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  • Military Trader

    combining passions

    Apr 03, 2020 6 minutes
    by David L. Burrows

    Many people are fortunate to have a passion in life that enriches their day-to-day experience. It may be sports, working out, enjoying special moments with family, or indulging in a collecting passion to name just a few. Collectors thrill in adding a special item that fills an empty spot in the collection.

    Many collectors, though, have more than one passion. For some military collectors, those passions might include vintage photography, genealogy, and military decorations. Finding period photos of soldiers wearing identifiable decorations can lead to exploring his or her life experience through genealogical research. While not an easy “three-in-one” passion for a collector, the following examples illustrate what is possible.

    COLONEL KREPS

    Our first example a “three-in-one” passion concerns Colonel William A. Kreps of the Pennsylvania National Guard. The 1870 census (via Ancestry.com) shows 23-year-old William living with family in Greenville, Mercer County, Pa. This would make 1847 his year of birth.

    Further Civil War records show William as a private

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