By the time Mary Ann (Harper) Davey died on 08 Feb 1897 she
had buried her husband and all but one of her children. Yes, her life had
spanned nearly eighty years and all the children had lived to adulthood but
each loss surely left a hollowness within her.
Her first great loss occurred on 17 May 1882 when her
namesake daughter, Mary Ann, died leaving four children between the ages of
eighteen and twelve. How difficult it is to lose a child. Even adult children
as expected to outlive their parents. Possibly concern for her grandchildren
helped Mary Ann through the trying time.
Less than a year later, on 14 Mar 1883, her husband of 49
years left this world before her. Together they had created a family in
Lanlivery, Cornwall, England. Together they had journeyed to Canada in 1848 settling
there for a mere 10 months. Together they brought their family to Dodgeville,
Wisconsin where they remained. Initially, John took up farming but eventually
he worked as a miner like so many of the Cornish men in the area. Like many of
the miners, John most likely spent a good deal of time away from the family
travelling to find the best work or the richest mines. However, with age
creeping up, John had probably been home more in these later years increasing
the bond between husband and wife. Losing John, with all her children married
and on their own meant Mary Ann knew life alone for the first time.
The next few years saw the deaths of Mary Ann’s oldest
child, John, in 1884 and her youngest child, Joseph, in 1889. Fortunately, many
of her grandchildren still lived in and around Dodgeville because with her only
surviving child, Elizabeth, residing in Kearsage, Michigan, some 400 miles
away, Mary Ann found herself essentially childless. The grandchildren and the
community saw to her needs as required.
Mary Ann had joined the Primitive Methodist Church in 1861 where
she volunteered for numerous activities throughout her life. In later years,
the community, holding her in high regard, addressed her as “Grandma.” Her
optimistic and gentle attitude towards others created a family far wider than
the biological relations
.
Elizabeth having come to visit just a week before Christmas
of 1896 must have seen the decline in her mother’s health. Rather than
returning home to Kearsage she stayed on to help in any way she could. It would
have been a long few months; it’s never easy to care to the ill and elderly. In
addition to the difficulty however, there were most likely times of remembrance
and times of laughter. Mary Ann probably had much she wanted to pass on to this
her last living child and the last one to hold the memories of a shared family
past.
Elizabeth carried the family’s past with her until her death
on 29 Jul 1929. Did she write any of the stories down? Did she pass along oral
tales about this particular family’s life? If so, who is left to share them? If
not, are they lost forever?
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