The importance of history, ALL history!!!

 

YOUR history, MY history, ALL history is important. I can better understand you when I can understand your background. An old Native American saying, “Never judge people until you have walked a mile in their moccasins.” Let us walk together that mile and if necessary an extra mile!!!

 We read in Genesis where Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery. Joseph could have become very angry and bitter. Read more about the life of Joseph in Genesis 37:1-50:26. His life is summed up in 50:19* “But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result — the survival of many people…’” What was Joseph’s focus? Where would the people of Israel be without Joseph’s focus on God?

Biblical history repeats many, many wars for what purpose? At age 81, I still have many, many lessons to learn. We are created in God’s image for a relationship with Him. Adam and Eve had that perfect relationship; so, there was no need for laws. Adam and Eve took their eyes off God and exchanged their perfect relationship for a lie. They exchanged God’s truth for the devil’s lie.  God gave Moses the first recorded set of moral laws followed by many more. Bishop Clarence E. McClendon explained the need for laws, spiritual, moral and physical, in one of his services during the early months of 2020. For more teaching by Bishop Clarence E. McClendon, view his website, Clarence E. McClendon Ministries. 

Are you familiar with the song “Amazing Grace”? Many people, including myself have received great comfort from hearing “Amazing Grace.” This song was written during a period in our history of much pain and suffering.  Probably without this suffering, we would have been deprived of this comforting song. View for yourself the rest of the story; watch the free movie “Freedom” with Cuba Gooding, Jr. 

 The history of survival, one day the family was fighting on one side, the next week necessity meant fighting on the other side. A Civil War soldier, Solomon Whitaker, from North Carolina enlisted in the Confederate and Union Army. The records to substantiate this claim are found in his Union Civil War Pension application. The originating agency may have changed the document order. Reading the two pension applications, it appears that some of the papers from Mr. Whitaker’s first application appear mixed with the widow application.

The two pension applications have been combined into one packet. Solomon J. Whitaker, Company I, Reg’t N.C. Mounted Infantry, filed 9 July 1890 with application number 799.435 and certificate number 567.502. Elmina F. Whitaker, widow, filed 2 March 1896 with application number 630249. Solomon J. Whitaker pension application number 799.435 includes:

• Medical affidavit with physical information as to reason requesting invalid status
• Neighbor’s affidavit with information as to personal knowledge of character and habits
• Claimant’s affidavit with reason for applying for pension
• Declaration for invalid pension with full name, age, location, service, and reason for soliciting for assistance

The board of pension examiners may request additional information such as further medical notes or in Mr. Whitaker’s case, information on his service in the C.S.A. and the U.S. Army.

U.S. Army:

• Enlisted in Knoxville, TN on 1 March 1865 in Company I 3rd Regiment of N.C. Mounted Infantry and Volunteer as a private
• Honorably discharged in Knoxville, TN on 3 August 1865
• Unable to earn support by reason of nervous prostration and disease of the liver

C.S.A. Militia General Affidavit:

• “…always heard him talk favorably about the union and against the confederacy…he did not go into service until he had to under the conscript law…” M.L. Underwood
• “…Yes he was in the Confederate Army. He was first in the militia which was afterwards organized into Henry’s Battalion…”John Moore
• “…he served in what was known as Henry’s Battalion of home guards…” Mark Moore
• The board requested information on the Confederate Capt. Harris’ Co. 14 Battalion N.C. Inf. James Henry Colonel or Co. A. Henry’s Battalion C.S.A. Commissioner of pension findings that “there are no rolls of said organization on file.”
• Several other long letters were written about Mr. Whitaker joining the home guard to avoid being sent to the front lines. One letter states that in February or March of 1865 many men from the home guard unit went to Knoxville, Tennessee, to join the Union Army.

What would you do to preserve your family?

Not long after William Lange, 1846-1928, arrived in Frankfort, Will County, Illinois, he signed up to fight. Family research reveals his name as Long, Lang, or Lange. What is correct? I have DNA family members spelling their surname name Long; we are one and the same family. When and where did the spelling change? Was it a language misunderstanding?  While searching for the family roots, I found in his Civil War Pension Files the spelling in his country of origin is Lange. With this information, I was able to trace the family further back. Read the blog article. 

*CSB Tony Evans Study Bible, Holman Bible Publishers, 2019.