Fearless Females - Profile of Mary Ann Matson

March 31 — Pick one female ancestor and write a mini-profile (500 words or less).

Mary Matson in 1919

My great-great-grandmother Mary Ann Matson was born in Clinton County, Ohio on Sept. 11, 1851. She was the youngest of the 13 children of Asa Matson and Dorothy “Dolly” Clevenger. Mary's parents were born in Virginia and migrated to Clinton County, Ohio in the early 1800's. Four of Mary's brothers served in the Civil War and two died in the war while another was wounded.

On December 10, 1868, Mary was married to Timothy Creeden in Clinton County. She was 17 and Timothy was 22. Timothy was an Irish immigrant, born in 1846 in County Cork.

In the 1870 census, Timothy and Mary “Credon” have a son named Patrick born in November, 1869. Timothy is listed as a farmer and they are living in the Richland Township next door to or with Mary's brother John Matson. Tragedy struck when Patrick died at the age of three in 1872. In the 1880 census, they are still in the Richland township and they have children James, Lizzie (Mary Elizabeth), Dennis, and Daniel.

In January 1884, Mary and her family moved to Mercer County, Ohio where they bought 40 acres of land in the Hopewell township. (Details on Mercer Land Purchase) Tragedy struck again when their son James died in 1889 from typhoid fever. He was only 17 years old and is buried in Old Buck cemetery in Hopewell Township. John Matson is buried next to James.

Mary at her boarding house

Mary and Timothy's son Edward was born in April 1884. They had 4 more children in Mercer County: Ida Belle, Julia, Charles, and Joshua. Timothy died in December 1899 and left the land to Mary. On September 29, 1901 Mary granted a mortgage to Bessie Copeland for part of the land. Mary had already moved the family to a boarding house in town in Celina, Ohio. In the 1900 census, Mary is living with the six youngest children at the boarding house. Daniel is working for the railroad and Edward is a clerk. Charles and Julia are attending school while Ida Belle and Joshua are still at home. In 1910, Mary is listed as the Proprietor of a Boarding House and three of the children have jobs while living at the house with three boarders. More deaths struck the family as her son Charles lost his son Carl in 1912 and her son Daniel lost both of his children in 1915 and 1916. In 1920, only Joshua is still at home, although Ida Belle and her husband are possibly living at the house. Mary's occupation is listed as "None", so perhaps she was able to retire by then.

Mary died in 1925 at the age of 74 in Mercer County, Ohio. (Mary's Obituary) She had been a devout member of the Immaculate Conception Church while living in Mercer County and she was buried in the Catholic cemetery there. Several people from Clinton County attended her funeral, including some of her Matson family. She lived through a lot including the Civil War, the deaths of two children and three grandchildren, and her husband's early death, but was able to make a living and raise the younger children by herself.

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Once again, in honor of  National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

Fearless Females - Words of Wisdom

March 30 — Did you receive any advice or words of wisdom from your mother or another female ancestor?

I was going through some old letters recently and ran across a card from my mother that said "Keep Smiling!". I don't even remember what the crisis of the day was, but I feel very fortunate that she is always there for encouragement when things get tough and for advice on all kinds of practical matters.

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Once again, in honor of  National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month..

Fearless Females - Trading Card

March 29 — Create a free Footnote Page or a Genealogy Trading Card at Big Huge Labs for a female ancestor. Some of you may have created your own card back in September 2009 following Sheri Fenley’s post over at The Educated Genealogist. This time, the card is for your female ancestor. Tell us about who you've selected and why and then post a link to what you've created.

Jimbob Chilcutt posted a template for Ancestor Cards on his MyFamily Chilcutt site, so I decided to choose a Chilcutt ancestor to try out the template.

Fearless Females - Friends

March 28 — Do you remember your mother’s best friend? Your grandmother’s? How and where did they meet? How long were they friends? What activities did they share?

My mother and her best friend Laura met when we moved into our neighborhood in Florida. I was four years old and Laura's daughter was about the same age as me. They came over to introduce themselves shortly after we moved there and we all hit it off. My mother and Laura shared a lot of activities with the kids, including Girl Scouts, dance recitals, shopping trips and camping trips in the Keys. Laura was always at the center of the activities and used to take us horseback riding and to the beach. We used to have a great Halloween celebration in the neighborhood and Laura's wicked witch with her big boiling pot was legendary! Laura passed away a few years ago and I know my mother still misses her.

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Once again, in honor of  National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month..

Eugene Willis - Sunday's Obituary

I had tried finding a date of death or obituary for my great-grandfather Eugene Willis with no luck. Finally, I located this note from October 8, 1951 in the Chester (Pennsylvania) Times that said he had been admitted to the hospital with abrasions of the elbow and knee. I also located several memorial notes in his memory signed from his children each year on October 8. However, I still couldn't locate an obituary. So, did he die from the injuries described here?

I went page by page in the October 1951 editions of the Chester Times to see if I could find anything and finally found the obituary on October 12 which said he died on October 8, but didn't give a reason. My mother was able to fill in some details and said that he had a bad fall down the stairs of the duplex that he lived in and also injured his head. He didn't recover from the head injury.

From Chester Times, October 12, 1951:

Eugene S. Willis
Funeral Held Thursday
  Rev. H. N. Reeves jr.; pastor of the Linwood Methodist Church, conducted funeral services Thursday for Eugene S. Willis, of 1 Naaman's Creek road, Ogden, who died Monday. Mr. Willis was buried in Hiram Memorial Gardens.
  Pallbearers for Mr. Willis were his four sons-in-law, Royce Councill, of Ogden; Jacob Rosenberger, of Soudertown; Paul Dutt, of West Chester, and Frank Bass, of Dover, Del. and two nephews, Edward Willis jr. of Boothwyn, and Russell Rosenberger, of Souderton.
  He is survived by four daughters, Mrs. Frank Bass, Dover, Del.; Mrs. Royce Councill, Ogden; Mrs. Jacob Rosenberger, Souderton; Mrs. Paul Dutt, West Chester; three sons, Edward and James Willis, Chester, and William Willis, Ogden; 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

This is one of the memorial notices that was published on October 8, starting in 1952.

This was the final memorial notice that I found, published on October 8, 1963 which was very sad.

The four daughters were Edna Councill, Pauline Rosenberger, Oleda Bass, and Edith Dutt. Eugene was also survived by his ex-wife Pearl who had remarried. I had hoped the obituary might solve some mysteries like what his middle initial stood for, his exact date of birth, and confirmation of who his parents were, but the date of death should help in tracking down some other records. Also, a bit of a mystery, I could find no record of Hiram Memorial Gardens, but there is now an Edgewood cemetery in the location where his ex-wife Pearl is buried. Her obituary also said Hiram Memorial Gardens, so it must have changed names at some point.