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Family Newsletter. Issue No. 1 July/August 2007

Ridgdill
Family History Research
"Intertangled, intertwined, I love my family, each & every vine!"

Welcome to the July/August 2007 edition of the Family Newsletter. Since
this is the very first newsletter, I'm afraid there's not much news to report.
I've been trying to decide what sort of information I'd like to include in the
newsletter. However, I realized it's not just for me, and what I'd like to see;
it's for all the members of our family. So, please let me know what you'd
like to see in the newsletter. I'm wide open for suggestions.

Like the website itself, the newsletter will be a continual work in progress. I
really want the newsletter to be the very best possible. Please send me
your ideas, stories, photographs, etc. We can include such things as
births/birthdays, engagement/wedding announcements, family reunions,
vacations, awards, graduations, deaths/obituaries (Heaven forbid), or
anything else of interest.

Please remember this is a bi-monthly newsletter. So, please get your
information to me in time to be included in the next edition. As always, your
feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

The Angel Oak.
Nancy, Michael, and I traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C., recently to attend a
Kenny Rogers concert at the Alabama Theatre. On our return trip, I wanted
to make a side trip to John's Island, S.C., located just outside Charleston.
I had read on the Internet about The Angel Oak, a giant live oak tree which
is approximately 1500 years old.
Remembering the Internet photo of
the tree, I just had to see it.

Folks, I know this is the most
beautiful tree I've ever seen. Ever!
This photo doesn't even come
close to capturing it's true beauty.
No, I don't have a thing for trees,
but I never cease to be amazed at
what God in all his glory created
for us to enjoy. When I touched this tree, I got a chill down my spine. The
thought that this tree has survived for 1500 years. How awesome is that!

By the way, if you look real close, that speck is me standing next to the tree.

Photo credit: Nancy Ridgdill

Personality.
This issue's personality is my great-grandfather Benjamin Robert Ridgdill.
Ben was born October 3, 1834, in Barnwell County, S.C., to John and Mary
Parker Ridgdill, the fourth of seven children. When Ben's mother died, his
father later re-married and had eight more children with his second wife.

Little is known about Ben's childhood, other than he was
from a farming family. By 1855, Ben had three brothers
and twelve sisters. Another sister would be born in
1864. Large families were common back then, and it
took everyone in the family to help scrape out a living.
At some point prior to 1861, Ben moved across the
Savannah River into Screven County, Ga.

In April 1861, the War Between the States began. Ben,
like many other sons of the South, answered the call to
arms. It wasn't to defend slavery; he nor his family, ever
owned any slaves. It was only to defend the South he loved
so dear from the invading army of the North. He joined a company made
up mostly of Screven County men, and took the oath of enlistment at
Savannah, Ga, on August 15, 1861. This company would come to be
known as "The Ogeechee Rifles," so named because of their proximity to
the Ogeechee River.

The company's official designation would eventually be Company K, 25th
GA Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Army of Tennessee, Confederate States
Army. This unit fought in many famous battles such as The Battles of
Chickamauga, Murfreesboro, Missionary Ridge, The Battle of Franklin,
The Battle of Nashville, and many others.

At the Battle of Franklin, Ben was wounded in the thigh by a fragment from
a cannon ball which exploded nearby. It was at the Battle of Nashville on
December 16, 1864, that Ben was captured. His father died the very next
day, never knowing the fate of his son. Ben was sent to a Federal hospital
in Nashville where he was treated for his wounds. Later, he would be
transported by train to Louisville, KY, then on to Camp Chase Prison in
Ohio, where he would be held until after the end of the war.

According to official records of Camp Chase, Ben was released on June
13, 1865, along with six others. These were the last men to be released
from Camp Chase. After the war ended on April 9, 1865, it was mandatory
that all Confederate prisoners sign an oath of allegiance in order to be
released. It is known that Ben could read and write, yet a copy of his oath
of allegiance reveals he signed it with an "X". I guess this was his way of
remaining loyal to the cause until the very end. He walked all the way home.

After returning to Screven County, Ben married Nancy Ann Davis on
September 24, 1865. Together, they would raise eleven children to
adulthood. He moved his family to Emanuel County, Ga, sometime around
1876. He bought a small farm between Summertown and Twin City, and
would live there the remainder of his life. Ben died on May 6, 1898, and
Nancy on April 22, 1912. They are both buried at the Old Garbutt
Cemetery in Summertown, Ga.

My grandfather, by the way, was the youngest of Ben's eleven children. I
sure am glad he didn't decide to stop at ten!

*Photo courtesy of Mildred Ridgdill Robinson, Doris Ridgdill Poppell, and Annie Ruth Ridgdill Poppell.

Ridgdill Coat of Arms

Pvt. Benjamin
Robert Ridgdill

Joke of the Month.
Cinderella was asked by her
friend the woodcutter why she
was crying. She said that she
had taken pictures of the Seven
Dwarfs, and had sent the film to
be developed. It had been over a
month and the photos had not
arrived. She feared they were
lost, forever. "Don't worry," said
the woodcutter, "someday your
prints will come."

Kay McInroy.
Kay McInroy is home after a brief
stay in the hospital. Her husband
Sam tells us she is resting at
home and recuperating just fine.
We wish Kaye & Sam all the best.