Paul LaRue returned to the Fayette County Genealogical Society on March 15 and presented yet another well-received presentation.

This time in a ZOOM meeting Paul told the little-known story of African-Americans serving in the Union Navy during the Civil War in his presentation “African American Civil War Sailors, Truly Forgotten Heroes.” Though these sailors are not well-documented, Paul showed ways to find their service and with research historians estimate there were 19,000 to 25,000 thousand of these sailors. Some estimate as many as 29,000, however that would be a high estimate. That is the highest number of African-American veterans who ever served in any armed force in the United States in any war.

During his representation Paul related genealogical Civil War naval service findings concerning two men from Ohio who were African-American: William Seymour from the Cleveland area and William Duncan who had ties to Fayette County.

Paul LaRue is a retired social studies teacher from Washington City Schools in Washington Court House. He has been the recipient of several teaching awards, but is best known for his “hands-on” teaching technique of taking his history students out into the community. Paul serves as a member of Ohio Civil War Sequential Committee, and the Ohio World War I Centennial Committee. He has recently been named to State Board of Education.

The Society’s next meeting will be a ZOOM meeting on Monday, April 19 at 7 p.m. with Sharon Verhoff, a retired Chillicothe High School social studies teacher, presenting the program “Women’s Suffrage” in honor of the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in the United States.

For information concerning this ZOOM meeting, Society membership, or induction into any of our lineage societies, contact Cathy Massie White at 740-333-7227 or [email protected]. Yearly membership for all members is payable by March 31 each year. Single memberships are $10 per year and lifetime memberships are $100.