Next Civil War Round Table is April 18 in Wooster
At the April 18 Wayne County Civil War Round Table, Maryanne Chevraux will portray Polly Stratton, a North Benton, Ohio resident during the Civil War.
The Wayne County Civil War Round Table, which is free and open to the public at the Wooster branch of the Wayne County Public Library, is continuing on April 18 at 6:15 p.m. with a program “Polly’s Diary.”
The presenters are Maryanne Chevraux and Paul Hobe. Chevraux began Civil War reenacting in 2018, and in 2019 was cast as Mrs. Julia Ann Gleason Stone, wife of Amasa Stone, in the PBS Documentary film Engineering Tragedy: The Ashtabula Train Disaster. She also contributed to the film as Lead Production Assistant, cast as an injured victim, and assisted with wardrobe. She will be portraying Polly Stratton, a North Benton, Ohio resident during the Civil War. Hobe will narrate as narrates as Chevraux reads excerpts from her diary.
Hobe become interested in what the members of the 19th Ohio experienced in the Civil War. He looked for a book to learn more about the 19th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and finding none available, decided to research, write and publish one himself. Four to five years later using almost entirely primary sources, Dixie Odyssey, The Trail and Tales of the Nineteenth Ohio Infantry was published in 2016. Dragging his wife, Sherrie, along, he has visited the regiment’s battle sites and uses the pictures in programs for groups. The substory, Polly’s Diary, is taken from his research.
Polly Amelia Stratton was born in Canfield, Ohio in 1840. She remained at the family home in North Benton where she kept a diary during the year 1863. From this diary, experience her hopes, fears, dreams, and general daily life of a young woman in a small community during the Civil War. Information about the diary comes from “Nobly They Served the Union” arranged and edited from a collection of Stratton family items including letters, original commissions, newspaper clippings, and, of course, Polly’s diary.
For questions, call the library Reference department at 330-804-4666 or email ref-staff@wcpl.info.
Sponsors of the CWRT include its members, the Wayne County Public Library, R.W. Gasbarre & Assoc. Surveyors, Ed and Penny Gasbarre, Pallotta Ford, Wooster Glass, Mike and Donna Daugherty, John Ross, and John Spaziani.