This week's #family history challenge--What's Your Favorite Discovery--from Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors52Weeks sparked a vivid memory. In mid-January 2009 I discovered first hand what our nation's capital is like in winter. Washington, D.C.'s humid air wraps your body in a vise; a cold breeze off the river increases its grip. I walked briskly from the … Continue reading Grandma Serena Had A Cat
civil war pension documents
A Civil War Legacy Continues: Serena Sayles Makes A Claim
Ira Sayles died Friday, 15 June 1894, and was buried on the Sayles' Mecklenburg County farm before the sun hovered on the western horizon that evening. If you have ever served as executor of someone's last wishes, then you know how incongruous the days following a death can feel. There are all the emotions roiling … Continue reading A Civil War Legacy Continues: Serena Sayles Makes A Claim
Mourning: The Death of Ira Sayles
On Friday morning, the 15th day of June of 1894, in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, Ira Sayles was still but for the shallow movement of his chest. Outside, a mockingbird poured song into the sun-warmed house. His son Clifton and neighbor Joel E. Beales sat bedside by his wife, Serena. Anna, Clifton's wife, and their children, … Continue reading Mourning: The Death of Ira Sayles
Transcript Tuesday: General Affidavit for Pension Claim of Serena C. Sayles, 27 August 1895
GENERAL AFFIDAVIT State of Virginia, County of Mecklenburg, ss: In the matter of the application for pension of Mrs. Serena C. Sayles, widow of Ira Sayles, Co. H. 130. Regt. N.Y. Inf. On this 27thday of August, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, personally appeared before me, a Notary in and for the aforesaid County, duly … Continue reading Transcript Tuesday: General Affidavit for Pension Claim of Serena C. Sayles, 27 August 1895
Serena’s Lament
Great-great-grandparents Serena and Ira Sayles were married in April of 1845, in Alfred, New York, but spent much of their lives from 1862 until 1894 separated by the demands of a post-war nation. Throughout their marriage Ira was an amateur geologist, and his last decade was spent traveling up and down the east coast for … Continue reading Serena’s Lament
Shoots, Roots, and Leaves 