Memory Monday 4: The Twins

The story starts with a foggy memory from when I was maybe 10 or 12. My maternal gramma was cleaning out her attic and putting "junk" out for trash pickup. Mom took me over and we picked up trash bags that missed the first round. Mom told me there was a copy of a book that was self published by twins that served in the civil war and it was missing. We did not find the book. When the internet was invented and when I was working somewhere with good internet, I researched on line and found the possible existence of the book at a historical library somewhere. I made notes and lost them over the years. Working on genealogy reminded me of the lost book.

I searched the internet and found the book. There was a copy in the "closed stacks" of an historical library in a big city in my state. I was still working and was trying to figure out when I could take a trip during the hours they were open. I was afraid that I would have to wear gloves and copying would not be permitted.

I live closer to a presidential library that specializes in state genealogy and visited there on a weekend, but they did not have a copy. They did locate one in a library that preferred not to share their location and one in our state capitol.

Then I joined our local genealogy organization. One meeting involved a tour of the local reference room. When we got to the last bookcase, one of the volunteered explained that this was donated family histories that had not been cataloged yet. I knew the book was small because one of these libraries listed size and number of pages. I randomly pulled a book out of that photo at the top - AND IT WAS THE BOOK.

Edmund and his brother Edwin are my first cousins, 4 generations removed. As I explained before, I come from a family of "stayers", except for Edwin who I will talk about later. The Snyder family all remained close and most lived in the same county where I still live.

The twins moved here from Montgomery County, NY in 1841 when they were a year old with their mom and dad and stayed with relatives while their dad cleared the land and built a log cabin. They attended a small rural school and worked on the isolated farm. The twins, along with cousins and neighbors, enlisted in the 123rd regiment of Ohio Volunteers for a "period of three years or the duration of the war".

I find this part very interesting. I was researching during the Covid shutdown and isolation of their lives and the lack of vaccinations played a big part in Edmund's service. The twins suffered many illnesses such as measles and chicken pox and even typhoid. At one point Edmund was sent home to recover, but returned to service. Immediately after rejoining his unit, Edmund was shot in the groin and taken to a nearby home of southern minister who nursed him to health but then turned him over as a prisoner and he was sent first to Libby Prison and then on to Andersonville.

His brother Edwin received a gunshot wound and was briefly hospitalized and rejoined his unit three days before the end of the war when they were then captured. He marched with Lee's army for those three days until the surrender at Appomattox.

I guess I should add here that Edmund's autobiography is not a "Little House on the Prairie" story. He describes all the hardships as a child such as waking in bed in the attic of the log cabin with his brother and both of them covered in snow coming in from the cracks of the roof. The heartbreaking losses of childhood friends and playmates during the war. And details of the death and devastation at Andersonville.

A photo taken after they both returned from war. I believe this is the first photograph of the twins. Aren't they handsome?

Edmund remained in my town, he and his wife actually built their home about 3 blocks from where I live and the house is still standing in the historical district of my town and is in very good condition. This is his family. Edmund became a banker and was very active in community service and politics.

Edwin married in Ohio in 1868 and was living in Kansas with his wife and two children by 1870. He served in the Kansas legislature and was "active in civic affairs", his census entries say he is a farmer and I found he was an agent with the Farmers Alliance. I found a news article that Edwin visited here in 1891, again in 1898 when "the resemblance to each other is so strong that it is confusing to their friends" and there is a news article in the Leavenworth Times that Edmund and his wife had come to visit Edwin and his wife in 1908.

I believe this photograph may have been taken during one of those visits.

Edwin died at age 75 and Edmund lived to be 89! Our local society allowed me to photocopy the book. I only wish my mom was still here to see it.