Ancestor Stories #5 Civil War

For Veterans Day it seemed appropriate to tell the story of one of our ancestors that fought in the Civil War - Lyman W. Swift.

 Lyman was in the Union Army and fought in the battle of Marks' Mill in Arkansas.  This is from the History of Washington County Ohio, published by H.Z. Williams & Bro. in 1881.  

"Roll of Honor - war of 1861 to 1865.  The following is a list of volunteers in the service of the United States during the war of the Rebellion. ... The roll is as full and accurate as it can be made with out great expense and trouble.  It will prove a source of just pride to the people of the county, generally, as well as to the descendants and friends of those whose names are here recorded, an will be a standing challenge to the patriotism of the future to emulate the example of the volunteers of 1861-5."

"Swift, Jr., Lyman W., age 24, volunteer, December 4, 1861, three years, Seventy-seventh regiment, company F, private, served four years and four months, mustered out March 8, 1866, captured at Mark's Mills, and in prison nine months."

The only photo I have of Lyman is this one with his wife Margaret in their old age.

Here's a memorial at Mark's Mills Battleground State Park in Arkansas.  It says - "The battle of Marks Mill fought here on April 25, 1864 was a complete confederate victory.  General James F. Fagans division of confederate cavalry surprised and captured a Union supply train of 2000 men and 240 wagonloads of supplies.  General Powell Clayton, Union Commander, narrowly escaped capture by flight with small detachment."  Here's a website you can go to if you want to read more:   Marks' Mills Battlegrund State Park


   Here's a link to the Veteran's Day post I did last year which has info on Mom and I and Grandpa Swift   Swift Veterans

Halloween

Halloween is so much fun for everyone dressing up in costumes.  I've collected pictures of all the younger grandchildren in their Halloween costumes.    Some of the adults had great costumes too but I'm only showing the children here.  

 Cowboy (Leon)

 Ladybug (Hannah) and Lion (Jacob)

 Spanish knight (Christian) and mouse (Elliott)

 Two trolls (Penelope and Scarlett)

 Superhero (James)

Yoshi (Andrew) and Princess Peach (Mallory).  They came over to our house and were the only ones we got to see in person.  Notice in the background their parents were Mario and Luigi.

 Karate Kids (Julia and Ethan).  Dressed warm for trick-or-treating in Alaska.

 Soldier Toy (Tucker)

 Superman (Ashton)

Mime (Evan)

Tucker Soccer Game

We went and watched Tucker play soccer.

He seemed to be having a lot of fun playing soccer on a team.

 We actually got to see him score his first goal of the season.

 Tucker running hard.

 Fan club.

 Scarlett enjoying a hot chocolate Talitha brought for the kids.

 Leon on his Grandma's lap.

Even Sam had a good time.

General Conference

This weekend we had General Conference.

This is the Prophet and President of the Church, Thomas S. Monson.  They broadcast from Salt Lake City and we watch talks from the prophet and from apostles and other general authorities of the church.

 We set up both monitors on the computer so we could see it from anywhere in the kitchen or family room.

 One good thing about watching from home, you don't have to get dressed up and you can sit in really comfortable chairs and relax and really concentrate on what's being said.

 After a few sessions we came up with some games to help the children pay attention.  Here's Ashton playing M&M Bingo and he only has one square to go.  Can't get his last word, "Trials".

 And of course we had the family tradition, which Mary-Anne started for us, of waffles with ice cream and toppings.

It was great to have Tianna and her family with us to watch conference.  Their family is smaller now with Jarom and Amery both off to college but they still keep us busy whenever they come to visit.  Never a dull moment.

Tulsa Central Class of 73 Reunion

I went to the 40th Reunion of my High School class, 1973.  It was also an opportunity to visit with my brother Mark who still lives in Tulsa.

 This is Central.  It was the first high school built in Tulsa.

 It was a large high school and we had close to 500 in our graduating class.  The school grounds cover one complete square city block in downtown Tulsa.

 This is Lee Elementary School in Tulsa where I went to 4th through 6th grades.

 A side entrance view.  The junior high school I went to, Horace Mann, has been torn down.

 The first event of the reunion was a dinner at a Mexican Restaurant, Campadres.  If you look hard you can find me.  Hint - wearing a black shirt.

 Here's a group picture at the main reunion event.  I'm in the back row.  There were four close friends I would really like to have seen but they didn't come.  I did get to see and talk to a lot of people I knew, so that was fun.

They had tables and a band and the reunion was at Micki's All Occasion Ballroom

This is the Great Spirit Statue in Woodward Park, an Indian praying to the Great Spirit.  We had a smaller one in the halls of Central and it was kind of the symbol of our school.  We were the Central Braves.

Visit with Mark and Angela

I was in Tulsa for a class reunion and the best part of the visit was the time I got to spend with my brother Mark and his wife Angela.

 Mark and Angela by a statue they had made out of sheet metal of an Indian shooting an arrow into the sky.  Mark made the design himself by copying a statue and then making an outline.

 They have a beautiful home in Tulsa on a hill by Gilcrease museum.

 The house is all made out of native limestone and it's really nice.

 They have a deer feeder in the backyard and it shoots out corn twice a day.  Here's some deer with their fawns.  This picture was taken right out the back window of their dining room.

 A large buck with big antlers.

 A scorpion we found in the house one day.

 This is my old house that I lived in during High School.

 The house I lived in before that when I was in Junior High and the later half of elementary school..

 I went on a couple of walks, one day on my own and another day with Mark and Angela.  This is a bike trail through town.

 A shot from the Riverside Walk along the Arkansas River.

 Tulsa is an oil town.  The refineries are across the river.  Notice the burning flame on that one tower.

 I was fascinated with these wood carved statues.

 They were in the Utica Square shopping center, which is by the second house in the previous pictures.  Mark and I used to ride our Stingray bikes to Utica Square with friends and hang out and play there quite a bit.  The security guard would chase us out of this one department store any time he saw us coming.  I guess he didn't like all the bikes parked at the front door or us running up and down the escalators the wrong way.

 The statues are incredibly detained and smooth and not at all rough like some of the chainsaw statues I see in Washington of bears and eagles and other animals.

 Really nice I thought.

 We ate dinner one night at Jamil's, a favorite steakhouse that we've been going to with our family since we were children.

Also had to make a stop at Braum's.  They are the best for ice cream sundaes.  I had a great visit with Mark and Angela.