Mining the Past

About the Book

Generations of the author’s ancestors have helped to defend America, from a third great grandfather who fought during the Revolutionary war, to his great grandfather who as a 12 year old drummer boy with the Union Army in 1863 had to learn and execute numerous drum beats while under fire , to the author’s own service with the Air Force during the Viet Nam era. Several of these men are introduced in the stories of this book. Among other ancestors mentioned will be a Northern Virginia tavern owner whose 1810 home for wayfarers was well known by its visiting travelers for its ghostly inhabitants, a frontier doctor who was well informed by Shawnee Indian medicine men, the wives of these men, a number of whom bore ten or more children while living in remote areas and under very stressful conditions including threats of Indian attack, a wealthy oilman from Bakersfield California, and a family which organized its own frontier Lutheran Church in the wilds of 18th Century Virginia. From those who immigrated in the great migrations of the 19th century with accommodations in the steerage of cargo ships, we will find carpenters, my wife’s grandmother who, as a young girl was given away as an orphan, and her other grandmother who as a frightened young 12 year old girl who spoke no English was left alone at the port in Baltimore. Still other stories include the author’s grandfather who was a glazier working with Art Glass when the country first began to make its own stained glass windows, and two great grandmothers, one the author’s, and one his wife’s, who both gave birth to illegitimate children in Germany and emigrated to America to begin life anew.

About the Author

The author is a retired Air Force Colonel who was a professional scientist with both the military and the civilian contractors who built its spacecraft in the 1980’s. He is also a devoted theologian who has written three books on the subject including The Eschaton, Suffering – A Biblical Study, and Spiritual Essays – A Personal Collection. In the 50 years he and his wife have been married they have frequently shared the oral history of their families from which the stories in this book took form. It is his desire that others will be encouraged to study their own history, to learn more about themselves in the process, and to then share their history with others.