Have you ever tried working Ancestry hints for cousin from the late 1800s and realize that you don’t know enough about the family to decide whether the hint is for the cousin or for someone else entirely? That was my situation when researching the children of Benjamin Franklin Wells (1819-1891) of Michigan.
I had identified a daughter, Mary Alice Wells, who was married to a M. G. Parker with a son named Frank. I didn’t have much beyond census records placing her in her father’s household and a reference from the Portrait and Biographical Album of Barry and Eaton Counties, Michigan, that identifies Alice as a daughter of Benjamin F. Wells and wife of M. G. Parker.
In an attempt to learn more about Mary Alice Wells Parker, I turned to FamilySearch where I found a death date that conflicted with the suggested hints. Thus, I needed to locate sources that would answer the question, “which set of dates is correct?”
Since the FamilySearch tree had a death date and place for Daniel Parker, Mary Alice Wells Parker’s son, I decided to try to find an obituary to begin to piece the family together. I was able to find an obituary in the 30 July 1947 issue of the Chicago Tribune.
Parker – Daniel F. Parker, 7000 Stewart avenue, beloved husband of Josephine Meleczka Parker, fond son of the late Mary Alice Parker. Member of Concord lodge, No. 917, A.F. & A. M.; square post, No 332, American Legion, and division 241, Street Railway union. Resting at funeral home, 6915 Wentworth avenue. Masonic services Thursday evening at 8 p.m. Funeral Friday, 2 p.m. Interment Cedar Park
“Parker,” Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), 30 July 1947, page 28; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 15 May 2022).
Even though this obituary verified Daniel’s death, it really doesn’t provide any information to tie Daniel Parker to my WELLS line. Thus, I tried to locate an obituary for Mary Alice Parker. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to find an obituary. However, I found an article written about her life in celebration of her 91st birthday in the 17 Nov 1940 issue of the Chicago Tribune.
Modern Scene Changes Fast When You’re 91
Mrs. Mary Parker Looks Back thru YearsWhen a lifetime becomes 91 years long its thread, winding thru nine decades, becomes a history lesson. Wars and inventions, political trends and industrial progress live again in the record of many birthdays. Mrs. Mary Parker of 7018 Stewart avenue turned 91 recently, and as her friends came paying anniversary calls and bearing remembrances, Mrs. Parker indulged in looking backward.
“Modern Scene Changes Fast When You’re 91,” Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), 17 November 1940, page 13; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 19 May 2022).
As a child on her father’s farm in Michigan, Mrs. Parker used to listen to her grandfather, Lewis Benham, tell of his experiences as a soldier in the war of 1812. As a young girl, she heard stories of the civil war from neighbors whose sons had marched off with the Union forces. She was a middle aged seamstress, mother of a boy, and living on Chicago’s south side when Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough riders went to Cuba in the Spanish-American war in 1898.
Sees Own Son in war
And when the United States entered the world war in 1917, Mrs. Parker watched her own son march away.
“Yes, times have changed,” Mrs. Parker say, “but I suppose every old person says that. My goodness things happen so rapidly, a body could say that every week I guess it’d be all right to say it every day from the way the papers look lately.”
Newspapers are Mrs. Parker’s major interest now. She reads three a day, without glasses. She did household mending and worked on rugs until five years ago, but now, she says “I just sit and hold my hands.”
Mrs. Parker lived thru the time when a great deal of commercial clothing was made by women working in their homes. Mrs. Parker made corset covers and dressing sacks, items of feminine apparel that flourished in the days before glamor invaded the lingerie industry.
Recalls Farm Days
Altho a Chicagoan for half a century, Mrs. Parker recalls the days on a Michigan farm as the happiest ones. Her parents had five sons younger than their only daughter.
“We didn’t have to ask any favors from anybody,” Mrs. Parker recalls.
Mrs. Parker’s son, Frank, a widower lives with his mother. He has been a conductor for the Chicago Surface Lines for 37 years. He served on the horse cars and on the cable cars. He was conductor on the last cable car to roll into the barns at 39th street and Cottage Grove avenue.
While the above article does not mention the WELLS surname, it does contain clues that do tie this Mary Alice Parker to the Benjamin Franklin Wells family. While the references to growing up on a farm in Michigan provides a hint to this tie, it is the mention of her grandfather, Lewis Benham, that provides the tie. Benjamin F. Wells’ first wife was Anna Mariah Benham, daughter of Lewis Benham. This one little clue helps me have confidence that the Mary Alice Parker of Chicago is the same person as Mary Alice Wells, daughter of Benjamin F. Wells.
