Hi folks -- Michael Oddenino just put up the latest GRG Journal at this link: http://germannacolonies.org/sites/germannacolonies.org/files/GRGJournalNovember2011FINALV.pdf? or go to www.germannacolonies.org. This time, you do not have to be a member of the Germanna Research Group to read it. Just be aware that it is an enormous 34 pp. issue, so it takes a little longer to load! We are really proud of the articles in this issue: Dwayne Holtzclaw writes about his g-g-g-uncle Peter Holtzclaw, who was in the Battle of Big Black River in the Civil War, and Suzanne Matson continues the story by examining Peter's hospital records and change of allegiance from Rebel to Yankee while in prison in Fort Lookout of Maryland. We have some neat maps and charts with these two articles. I was especially interested in Dwayne's account of those East Tennessee conscripts in this battle, considering that there was a big Germanna population in East Tennessee, as well as Missouri, at the time! Don Rightmyer (also a Holtzclaw descendant) of Kentucky Ancestors tells us about this publication, of which he is editor, and asks for articles. Betty Johnson wrote a very detailed and fascinating article about how to do research using tax records, which should be done for most situations but is vital when you have more than one person with the same name in the same locality at the same time. She uses her research with the John Yagers of Culpeper/Madison County as an illustration--so Yagers, both Germanna Yagers AND descendants of Pineywoods John--have a second reason to go to this article! Betty very, very kindly supplied us with her tax charts for each of the John Yagers--the benefit for all of us is that the charts allows us to see how Betty classified and differentiated the Johns. So more than just telling us, she is showing us. And Yager descendants will want to print them out for their own files. Betty was so generous to share the fruits of years of research with us, for free, and the internet allows us to share it with you. Suzanne Matson found another fun Spotswood tidbit during the course of her historical research. This time, it's Spotswood vs. pirates. This proclamation was published in newspapers throughout the colonies; Suzanne originally found it in a Pennsylvania newspaper but tracked it down to a source that you all can easily access. Oh, and we have six pages of meeting coverage....see what happened at Sgt. George's East Tennessee Germanna Reunion in September, and at our GRG Inaugural Conference in October. I hope it is as interesting for you to read as it was for us to put it together! Ginnie Nuta