Monday, February 29, 2016

How are You Spending Genealogy Leap Day?

I just may have found the most interesting thing having to do with my genealogy ADD.

I was looking at things on one surname before I went back and concentrated on a different one. See? I'm leaping around?! Genealogy Leap Day! Yeah, that was bad. Anyway. I'm looking through old copies of the Sparks Quarterly and what do I find? Best Name Ever - Archibald Wimpy Sparks. I thought, "Ok, I need to investigate this more.  Forget what I was originally doing!" Mind you, I have no connection whatsoever to this person.  The name just caught my eye. He went by Wimpy and was born in 1843 in Lumpkin County, GA. There was a family near his boyhood home with the last name of Wimpy so there is likely some connection. 

He enlisted in Phillip's Legion Infantry, CSA, Company E, known as the Blue Ridge Rifles. The ages of the members of the BRR ranged from 13 to 47 years of age.

Wimpy was killed in action on 23 Aug 1862 at Beverly's Ford, VA on the Rappahannock River by artillery fire.  This doesn't say where he's buried.

By the time I got to this point, Wimpy became more than just a fun name. Within 15 short minutes, he became real to me. He became flesh and blood. And within 15 short minutes, I felt loss.

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