Aug 18 — I am Running Out of Titles

Hello everyone.

The past week was not all that productive, I’m sad to say. I have no interesting photos to share, and what got done is awfully limited.

I did continue to walk, and it turns out I incorrectly maligned the Google Fit app last week. I said its maps were awful, but that’s only if you let it try to figure out when you start and stop exercising by itself. If you tell it you are starting something — a hike, for example — and then tell it when you are done, the map it generates is far better. You get real data, including elevation gain and loss. It actually works. For those considering joining me in doing some regular exercise, that app might provide data or motivation.

It was hot last week, so all my walks were in the morning, before the heat of the day. The rest of my days were spent doing oddball things.

Ancestry took some of my time. I’m still entering data from my grandmother, and discovering various errors in the process. She made a number of typos (like typing 1897 for a birth year that should have been 1879) but there are a few more significant things that I am still ironing out.

Here’s an example. My great great great grandfather was named Darius Stacey. My grandmother’s notes say he enlisted in the infantry, fought for the Union in the civil war, was wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness, died in a POW camp in Tyler, Texas, and is buried in a cemetery in Louisiana. So I dutifully entered all of that into my records for him. Grandmother also mentions he had a brother — David Stacey — who fought for the Confederacy, so I also entered what she knew about him.

It turns out Darius is heavily researched and information about him is readily available. Many people on Ancestry have him in their records already, but there isn’t a lot about his war experience. And no one seems to know anything about David Stacey. I wanted to learn more about the Union/Confederacy divide between the brothers, and since I saw nothing obvious about that I hit the internet.

First, I googled the Battle of the Wilderness, and found it was in Virginia. It’s a long way from Virginia to Tyler, Texas where Darius died, so what gives? Then I found his grave, and a Veterans Administration record for him. The grave confirmed the date of his death, as did the VA record, but the latter also told me more about which unit he enlisted with: the 36th regiment of the Iowa Infantry.

Next I searched for that regiment and found multiple documents discussing exactly where they were during the civil war. They were never in Virginia and they did not participate in the Battle of the Wilderness. But they did fight in the battle of Marks Mills in Arkansas, on April 25, 1864. In that battle, the 36th regiment basically ceased to exist. Many were killed and many others were captured. Only a few escaped. Darius was captured and force marched with the other POWs to a notorious camp at Tyler, Texas. (It’s now called Camp Ford. I’m not sure if that was the name at the time.) Once there he died of a fever. One source says it was a bladder infection, but I have no idea if that is correct or not.

But I am sure he died of a fever there because google books has an entire book online titled Report of Brig.-Gen. Nathaniel B. Baker, Adjutant General and Act’g Q. M. G. and Act’g as P. M. G., to Hon. William M. Stone, Governor of the State of Iowa, written in 1867. In there we find Darius Stacey was captured on April 25, 1864 and died of fever in Tyler, Texas on June 13, 1864.

There’s a lot more information about Darius floating around. Most interestingly, he had a son named David. That’s relevant because I have yet to find anything about a brother named David who fought for the Confederacy. Given the level of information available on Darius, if he had a brother on the other side of the same war I think all kinds of people would have documented that. It’s possible I haven’t looked in the right places, but you can simply google [ “Darius Stacey” Iowa ] and start getting relevant information. A similar search for David brings up nothing from the time. Could my grandmother have found David Stacey — the son — and thought he was a brother instead? Sure. But I am less clear about the Confederacy enlistment information she provides for David. Still more work to do.

Then there is the question of Darius’ father. My grandmother has some sketchy notes, but the internet is full of people who have pinned him down thoroughly. And they mostly seem to disagree with what my grandmother has to say. I remain unsure and will keep digging for supporting documentation.

My grandmother didn’t have the internet but she was a librarian so she knew a thing or two about research, and apparently she even hired a professional genealogist. She left us a lot of notes, and even if they are only 80% accurate they are a great place to start. She would have loved this use of the internet. I’m sorry she isn’t here to share this with. But my mom is fascinated, and I’m keeping her up to date on these things. (Hi mom!)

In other news, as it is the middle of August, I am preparing the next monthly email for the neighbourhood. Most of the things I want to write are now drafted, and the people I am expecting articles from are notified. It’s trivially easy to spend an entire day or more working on that.

And finally I’ve been researching a couple of small projects. We have a tiny (8' x 5') deck over the front door that needs to be replaced, and we need a new step outside the back door. The cedar used on the deck is in poor shape since it gets as much sun as Vancouver can provide. It’s also stained the wrong colour for the house. Replacing it with new cedar is possible, but that would require regular staining or sealing to keep it in good shape and I am too lazy for that.

As an alternative I’ve been looking at composite decking like Trex and TimberTech since they don’t require much maintenance. Interestingly, TimberTech has a product line (Azek) that gets a Class A fire rating. That’s better than Trex’s top of the line Transcend available here in Canada which only gets Class B. It probably doesn’t matter — if a big fire comes through the neighbourhood this house is not going to make it — but I suppose in some weird condition it might help.

I need exactly nine pieces, each 16 feet long. Not exactly a big order for our local building supply places, but that’s the way these things go.

I’ll probably place the order next week, and then get started on the underlying support for the back step. At the moment all we have are some stacked pavers, and that definitely has to change.

That’s it. A pretty boring week by any measure. Sorry. I’ll try to do better next time. Take care, and keep safe!