GUEST: Emery Suber visited with the UDC for its first meeting of the year.

The first meeting for the year of the Moultrie-McNeill UDC Chapter # 661 was opened by new president, Francine Rossman, in September.

The president’s message covered the traditional reminder that the UDC’s theme is both historical and benevolent. Some of this year’s projects will be donations to the local food bank and gifts for the veterans at the Lake City Hospital.

Upcoming new member Debbie Jordan brought photos and shared a remarkable story of her families’ eleven year search for Confederate soldier, Cpl. James Goins, a family member who enlisted with Co. K, 19th Regiment, Louisiana Infantry. She said her mother, Mrs. Bobby Thompson of Donalsonville, Ga., and her brother, still in Louisiana, felt the anguish that his parents must have felt when he never returned from the war and never knew what happened to him or where he was buried. They, themselves, had experienced sending loved ones to war and could only imagine the same pain if this happened to them, she said.

The great advantage to this story seems to be the computer age, beginning with the location of a casualty list being found (out of state) in the 1930’s containing a list of some 290 names of Confederates who had died in hospitals in Forsyth, Ga. Linda Allman, near Forsyth, had put the list on a website from which Jordan, Thompson’s daughter, got the surprise of getting a hit from entering the soldier’s name while helping with the family’s search. He was among the 290 soldiers buried in the Forsyth City Cemetery.

In August of this year, the family gathered at this cemetery, one week short of Crpl. James Goins’ death, 147 years ago, to dedicate a Confederate headstone, bearing his name, and laying their search to rest. Family came from Oklahoma, Louisiane, Texas and far corners of Georgia.

The Moultrie UDC’s October meeting brought guests, Gerald Suber and his “101 years young” uncle, Emery Suber, who was actually acquainted with his Confederate ancestor, Pvt. John William “Bill” Suber. They lived next door, in the Chastain area, until his grandpa’s sudden death when Emery was about 12 years old.

Bill Suber enlisted, along with his father, Abram F. Suber, with Thomas County’s Co. A, 10th Battalion, GA Infantry. They participated in such battles in Virginia as the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, N & S Anna Rivers, Cold Harbor, Gaines Mill, Richmond and Petersburg. Both men survived the war.

Suber recalled his grandad talking about caves in the Petersburg area which he was able to visit while on a vacation in the area. He also experienced life as a soldier during W.W.II in the Navy Seabees. He is retired from running his parts business in Florida.

The ladies thought it was a rare treat for their members to meet a person, in their time, who personally knew their Confederate ancestor.

The next Chapter meeting will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 7.