myfourleggedstool
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  • About the Author
  • Blog
  • "The Immigrant"
    • Author's Interview
    • Published Reviews of The Immigrant
    • Resources for The Immigrant
    • 3 September 1650 Dunbar Scotland
    • November 1650 On the North Atlantic
    • Early Winter 1650 - 1651 Charlestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony
    • 22 April 1676 Concord, Massachusetts
    • August 12, 1676 Miery Swamp Bristol, Rhode Island
  • "The Believers"
    • Published Reviews of The Believers In The Crucible Nauvoo
    • 29 June 1844 Nauvoo, Illinois
    • July 1844 Peterborough, New Hampshire
  • Other Timelines
    • 19 April 1775 Concord, Mass
    • 11 July 1863 The First Assault on Morris Island
    • January 2009 Acton, Massachusetts
    • September 2009 Sharon, New Hampshire
  • Alfred's Four Legged Stool
    • Eleven Generations of John Law Descendants
    • John Law of Acton, Massachusetts
    • Reuben Law of Acton, Massachusetts and Sharon, New Hampshire
    • Re-dedication of Woollacott Square, 26 May 2015
    • John Woollacott of Atherington, Devon, England, patriarch of the Fitchburg Woollacotts
    • The Woollacotts of North Devon
    • Early Woollacotts and Variations thereon
    • Élisabeth Isabelle Salé, Les Fille du Roi
  • Jill's four legged stool
    • Russell Clark Germond and two generations of Ancestors
    • Some Chandler's of Androscoggin and Oxford Counties, Maine
    • Thrice-related, only a genealogist could be impressed by it
My children have one half of my wife's blood, thus two legs of their stool are from Sanford Ballard and Suzanne (Germond) Chandler, Jr. We have been married for 40+ years so we must be compatible. But the axiom, opposites attract, applies to us. I generally read historical novels, mostly non-fiction and biographical, some historical fiction and then there is the genealogy obsession. Jill on the other hand and to be succinct, "hates history". However she is evolving. 

Her maternal grandmother was Margaret (Chamberlain) Germond and great grandfather was Captain Valentine Burt Chamberlain of the Connecticut 7th. When we were planning a trip to celebrate our son's graduation from two schools at Duke University, I decided to visit a few civil war battlefields along the way. And of course I just had to know if there was a connection between Joshua Chamberlain of Little Round Top fame and Val Burt Chamberlain. They are 4th cousins, so Jill is Joshua's 4th cousin thrice removed. Her eyes glassed over when I told her that fact.

We visited Gettysburg, of course, Appomattox, where General Chamberlain received General Lee's sword and Antietam. These sites have done a remarkable job of making history come alive. At each, we viewed a film that reenacted the event before setting out on a tour. So at Antietam, the corn fields, sunken road and Burnside bridge had meaning. The guide we hired at Gettysburg was excellent and he spent extra time at Little Round Top. While at Duke we just had to visit Bennett Place where General Johnson surrendered to General Sherman. On our trip back, Jill confessed ,"I found it all," and then with a pause she concluded, "interesting." That said, her eyes still gloss over whenever I am rattling off dates like a Gatling gun.
Picture
Jill and "her baby" at his graduation from the Nicholas School of the Environment and the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University
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