A newly formed Lawrence organization plans to conduct research focusing on local Civil War history while honoring the memories of the war’s area veterans.

During a ceremony Saturday at Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Mass., eight people were officially inducted into a new chapter of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

“Our main mission that I see is to articulate and educate about the Civil War history we have here in Lawrence and eastern Kansas,” said Craig Sundell, who initiated organization of the chapter.

The chapter is officially called the Sgt. Samuel J. Churchill Camp No. 4, in honor of a Civil War Medal of Honor veteran buried at Oak Hill Cemetery.

Sons of Union Veterans is primarily a nationwide organization with local chapters and some international chapters, called “camps.”

The Lawrence camp is the fourth in Kansas. Other Kansas camps are in Wichita, Topeka and Beloit.

Sons of Union Veterans originally was formed in the 1880s to preserve Civil War Union history and documents.

“We pretty much let the chapters define their own missions and roles,” said Alan Russ, a member of the Topeka camp who is now a dual member in the Lawrence camp as well.

To be a member of Sons of Union Veterans you have to be able to trace an ancestor — such as a great-great-grandfather or great-great-uncle — who was a Civil War veteran. There also are associate members who do not have a Civil War ancestor, but only a third of a camp’s members can be an associate.

Craig Sundell, Lawrence, holds a book published in 1895 containing wood-cut prints of the Civil War by Frank Leslie. Sundell is one of eight members of the newly formed Lawrence camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. The group conducted its first meeting Saturday at the Watkins Museum of History.

The Lawrence camp will have its monthly meetings at 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month. The January meeting will be at Quick’s Bar-B-Q, 1527 W. Sixth St., said Sundell, who is the camp’s commander.

Each meeting will be open to the public and have an educational information aspect to it, Sundell said. Anyone who is interested in determining whether a relative was a Civil War veteran for purposes of wanting to join the organization can call Sundell at 841-7970.

Other members of the camp are Darrell Giles, Kent Johnson, Ethan Van Loenen, Roy Lafferty, Robert Wandel and Michael Hadl.