Re: Fridleys mentioned in Persinger Family Journal
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In reply to:
Fridleys mentioned in Persinger Family Journal
Susan Persinger 1/30/08
Susan-Thanks for the post. I did not realize that it was 60 pages long until I had printed it. I had to read through a number of entries before I found information that I could use but found myself so caught up in the story of her life that I read the entire journal twice before studying the data it contained. The death of her first child was hard to read as I also lost my first child to SIDS before he was a year old and I could relate to her struggle to deal with a condition that in 1877 was unknown to most people. Her use of names makes it hard to identify clearly all the figures involved but I do know some. The Mrs. Bowen that lent her books I believe was the wife of Johnson Bowen as he was a school teacher and lived in the Potts Creek area. The Bowen that killed the cat was William Bowen and he married Mary Fridley in 1864. I have heard that story with the facts a little different since I was a child with the number of cats shot going from 1 to 7 depending on who was doing the telling. Her report sounds more logical than many of the accounts that I have heard. I am unsure which Bowen woman beat the tar out of a man but remember hearing about how tough some of the Bowen women in my family were. I believe Mary Fridley 1840-1916 to be the Miss Fridley refered to in some of the entries as she would have known her before she married William Bowen in 1864. I believe that the other Fridley is in fact Lydia Fridley 1827-1867 that married Mary Margarets great uncle Eli Persinger. I believe that it was their son that died as a young child and I believe the Caleb and Bernard Persingers mentioned to be her sons as while I have several different Persingers listed under those names in the area I think these are the right age. I believe that Mandy listed to be Amanda Quickle 1837-1921 as she was married to Oliver Persinger 1840-1912. I will look for the name of the boy that died in the logging accident as I know I have it somewhere. I believe it was not to far from the home of Frances Caldwell on Rich Patch road that the accident took place and the boy is buried up in that area somewhere. As regards the Civil War soldiers that came to the house demanding food I have been told that they were Union Soldiers and in fact went to a number of homes in the area. The slave that was killed was named Blue and he was hung for the murder of his master but I had never heard the story of his ghost.