Monday, April 11, 2011

Searching for the Wadham Brothers

Some time ago, John Banks posted to his blog spot, a short report on his research on an ambrotype photograph of Justus Collins Wellington (1838-1862) of the 15th Massachusetts who fell in the West Woods.

He had found the ambrotype at an auction and then, going on just a name and no other information, eventually matched Justus with the 15th Massachusetts and contributed his research to Wellington's biography on the regiment's website maintained by Susan Harnwell.

Once lost and now found.
Tintypes of George Fergo
Fletcher and possibly
James Fletcher both
of the 15th Massachusetts.
Their parents are also
included in this collection.
Traveling to Antietam, he posed Justus by the regiment's lion memorial and snapped the photo displayed here. The complete post can be found here.

A week ago, John came across a set of photographs of members of the Fletcher family that an online auction house was offering.

One of the photos was of George Fergo Fletcher (see notes on the Fletcher story posted here on February 23 and April 1). This is posted here. Currently George is thought to be the image on the upper right while his brother James, killed at Antietam in the West Woods, appears in the upper left. Their parents are depicted below them.

He contacted the Fletchers to alert them to the offering and happily they were able to bring the tintypes back into the family.

Now John has undertaken a larger research project--that of finding three Wadham brothers from Litchfield, Connecticut. The most recent entry in this remarkable story was posted on April 9 and can be found at this address.

2 comments:

John Banks said...

jim: thanks for this!

Jim Buchanan said...

John, keep us posted on the Wadhams and any other photo research projects you undertake. Thanks ! for reuniting George Fletcher with his great granddaughter!