The Impenetrable Mist

One of the complexities of a family genealogy project is the reality that information sought is often difficult or impossible to obtain. Since leaving Sharpsburg, I stumbled on a might-be-relative (Dr. Lemuel Line) who similarly documented his ancestry...except he did it during the 1893. At the beginning of the document, he writes better of the difficulties which I find.

"It is difficult to write a history of ones ancestry when every thing that he has to rely upon is so enveloped in a mist that is impenetrable and no matter how one may yearn, to look into that realm of the unwritten past his effort will almost prove useless, as the record is only written upon the minds of those who slumber in the grave. What an age has passed we of this latter day can fully appreciate, and yet our lives are like dying embers at first a flicker, then another and with a mighty effort to survive, it flashes up only to go out as those who have gone before- we sit and muse and wish that the ashes of the past, might once again, assume their ruddy glow, and tell the tales that oft they had heard - yet we in our progression can not give the inanimate speech nor portray with an adequate justice, the many scenes in wood and field-Their deeds and actions can only cast their reflection through the generation of the present, and as we labor on in our daily avocation our lives displaying many of the traits of the forgotten dead-The restless spirit of man although limited by the laws of the body is yet as boundless as the universe-In his curiosity he is adventuresome and fears no restraints that may seemingly be in the way-The heat of a tropic zone or the rigors of an arctic winter did not quench the desire for adventure among those sturdy yeomanry of a century ago, and although many heroes have their names enrolled in the archives of history, yet many, who have performed heroic deeds have moldered in the dust and are forgotten these many years ago."

I wish I wrote like this!

Thirty Six Thousand Feet

What would you guess is the the air temperature at 36,000' above Earth's surface at mid-day on February 24th?

Well! I feel a little bit smarter today and I'd like to bestow this knowledge upon you. For the record, the temperature at 36,006' above Nebraska registered a bone chilling -73 degrees fahrenheit! Whaaaa!?

On our way East, we saw temps drop below -90 degrees in the middle of the night.

Snowy Sweet Tooth

A kid in a candy store was I this Monday past. Or, as it may be, a former Bostonian and current San Francisco dweller in a snowstorm. I've been glued to the New England weather of late. Reports of blizzard conditions and near zero temperatures conjure nostalgia in me. My California friends and colleagues think I'm crazy but I always enjoyed the sense of bravado and perseverance that came from being able to enjoy and thrive in a New England winter.

You can imagine my excitement when I woke to falling snowflakes on Tuesday morning in the Pennsylvania mountains. The snow started to accumulate in the morning and finished in the afternoon. All told, we got a respectable 8" of snow. Watching a snow storm come and go is one of my great pleasures. Before long I was shoveling the walkway and shuttling firewood from the woodbox back to the house.

The only thing that was missing was Jake the Wunderdog, my partner in crime. I don't feel too bad for him though. He's been living it up for the past week with his new buddy Mr. Carlton in Santa Cruz!

Visiting The Poffenberger Farm

My Ancestry.com (and related) antics take me in lots of unpredictable directions. We were in Boonsboro this week visiting the cemetery and ended up with some extra time on our hands. Ali suggested we visit the Antietam Battlefield and off we went!

I've been to Antietam before but it's been quite some time. I recall the lookout tower and one specific conversation with Dad. At the time, I was particularly intrigued by civil war era bullets. Go figure... Anyhow, Dad was explaining that, if we looked very closely, we just might be able to find one on the grounds.

Wifey and I opted for the convenience of the driving tour that passes through a dozen (or so) historic locations around the battlefield. I'm vaguely aware of our family roots in Washington County. For example, Dad's mom and dad grew up in Boonsboro and Hagerstown respectively.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that one of the tour stops was the Joseph Poffenberger Farm (and house) because my Great Great Grandmother is Fannie Mae Poffinberger (1868-1934). My imagination runs wild thinking about the likelihood of connection between Fannie Mae, her line, and Joseph Poffenberger.

While the J Poffemberger farm is in the best condition and boasts the most information available, there are two other might-be-family-member farms on and around the battlefield. The H Poffenberger farm is located just west of the battlefield and the Line Farm is located just to the southeast.