Originally Posted by Linda-in-iowa
My grandfather's father, or maybe grandfather, stowed away on a ship for America at the age of 12 from Germany because he didn't like his new step mother. My grandmother's great uncle joined the civil war at the age of 14 (lied about his age to get in). He was captured and sent to Andersonville. He escaped by pretending to be dead and was taken out with the other corpses.
wow... we should write novels. Seriously. I don't think I ever realized how 'real life' is "better", "stranger" or "more interesting" than fiction before!