William Douglas Simms,died in Pensacola, Florida. Why had he left his home in Virginia for Florida?

Question

William Douglas Simms, son of Col. Charles Simms, left his home in Alexandria, VA and traveled to Florida where he died of Yellow Fever Aug. 26, 1822 at the age of 39. It would appear that his wife Emily Morgan (nee Neville) died in Pittsburgh, PA the prior year.

Answer 1

On 4 April 1820, James Monroe sent some nominations to the US Senate. Among them:

"William Douglass Simms, of Alexandria, to be Register of the Land Office at Arkansas, in the Territory of Arkansas, and Henry Conway, to be receiver of Public Moneys at the same place."

Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, Volume 3, page 205.

Was William Douglass Simms' visit to Pensacola connected to this appointment?

Regards,

Ann

Comments

Nice find, Ann! A reminder of the MYRIAD of record types we can look to for clues.

Another suggestion I've heard for such "migrations" is to review newspapers from the time period and place (both origin and destination) to see what was going on at the time that  might be connected to the person in question. Was something going on there related to his profession? Were there family members there he was visiting? You'll often see in these old newspapers "family news" such as: Miss Mary Lou Hamer arrived in Cincinnati from Buffalo, to visit her Aunt Judith Sess, and expects to remain with us through the summer..." followed by "The town was hit hard with cholera this August; we've already lost 23 souls this summer, young and old."

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Hey Jillaine:  

Your advice is invaluable. I am using local papers right now to try and climb over one of my New Hampshire brick walls. How can one resist a newspaper called Farmer's Cabinet?

 

Ann