OK. I had just proved that Sarah J Avery Van Buren was Jennie's aunt, and that Henrietta and George were Sarah's siblings. I was building a fairly detailed picture of the Avery family. More work lay ahead of me. But I really wanted to know more about Benjamin Sly, my 3rd great-grandfather.
Compared to the Avery family, I knew very little about him, and all of it was from the 1860 census:
Benjamin Sly
Born ca. 1820 in New York State
Blind
Wife: Mary L. Avery, born ca. 1836
Daughter: Jennie/Lucia/Lucy Sly, born 1857
possible relative: Samuel B Lent, born ca. 1854
It was time to dig into this man's past. I didn't think it would be easy. As we know, Jennie didn't talk about her family after moving to Ohio, but she had obviously been closer to the Avery side than the Sly side. The Averys raised her, while Benjamin seemed to disappear from her life. Why?
I wanted to start with the 1865 New York State Census. In that year, Mary and Jennie were living with Mary's mother, Polly, but Mary was listed as "married". Where was Benjamin in 1865, and why wasn't he with his family?
I searched the 1865 census for Benjamin Sly, born ca. 1820 in New York.
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| Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. |
There he was, in Mentz, boarding with an Elizabeth Dineheart. As always, a closer look was needed:
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| Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. |
Benjamin Sl(e)y, born in Onondaga County, New York. The birth year was 5 years later than the previous record I had found for Benjamin. I zoomed in on the age, inverted the colors, and was able to determine that the age was "45", not "40". That meant he was born about 1820, a match with what I had found before.
Summary of the 1865 census:
Benjamin Sley
45 years old (born ca. 1820)
male
boarder
parent of children: none listed
number of times married: 1
marital status: none listed
over age of 21 and not able to read or write: yes
deaf and dumb, blind, insane or idiotic: yes
2 pages later, I found a summary of Benjamin's blindness:
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| Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014 |
Kind of infirmity: Blindness
Duration in years: 20
cause: inflammation
similarly affected relatives: none
support: private means
able to earn a living by labor: yes
I was disappointed that no children were listed for Benjamin, but since his marital status was also omitted, it seemed like the record was not as complete as it could have been.
What I did learn was that Benjamin did not go blind in the Civil War, and therefore it was unlikely that he had served in the war. According to the record, he had been blind since he was about 25.
The other interesting tidbit was that it looked like Benjamin was able to earn a living doing some sort of labor.
Now I had 2 records for Benjamin Sly: in 1860 and in 1865.
I wasn't sure how far after 1865 I would be able to find Benjamin. Family lore said that Jennie's mother had died when Jennie was young, but I had no such information for Benjamin. All I had known originally was that his last name may have been Sly, and that he may have been blind.
Now I had confirmed those two things, but knew little else. It was time to do a broad search.
I searched for Benjamin Sly, born about 1820 in Onondaga County, NY, who lived in Mentz. Several results popped up, but the first one I clicked on was one from the 1855 New York State census:
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| Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1855 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. |
This was interesting.....if Jennie really was born in Illinois in 1857, then this record meant that Benjamin and Mary had moved to Illinois and back between 1855 and 1860. Why would they do that? Add yet another question to the ever-growing list! A closer look:
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| Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1855 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. |
Benjamin and Mary L Sly lived in a frame house. Mary is listed as Benjamin's wife, and Benjamin is listed as married. She was born in Cayuga, and he was born in Onondaga. Both had lived in Mentz for 19 years (which meant that Mary had lived there roughly from the time she was born), Benjamin owned land, and was listed as blind. One interesting additional fact: Benjamin was a chair matter. Was this the source of the income listed in the 1865 census?
All of these records were interesting, and I did learn a few new things about Benjamin. For instance, I now knew that he was born in Onondaga County, NY, and was a chair matter by profession. But many questions remained. What happened to him after 1865? Who was Samuel B Lent? Why did Mary and Benjamin not live together in 1865? Was it because Mary was already sick? Why did Benjamin and Mary possibly move to Illinois and back between 1855 and 1860?
I had my work cut out for me. The very best kind of work.
