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.

Four Months Later - August 21, 1922

Sarah Jane's last living child, Ginevra, died only four months after her mother.  Anna Josephine, Sarah's other adult child died two years earlier in 1920. After finding out that Ginevra died of carcinoma of the uterus, I was curious as to the cause of death listed for her sister. Anna Josephine's listed cause of death was pulmonary tuberculosis. I don't know how this differs from the consumption from which the other children of Sarah and Joseph died.

Obituary of Ginevra Withrow Vorhies - mother of Estella Vorhies Smith

Mrs. J.M. Vorhies Passes to Reward

     Ginevra M. Withrow was born in Butler county, Ohio, March 5, 1855, and died at the hospital at Carroll, Ia., August 21, 1922 at the age of 67 years, 3 months and 16 days.  With her parents she moved to Jasper county, Ia., where she was married to John M. Vorhies May 27, 1875 and the following year in February they came to Scranton, where they have lived continuously ever since.  Three children were born to them.  Mrs. H.L. Smith and Gene Vorhies of this vicinity, and LeRoy Vorhies of Pikeview, Colo.  She was a member of the Church of Christ and enjoyed the services of the church, but in late years was deprived of attending on account of the care of her aged mother.  Besides her husband, J.M. Vorhies, and three children, she leaves two grandchildren and one great grandchild, together with many friends and neighbors to mourn their loss.
     Funeral services were held from the Church of Christ yesterday at 2:00 p.m. by the pastor, Eld. C. A. Burkhart.  Interment was made in the Scranton cemetery by the following pall bearers:  John McDonald, Sr., John Moran, William Hutchison, George Knauss, S.M. Hall and G.D. McDonald.
     In the passing of this wife and mother the community mourns the loss of a member who was faithful and true in every test of life,  She has lived long among us, being almost a pioneer and during all of those years she has been known as one who was untiringly carrying forward her commonplace duties.  There has been no blot to her good name.  She has devoted her life to her husband and her family and the good causes of her community. She has been gathered to her fathers.  It is the way of all the earth.  The Journal joins with the entire community in extending the most profound sympathy to this husband and father and the children who have lost their best friend on earth.

O.K. Let's discuss this a little. My mother, Mary, was the great grandchild referred to. However, there were certainly more than two grandchildren.  Estella Vorhies Smith had six children who lived to adulthood: Nina, Merroll, Neva, Ardea, Dale, Leah.
Eugene Vorhies had two children: Lester and Viola. Leroy had three children: Verle, Fern, Harold.

I say she had eleven grandchildren.  I guess you just can't believe everything you read. In John M. Vorhies' obituary, ten grandchildren are mentioned. This would be correct because his grandson, Lester, died in 1933 at age 23. Curious about this anyone?

Back to Aunt Anna

     Anna Josephine Withrow Cromwell would be my great, great, great aunt. She was born at Farmersville, Ohio on Friday, January 16, 1857, and died in her home in Scranton, Iowa on Friday, July 16, 1920.  I wrote about her in the post Anna Josephine and  Ginevra.
     According to her obituary, she moved as a small child with her parents to Indiana before moving to Jasper County, Iowa. In the spring of 1876, they came to Greene County, Iowa,  settling on a farm southwest of Scranton, where she resided until her marriage to William J. Cromwell on October 3, 1876.
     I have some problems with this obituary. I corrected the date when the family moved to Greene County. The obituary said 1875. It was February 1876.  I had never heard or found anything about the family moving to Indiana from Ohio. However, this is very logical, and I accept it as the case.  Then, there is the matter of the wedding date. Was it October 3 or was it October 2? Look carefully at the Marriage Certificate at the end of this page. 
     I encourage you to read all of Anna Josephine's obituary at http://www.jefferson.advantage-preservation.com. It can be found in The Jefferson Bee, July 20, 1920.  I especially found the listing of her pall bearers interesting. It states that they were all soldier boys to whom she had written during the late war.
     The issue for July 14 tells of two daughters coming to assist in her care and that her condition was causing much anxiety among her relatives and many friends. 
      She sounds like she was a wonderful woman.