Blog Post: To All the Men I Loved Before

This picture is a picture of my 2nd great-grandmother in the community of Waterloo. She is pictured here with her mother-in-law and children mourning the passing of her husband Henry Bailey, my 2nd great-grandfather. When I first saw this picture, passed on to me by a cousin who is the family historian, Patsy. I was immediately touched. I could feel the sadness and the mourning, but also the dignity and commitment to resilience. I immediately began to attach my previous heartaches to hers, Mary Frances Lawson. What was it like to be a fairly young widow, with children roughly a decade after the turning of the 20th century? I have searched incessantly for the death certificate of Henry Bailey, but to no avail. There seems to be a period of time in which death certificates within the county were destroyed. I can only calculate. But, what I do know is that Mary Frances Lawson and Henry Bailey married in Culpeper County, Virginia on September 18, 1895.