Clay Feeter Goes On The Road To Find People's
Ancestors
By Kathryn Jorgensen
April 2003
GOLD BEACH, Ore. - Civil War ancestor researcher
Clay Feeter has a goal - help people learn about their Civil
War ancestors - and a plan - he's going to pack up his laptop
computer and spend the fall traveling and holding national "Discover
Your Civil War Ancestors" search events.
Feeter, 46, who has been doing ancestor searches on his and
others' families for a dozen years, plans to hold searches at
80 bookstores that have strong Civil War and history sections.
He likens his bookstore appearances to "The Antiques Roadshow."
In Portland 50 people were in the room while he "appraised
their ancestors," sharing information with everyone there.
"Every bookstore I have done Ancestor Searches for over
the past two years asks me to come back," he says. "The
price is right for them, it doesn't cost stores a penny."
Feeter says he draws from a number of soldier and genealogy
databases - books, CDs and Web site resources - as he ferrets
out ancestors.
"In many cases I can find out what rank an ancestor held,
whether he was wounded or captured and what town and state he
lived in at the time he enlisted."
When Feeter finds ancestor information he suggests Civil War
books that will help people learn more about their ancestors'
experiences.
Feeter does the searches for free. If he finds good information,
he charges $30 for the complete printouts of information and
regimental history.
"Once we figure out an ancestor's Civil War path, I prompt
customers to take the next step, to go to the battle-fields
and let an expert guide retrace their Civil War ancestors' footsteps
for them," he says.
Many of those who are researching ancestors are middle-aged
and older. Feeter tells about an Oregon woman who brought him
a carte de visite of her great-grandfather. She knew his name
and that maybe he lived in Indiana. "Within 10 minutes
we'd positively identified his unit, his age - that he fought
at Stones River," says Feeter, who described the woman
as becoming excited and teary-eyed.
During a late-February, early-March 11-day trip to 11 bookstores
in Oregon and Washington he saw 325 people and came across stories
he says, "you cannot believe." He met the daughter
of a veteran of the Co. G, 1st Regiment New York Veterans Cavalry;
a Brazilian descendant of a Texas cavalryman; and a part Asian-Indian
woman whose great-great-grandfather, the son of a British soldier,
deserted from the British army and ended up on Beauregard's
staff during the Civil War.
A few weeks ago he found Pvt. Henry Titus of Indiana. Titus
sustained a broken leg in fighting and was on the prisoner of
war march after Brice's Cross Roads. Confederates murdered him
because he couldn't keep up. Feeter was able to tell the family
where Titus was buried.
The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported on Feeter's local
appearances, saying, "In some cases, the stories that emerge
from the dusted-off files - recently made available in computer
databases - are astonishing." During that tour 540 people
turned out to see him at 12 bookstores.
The Chronicle told about Bonnie Johnson who learned that her
great-grandfather, Pvt. Lyman Decker of the 5th Minnesota Infantry,
was discharged for disability. She learned that his unit fought
the Sioux and more of them were killed by Indians in Redwood,
Minn., on
Aug. 8, 1862, than in the Civil War.
Feeter came to Civil War research late. He was a student of
the war, visited numerous battlefields and read a lot. But it
was about 10 years ago that he asked his parents if the family
had any Civil War ancestors. "That started it all,"
he says. Among his ancestors he found "cousin" E.P.
Alexander, members of the Iron Brigade, a Mosby ca-tive, and
an operator of the Underground Railroad.
He started researching the ancestry of friends. "Now I'm
out to place everybody's ancestors in the Civil War," he
says.
When he speaks to his daughters' school he tells kids "YOU
are part of history." He says that when he tells them their
great-great-great-grandmother was alive when Abraham Lincoln
was
president, "that just totally floors them."
Feeter has a large Civil War library. Five years ago he took
a month-long battlefield tour trip, driving cross coun-try listening
to 150 hours of Shelby Foote's "Narrative" audio book
series.
He's a former TV news reporter and published a windsurfing magazine
for 15 years. He says the "call to history was too strong"
to resist launching his search service. He recently quit his
job and bought a travel trailer for the national tour of what
he plans to be trips of 7 to 10 days from September through
mid-November. As a warm-up for the fall tour he will next do
a 20-day tour to Southern California.
Feeter invites Civil War enthusiasts to recommend bookstores
for him to contact. Suggestions and questions about sponsorship
and his tour may be directed to Feeter at P.O. Box 6062 Pistol
River, OR 97444; (541) 247-0936; ClayFeeter@aol.com
