Richard Ogden (1921 - )

Nancy Ogden Westerdahl’s Second Cousin Once Removed

I was waiting in the exam room of a doctor’s office recently without a magazine or book, and on a whim, I picked up my iPhone and Googled James Ogden of Gettysburg, PA, Nancy’s GGGrandfather. In the process, I found an article about an American flag with ties to the Ogden family.

The information was in a publication titled Friends of the Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Fall, 2013, and a featured article reported that Richard Ogden, 87 of Biglerville, donated a very special American flag to the Library.

The article included a photo of Richard wearing a Marine cap.

The flag with only 34 stars, proudly hung from Richard’s ancestor’s house in Gettysburg during the battle on July 1, 2, 3, 1863. The tattered flag was struck thirteen times, undoubtedly shot by Confederate soldiers who were annoyed to see the Union symbol displayed so proudly.

A quick check on the internet and I located Richard, and on Saturday, May 9 Nancy and I talked with 87 year old distant cousin on the phone about the Ogden relationship and, of course, as a brother Marine, the Corps which Richard served from 1945 to 1949.

In June, Nancy and I will travel to Gettysburg for our 65th High School Reunion, and we hope to meet Richard and learn more about the Ogdens on his side of the family. We also learned that Richard donated family photos and letters to the College Library, and we hope to have an opportunity to examine those items during our visit to Gettysburg.

Who said genealogy was boring?