The Quest: Part Three

It is now the 11th of Sept. I would like to report the following information. The past 24 hrs. Have brought forth some new information. But there just might be a new twist. My old computer died about six months ago and I lost a great deal of information links etc. I asked a friend of mind the first part of the week about some help with my research. He sent me some links to genealogy sites. I was into one site and fund that it looked like one I used before as I remused the site. I came across Women named Judy Bowman who had posted a notice of research on the Edinger line.

I remembered I had contacted her about G.W. Edinger’s connection to southwest Mo. She did not have a connection to G.W.Edinger at that time, which was about one year ago. I might state there was no way she could have known that I read her name on that site. I found the site just about 10:00pm. I work 11:00 to 7:00 so I stopped there and got ready for work. As the night passed I had wondered if she ever found some thing about G.W. Edinger. I came home at 7:00 am and went to bed and awoke about 2:00pm . As I got around I turned on the computer and there was a message from JUDY !! She explained she had found some information on the
Edinger’s and to return the e-mail if I was still interested. Which I did. So far I have not received her return message. Strange again.

Well this is not all. I have been trying to find out something about G.W.Edinger’s first wife. I had found her grave as you recall but could not find out anyone with information on her maiden name, which I had thought to be Mariah. When I asked my friend Jim to help me. He looked at the document that I had and found a reference to her as Mariah Alt. He asks me if I thought it to be her Maiden name, to which I replied, I thought Mariah was her maiden name.

I was under the impression that the Alt referred to her as alternate or maiden. So I made a copy on my scanner of the portion of the document that we had been looking at and sent it to a lawyer friend of mine to make a judgement for me. He sent his reply yesterday afternoon late. In his opion he thought she might have dropped her first name because she didn’t care for it as some people do and went with her middle name. He also stated that he also felt her maiden name was Alt. I felt that if that be the case then just maybe, a” Alt ” served with G.W.E. So with that I logged on to a database that I belong to on the Civilwar and guess what I found? There was a Charles ALT who enlisted in the 155th the same day as G.W.E. and was a corporal in Co. ” G ” G.W.E.”s Co.

It is now Nov.8th 98 . I would like to report that there was activity in Oct. We were going to Va. on the weekend of the 17th but Ruthie changed jobs so the time off was not in her schedule but she did have Sunday off. At her work she was talking to friend of mine’s wife and they decided we should go to Clarion for a Civilwar living history that coming Sunday.

As we took a tour it brought us to the Historical Soc. As I had been the before, about two and one half years ago I did not expect to see any thing about the 155th Pa. As I had asked for information when there before. Everyone was in the gift shop and as I walked in I saw a book rack in the middle of the room and as I approached it I looked and could not believe my eyes. It was a book I had been hunting for about three years. The Title “History of the 155th Regiment Company K. Although G.W.E.

was in Co. “G” As I read I found that Co. “K” and Co. “G” were together a great deal of the time, I guess you could call them sister Companies. Well during that week I read about half of the book. “Keep this in mind “. During the week Ruthie was told that she could have the coming Friday off if she so choose. She informed me that she would be able to go to Va. to visit Larry and Barb if I still wanted to go. I was able to get that Friday off also and we left for Cumberland Va.

That Friday morning. We arrived at their house around suppertime and spent the evening in a nice chat. Barb suggested that her daughter, Ruthie and her self spend the day at yard sales and shopping in general. She stated that Larry wanted someone to go with him to the Confederate White House and museum. I agreed in an instant. So Saturday morning we went to Richmond. I hope what happened was just a fluke but I had the feeling I would receive a phone call from my son about the time we were in the museum about the football game. So I left my cell phone on while we were in there. I remember thinking how awkward it would seem if it rang while near people.

But it didn’t ring until we were just getting in the car leaving the White House and museum. The call was not a good one; it was my daughter Cathy at the hospital with my son Tommy he broke his collarbone while playing football. I have to wonder if the Confederate visitation was not taken in the proper perspective by who ever is guiding me in my ” Quest “. I hope it to be nothing but…….

From there we went to Petersburg and I found the Crater where G.W.E. had fought I did not know it at the time but the parking lot was very close to where the 155th was during the mine blast . What is errie is that I received a second phone call from my son at the hospital telling me of his injury and in general not to worry he was doing fine in the parking lot! Was there a change of heart? We returned home on Sunday with out incident. Remember the” keep in mind ” from above?

Well when during the week I began reading in the book Co. “K” and wouldn’t you know that within the next several pages…..Yes it was about the battle of Petersburg and the Crater.. And were they were at the time of the blast……And as they decried their location it puts them close to the parking lot….. TDH