Edward M. Perdue
If one wants to begin to understand the GULAG, he would read anyone of at least 131 books such as;
- My twenty-two prisons and My Escape from Solovetski, 1929, by Bezonov, Eliuriai Dimitrevich
- Red Gaols, a Woman’s Experiences in Russian Prisons, 1935, by author did not want to be identified.
- Prisoner of the OGPU, 1935, by Kitechin, George.
- An Account of the Construction of the New Canal between the White Sea and the Baltic Sea, 1935, by Maxim Gorky, and 30 writers.
Many people refer to the book The Gulag Archipelago, 1974, by Solzenitsyn, I., as “the” book on the GULAG partly from his experience and research thereof.
The author started with a simple expression written about John W. Adkins: “He left home at an early age, and never returned home age”. There was literally no information about him. Most people, familiar with my work, have been totally amazed at the amount of the information, documents, obtained by the author from the archives on one individual. After many years of work, the author did not want to leave this material to just a research project sitting on the bookshelf.
This book brings to life the adventures of John William Adkins through the documents. A full translation for each and every document exists for documents from files of Russia, Estonia, and Finland. The English files are included also along with letters and postcards.
It is thought that a book of this type providing so many documents will provide an interesting text book for history and language classes in the universities.
The book documents his life in 18 chapters with the 18th chapter covering the rehabilitation by the prosecutor of all charges leveled against him in Russia. There are four appendixes dealing with Notes (sources for each chapter), Epilogue (family related information), Summary (detailing research), and References (all books the author located and read looking for clues).
For the RUSSIAN EDITION, click here: http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~31659.aspx
Edward M. Perdue is a retired electrical engineer with a Bachelor degree from the University of Maryland and a Master degree from Northeastern University in Massachusetts; both in electrical engineering. There are many courses to supplement writing proposals, reports, and memos. He has taking some courses in writing and art.
He traveled widely after growing up on a small farm near Parsonsburg, Maryland:
First, he with was in the Air Force in Alabama, French Morocco, Europe, and Montana serving his time as an electronic navigational aide technician.
Secondly, He spent time in Missouri, Hawaii, Thailand, Panama, Lebanon, and Iran as a technician installing and testing large earth-satellite communication terminals.
Thirdly, he spent time in France, England, Japan, China and Russia during his 32 years as a design engineer of communication hardware. He made upwards of 18 trips to Russia for research on this book.
He has completed several books on the genealogy of the Perdue, Warren, and Adkins families; The Perdue family being the most important. There is one book on the inventory of cemeteries in the local area of these families.
He now lives in Westboro, Massachusetts in retirement devoting all his time to the history of the family and travel.
Not many people have heard of Wango, Maryland. Before the settlers arrived, the Wicomico Indians camped, hunted, and roamed the area. In time, the settlers came and settled the area. The Indians moved north to the area around Cambridge, Maryland, and then north to New York and to Canada. Some of the settlers married Indian maidens and the Indian blood remains in several families.
One such Indian maiden, “Chase-a-Flying-Wildgoose”, possibly Comfort Sturgis, was 4 generations before Elizabeth (Betsy) Magee listed below.
Wango consisted of pine forests in the early days. As settlers took roots here, they cleared areas of the forest for farming. The families were large to supply the needed labor to tend the crops, market some of the products, and work in the forest to bring out timber. Life was the same day-in, day-out: Up early to do chores on the farm and early to bed to rest for the coming day.
a. Grandparents.
William S. Adkins was the son of Sampson Adkins and Rachel Bassett. Elizabeth Magee was the daughter of Samuel Magee and Anne Laws. When William Adkins met Betsy Magee, he didn’t have land. William inherited a female slave, Gatty, from his father.
Their farm came from Elizabeth’s father and mother. They were married and raised a family of eleven children: 5 boys and 6 girls. They were the grandparents of John W. Adkins.
The home of William and Betsy Adkins was a two-story structure, large enough to raise a large family. The house was built in 1859. It was rumored that slaves were kept in the dark bedroom. They did own slaves, presumably three, and they lived in a small dwelling behind the kitchen. Per the 1860 census, William and Betsy had one black field hand, one maid/servant in the house, and a young black boy. After the Civil War, in 1870, William Adkins had a 15-year-old black male named John who worked on his farm, a 13-year-old black female named Mary who was a domestic servant, and a 10-year-old black male named Elijah who worked on his farm. They were Gatty’s children and they all had the Adkins surname. The slaves lived on at the home after they were freed and were buried on the farm in the Adkins burial plot.
