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• FamilySearch Id: K887-C9F
• _UID: 78BEB381E610A847BD21B8BE43C219894A62

Notes:

!NOTE: From the "History of Hennipen Co., Minnesota" by William Fletcher.
William Wesley Sly was born 9 July 1848 in Oakland County, Michigan. At the age of 16 he went to sea and before he was 21 years of age, he circumnavigated the globe. He lived in England two years and engaged in painting for which he had a natural ability. From there he went to Italy, Asia, East India, China and was in Abyssinian expedition with supplies, was at Ensley Bay at the time King Theodore suicided. In 1869 he returned to Bomban, and there went on board the Great Eastern, laying cable. He served in the late war and after peace was declared, he went again to sea. In 1872 he engaged in the paint business in Detroit and remained there until 1878. (With the exception of one schooner trip to Duluth, in which he was shipwrecked and nearly lost his life.) In 1878 he came to Minneapolis and took charge of the Minnesota Linseed Oil Company and paint works. In 1889 he formed a partnership with L.J. Skiinner, known as the Minneapolis Liquid Paint Company. He married in June 1880, Mary-daughter of Rev. L.D. Brown of St. Paul.
!SOURCE: C W Pension records, vital records-Yankton, SD

Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934
Name: William W. Sly
State Filed: Michigan
Widow: Mary E. Sly

1880 United States Federal Census Record about William W. Sly
Name: William W. Sly
Age: 32
Estimated birth year: abt 1848
Birthplace: Michigan
Occupation: Liquid Paint Manufactir
Relationship to head-of-household: Something other than a direct relationship
Home in 1880: Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota
Marital status: Widower
Race: White
Gender: Male
Father's birthplace: NY
Mother's birthplace: ENG

Minnesota Territorial and State Censuses, 1849-1905
Name: W. W. Sly
Census Date: 1895
County: Hennepin
Locality: Minneapolis Ward 8
Birth Location: Michigan
Gender: Male Paint soldier in War of the rebellion.
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1849
Race: White
Line: 21
Roll: V290_68
Listed with wife, Mary E. age 32, George L age 19, Florence E age 12, Bessie age 11.

1920 United States Federal Census Record
Name: William W Bly [William W Sly]
Age: 70 years
Estimated birth year: abt 1850
Birthplace: Michigan
Race: White
Home in 1920: Utica, Yankton, South Dakota
Sex: Male
Marital status: Married
Relation to Head of House: Employee: laundryman in South Dakota Institution for the Insane
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Mother's Birth Place: Ireland
Father's Birth Place: New York
Image: 840

Family Data Collection - Individual Records William Wesley Sly
Name: William Wesley Sly
Spouse: Bessie Bedell
Parents: William Sly , Elizabeth Morris
Birth Place: Oak, Walled Lake, Michigan
Birth Date: 1848
Death Date: 10 Dec 1922

(This is a letter from William W. Sly, born 1848, to his son George L. Sly)
PANAMA RAILROAD COMPANY July 26,1909 Geo. L. Sly Bristol, England
Son George, Your last came to hand in due time. Glad to hear from you and to know that you are well and that your mother is better. So I am still here doing nothing. Things look pretty blue for me here. Am still looking for something no matter what it is so long as I can make a living and save a little and when I do get a little ahead, will leave this country for sure as it is no good at all anymore. I do not know where I will head for as yet but am on the lookout for someplace. It is all guesswork to know the best place. I suppose that you will be going back to Africa again soon or if not, where to? Keep me posted where you are as we can write one another sometime so long as we can buy stamps.

The canal is going on all the time and will be finished in 1915 sure then you will see the greatest waterway in the world. It sure is a big job of work but will go through all right. The railroad is one of the best on earth and does more business than any railroad on earth for its length, only 48 miles long from Panama to Colon Coast. Two dollars and forty five cents.....first class and no baggage. For it you must pay three cents per pound on all baggage except your suitcase and things like that. Each day four trains come to Panama and on Sundays six trains, two hospital cars bring in the sick and wounded to the Ancon which is the largest hospital in the world, consisting of something like 26 buildings, all separate and each one from fifty to eighty feet on the ground floor and many of them are two story high. The largest part of the sick are negros. Yes, seven eights of the sick are blacks but all have white American nurses and have just the same treatments as the whites. There is wards for Americans, English, Germans, French, Italians, Spanish, Negroes and Greeks. So you see we have a mixed population down here in this country. No more for this time. Remember me to all your family, your wife and baby. Yours W.W. Sly Ancon P. O.

William married Bessie BEDELL about 1871. Bessie was born in 1848 in Bristol, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Mary E BROWN on 24 Jun 1880 in , Hennipen, Minnesota, United States. Mary (daughter of Rev. LD BROWN) was born about 1848 in Pennsylvania, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• _UID: 9EF1F10E3714D24E9FCA5F649E611EB1F379

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• _UID: AF57634D50EB7F468DB5A53492649091E803

Notes:

S!NOTE: married 2 Aug 1904, Johannesburg, South Africa. !SOURCE: grandson in South Africa. and from pension records of the Phillipine War.
Ancestry, One Worldtree
George Lester Sly
Born: 10 Aug 1874 Detroit, Wayne, MI, USA
Died: 10 Jan 1950 Capetown, South Africa

American Foreign Service
Report of the death of an American
Cape town, South Africa, January 31, 1950
name: George Lester Sly Occupation: retired
date of death: 10 January 1950, 6:25 pm
Place of death: Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
cause of death: Post Renal Uraemia, Right sided hemiplegia according to death Certificate, attached
buried at Maitland Cemetery No. 1, Cape Province
Retired Carpenter/ South African Railways
Copy of this report sent to: William Wesley Sly, son
address Bungalow J-41, South African Airways, Wingfield, Cape
Remarks: No cost is borne by the Consulate General as the disposition of theremains, effects, telegrams, etc. was handled by William W. Sly, son. Mr. Sly came to South Africa in 1900 to fight in the Boer War. It is assumed that no passports were issued at that time. Death Certificate

George married Susan on 3 Aug 1904 in Johannsburg, South Africa. Susan was born about 1858. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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