Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 4, 1993 TAG: 9304020163
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
SEEKING OLD SOLDIERS
Somewhere, buried deep in the genealogical history of many American family trees, untold numbers of Civil War soldiers are hiding.And even if the family can't find them, Gerald Dobbs usually can.
Dobbs, a 38-year-old landscape supervisor at Virginia Tech, works in his spare time researching genealogical records for clients across the country who are in search of their family history.
His search usually leads him to Civil War soldiers.
"If a family has been in America for at least 100 years, there is an 80 percent chance they have ties to a Civil War veteran," Dobbs said.
Dobbs, who calls himself the "soldier searcher," has been a genealogical researcher for 14 years and a fan of Civil War history most of his life. If you ask him about the Civil War, he will recite names, dates and places like a minister reciting scripture.
"I enjoy it immensely," Dobbs said, looking over an extensive family tree he developed for a Texas client. "I always have."
After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1977 with a degree in horticulture and a minor in history, Dobbs moved to Washington to work on the grounds-keeping crew for the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1979, Dobbs decided to take advantage of the wealth of history at his fingertips and search out his great-grandfather, George W. Evans, whom he believed was a Civil War veteran.
After finding Evans' name in the microfilm records at the National Archives, Dobbs filled out the necessary paperwork to request whatever records were available.
An hour later, Dobbs had his great-grandfather's records in his hand, including the Union pension forms he had filled out after sustaining injuries in the war.
The records were not only a compilation of his great-grandfather's service history, it painted a picture of the man, Dobbs said. His appearance, family members, and several of his experiences in the war were all noted in detail.
After reading all the documents, Dobbs said he felt like he personally knew his great-grandfather - a Kansas wheat-farmer who marched with Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman during the Carolina and Georgia campaigns.
"Down this far south, that's not something you want to brag about very much," Dobbs said with a laugh.
But Dobbs' connection to the Civil War didn't end there. Further research revealed he he had four ancestors who fought in the war.
Dobbs said he has been hooked on genealogical research ever since.
"It's an eerie feeling to have something like that in your hands that belongs to your family," he said. "Once I did this for my family, I wanted to do it for others."
Dobbs said he begins his research by tracing the family back from 1910 using census records. Once he finds the names he is looking for, he researches their Civil War service records by perusing Union pension files that were compiled on veterans who received disabilities as a result of the war.
Dobbs said some soldiers are harder to find than others. Black soldiers are especially hard to find, he said, usually because of the prejudice of census takers at the time.
Dobbs said it is just as rewarding to research other's genealogical history as it is to research his own.
"I especially enjoy finding this information and telling the family about it," Dobbs said. "Usually, the family has no idea about these stories."
And after 14 years of soldier searching, Dobbs has many stories to tell.
There is the one about the 54th Virginia Infantry - a battle-weary group of New River Valley area soldiers who got so fed up with the bureaucrats in Richmond they decided to make Southwest Virginia its own state.
It didn't work, of course, and many of the soldiers deserted.
"They felt it was a rich man's war and a poor man's fight," Dobbs said. "They were very independent - their descendants still are - and I say that with great dignity."
There is the one about the soldier serving with the Union's 13th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion who returned home from the Fort Pillar massacre only to find his family was gone. He later learned that his wife left town and remarried because the U.S. government told her he had been killed in action.
Dobbs said the New River Valley lost many of its sons to the war.
"This area was hard-hit with casualties," he said. "A lot of graves around here will have Confederate soldiers buried there."
In the fall of 1988, Dobbs came back to Blacksburg to work at Virginia Tech. He said he was worried he wouldn't be able to continue he research, but he discovered Tech's Newman library was almost as useful as the National Archives.
"I was really hoping to continue to do this when I left D.C., and I was happy to see the Newman library had these records," Dobbs said. "The library is an excellent resource for Civil War genealogy, especially for Virginia soldiers."
Dobbs said finding out about your family history can help you learn more about yourself.
"I think it's really important for people to be in touch with their family history," he said. "It gives you a sense of identity - a sense of purpose."
Anyone wanting information on Dobbs' genealogical research services can call him at home 381-1510.