Mary Kate

I have looked for Mary Kate Withrow for years. She was the oldest child of Joseph and Sarah Jane Withrow. Prior to moving to Greene County in 1876, the family lived in Jasper County, Iowa. Mary Kate’s next oldest sibling was Ginerva, my great great grandmother. They were only about a year apart in age. They were both born in Ohio before the young family started west. Ginevra was married  27 May 1875 age 20.  Her just older sister, Mary Kate, died of consumption 29 March 1875, age 21. The Withrow home must have been on a roller coaster of emotions. 

The family left Jasper County and arrived in Greene County in February 1876 just before Ginevra delivered her first child March 23, 1876. ( This was my great grandmother Estella Smith who I have mentioned often).
What happened to Mary Kate? I assumed she was probably buried on the farm where they lived, lost to eternity.

One of the thrilling parts of genealogy study is discovery. A couple of my most thrilling discoveries were finding the manifest for the ship Oldenburg with the name of my husband’s grandfather and family who arrived in Baltimore on 27 May 1892 from Bremen. Germany. Another exciting find was the identification of Carrie Platt. She was my maternal grandmother’s first cousin. I have a great picture of them together. I spent a good year trying to figure out who she was, maybe more.

And now I have located the grave of Mary Kate. She has a lovely stone marking her grave in a little country cemetery called Bethany Cemetery near Sully, Iowa. It has been renamed Dairy Grove Cemetery for what reason I do not know.