The other day my wife, niece and I were eating at a diner in Winooski.  When we got up to leave we noticed a group of Perry cousins sitting just two booths away.  Two were from New York and the others the Burlington area.   Earlier the same day a cashier at the Lowes in Colchester noticed my MHS cap and asked me "Do you know the Marshalls in Montgomery?"  Yes.

    Then there was the time while I was still on active duty when I was introduced to a young officer preparing to do a Reserve assignment to the Ukraine.  A co-worker wanted us to meet because he had Vermont connections.  Turns out my wife and I had purchased our current home from his aunt. He described all the features of the property; he had slept in the bed at the top of the spiral staircase when he spent summers in Montgomery.  My co-worker was incredulous and thought we had made the whole thing up.

    And so it  goes.  In February we received an email from a woman researching a possible book about the 50 known Vermont soldiers buried in the Vermont section of the Gettysburg National Cemetery (there are 11 Unknowns).  One, named William Hamilton, was born in Montgomery.  She wanted to know if we had any information on him or his family.  

    I passed on what we had from the vermontcivilwar.org web site.  William had moved with his family to the Albany, NY area when he was 5.  As a young man he enlisted in a New York regiment rising to the rank of Lieutenant.  He resigned his commission but re-enlisted later while visiting relatives and friends in Fair Haven, VT.  My guess was that he was somehow related to Rufus Hamilton, an early Montgomery settler, but could not confirm it.  I feared I wasn't much help.  

     Something was familiar though.  Turned out William was assigned to the same unit, Company I, 14th Regiment, as my great grandfather.  Regiments normally had about 1,000 men, Companies normally had about 100 men so there's a good chance they knew each other (the 14th mustered out about 850 after Gettysburg).   I had taken a photo of the 14th Regimental Colors (flag) that was on display at the Vermont Historical Society.  As was the custom it was embroidered with the Gettysburg Battle details after the war.  I emailed her the photo, asked her to let me know when she published, and wished her luck.  I'll probably do a little research in the Town Office and see if there's anything on William there.  Seems like the least I can do for a friend of my great grandfather.        

     Thanks for your support.  
                                            Scott