Serena was the daughter of Matthew and Ann (Martin) Caldwell. She came with her parents as a baby from Kentucky to St. Louis, MO and then a few years later a little west to Franklin Co., MO.

She married Ephraim B. Strickland about 1823 in Franklin Co., MO. He was the son of Barnabas and Rachael (McKie) Strickland.

14 Jun 1827, Ephraim served as a justice of the peace when the Franklin County court met for the second time after its move to the new county seat, Union. He served again in 1828. It may have been his stepfather, Matthew Caldwell, who got him involved in politics, although his own father, Barnabas, had received a commission earlier to acquire the site for the new court house and county jail.

The 1830 census shows Ephraim and Serena with two young daughters and four slaves.

In 1831, Ephraim represented Franklin County at the Republican State Convention in the state capitol of Jefferson City.

They bought more land in 1835.

In 1836, Ephraim and his father Barnabas were both listed in St. Johns Township on a special census of slaveholders in Franklin County. This land is very near Ephraim's original land purchase. His father had four slaves and Ephraim had five.

By the time of the 1840 census they had nine slaves, which was a large number for the area. They had six children.

Ephraim's father died in 1840 and left almost his entire estate, including "the land known as the Richardson field" which seems to have been his own farm and may have been as much as 160 acres, to his slave housekeeper and her two children. Ephraim was bequeathed only his father's hunting rifle. He and Serena had most likely received everything else from his father that he intended to give them, as Ephraim was designated as the estate administrator to protect the interests of the now ex-slaves.

In 1842, Ephraim and Serena bought more land. This was more directly south of Washington about three miles out and not too far to the west off of Highway A at Krakow Loop. It was at about the midway point between Washington and Union. The seller, Josiah Dent, was the son of Samuel Dent, who had been Serena's parents' next-door neighbor in 1830. However, this land was two or three miles closer to Union than Matthew or Ephraim's land. Highway A used to be the main road between Washington and Union before Highway 47 was built, so the Strickland farm was not isolated.

It looks like Ephraim and Serena moved to live near her parents (or widowed father) after the death of Ephraim's father. Although it looks like Ephraim's original land was already very close.

About 1848, Ephraim & Serena's daughter Caroline moved with her husband to Texas. Within a few years two more of their daughters also went. Ephraim & Serena may have considered making the move themselves, as they also bought land in Texas. But they either changed their minds or had just bought the land as an investment, as they had their son-in-law, Andrew Hereford, help them sell the land later.

1850 census, Franklin Co., MO, Being District 31, page 092A.
Ephram B. Strickland, 57, Farmer, real estate $4,000, b. GA
Serena, 44, KY
Serena, 18, MO
Josephine, 17, MO
Matthew, 15, MO
Merebeau, 12, MO
Adomira, 10, MO
John (D?), 7, MO
Adlea, 4, MO
Andrew, 3 mos, MO

[Ephraim Strickland - slave schedule page 011]
Male slave aged 42
Female slave aged 19
Male slave aged 17
Female slave aged 15
Male slave aged 11

1860 census, Franklin Co., MO, St. Johns Township, p. 353
E. B. Stricklin, 65, farmer, $3,000, $5000, b. GA
Serena K., 55, KY
Edwin A., 19, farmer, MO
John D., 15, farmer & in school, MO
Adelia, 13, in school, MO
Charles, 10, in school, MO

Ephraim's slaves:
One female slave, 55, mulatto (mixed race)
One male slave, 35, mulatto
One female slave, 25, mulatto
One female slave, 22, black
One female slave, 19, black
One male slave, 19, black. [Alex]
One female slave, 7, black

Ephraim and Serena in the Civil War - As slaveholders, they were presumably Confederate sympathizers. There were far more volunteers for the Union army from Franklin Co., MO than for the Confederate, but Ephraim and Serena's twenty-year-old son Mirabeau enlisted in the Confederate Missouri State Guard in Aug 1862. He became a prisoner-of-war in Jul 1863, exchanged in Feb 1865, and captured again two months later. He was released released for good at the end of the war in Apr 1865.

Ironically, Ephraim and Serena also supplied a soldier to the Union side. One of their slaves, Alex, enlisted in the Union army: Private USCT COS.HIK 68th USCT Infantry
11MAR1864 Descriptive Lists of Colored Volunteers
(1863-4) enlisted in Washington, MO, CWSS.

Ephraim and Serena's slaves were freed by an act of the Missouri legislature in Jan 1865. They had represented the bulk of their net worth, more than their farmland was worth.

Ephraim died shortly after the end of the war, in the summer of 1866. Serena was appointed adminstratrix of his estate. Unfortunately, most of the probate papers are missing.

State of Missouri
County of Franklin
Personally appeared before the undersigned Clerk of the County Court for the county aforesaid, on this 4th day of August 1866, Sirena K. Strickland of lawful age who being duly sworn on her oath states that E. B. Strickland late of the county aforesaid departed this life on or about the 3rd day of June 1866 last, leaving no last will or testament to her knowledge or information, that the said E. B. Strickland at the time of his death had his mansion, house, or place of abode in this county, and that he died seized and possessed of goods, chattels, and real estate; that the names of the heirs of the deceased are as follows:
Sirena K. Strickland, widow
Mary Ann
Caroline Elizabeth
Sirena K., Jr.
Alici J.
Adeline M. J.
M. B. Strickland
M. L. Strickland
D. A. Strickland
J. D. Strickland
And that they live in Franklin Co., MO, Colorado, & Gonzalas County, TX

[in Serena's handwriting]
State of Missouri
County of Franklin
This is to certify that I, Siren K. Strickland, widow of the late E. B. Strickland, have taken as my absolute additional dower the personal property of said deceased at its appraised value for four hundred & ninety three dollars $493.00 having selected that much.
September 10th, 1866
[signed] Sirene K. Strickland

According to the notes of an old family researcher, Serena died in St. Clair in 1897. It's possible that she lived in her later years with her son Matthew and died at his home in Appleton City, St. Clair COUNTY, MO instead of the town of St. Clair in Franklin county where she lived most of her life. Although she has no tombstone in Strickland family plot in Appleton City cemetery, it's possible she is buried there.

However, her own parents were probably buried in the old Caldwell cemetery and since her husband had no relatives in Missouri other than his father who died in 1840, it seems most likely that all of them are buried in the Caldwell cemetery. It's also possible they are buried in a lost family plot on her father Matthew Caldwell's farm nearby.

Children:

1. Mary Ann Strickland, b. 23 Feb 1825, Krakow, Franklin Co., MO; m. 23 Nov 1847, Franklin Co., MO, to Andrew Chunn Hereford [1825 - 1904]; she d. 14 Dec 1874, Columbus, Colorado Co., TX; buried Odd Fellow's Rest Cemetery.

2. Caroline Elizabeth Strickland, b.c. 1830, Krakow, Franklin Co., MO; m. 23 Apr 1845, Franklin Co., MO, to Griffith Thomas [b. 1822, Leesburg, Loudoun Co., VA; d.c. 1875, Franklin Co., MO; son of Phineas and Frances (Keen) Thomas]; she d. 1880-1900, Lonedell, Franklin Co., MO; buried Johnson-Drake cemetery.

3. Serena K. Strickland, b. 19 Oct 1830, Krakow, Franklin Co., MO; m. 30 Sep 1851, Franklin Co., MO, to James Melvin Lipscomb [b. 30 Nov 1830, V; d. 23 Jun 1913, Warrensburg, MO; buried Liberty Cemetery; s/o Benjamin Lipscomb]; she d. 1 Oct 1923, Hazel Hill Twp., Johnson Co., MO; buried Liberty cemetery.

4. Alice Josephine Strickland, b. 26 Nov 1832, Krakow, Franklin Co., MO; m. 13 Sep 1854, Gonzales Co., TX to Judge Everett Lewis [1861-1915]; d. 6 Oct 1909, Gonzales Co., TX; buried Gonzales Masonic cemetery.

5. Matthew Barnabus Strickland, b. 8 Aug 1835, Krakow, Franklin Co., MO; m. 5 May 1857, St. Louis Co., MO, to Mary Ann Conway [b. 4 Dec 1830; d. 18 Sep 1908; daughter of Samuel and Mourning (Baxter) Conway]; he d. 17 Apr 1922, Rockville, Bates Co., MO; buried Appleton Cemetery, St. Clair Co., MO.

7. Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar Strickland "Bozzy", b. 29 Feb 1840, Krakow, Franklin Co., MO; m. 1870, probably St. Louis Co., MO, to Agzella Conway [b. 28 Apr 1850; d. 9 Apr 1888]; he d. 22 May 1925, St. Clair Co., MO; buried Teays Chapel Cemetery.

8. Edward A. Strickland, b. 30 Jan 1841, Krakow, Franklin Co., MO; m. 1868 to Mary Ann Kirkpatrick [b. 25 Jun 1840, MO; d. 10 Aug 1913, Kansas City, Jackson Co., MO; daughter of William and Alsie (Ferguson) Kirkpatrick]; he d. 13 Mar 1919, Kansas City, Jackson Co., MO; buried Elmwood cemetery.

9. John D. Strickland, b. Sep 1843, Krakow, Franklin Co., MO; m. 26 Jun 1876, St. Louis, MO to Charity A. Mackey [b. 1861 MO]; he d. 1910, Collinsville, Tulsa Co., OK; buried Ridgelawn Cemetery.

10. Adelia M. Strickland, b.c. 1847, Krakow, Franklin Co., MO. She was listed with parents on 1850 & 1860 censuses with parents and named in 1866 as an heir of her father (no married names of daughters were given). She is not found on the 1870 census under the name Strickland, so she either married or died by that time.

11. Andrew Charles Strickland, b.c. 1850, Krakow, Franklin Co., MO; never married; d. 1860-1866, Krakow, Franklin Co., MO; buried Johnson-Caldwell Cemetery.