Monday 8 September 2008

Edwin Sawtell FitzHenry: After the Civil War

After “meeting” Edwin Sawtell FitzHenry in the pages of a notebook, I wondered what happened to him after the Civil War. Luckily for this branch of the FitzHenrys, Edwin’s story didn’t end on the battle field.
On October 30, 1866, he said good-bye to the single life and married Sarah Jane Burns. It was a classic May to December romance with 14 years between them. In their 17 years of marriage, they had seven children. All lived past infancy, married and had children of their own. Edwin and Sarah spent most of their married life on a farm near Gibson City, Illinois.

In 1883, for unknown reasons, Edwin and his family moved to Fairbury, Nebraska. They lived in Nebraska six months until Edwin’s death on January 12, 1884, at the age of 48.
After burying her husband in the Fairbury cemetery, Sarah moved back to her home in Illinois. At the age of 34, she was a widow with children ranging in age from 5 months to 15 years. Mrs. FitzHenry lived on her home place until her death from pneumonia on March 21, 1911. She was survived by 16 grandchildren, her mother and a sister. According to her obituary, a large crowd gathered at the church to pay a last tribute to the memory of the aged citizen and a long line of carriages and buggies followed the remains to their last resting place in the Gibson cemetery.

Blessed be their memories.



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1 comment:

  1. Hello Ann! You have a blog now!Thank you for keeping up with me--I've missed talking with you,It was so good to hear from you. Hope you are doing ok:)))

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