Mary Sheldon Remington

Notes:

(If you use any portion of these notes, please give source credit to Lois Sorensen, Remington family researcher and compiler, and to other sources as noted herein.)

From Thomas-Glynn-Chatham County GaArchives Biographies.....Mary S. Remington July 18 1836 - April 15 1859
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Charles Blankenship PylesSRP@aol.com December 18, 2003, 9:19 pm
(used by permission of author)

Author: Charles Blankenship
Mary S. Remington's grave marker reads that she was born in Thomasville, Georgia, and died in Newnansville, Florida. It also notes that her parents were Edward Remington and Mary A. Remington. Beside her in the old Newnansville Methodist Cemetery are two infant grave markers for 1857 and 1859. She died just four days after the second child.

Mary's parents came from Rhode Island to Thomasville. Her father's (Edward 1803-1878) heritage is unknown, but her mother's (Mary A. Smith 1804-1856) line goes back to Captain Simeon Smith and Mary Sheldon from RI. Her siblings included: Edward S., Martha, and Francis Remington.

Mary grew up in Thomasville and attended the Fletcher Institute just south of town. She is listed as a teenager on the 1850 U. S. Census. Four years later she would marry another youngster, Lewis G. Pyles, who was also listed on the same census living in town. His parents were Samuel R. Pyles (1788-1837) from Glynn County, Georgia, and Charlotte Wynn (1793-1842) of Savannah, Georgia.

The two were married in Thomasville a day after her birthday in 1854. The exact date they moved to Newnansville is unknown. Their first child was Samuel R. Pyles, born in 1855 or 1856, who was named after Lewis's brother and father. Numerous Ancient Records of Alachua County provide a good timeline for Lewis because he represented Mary's father in his mercantile business in Newnansville.

Mary died within days of the death of her third child, leaving her only surviving son motherless. In 1860, the U. S. Census denotes Lewis G. Pyles as the Registrar in the Newnansville General Land Office. His son was also in his household. When the Civil War started, Lewis was elected as a Major in the 2nd Florida Infantry Regiment.

His Regiment participated in the Battle of Seven Pines and he was severally wounded. By then he had been promoted to Lt. Colonel and to Colonel, but was not able to fight anymore. He returned to Newnansville and was in a skirmish on the City of Gainesville.

Lewis died in Archer, Florida, in 1866, probably at the home of his sister, Charlotte Louise Pyles who had married George Helvenston. There is no marker known for his grave site in Newnansville or Archer.

Young Samuel R. Pyles was then an orphan with no male uncles in Florida. It appears that his maternal grandfather, Edward Remington, took his grandson to Thomasville to raise. He appears on records in the Thomasville area in 1876 and 1879 and then on the 1880 U. S. Census as a druggist. Between 1889 and 1893, he was living in Cincinnati, Ohio, and working for a railroad.

According to Alachua County Deed Book 35 records filed in 1891, he was married to Mary J. Pyles and living in Ohio. His cousin, William E. Davies, acting as the Administrator for their grandfather, was settling the lands that Edward Remington had accumulated in Alachua and Levy County, Florida.

The final years for Samuel R. and Mary J. Pyles are not known. Perhaps other cousins of the Remington-Davies-Smith line might know and be able to fill in this last mystery.

Additional Comments:
The Newnansville Old Methodist Cemetery is located at the present town of Alachua in Alachua County. Alachua County Ancient Records can be viewed online at: http://www.clerk-alachua-fl.org/clerk/searchmenu.html
Search Ancient Records for Marriages, Deeds, Probate and Transcriptions for Remington and Pyles.

More on Remington-Davies-Smith can be read in the Thomasville Gen., History and Fine Arts Library Quarterly: Origins V2 Dec 1991 and V6 1996.

CSA Service Records and the book "Soldiers of Florida" give Lt. Col. Lewis G. Pyles Confederate Service Record.

More on the Pyles-Wynn families can be gleaned from Glynn Co., GA Court House records and from the Alachua Co., Gen. Soc's quarterly LATCHUA COUNTRY NEWS.

Mary married Lewis G. Pyles 19 Jul 1854, Thomas Co., GA. Lewis (son of Samuel R. Pyles and Charlotte Wynn) was born 1831, Newnansville, FL; died 18 Feb 1866, Archer, Alachua Co., FL; was buried , Newnansville, FL. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

(If you use any portion of these notes, please give source credit to Lois Sorensen, Remington family researcher and compiler, and to other sources as noted herein.)

In the 1880 Federal Census, Samuel Pyles is single and age 24, a druggist, living on Broad St. (?) in Thomasville, GA.

The following biographical sketch was contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Charles Blankenship, PylesSRP@aol.com (Author: Charles Blankenship)

Samuel R. Pyles, the child of Mary S. Remington and Lewis G. Pyles, was born either in Thomasville, GA, or Newnansville, FL. The 1860 Census says that he was born in Florida, but the 1900 and 1910 enumeration taken in Idaho and California said Georgia. Samuel's mother was the child of Edward and Mary Remington who had moved from Rhode Island to Thomas Co., GA, in the 1830s. His father Lewis was the son of Charlotte Wynn of Savannah, GA, and Col. Samuel R. Pyles of Glynn Co., GA.

Young Samuel's mother died in 1859 just a few days after the birth and death of an infant child. She is buried in the old Newnansville Methodist Cemetery outside the present day town of Alachua, Alachua Co., FL. His father, Lewis, continued to live and work as a Registrar in the General Land Office in the old town. Both young Samuel and Lewis were listed living in town in 1860.

When the Civil War broke out, Samuel's father was elected as a Major in the 2nd FL Infantry Regiment as a Staff Officer. At the Virginia Battle of Seven Pines in May of 1862, he was severely wounded. He was a Lt. Col. at that time and was promoted to full Colonel, but did not serve with the 2nd FL Reg't again. Instead, returning home, he recovered and was in some Florida skirmishes. Florida Masonic records indicate that he died in Archer, Florida in 1866.

At that time, young Samuel was an orphan. All his male paternal uncles were dead and most likely he was living with his paternal aunt, Charlotte L. (Pyles) Helvenston in Archer. His maternal grandfather, Edward Remington, probably took Samuel to Thomasville to live and become educated. Some records from that area indicate that he was a registered voter by 1876 and attended a wedding for a paternal cousin in 1879.

The 1880 Census shows that he was a druggist at his cousin W. E. Davies' Drug Store in Thomasville. By October of 1882, a Rhode Island Equity Partition [Shelton vs Sheldon] states that he was living in Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., OH. The Cincinnati City Directory between 1889 to 1892 lists him as a city resident and working for a railroad by the last year.

Meanwhile, his grandfather had died in 1878 and his cousin [W. E. Davies] began to settle their grandfather's land holdings in Levy and Alachua Co., FL. An Ancient Record [DBK 35] filed in 1890, states that he was married and that he and his wife, Mary J. Pyles, were still living in Hamilton Co., OH. She relinquished her dower rights and both received monetary payment in consideration of the same.

Not much is known of their movements, except by researching the 1900, 1910, and 1920 Census records and their proper names. In 1900, Samuel R. and Mary J. Pyles appear in De Lamar, Owyhee Co., ID. Samuel was a hotel manager and they were living at the hotel that boarded "gold miners" in a Silver Mining town. The enumeration indicated that they had been married for 17 years, so they must have married in OH in 1883. Mary's birth state was Ohio and her parents were from WV and England. Ten years later, the states were reversed and by 1920, her father was listed as being from VA.

In 1910, the couple are listed as living on Hill Street in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, CA. Samuel's occupation was retail clerk in a Cigar Store. Their marriage years were stated as 27 to confirm the 1883 date. Both the 1900 and 1910 stated that Samuel was born in Georgia. The 1900 had his father born in FL, but mother in RI. By 1910, it showed FL and GA.

The question as to children for Mary J. Pyles on the 1910 was answered "0-0" to indicate that she never had children. Thus, the line of Lewis G. Pyles and Mary S. Remington ended with the passing of their son, Samuel R. Pyles. The 1920 Census for Santa Monica, CA, indicates that Mary J. Pyles was widowed and still living in the same town. Her husband Samuel R. Pyles died between 1910 and 1920. She does not appear on the 1930 census, so she probably died after 1920.

Additional Comments:
Lewis G. Pyles Civil War Service Records are available at the National Archives. Ancient Records of Alachua County, Florida are online dating from the 1830 through the early to middle 1860s. Biographies for his parents are both online and through the Alachua Co. Gen. Society's quarterly: 'LATCHUA COUNTRY NEWS. His mother's family is well documented in Thomasville, GA, where they are buried. Except for 1870, Samuel R. Pyles appears on every Census through 1910. Because he and his wife used their first names and middle initials, it is easy to research their westward trek.

Samuel married Mary Jennie Garwood 11 Apr 1883, Hamilton Co., OH. Mary was born , OH; died Between 1920 and 1930. [Group Sheet]