Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society’s p
resentation of “Just Before the Battle, Mother: A Visit from a Civil War Soldier” by O.J. Fargo will be 1 p.m. Saturday,Nov. 1 at the Davenport American Legion hall, 702 W. 35th St., Davenport.
The Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society has received funding from Humanities Iowa, a private, non-profit, to host the presentation. A cultural resource for Iowans since 1971, Humanities Iowa offers many cultural and historical programs and grants to Iowa’s communities.
After an overview of Iowa’s involvement in the Civil War, the audience will be introduced to a returning Civil War soldier (played by Fargo). The audience is encouraged to ask questions and engage in a dialogue with the “soldier” who will stay in character.
The speaker will bring along a full roster of all men who served in and from Iowa in the Civil War to enable the participants to check for ancestors who served. Fargo dresses in full Union Army regalia for the presentation and focuses the presentation on an individual soldier’s experience.
Fargo has done more than 100 history presentations throughout the state for Humanities Iowa including historical societies, libraries, schools, professional organizations and many other groups. In addition to being a Humanities Iowa speaker since 1998, he is the author of three books and editor of two CD-ROMs containing 320,000 pages of searchable text and 10,000 Civil War pictures. He is a contributor to several Iowa history websites and maintains one on Iowa in the Civil War aimed at students and teachers.
Fargo is a retired social studies consultant and director of support services. He became a re-enactor in 1993 and got into the hobby because of his love of history and the opportunity to interact with others of like interests. Now retired, he continues to teach classes and do talks. He is the president of the Army of the Southwest, a group of Civil War re-enactors headquartered in Waukee.
The presentation is free and open to the public. A list of all Civil War soldiers from Iowa will be available for viewing at the event for those who might want to search for the name of a relative. Fargo’s books and CDs will be available for sale as well. For more information, visit here.
About the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society
Our society, Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society was organized in 1973 for literary and educational purposes as a nonprofit corporation with activities devoted to pursuits designed to further the creation and fostering of interest in genealogy and family history, the gathering, preservation, and use of records relative to the ancestors, founders, and early settlers of our county; giving of aid and instruction to individuals in their genealogical research and in the compilation of their family histories; the establishment and maintenance of a depository of genealogical information and materials.
The society houses a large collection in the Richardson-Sloane Special Collection Center at the Davenport Public Library, 321 Main St., Davenport. It is open to the public and is constantly being expanded. It includes marriage records, probate records, cemetery records, naturalization index and documents, church records and many more. Volunteers always seek more information to help family researchers in their quest for material.
Meetings are held at 1 p.m. the first Saturday of the month at the Davenport Public Library lower-level meeting room. No meetings are scheduled for January or July. Guests are welcome.