Weekend Wonderings: Did You Ever . . .

. . . did you ever research a deceased relative, and somehow for no reason took against him? Especially when he never seemed to have a job?

And even when he went to Wisconsin and had a little farm and a big family, you still wondered?

And then he signed up for the war in October 1861, when he was in his 40s? And couldn't be found in 1870, but his oldest daughter and two youngest children were there?

And finally, on the screen, the roster of his company, neatly printed out, as precise and orderly on paper as it rarely was in life, with his name and home town and date of enlistment and the words


Missing in action, Apr. 6, '62 Shiloh