Chiseling Through a Challenge: One of Mary Jane Davey’s Marriages

I have many challenging research subjects, both in my family and in my husband’s family. This past week, I have chiseled away on one of them.

FamilySearch Full-text Search
In the new FamilySearch full-text search, I decided to expand a targeted search out a bit.[1] I searched on “Thomas Davey” and instead of focusing only on Clark County, Indiana, where he lived, I decided to see what else I could find. Sometimes records come up in unexpected places that I would not have searched.

A deed record came up for Thomas and his wife, Mary, in Franklin County, Kansas. Upon reading the deed, I discovered that this was likely my Thomas and Mary Davey because their residence on the deed was Jeffersonville, Clark County, Indiana. Also, one of the witnesses was Fred H. Davey, who was likely their son. What puzzled me about the deed was the amount they paid for several pieces of land: $12,000 for 423 acres. They purchased this land from Henry and Mary Jane Hawkins.[2] I wondered if they bought the land for one of their children, but none of them were known to have lived in Kansas.

Another deed dated 1 July 1879 had Thomas and Mary Davey selling the exact same pieces of land for the same amount of money to Mary Jane Hawkins of Jeffersonville, Indiana.[3] Now this Mary Jane was living in the same town as Thomas and Mary. That cannot be a coincidence.

Is Mary Hawkins Mary Jane Davey?
Then it dawned on me that Mary Jane Hawkins could be their daughter, Mary Jane Davey, who was born on 23 May 1839 in England.[4] Mary Jane Davey has been a brick wall for me. I do not have her death date. Her last known residence was in Carthage, Jasper County, Missouri as Mary Jane Smith. I wrote previously about trying to find her death.[5]

So, this deed in Franklin County sparked some research over the weekend. Searching for other deeds by Henry and Mary Jane Hawkins showed she took out a mortgage from John Gardner that was recorded on 19 November 1879, the same date the second deed above was recorded.[6] Then on 18 February 1880, Henry and Mary J Hawkins of Jeffersonville, Indiana, sold the land to Peter J. Cary of Ross County, Ohio. This was done through an attorney. They sold the land for $6784 and Peter Cary agreed to pay the mortgages held on the property of $4200 and $500, making the total transaction for Cary worth $11,484.[7]

Since it appeared that Henry and Mary Jane Hawkins moved to Jeffersonville, I used newspapers to locate more information about them. On 30 March 1882, a small entry in the local newspaper stated the divorce case of Clay Henry Hawkins against Mary Hawkins was on trial in the circuit court.[8] The circuit court records are locked on FamilySearch, so I will need to view this case at a FamilySearch Center. It is hopeful that information about her maiden name could be included. Hopefully their marriage date will also be included. All I know is they were married prior to 1878, the date of the first deed.

After much searching on FamilySearch and Ancestry, no marriage record was found for Henry Hawkins and Mary Jane Davey. Was she married before? Searching just for Henry Hawkins and Mary first name only turned up nothing as well.

However, I did find mention of Mrs. Dr. Mary Hawkins of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, “treated all chronic diseases.”[9]

Review of what I know about Thomas and Mary’s Daughter
Newspaper articles about Thomas and Mary give clues about Mary Jane. 

• In 1882, Thomas and Mary Davey celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. All their children were named and Mary was listed as Mrs. Mary Hawkins of Lawrenceburg.[10]

• The 1886 obituary of her father listed her name as Dr. Mary Crosby of Indianapolis.[11]

• The obituary of her mother in 1893 listed her name as Dr. Mary Smith of Carthage, Missouri.[12]

To add to this list of names, an article printed in the newspaper on 2 March 1901, gives another possible name of her husbands: Fraily or maybe Fraley.[13]

Further Research Locates Two Marriages
Mary Jane Hawkins married David Curtis Crosby on 9 August 1882 in Ohio County, Indiana.[14] In the 17 August 1883 newspaper in Vincennes, Indiana, an article was printed about Mrs. Dr. Mary Crosby, physician and surgeon, has located to this city. Her office and residence were on the east corner of 9th Street and Seminary.[15] Another article stated she was the late principal female surgeon and physician for Drs. K & K, at 163 Elm Street in Cincinnati, and a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Medicine for Females with 20 years of practical experience.[16]

These are more clues about her medical training and where she practiced. By 1886, she was practicing medicine in Indianapolis, at 124 Fletcher Avenue opposite the State House.[17] She must have left her husband, as he died at the poor house in Vincennes on 8 April 1886 and the paper did not know where his wife was. He was buried at the poor farm.[18]

She was practicing medicine in Springfield, Missouri when she married on 11 July 1889, W. T. Smith.[19] They were married by J.S. Myers, pastor of the S.S. Christian Church. More ads for her business appear in the Springfield newspaper.[20]

By 1890, she had located in Birmingham, Alabama.[21] From there, newspapers had so many Dr. Mary Smith entries from all over the country that I am not sure I’m looking at the same person. There is that one notation from her mother’s obituary that she was living in Joplin, Missouri in 1893. So that is a clue, but I have not found her there yet.

Conclusion
Newspapers help pinpoint her locations as she placed ads for her medical business in newspapers across the Midwest. But it also brings up more questions. Why did she move so often? Why did she not stay long with her husbands? Where did she die? Perhaps there is another surname to search under.

Springfield (Missouri) News Leader, Oct 8, 1889, p. 6

While I have not yet discovered her death information, I have made progress. It is possible to whittle away at a tough problem. Keep searching. Expand the search to outside of the expected areas. Create a timeline with all the events in their life, documenting with citations. Then if something new pops up in your research, you will be able to determine if this new record is about them.

#52Ancestors-Week 44: Challenging

This is my seventh year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe.

I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

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[1] The full-text search feature can be found here: https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/.

[2] Franklin Co, Kansas, deeds, v. 31, p. 487-88, Henry & Mary Jane Hawkins to Thomas & Mary Davey, 1878, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QG-VDMH : accessed 26 Oct 2024); citing IGN 008561254, image 252 of 658.

[3] Franklin Co, Kansas, deeds, v. 34, p. 519-20, Davey to Hawkins, 1879, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QG-5HZ9 : accessed 26 Oct 2024), IGN 008561255, image 593 of 834.

[4] Family data, Thomas Davey Family Bible, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Moore, Wilstch, Keyes & Company, 1859); original owned by Thomas Davey, transcription done by Mary Davey Korn, granddaughter of Thomas Davey.

[5] “Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Do You Have a Mary Smith?” https://mytrailsintothepast.blogspot.com/2020/03/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-do-you.html, published 7 March 2020.

[6] I do not have a copy of the mortgage, only the entry in the deed index. The mortgage records are not on FamilySearch.

[7] Franklin Co, Kansas, deeds, v. 33, p. 620, Hawkins to Cary, 1880, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/008561255 : accessed 26 Oct 2024); citing IGN 008561255, image 322 of 834.

[8] “Circuit Court,” Jeffersonville Daily Evening News, 30 Mar 1882, p. 1, col. 6.

[9] Jeffersonville Daily Evening News, 20 April 1882, p. 4, col. 2.

[10] “Golden Nuptials,” Jeffersonville Daily Evening News, 24 May 1882, p. 2, col. 1.

[11] "Thomas Davey," Jeffersonville (Indiana) Daily News, 9 Feb 1886, p. 2, col. 2.

[12] “Death of Mary Davey,” Jeffersonville Daily Evening News, 9 Feb 1893, p. 4, col. 2.

[13] “Who Mrs. Smith Was,” Jeffersonville Evening News, 2 March 1901, p. 4, col. 3.

[14] Ohio Co, Indiana, marriages, v. 2, p. 31, David Curtis Crosby to Mary Jane Hawkins, 1883, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DRD3-JG1); IGN 004455442, im 48 of 395.

[15] The Daily Sun (Vincennes, Ind.), 17 Aug 1883, p. 4, col. 4.

[16] The Daily Sun (Vincennes, Ind.), 23 Jul 1883, p. 4, col. 3.

[17] “Announcement,” The Indianapolis News, 30 Oct 1885, p. 3, col. 4.

[18] The Western Sun, 9 Apr 1886, p. 3, col. 3.

[19] Greene Co, Missouri, marriages, v. I, p. 147, Dr. W.T. Smith to Dr. Mary Crosby, 1889, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89CT-L5V8), IGN 007424401, image 412 of 674.

[20] “A Card to the Ladies of Springfield, Missouri,” The Springfield Republican, 31 Jul 1889, p. 6, col. 4. The ad listed her new name and her former name, connecting the two.

[21] “Dr. Mary Smith,” The Birmingham News, 2 Jan 1890, p. 5, col. 5. This ad mentions she was graduate of Philadelphia College and formerly of Louisville, Kentucky.

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