OHCLERMO-L Archives

Archiver > OHCLERMO > 2002-06 > 1024943517


From: Joanna Jones <>
Subject: [OHCLER] Re: OHCLERMO-D Digest V02 #141
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 14:31:57 -0400
In-Reply-To: <200206231857.g5NIvSh16353@lists2.rootsweb.com>


Re those Civil War Letters:
Doris Brown van Luit¹s family letters were from Will, Rice and Ed
Perkins. These 3 Clermont Co brothers, descendants of a Revolutionary War &
War of 1812 vet, had enlisted and served in the 59th Ohio Volunteer
Infantry, Company F (Will and Ed) , and 5th Ohio OVI (Rice) during the Civil
War.
The letters were stored in the barn of the family farm for decades. When
the old Batavia farm was sold - the letters went with it. A great Aunt had
kept the records of the family. After a time, in 1992, new owners
discovered the bundle of letters in the barn. Muriel Dodd was a history
teacher and realized the importance of the letters. She tried to locate
family members and even advertised in the local paper.
In the meantime Muriel painstakingly transcribed the hard to decipher
old script.. Finally a Cincinnati Attorney bought the originals from her.
Still, she saved the transcriptions, hoping to find the family.
Eight years later, a cousin found a notation about the letters. After a
search, Muriel was found in Nevada. She still had the papers, which she
gave to the cousin! Dori¹s cousin then put them together in a loose leaf
book form, and included photos of the correspondents, rosters of the unit
and other data. Each of his cousins received a copy of the precious family
history. The story of the finding of the letters is almost as remarkable as
the letters themselves! Joanna

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