Let's see...since that last post, I re-read "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings". I found I was able not only to read "The Hobbit" in an afternoon, about 4 hours, but also each book of TLOTR. That is, one half of each of the 3 volumes. About 4 hours each. That was the first week of September, when I had off.
Over the past 2 weeks, I've been delving more into the Civil War. Since I learned last year that I have a great-great-great-great uncle, Jacob Renner, who was in the 34th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and was at Gettysburg-I found him on the PA monument. I've been tracking down more info about the PA Dutch serving in the Union Army. My uncle survived, by the way. He was a 3-year-man from Northumberland County, enlisted in June 1862 and mustered out in June 1865. So, I've read David Valuska's and Christian Keller's "**** Dutch-Pennsylvania Germans at Gettysburg", and I'm almost finished James Pula's "Under the Crescent Moon: With the XI Corps in the Civil War." Oh, and I read Keller's "Chancellorsville and the Germans", too. Though I think my uncle was in the XII Corps. But it's a fascinating subject.
As far as the geneological research goes, I also learned that I had 2 great-uncles, Charles and Luke James, who served together in the 28th Infantry in France in World War 1. Charles served before that with the 1st PA Cavalry in Pershing's expedition in Mexico. When he served in France, he was gassed. They said it affected him, and he eventually took his own life, in 1934. Uncle Luke lived in Philly and raised a family.
Prost!
Brad
