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Jesse Kightlinger (b.1837) and his wife Margaret Allen Kightlinger (b.1841) were married in 1858 and lived in Warren County, PA when the Civil War began in 1861. Jesse was a laborer, Margaret kept house, and they had two young children, Leonard Lorenzo (b.1860) and Eva (b.1862). Jesse signed up to serve his country for the Union by joining the 145th Infantry Regiment Pennsylvania at the age of 21 on Aug. 28, 1862. He remained a Private during his enlistment. During his time i

In 1877, the Fredericksburg Library and Lyceum Association was established to create the city’s library and offer public programs. A lyceum (according to Merriam-Webster) is a group or venue that offers public lectures and entertainment. The Association’s Board of Trustees consisted of seven men: Rev. James P. Smith, ex-Lieut. Governor John L. Marye, J.N. Barney, Elliott M. Braxton, P.V.D Conway, Rev. T. L. Dunnaway, and Robert Hall. The Lyceum operated for a while, but event

According to this physician, women require more sleep than men.  The reason for this is the “female constitution” (everything about being a female) induces “nervous excitability” that is on a greater scale than the “stronger sex” (men)…yeah, it’s hard being a female, so much nervousness… Anywho, the level of nervous excitability causes women to be light sleepers (no, snoring spouses and two-hour infant feedings were not considered) and results in women becoming “addicted to d

February 5, 1845, Mary Shuck was born in a two-story log cabin to John and Nancy Shuck. The Shuck’s owned a farm in Iowa somewhere near Davenport. Mary recalled that, “this of course, was virgin territory at that time”. This would account for the lack of exact location where the farm was in Iowa. Around 1862, when she was 17 years old, her father moved the family west and eventually settled in Nebraska. They traveled in a covered wagon as part of a wagon train consisting of t

Cordelia Post was born in St. Lawrence, New York in 1827. At some point, her family moved to Ohio where she met Charles W. Hickox. At the age of 16, she and Charles married on September 25, 1843, at Bainbridge, Ohio. They had three children over the course of their 55-year marriage; a son and two daughters: James, Kittie, and Grace. The Civil War began in 1861 and by 1862, it was clear on both sides that the war would not end with a swift northern victory as was initially tho

The Roanoke Times in 1893 reported that Boston had approximately 185 men teaching in the Boston school system and 1,372 women. Ever wonder how the salaries really differed based on gender? Well, you can see here that men were paid an average of $246.06 per month and women $70.69. So men were paid 348% higher than women just because...they were men?! Imagine you are a woman in the large city of Boston in 1893. If you were not married (or living a stress free domesticated life)

It was 1853 and Spring was in full bloom when a 20-year-old woman and some friends decided to join a wagon train and move West. Most wagon trains migrating in the mid-late 19 th  century consisted of families and not single women, so she was uncommon and brave indeed. The identify of this woman is unknown and her story was written as an autobiography titled, “A Grandmother’s Story of Early Days in Washington” and included in the book Souvenir of Western Women written by Mary

Ac cording to Barkham Burroughs, a person's natural nail color tells more than their personal hygiene. It's a sign of their personality and character. Who knew?! Perhaps the timeless saying, “I’m an excellent judge of character” was because those in at least 1889 knew the secret and made them experts, indeed. Perhaps we, educated women of the 21st century have been looking at things all wrong and have something to learn from our 19 th  century sisters. Instead of looking at a

So, Imagine wooden cart wheels. You have a long wooden beam and at the end of the beam is a wooden seat. It’s kind of like a seesaw, except there’s only a seat on one end, and the other end is used to raise the beam up and down. The wheels were used to car it around to and from the body of water that you would be taking said overly opinionated woman to be ducked. Basically, a woman would be strapped into this wooden chair at the end of the seesaw beam and would be carted thro