Former high school teacher Carleton Young was cleaning his parents’ attic in the early 2000s when he uncovered an American treasure.
“I found an enormous collection of letters written by two brothers during the Civil War,” said Young, who taught history at Thomas Jefferson High School in the South Hills.
“Here I was, teaching about all these people in American history, and to find out I had a family connection to some of the soldiers, we were amazed.”
Young will give a free presentation on his findings April 23 at the Allegheny-Kiski History Center in Tarentum.
He calls it “Discovering a Family History: From the Famous and Heroic to the Infamous and Notorious.”
History Center President Jim Thomas said the program aligns with the museum’s mission to preserve the past.
With the recent popularity of genealogy, Thomas said he wants to offer a wider array of programs that draw visitors to the site.
More than 26 million people have purchased genetic ancestry tests since 2012, according to The New Yorker. Ancestry, the nation’s largest genetic database, has more than 3 million subscribers.
“A lot of people are interested in it these days,” Thomas said. “It should be a pretty good program and hopefully show people what we have going on here.”
The museum will offer a free monthly class to help people learn to write their own family histories.
The program will be from 10 a.m. to noon on the last Saturday of each month, beginning April 29. It will be taught by Deer Lakes High School teacher Courtney Cambal.
For Young, the discovery in his childhood home led him to begin extensive research of his family’s roots.
“I had to start at the beginning by putting together a family tree,” Young said.
The letters, passed down from descendants, spurred him to spend a decade visiting battlefields and researching the two soldiers.
He wrote a book about the experience, “Voices From the Attic: The Williamstown Boys in the Civil War,” which he has since traveled the country to share with nonprofits, libraries and historical societies.
Young, who earned a Ph.D. in the history of education from the University of Pittsburgh, said his research led to additional, startling discoveries. Young learned he was related in some fashion to both Roosevelt presidents, Ulysses S. Grant and Paul Revere.
He also found that he had connections to some less savory characters, Young said, laughing.
“Along with the famous heroes, there were a few infamous rogues and murderers,” he said.
The point he tries to drive home to audience members is to never stop learning.
“This gets people curious about their own history,” he said. “You never know what you’ll find, so just take it wherever it goes.”
