The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Battle of Antietam(Sharpsburg) (9/17/1862) - Sep. 17th, 2003

www.texasrifles.com ^ | July 30, 1995 | Peter Carlson

[Darksheare]

Nope, the reason I live out this way was that she moved out this direction after I was born.
She will be back soonly, and I will be able to pick her brain.
Otherwise, I'll have to harrass her in forum since she is here too.
DJ MacWoW is her FR handle, so if I get the info before she sees this post, she can ignore it.

But what I remember most is being told about how he was on his way home from work and was run down by a car.
To have survived all the horrors of a country at war with itself and be killed by driver inattention back in the infancy of cars is cruel irony.
That's why I never forgot that part.
That, and the pics.
He was pretty scary looking.

[SAMWolf]

I remember some real scary looking relatives when I was a kid. My grandma on my mom sides looked like she could chew nails.

[Darksheare]

My grandmother, she had polio when she was three, could give LOOKS.
She always had these horn-rimmed glasses, blue, which she'd stare at you from over the rims.
And she'd have this odd smirk while staring at you.
Then the cane would come whistling around ot of nowhere and she hasn't appeared to have moved at all!
Grandma was also a stinker.
But mostly she was an artist.
She could do oil paints and watercolors.
Have one of her paintings hanging behind me.

She died two years ago near Thanksgiving, at 89 or so.
Polio victims, especially those who were young, do not live to be 80 or so as a rule of thumb.

[SAMWolf]

Sorry to hear about your Grand Mother. I had a childhood friend who had polio. Until Dr. Salk came up with the Vaccine, it was the big scare disease for us.

[Darksheare]

William Henry Ramey
Fought for the North, Ohio(info on hand, needs to be dug out.) was wounded in battle.
Was 20 years old when wounded.
Blinded and with shrapnel in one leg, he walked with a cane and a limp for the rest of his life.
After the war he returned to farming.
Died in 1920, due to flailed chest from being run down by a motorcar 1/2 block from home.
(Slyvania Avenue in Toledo to be exact, he lived on Caroline with his daughter and her husband.)
The family still spoke of it as if it were recent when my mom was born in the 50's.

When he was wounded, he was discharged from service due to being blind.
Somehow he was able to keep his leg despite the conditions of medicine at the time.
And he was 20 when the war started, Ohio militia.
Which company is still buried in the geneaology paperwork.
Will be digging.

[Darksheare]

She lived a long life, for having had polio when she was three.
Her sister is over 100 and still alive.
(Long lived family on that side of the family.)

She ended up having her right arm atrophy.
Odd part of this side of the family: They were all right handed.
She had to learn how to write with her left hand.
The docs said she'd never walk again, but great-grandma and great-grandpa Bower never told her that.
So she learned to walk again, and learned to tie shoes with one hand.
(I figured out how she did it once, actually did it myself once, but never could figure out how she did it so fast.)

I have some of her sketches. (1920's or 30's.)
It's really odd that she could draw, but her handwriting was execreble.

[SAMWolf]

William Henry Ramey
Ohio Militia

[Darksheare]

Mom, post 107.
Thanks Sam.
Still have to dig the exact info out.
Mom has it in electronic form on her machine.
(I just need to wait for her to get back to her machine!)

[SAMWolf]

Your welcome Darksheare.

HI DarkSheare's Mom!!!

[Darksheare]

I just got asked,"Who's hand did he steal?"
As well as, "Why isn't he at Dimensional Doors either?"
I guess that means you'll have to wander in once in awhile.
Blame dearest sister for that.
Yes sis, You are ping'ed to the threaded.

[Darksheare]

Mom also says, "Yes, all the info needs to be dug up."

[SAMWolf]

Hi Darkshear's mom and sister, from some of the Foxhole FReepers.

I just got asked,"Who's hand did he steal?"

Thing's

As well as, "Why isn't he at Dimensional Doors either?"

[Darksheare]

William Henry served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
He achieved the rank of Corporal in C Company, 123rd Regiment, Infantry.
His Army records state that he joined for 3 years on August 12, 1862 at Richmond Ohio.
They give his age as 21.
The records also state "prior service in " I - 14 " Ohio volunteers".
He is described as 5' 6", with brown hair and blue eyes and listed as a farmer.
William was " at home in Huron Co. Ohio on 20 day furlough, Mar 28,1863 ".
He was sent to Cumberland Hospital on March 14, 1863 for injuries in a battle.
He mustered out on June 15, 1863 for injuries.
William was blind in one eye from shrapnel and had a musket ball in his leg and used a cane as he grew older.


Nothing like digging through accumulated info.

[Darksheare]

Weird thread?!
Weird thread!?

But.. but.. you'd fit right in!
(Heck, most of us here would..)

[SAMWolf]

But.. but.. you'd fit right in!

That's what I'm afraid of.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for sharing Darksheare, makes reading history more personal.

[Darkchylde]

I feel insulted.
I LIVE there!
It's not so bad, really.
*eyes shifting nervously*
Really, I'm series...!
*eyes shifting worse than before*
You believe me, don't you?

[Darksheare]

*Sigh*
But it's a great place to let off steam and let the weird flow so that one doesn't go bizzak and 'vandalize' one's own thread..

[Darksheare]

It does.
I do hate the irony of him living through the war to be run down by a car.

[SAMWolf]

Yeah there couldn't have been that many cars around then.