This letter was sent to Ira Sayles' pharmacist buddy, E.B. Hall, during the USGS employee's field work several months after the June correspondence. Though Ira does not name the son who is traveling with him through the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, it can be deduced. Ira and estranged-wife Serena lost their daughter, Florette, in 1858 … Continue reading Weekly Scribe: Ira Sayles to E.B. Hall, 9 October 1884
EB Hall
Weekly Scribe: Ira Sayles to Edwin B Hall, 1884
Today I transcribed this letter posted from my 2x great-grandfather, Ira Sayles, to his long time friend, Edwin B. Hall, at the end of June, 1884. I suspect that the friends first met in the 1860s after Ira's sister, Rhobe Sayles Crandall, moved with their elderly parents to Wellsville (Allegany County, New York) where Hall … Continue reading Weekly Scribe: Ira Sayles to Edwin B Hall, 1884
Tick Tock: A timeline for Ira Sayles, 1884-1894
In 1884 letters to his buddy, Edwin B Hall in Wellsville (NY), Ira set out his specs for what sounded like a utopian “home”, where fellow believers of THE WAY OF IRA would live in harmony. Clearly, the estrangement with Serena and his sons ruled out Virginia as a potential location. Ira went on to … Continue reading Tick Tock: A timeline for Ira Sayles, 1884-1894
Wealth and the Ideal Man: An Epistle from Ira Sayles to EB Hall, 1885
Ira Sayles, assistant geologist with United States Geological Survey. Photograph taken about 1885 at age 68. Ira Sayles. Had I nothing but historical documents, I would have but a simplistic notion of who my great-great-grandfather was. A self-taught student who rose to be a college student, teacher and founding school administrator of Alfred Academy; Principal of … Continue reading Wealth and the Ideal Man: An Epistle from Ira Sayles to EB Hall, 1885
Shoots, Roots, and Leaves 