In June 2021 I talked to the UMRA Family History Interest Group about how I documented the story of my great grandfather, George Swift, who joined the 3rd Minnesota Regiment at the start of the Civil War in 1861and returned to Minnesota four years later after serving as the drummer boy of the Ohio 69th Regiment.

It was a complicated story as George was never officially listed on the register of the 3rd Minnesota and was listed as George Stringer in the records of the Ohio 69th. 

I have expanded that presentation in two subsequent publications

• In Fall 2021 Hennepin History magazine ran a brief story about My great-grandfather: A 13-year old in the Civil War.
• Now UMRA JOIE has published a longer version of that story with expanded details* and methodology.  See Tracing the History of a Civil War Ancestor.   

One new detail

George Swift married Carrie Axtell, one of 11 kids in the graduating class of Minneapolis High School in 1877. Thomas S. Roberts was the class valedictorian and went on to write The Birds of Minnesota and found the Bell Museum. Minneapolis named its Bird Sanctuary after him.  Here is Carrie Axtell’s high school graduation Class Picture.