Last Thursday evening at the Marietta Museum of History Brad Quinn gave a lecture about his findings in the National Cemetery and the Federal Archives in Washington DC and East Point. I like how his finds are so thrilling for him. You can tell, how he speaks, he is trying to hold down his excitement.
You may have seen him on TV’s WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE when he helped find the grave of Matthew Broderick’s progenitor’s grave in the National Cemetery in Marietta; which was quiet an undertaking because the marker had no name. But he is good at archival detective work.
It is almost like "Somebody Up There" arranged for him to find certain historical documents that no one else has noticed; maybe like a divine nudge. I know the feelings, I feel the same about some of my synchronicity genealogical finds.
Brad also helped vice president Dick Chaney find his ancestor, which Chaney proved very grateful.
Brad knows Civil War history inside and out. It seemed talked about a lot of his discoveries that had to do with Federal soldiers from Ohio – I don’t know if Ohio is his specialty or what else might have drawn him to the Ohio troops. My mind might have been someplace else when he explained that.
He has discovered notes and letters that were earth moving, from a historian’s view, that has even go by official archivists. For instance he found a handwritten letter from General George Custard to the commanding officer of his bother’s unit. His brother was a private. In no-nonsense terms the General more or less demanded that his brother, be promoted from Private to Lieutenant. Brad quipped , “It pays to have a relative in high places.”
He said after he found the letter in the archives and pointed it out to the employees who were giddy with the find – the next time he saw the old crumbling letter it was in two pieces.
He has a book for sale at the museum and another one of Civil War letters coming out in a few months.
Also, my ticket number was only one digit off from winning a door prize. drats.
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