Often we are taken aback when we come across the death record of an ancestor. Details are found…date, age, cause of death… But what if we discover something that describes the exact time of death in a very dramatic and tangible way. That is what I found in a newspaper article from the Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, TN) dated Wednesday, June 4, 1924. Actually this is just one of many newspapers that reported the accident. Several details are given. However one caught my eye this time. It was a detail about James Neely’s watch. Just a sentence that gave me a moment to pause and reflect. Not only do I know the date LeRoy died but I know the very moment. The moment the balloon was hit by lightning. The moment LeRoy and James died.
“A watch on Lieut. Neely’s body had stopped at 11:15, seven hours after the fatal flight started.”
This detail made it real to me. This was more than a date or cause of death. This was a personal item worn by James that stopped the moment the lightning struck the balloon. This was the moment my ancestor died.
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