Here is a true story showing the sequence of events required to pin down a Civil War Soldier. It is the experience of a member of our Civil War List, Julie Bright. She first shared with the list the letters of the soldier and from the responses to her postings was able to continue forward her search. A very important lesson to be learned is perseverance -- required in almost all searches. Contrary to the expectations of many, it requires a lot of follow up and 'leg-work' to trace an ancestor.

Julie Bright should have been a cop. What began as a conversation over coffee with a neighbor of mine nine years ago in Ohio ended one recent chilly morning at the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery gravesite of a Civil War veteran-.

Combining her interest in genealogy with library and Internet research, Bright traveled back in time with the help of people from around the country and found her man. And now, 132 after his death, the story of Edward S Wells can be told. "We are assembled here to pay our tribute of respect to Edward Wells, a veteran of the Civil War," read Dean Thomas of suburban Rochester, standing in the cemetery before Well's grave. "Let us therefore unite in prayer…."
Thomas is an expert on the History of the 128th New York State Volunteer Regiment He also maintains a Web site on the unit A relative of his from Rhinebeck served In the 128th which was made up of men from Dutchess and Columbia counties. He presented a gravemarker from the Albany unit Of the SON of Union Veterans Of the Civil war

His voice carried over the still cemetery as a large cloud chased but neve quite caught the mid morning sun. He was joined by Bright and Jim Elliman, a descendant of Edward Wells, who lives in Connecticut. The sun shone off the white marble headstone, which read: Wells, 128th Reg't N.Y.S.V. Born May 21, 1823, Died March 29, 1865. Enlisted in 1861 - Captured at Cedar creek, Va, Oct 19th 1864 - Imprisoned at Salisbury NC Endured five weary months of starvation and suffering, died three days after his return home, a victim of rebel inhumanity"

I think the most amazing thing about all of this is bringing it all together after all of these years through Internet activity and papers passed down through the years," said Jim Elliman of Connecticut, who spoke at the conclusion of a brief ceremony at the grave of his relative.

"Back in 1988 I was living in Ohio, just outside Columbus, and my neighbor and I were having coffee, talking about genealogy, which has long been of interest to me," Bright says. "She pointed to her fireplace and said her husband had letters in a leather box that they were unable to read"

Bright took the letters home and transcribed them. The box also contained a diary that seemed to belong to someone else.
"His name is Edward and he is a sergeant," Bright said. "His wife's name looks like Mary, but that's all we can ascertain The diary is written by an unknown Civil War soldier in a prison camp in North Carolina The writing is very sparse and terse. He is with the 128th New York State volunteers, and there is a long list of those captured with him. He is released from prison and dies three days after returning home.

After putting the project aside for years, Bright renewed her historical journey in January, This time she was armed with a new weapon, a computer. She connected with the Civil War newsgroups and began posting Edward's letters.

Ken Jones of Texas identified the 20th militia unit as the unit of the letter writer. Olivebridge's Stewart Osborne, described by Bright as an expert on the Civil War and the mid-Hudson Valley provided the key that opened the door to the past.

Seward was able to identify the name of the writer from research by eliminating a younger 'Edward" who would not have been married," says Bright "and by the two names mentioned In the first letter as people his wife knew fairly well. And they both are from Poughkeepsie."

Edward Wells had been a compositor for the Poukeepsie Daily Eagle and would have been able to write eloquently. Elliman had no record of anyone by that name in his family. Bright contacted a Wells family historian in the state of Washington on the Internet who told her of an Edward Wells listed in the 1850 census: as a 26-year-old and living with his parents In Poughkeepsie. He was a printer.

Elliman who had relocated to Connecticut had embarked on research of his own -- for a final resting place. "My son was living here in Red Hook and I had this parchment-like deed to a plot given to me by my grandfather," Elliman says. "It said 'Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery!

He dispatched his son to check out the site. What they found was a family plot. One headstone had tipped over. It belonged to Edward S. Wells.

Elliman has had the family pilot restored. Most if not all the questions have been answered.

"The letters and diary were both written by Edward'' Bright says. "He had gone off to war with the 20th regiment, and at some Point was discharged because of a hernia. After being home for about a year, he re-enlisted, joining the 128th regiment."

Bright would like to turn the story into a book. She credits Thomas, Jones, Wells, and Osborne - and the computer age -with helping her fill in the blanks.

"I'm glad we finally got his voice heard'' she says of Wells.

Bright made another stop on her visit to Poughkeepsie -- 94 Academy
Street where Wells lived. The house was owned by Diane Zucker and for sale, was owned for years by the family of former mayor Tom Aposporos.

She's still looking for members of the Wells or Fays families with longtime connections to Poughkeepsie. She has information on the families to share. (Write to her at: 30 Weathervane Lane, East Sandwich, MA 02537.)

Elliman appreciates the efforts of all those who became involved.

"Many people today really don't know what their family background is and they don't take the time to find out," Elliman says. "They know who their parents are and their grandparents. But then when you get back to the parents of perhaps your grandmother whose name was different, it's forgotten and sort of fades away until someone takes the time to piece it together."

"It shows you how important it is to write your family history down now,"' Thomas says.