Hear the Tale of a Local Civil War Soldier on March 16th

Hear the Tale of a Local Civil War Soldier on March 16th Potsdam resident William A. Elderkin, a graduate of West Point, was married in the White House, and fought in the first battle of Bull Run. He traveled over 16,000 miles with his trunk, now in the collection of the Potsdam Public Museum, tracing the history of the nineteenth century Indian wars, the development of industrial steel, the spread of railroads, and the establishment of American capitalism. Learn more about Elderkin and his trunk from Jan Wojcik at noon on Thursday, March 16th, at the St. Lawrence County Historical Association. Brown Bag Lunches are free and open to the public: bring your own lunch and enjoy a beverage and dessert provided by SLCHA. Wojcik, a member of the SLCHA Civil War Round Table, has given talks on the role of women in the Civil War, the Battle of Spotsylvania, the Overland Campaign, and the Surrender at Appomattox. He serves as the president of the board of trustees of the Potsdam Museum. The Brown Bag Lunch Series is a popular lunch time lecture series dedicated to the memory of Patricia Harrington Carson, who founded the series during her 24 years as a Trustee of the St. Lawrence County Historical Association. Pat Carson was active on numerous SLCHA Committees, and was an article writer and an issue editor of the SLCHA’s history journal, The Quarterly. The St. Lawrence County Historical Association at the Silas Wright House is normally open Tuesday through Saturday noon to 4 p.m., Friday noon to 8 p.m. Admission to the museum is free; admission to the archives is free for members and children, $2.50 for college students, and $5 for the general public. The St. Lawrence County Historical Association is located at 3 E. Main St., Canton. Parking is available behind the SLCHA, next to the museum’s main entrance. The St. Lawrence County Historical Association is a membership organization open to anyone interested in St. Lawrence County history. For more information, or to become a member, call the SLCHA at 315-386-8133 or e-mail info@slcha.org. The Brown Bag Lunch program is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Visit the SLCHA’s website, www.slcha.org, for more information on St. Lawrence County history.