So a guy walks into a show,,,,,

[Jack7171]

My folks and I were at the Gettysburg show this past weekend, my parents had their trusty scooters, and me afoot. My mother hasn't done a ton of research on her family, the way my father has, to which he has passed on to me, but my mom only knows what she was told by her parents and grandparents. So my mom stops at a booth, William Griffings "Spared and Shared" and starts reading a transcripted letter. She said the last name caught her eye, Rittenhouse,,,as she is descended from Rittenhouse. She then points, and says "hey, hunterdon county!" , which is where my family lived for generations, and my parents still do. So an on the spot ancestry check, and a quick call to her brother reveals low and behold, the letter written by Bateman Rittenhouse, serving in the 6th Maryland infantry, written to John Bellis of Hunterdon County, was penned by my great x6 grandfathers son. So he'd be a gx6 uncle(?). Anyhow, he is a family member of ours, writing to a man who family also still lives near us. Griff was ecstatic that his work and research was found completely by chance,,by a family.
Bateman Rittenhouse suffered a terribly gruesome injury, and Griffs research was quite detailed,,,,,

A surgeon's note informs us that Bateman's wound was serious and disfiguring. It was caused by a "gunshot wound of the upper and lower jaw. The [minié] ball entered to the left and below the nose making its exit at inferior surface of lower jaw right side necessitating removal if portion of inferior maxillary bone" which was performed in the field. According to the first surgical volume of the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (MSHWR) published in 1870, there were only "twenty-nine surgical operations performed for deformities following gunshot injuries" while noting there were "nearly ten thousand in number" cases of gunshot injuries of the face during the war. (MSHWR Surg I, p. 379)
Thx Griff,,,,we are still in amazement

 

[lupaglupa]

That is just incredible

 

[Jack7171]

That is just incredible

We were stunned, and had shared and spared not transcribed it, we would have never seen the keywords that caught my mom's eye, and we are going to stop by at the local Bellis family, who still lives only a few miles from the original address,, to share the letter with them

 

[Present Arms]

This is the sort of spectacular discovery that makes treasure hunters so persistent.

 

[Sowbelly and Hardtack]

Congratulations @Jack7171. Rittenhouse is an old Maryland and Pennsylvania family.

 

[Jack7171]

Congratulations @Jack7171. Rittenhouse is an old Maryland and Pennsylvania family.

Yes, and new jersey as well. It's amazing how one family in 1632 (so far) can lead to sooo many people today. My mom has Bateman Rittenhouse from Baltimore (originally from hunterdon county nj) in her family tree, but there must be 2500 other people that also have the same one in their tree,,it's blowing my mind!

 

[scooter748driver]

Wow! That's fantastic! So glad you were able to recover a piece of your family's history.

 

[Griff]

Only problem is, I wasn't at the Gettysburg Show and certainly did not have a booth there. Are you mistaken that you thought the vendor manning the booth was me ("Griff") or did he actually represent himself as me? Did he also have a sign saying "William Griffing's Spared & Shared" booth, or was it just simply a case that the letter being sold was accompanied by a transcription of the letter printed from my Spared & Shared website and the vendor was assumed to be me? Just want to make sure someone isn't impersonating me. -- Griff

 

[Joe Whitworth]

Wow.

 

[Jack7171]

Only problem is, I wasn't at the Gettysburg Show and certainly did not have a booth there. Are you mistaken that you thought the vendor manning the booth was me ("Griff") or did he actually represent himself as me? Did he also have a sign saying "William Griffing's Spared & Shared" booth, or was it just simply a case that the letter being sold was accompanied by a transcription of the letter printed from my Spared & Shared website and the vendor was assumed to be me? Just want to make sure someone isn't impersonating me.

Here's how it went,, my mom saw the letter, and the transcript in a riker box. The name Rittenhouse, and location of Hunterdon County. Both matches to her. So we Google Bateman Rittenhouse while standing there, first hit we get was your website pops up with the letter and the transcript,,so we read it, checked a cpl other places like soldiers and sailors, etc, and bought it. So yes, based on us seeing this letter on your website, we just assumed it was you, I even bookmarked your site. I never asked the vendor his name because I thought he was you lol. Seeing this letter on your site, while looking up the name. just automatically assumed I was talking to Griff himself.

 

[redbob]

On the other side of the coin, as a dealer/displayer, you never know what is going to walk through the doors at a show when someone walks up to your table and asks: Do you know what this is?

 

[Griff]

Here's how it went,, my mom saw the letter, and the transcript in a riker box. The name Rittenhouse, and location of Hunterdon County. Both matches to her. So we Google Bateman Rittenhouse while standing there, first hit we get was your website pops up with the letter and the transcript,,so we read it, checked a cpl other places like soldiers and sailors, etc, and bought it. So yes, based on us seeing this letter on your website, we just assumed it was you, I even bookmarked your site. I never asked the vendor his name because I thought he was you lol. Seeing this letter on your site, while looking up the name. just automatically assumed I was talking to Griff himself. View attachment 504960View attachment 504961View attachment 504960View attachment 504961View attachment 504962View attachment 504963

I figured it was a case of mistaken identity. Just so you know, I don't own or sell the letters I transcribe. They are sent to me by various individuals who do own them and ask for me to transcribe and research them with the understanding that I will publish them on my Spared & Shared sites. I do not charge for this service. If you would like to see a list the thousands of Civil War letters (diaries too) that I have transcribed over the last decade, go to: https://billyyankjohnnyreb.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/list-of-soldiers-letters/

 

[Jack7171]

I figured it was a case of mistaken identity. Just so you know, I don't own or sell the letters I transcribe. They are sent to me by various individuals who do own them and ask for me to transcribe and research them with the understanding that I will publish them on my Spared & Shared sites. I do not charge for this service. If you would like to see a list the thousands of Civil War letters (diaries too) that I have transcribed over the last decade, go to: https://billyyankjohnnyreb.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/list-of-soldiers-letters/

Yep,,,I understand it wasn't u we met then. But the fact still remains,,,you did the research and put in the work transcribing,,so my thanks and gratitude still stands.

 

[R. Porter]

This is similar to the way I found out that I had a relative who was murdered by her husband in 1911 in a sensational story that got news coverage across the U.S. and Europe too, I believe. It happened literally on the street, possibly in front of the place I've worked for years. Before that I probably passed over the site going to and from work at other jobs and to and from school. The thing is, my grandmother, the victim's first cousin who grew up on the same street, lived in our house for 20 years and we never heard word one of this growing up. I don't even think my mother knew about it.

Just another case of, "Well, that name looks familiar… and that one too! Uh-oh…"

 

[OldSarge79]

If you would like to see a list the thousands of Civil War letters (diaries too) that I have transcribed over the last decade, go to: https://billyyankjohnnyreb.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/list-of-soldiers-letters/

That is a fantastic list of transcriptions. Thank you for doing that.
While, unfortunately, I didn't find any of my ancestors on the list, I keep a list of Confederate ancestors of members of my SCV camp. I promised them that if I ever find anything concerning their ancestors, I would let them know. So.....I will be trying to find about 30 names on your site. Could take a while, but I would be thrilled if I found one of them.