Today, I visited the church where Charles H. Carrel, the subject of Saturday's post, is buried. I took photos of his grave and the church and added them to the account.
To illustrate the power of the Internet, it took me about four hours from the time I purchased Carrel's Bible on Saturday afternoon to piece together his biography using the inscriptions in the Bible as clues. I discovered where he was from, the basic details of his military service and death in the Civil War and the place where he is buried, which is just a 50 minutes' drive from my house.
At the cemetery, I learned the names of at least two of his siblings and the names of his parents and an aunt and uncle, and some basic genealogical information on the family.
By Saturday night, Carrel's story was on my blog.
Without the Internet, searching for these records would have taken several weeks at the very least. I think Mr. Charles H. Carrel would be pleased and amazed.
8 comments:
Impressive! I think your Journalism skills maybe more powerful then the net. But without the tool of the net, you would be a Samurai going to battle without his Sword.
Yes, I've been doing this kind of research for more than 30 years, most of it the old-fashioned way, without the Internet. I'm glad it has become easier.
Forget Mr. Carrell, *I* find the Internet an amazing resource at times... It's a veritable electronic tower of Babel, at times, or e-library of Alexandria. And I only see a fraction of a fraction of what's out there, in the time I spend online.
I find your post particularly interesting since a fellow with that phonetic name, a direct ancentor of mine, is the one I have most researched on the internet: Charles Carroll.
My Charles Carrol [aka "Charles Carrol of Carrolton"] was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence -- 230 years ago, tomorrow. He was the richest man in America at the time of the revolution and would have been a prominent patriot, some say, except that he was Catholic.
All the research of my grandmother for twenty years preInternet can be matched by different but as important stuff in one day's googling, now. What a difference the wild, wild west of the worldwide web makes!
He was a big deal in Maryland in his day. Sometime, I hope to get out East and see his grave. [I have never been east of the Mississippi River. Sigh.]
I've heard of Charles Carrol, and now I know where. I enjoy doing genealogical research not only for what I discover in the process, but because of the process itself.
Wow, Charles Carrel's name has been part of me for 8 years working at NJHS. We have his knapsack but not enough info on him. One of our Educational programs is on Civil War and he is one of our soldiers. I wish I had his photo, though. It'll make his life "history" complete.
Now with the internet, I might be able to find more info. If there's other sites or information on him. Please share. Thanks
Hello Maribel,
I just sold Carrel's Bible to a New Jersey collector. If you can send me your e-mail address (my e-mail address is listed on my profile; just click the button), I'll put you two in contact with each other.
Regards,
Michael
Hi, Though not related, I have been researching Charles H. Carrell (Carrel, Carrol)family and have some data. I also have his Civil War Military & Pension records. He died in the south and his body shipped north as by request of his father. The rest you may know. The NJ Historical has his C/W knapsack, this being donated to them years back by a relative of Charles. I am sure they would love to have his bible. Talk about death. Drop me a line at garila3@hotmail.com
Thanks,, Gary
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