# Help! Civil War Vet's Book Needs To Find His Family. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 5, 2018, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306 "2018-07-05T01:56:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306/41 "2018-07-09T01:18:46Z")
That’s great! I’m looking forward to hearing from them. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306/42 "2018-07-09T17:24:24Z")
Barring a natural or man-made disaster, the book should be on its way to J H Porter’s family this week. I’m sure it’ll mean something more to that family than mine, I know it would to me in their shoes. The internet’s an amazing place! ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306/43 "2018-07-09T18:29:23Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Barring a natural or man-made disaster, the book should be on its way to J H Porter’s family this week. I’m sure it’ll mean something more to that family than mine, I know it would to me in their shoes. > The internet’s an amazing place! Good show! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306/44 "2018-07-09T18:44:52Z")
_applause_ ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306/45 "2018-07-14T00:08:38Z")
A few hours shy of 9 days after my OP, the book’s in the hands of John Porter’s great-great-great-granddaughter. She’s going to send me a photo of him and shared w/ me that ‘_John was the first Chief of police in Bridgeport Ct. Legend has it he was shot and had a coin in his pocket that the bullet hit and saved his life!_’ When I get it, I’ll add his photo to the album showing the book. For a variety of painful reasons it was not easy to let go of a link to my late dad; but an irreplaceable fragment of a family’s history trumps sentiment, and I’m happy for John Porter’s ancestors. ---
**Author:** ![Dobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Dobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobbs)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306/46 "2018-07-14T01:03:54Z")
Praise you! ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306/47 "2018-07-14T01:08:31Z")
> [@Dobbs](#): > > Praise you! More like praise to you and all the others who did legwork (I bet there are posters who did so but never posted in this thread) to find his descendants. I believe the majority of people, given the resources, would have done what I did. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306/48 "2018-07-14T01:16:11Z")
What a great ending to a fun thread. Good show, **Nawth Chucka**! ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306/49 "2018-07-14T01:35:33Z")
This was such a cool thing you did. I’m sure his family is so surprised, touched, and grateful that you went to the trouble to find them. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306/50 "2018-07-19T23:45:02Z")
Without further ado,[John Hair Porter and his obituary](https://imgur.com/a/0cWZ8CD). (The handwriting doesn’t match those inside the book.) This was one of the best things I’ve gotten in the mail in a really long time. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306/51 "2018-07-20T00:53:07Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Without further ado,[John Hair Porter and his obituary](https://imgur.com/a/0cWZ8CD). (The handwriting doesn’t match those inside the book.) > This was one of the best things I’ve gotten in the mail in a really long time. Too cool! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-civil-war-vets-book-needs-to-find-his-family/817306.md?page=2)