Lilly Irons, Shackles, Ball & Chains

[Rsmyth]

Great find Laurie! Very interesting. I like the handwriting expert on Pawn Stars who comes in carrying that big suitcase and all that he ever takes out of it is a magnifying glass.

[Jim Garrett]

But it's a really big magnifying glass.

[KateH.]

Maybe he thinks, the bigger the magnifying glass, the more important I look

[RJNorton]

Many thanks to Ron Spitz for sending this article entitled "Lily Research."

The research team is composed of:

Paul Davies (Australia)
Matt Forte (Massachusetts)
Lyle Wilkerson (Texas)
Ron Spitz (Arizona)

CLICK HERE.

[Rsmyth]

Interesting story and great research. Lilly is not mentioned in the rolls of Greenwood cemetery. Greenwood's records are pretty thorough; he may have been buried somewhere else after the obit was written or he could have been moved.

[Steve]

As a lover of genealogy, I really liked the look at the life of Eliakim Lilly and his multifaceted military career. I found Lilly's Find A Grave entry with a photo of his grave (his grave does not have a marker):

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1566...akim-lilly

Lilly Irons got their name from a type of whaling harpoon. Here's an image of a lily iron harpoon:

http://www.gcihs.org/archives/items/show/15239

Here's a link to an 1855 news article describing a lily iron harpoon being used against a snake in a New York lake:

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18550920.2.4

(The article was reprinted nationwide and might be a promotional hoax for P.T. Barnum, but it describes the lily iron harpoon and its use.)

Here's a whaling supplies dealer in Honolulu advertising lily irons among its wares on page 6 of the 30 June 1859 Pacific Commercial Advertiser (below the bold type Hemp Canvas):

   

The earliest advertisements for lily iron harpoons that I could find is from February 1850, so I'm guessing they probably first appeared sometime in the 1840's. I don't know how the harpoons got the lilly iron moniker, whether they were invented by someone named Lilly or not. During the Civil War naval sailors, some of whom presumably used to be whalers, gave the shackles that nickname.

I also found this article about a prisoner restrained with lilly iron shackles in the 28 Dec. 1875 edition of the Wilmington Daily Commercial (DE) that I thought would be worth sharing:

   

[RJNorton]

Ron Spitz sent the following:

"A few comments about the responses received. We also found references to the harpoon and were not able to find any connection with our subject. There were many articles about the Lilly shackles after the war. Most of them were referring to the methods of punishment and keeping order amongst the troops.

The information we found was sent the the cemetery and they conducted their own research and came up with a bio which included just about everyone with the name of Lilly. Since they had only limited resources their research was not as refined as ours. An organization that deals with grave monuments for the military was also contacted, so maybe some day their will be one."