Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots
Follow along as I explore my family history, travel to important historical sites, share photos, and conduct research for my various writing projects. These blog posts tells stories from various branches of my family tree, including Colonial Americans, Indian Captives, Scottish Presbyterians, Irish Quakers, Pioneers on the Oregon and Mormon Trails, Civil War Veterans, Early Californians, and Ellis Island Immigrants, as well as my more immediate family.
I actually began this blog April 30, 2022, but I am working on migrating my previous blog posts to this website from blogspot.com, making this a work in progress. I hope you’ll follow along!
Exploring Family Connections to the 1758 Fort Sebert Massacre, Col. Henry Bouquet’s 1764 Treaty, and The Light in the Forest
In which I discuss how my 7th GGP’s were killed in the Seybert Massacre in Augusta County, Virginia, in April 1758, and their three children taken captive by the Shawnee (including my 6th GGM Barbara Reager); how Barbara and her sister were returned along with more than 200 other captives in November 1764 to Col. Henry Bouquet along the Muskingum River in Ohio when the tribes had to return their white captives as part of a treaty agreement; and how this relates to the novel The Light in the Forest, which I have taught to my juniors for many years.
Centralia, Missouri: The Battle of Centralia
In which I explain how later that same day, when Federal troops went after Bloody Bill and his men, 122 of 125 were slaughtered three miles outside of town in the Battle of Centralia, the highest percentage of men killed in a single engagement of the Civil War; I also share photos from the battlefield
Centralia, Missouri - Home of the Traughbers and Site of the Centralia Massacre
In which I describe my visits with both Mike and my parents to Centralia, where my great grandfather, William Francis Traughber, grew up and attended high school, and where 22 Union soldiers and one civilian were killed by William “Bloody Bill” Anderson and his guerrillas on September 27, 1864, in what became known as the Centralia Massacre (and to which, it turns out, I have several family connections - on BOTH sides of the war)