Mary "Mollie" Jarvis married my great grandfather's brother Sterling. Sterling was an interesting character and the local blacksmith. His first wife, Samantha, died when he was 56, leaving several children still at home, the youngest, Lucy, was 9. I guess Sterling thought he needed a wife so he married Molly Jarvis when he was 71 and she was 19.
Sterling and his first wife Samantha
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Mollie and Sterling
In the 1910 Census, Mollie and Sterling were still doing fine. He still had a daughter at home, not married and 24 years older than his wife.
Sterling died in 1915 at the age of 87. Mollie continued on and remarried when she was 37, right after Sterling died. I probably would not have made the connection except my great grandmother writes about it.
November 22, 1918
"Your Uncle Sterling's widow married a Quillin and lives on South side of Clinch Mountain. Has 2 children."
Millie Jarvis and who we believe is John Quillen.
Sisters - Minnie Johnson, Sarah Gibson and Mollie Quillen
We don't know when Mollie passed but we are still looking.
OMG-That poor girl to have to marry someone that old but that is what happened back then to make sure the girl would not become a spinster or have a place to live. My grandfather's wife(my grandmom) died in 1919. He hired a local girl to care for the remaining children in the home (5 still) and ended up marrying her -he was 48 and she was 24-not as huge a difference as your Mollie but my grandfather was blind-ugh. I hope you can find something. I found my grandmother's death certificate online (ancestry.ca when they had a free weekend). I also found the death certificate of my great grandmother which was neat to see
ReplyDeleteI'm glad she went on to marry someone closer to her own age and have a family. She looks kind of shell shocked in the photo. If he had daughter's 24 years older than she was, he didn't really need a wife to look after the kids, doesn't seem like.
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