Lost Civil War ring returned to kin of Pa. soldier

A Civil War-era ring lost by a Union soldier from Pennsylvania nearly 150 years ago has completed its long journey home.

The ring was worn by Levi Schlegel, a Reading-area native who is believed to have lost it at an encampment near Fredericksburg, Va. Relic hunter John Blue found the ring at a construction site in 2005.But he didn’t know how to find Schlegel’s descendants, and kept the ring in a box for several years.

A genealogist ultimately helped Blue track down Schlegel’s family in Reading. The Reading Eagle says the ring was presented to a distant cousin Tuesday during a ceremony at Levi Schlegel’s grave in Reading.

Cousin Ernie Schlegel called it “a hero’s journey.”

Levin Schlegel fathered 11 children and died at age 91 in 1932.