Lawrence Van Alstyne

Born in 1839, he spent much of his life in Sharon, Connecticut, where he became closely identified with the town's history and records. During the Civil War, he served in the 128th New York Volunteers and later in the 90th U.S. Colored Troops, experiences he later shaped into Diary of an Enlisted Man, a vivid account written from an ordinary soldier's point of view.

He also devoted years to genealogy and local history. His books include Born, Married and Died, in Sharon, Connecticut (1897), Lambert Janse Van Alstyne and Some of His Descendants (1897), Burying Grounds of Sharon, Connecticut, Amenia and North East, New York (1903), and other works on Sharon's merchants and manufacturing, along with editorial work on The Ogden Family in America.

That mix of soldier's memoir and painstaking record-keeping gives his writing a distinctive charm. He was not simply recounting major events; he was preserving communities, family lines, and everyday lives that might otherwise have disappeared from view. He died on November 30, 1923.