Why Do We Love Genealogy?
Genealogy is the most wonderful thing of the past and .
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The Series
The series “The Life and Times of David Carll” tells a compelling true-life story of David, a young, free black boatman from Oyster Bay, New York, who enlisted to fight in the Civil War in 1863. David’s life story unfolds in two books. The first book is titled “Footsteps of a Forgotten Soldier” and The second book titled, “WHO WE ARE.” tells the story of David and his wife Mary when David returns home from the war to Oyster Bay in August of 1865.
As a child growing up in the mid-1970s, Francis was fascinated with knowing how deep his family roots were in the state of New York. After high school, Francis enlisted in the U.S Army and served a tour of duty overseas in Germany. After serving, Francis was honorable discharged in 1987. Francis’s family history seeds that his grandfather planted early in his life would gradually develop into a passion for doing more research work. It wasn’t until the early 1990s when Francis first started to pen his family’s amazing story.
Everything changed in 2010 when Francis and his nephew visited the National Archives in Washington DC. They were able to pull the pension file of David Carll, Francis’s great-great-grandfather. It was the missing piece for Francis. With this newinformation, Francis was able to verify stories passed down from generations, allowing Francis to begin his series, The Life and Times of David Carll. The first bookin the series, Footsteps of a Forgotten Soldier, which Francis co-authored in 2015, tells the story of David Carll prior to and during the Civil War. The second book in the series, WHO WE ARE, tells the story of David Carll after returning home from thewar and spans a period of 20 years. Francis continues to write and is currently working on his third book in the series, The Life and Times of David Carll.
Take a remarkable and historical journey over 150 years ago in the footsteps of a forgotten soldier. David Carll was born a free black man in Cold Spring Harbor, New
York, in 1845. At the age of 18, he signed up to fight in the Civil War, leaving behind his newlywed bride of a few days. David was assigned to the newly formed 26th the United States Colored Troop Regiment from New York. He would later find himself deep behind Confederate enemy lines in South Carolina. His descendants tell his story from records pulled from the National Archives in Washington DC, interviews, newspaper articles, and family history passed down from generations. From those sources, a fantastic story of sacrifice, devotion, love, and war emerged.
