Matilda Gorrell Demonstrated the Value of Service

A value that my husband’s grandmother held was service. Throughout her adult life she valued providing a service to others. There is no documentation as to why she did this. Perhaps her unorthodox childhood had something to do with it.

Matilda Pearl Davey was born on 18 April 1880 to Frederick Henry Davey and Matilda “Tillie” Wollenweber. She was their second-born child.[1] She had three brothers from Fred’s first wife, one brother from his second wife, and two step-brothers from the third wife.[2]

Her mother died when she was five years old.[3] In the beginning, her mother’s sister, Julia Wollenweber, came to live with them and her father married her on 28 July 1887, however, the marriage did not last and they were divorced by 1892.[4] The story as told by her son, George, Matilda was sent to live with aunts and perhaps spent time in a children’s home.[5]

She married Joseph Norman Gorrell on 19 December 1900.[6] He was a lineman for a telephone company. In their first years of marriage, they moved around because of his job building telephone lines. They lived in St. Joseph, Kansas City, Carthage, and Joplin, Missouri, and Wichita, Kansas.

Four children were born to them:

• Bertha on 4 January 1904 in Kansas City
• Ada on 26 March 1906 in Kansas City
• George on 29 January 1915 in Blackwater
• Claire on 4 January 1917 in Carthage

Once they were living in Webb City, Missouri, she became active with the Christian Church with the Christian Endeavor Society and the Loyal Gleaners, where she taught Sunday School and led women’s bible classes for many years.

Later, she was involved with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, attending various institutes and presenting on a variety of topics. She held a variety of offices, including president. She was active also with the Webb City Garden Club and the Home Makers Club.[7]

She valued her faith and giving back to others. Perhaps someone in her childhood had spent quality time with her and instilled the value of giving back. We’ll never know but we’re fortunate that she lived in a community that valued reporting on the good works and activities of the community, that helps us understand today what good she did in her lifetime.

#52Ancestors: Week 45 – “A Family Value”
This is my ninth 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] Division of Health of Missouri, Standard Certificate of Death, no. 1696, Tillie D. Gorrell, 1958, Jasper County; imaged, “Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1969,” Missouri Digital Heritage (https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1958/1958_00001696.PDF : accessed 31 Oct 2026); Missouri Secretary of State, Jefferson City. For second-born child, see 1880 U.S. census, Clark Co, Indiana, Jeffersonville, ED 26, p 111B&C (stamped), Phillopena Wollenweber household. Fred, Matilda, 1-yr-old Fred, and 1 month-old Mary R. Somehow Matilda Pearl was recorded as “Mary R.” Phillipena was Matilda’s grandmother.

[2] No one record supports this statement. This family was together during the gap of the 1890 census that was burned.

[3] Carthage Banner (Missouri), 5 Nov 1885, p. 3, col. 2.

[4] More about that story when I write about Frederick.

[5] Note from George J. Gorrell, dated 15 Oct 2000; Gorrell Family Archive.

[6] Jackson Co., Missouri, marriage license, v. 26, p. 598, no. 21336, Joseph N Gorrell & Tillie Davey, 1900; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8989-3ZZ1 : viewed 1 Oct 2025), IGN 007515712, image 345 of 716. 

[7] "Mrs. J.N. Gorrell of Webb City Passes,” Carthage Evening Press, 4 Feb 1958, p. 5, col. 2. 

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