Sunday, December 25, 2016

A Christmas letter from 1864

One of my favorite treasures I've collected while researching Greenley genealogy is this Christmas letter written in 1864 during the Civil War.

It is written by Richard Greenley. (Here is the Greenley story I wrote a while ago that helps explain how we are related to him.)  The letter (or poem) is written to his brother, George Greenley, who, at the time of the Civil War, was still in England.  He moved the United States after the war.  But his adult sons had already moved to Iowa.  And they were both serving in the war.

Richard and George's brother, John, is who we are descended from.  John (and family) is mentioned in the letter.  What is not mentioned is that John's son, William, is also serving in the war. (William was our grandfather, Ansel, grandfather)

My words are not so elegant, but wish for all a very MERRY MERRY Christmas!

A Christmas Letter

3 comments:

  1. William waas wounded at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Mar 1862. So he was out of the war long before this letter was written. According to his records William was in company K of the 7th Iowa. His name does not appear in the roster of that regiment. I can only assume that he was not in long enough (about 90 days) to get in the permanent roster.

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    1. Name: William Greenly
      Residence: Iowa
      Age at Enlistment: 22
      Enlistment Date: 28 Aug 1861
      Rank at enlistment: Private
      State Served: Iowa
      Was Wounded?: Yes
      Survived the War?: Yes
      Service Record: Enlisted in Company K, Iowa 9th Infantry Regiment on 24 Sep 1861.Mustered out on 14 Oct 1862 at Keokuk, IA.
      Birth Date: abt 1839
      Sources: Roster & Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of Rebellion

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    2. Thank you Ross ... I had not thought about William only serving part of the war. As you can see from above, he served for a little more than a year.

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