looked at Ruthie and remarked wouldn’t it be strange to see it was the place in dream #2 ? We pulled into the parking lot and as we got out, Ruthie noticed that I turned white and the hair on me stood up. I also feel as everything was just flushed inside of me. I pointed to the upper field and told Ruthie he was there. (GWE)

We went and talked to the ranger and asked about the 155th. She pointed to the same place I did and said over there. Ruthie mentioned to her that this was weird and told her of my dream. The ranger asked me about it and I described what I had seen and that I also heard tremendous noise. Her face had a surprised
look on it. She then told me of the battle.

She said the 140th New York, and the 155th Pennsylvania got flanked on the right and were under heavy musket fire. I asked her about the noise and she went on to say that at this battle the Union artillery was firing over the infantry as they advanced. This was a rare tactic creating severe noise with the musket fire creating a blue mist.

She read a descriptions as written by one of the officers of the battle, “It was like someone took the lid off of Hell.” As of this writting all is quit I often wounder what lies ahead and why I was picked.

I guess one goes through life with the feeling that we are logicial people but how does one explain the past events ? I will keep this story open for I feel that my mission is not yet complete.