|
a.
|
Note: (This sketch is made from information from the Malcolm/Harper Family Bible which belonged to Mary A. Harper and is now in the possession of her great-great-grandson Wyatt R. Knapp. It is also based on research by Wyatt Knapp, and also the research of Gary L. Knapp.)
When she was 19 years old, Mary Heckenlively married Thomas Malcolm at her father's house in Ashland County Ohio. After his death in 1869, she married Abram Harper on 14 December 1871, at Bridgewater, Northwest Twp., Williams Co., Ohio.
Abram Harper was born 27 Sept. 1841, and died 20 June 1910. His parents were Whelon Harper (born 2 Feb.1813, died 3 June 1873) and Sarah Fennimore (born 12 June 1812, died 20 June 1877).
Mary Malcolm Harper, her husband Abram, and son Bertis Harper, moved from Williams County, Ohio to McBrides, Michigan on 31 October 1894. By 1900 they are listed in the US Census for Camden Twp., Hillsdale County, Michigan.
The family moved to Beaverton City in Gladwin Co. around 1909. There Mary and Abram lived with their son Bertis and his new wife Myrta. Bertis had opened a dry goods and grocery store there on Main Street. Since their home address is also given as "Main Street" perhaps they lived above the store.
After the death of her husband in 1910, Mary remained in Beaverton, Michigan. She was still there in 1916, according to her second application for pension as the former wife of a Civil War Veteran. She died there in 1918, two months before her 85th birthday.
On her marriage certificate from her marriage to Thomas Malcolm, Mary Heckenlively's name is given only as 'Mary Achalifla" - not "Mary A. Heckenlively." In 1894 she made her first application for pension as the wife of Civil War veteran Thomas Malcolm. In that file is a sworn affidavit that contains her explanation of the name difference. Here is her explanation in her own words:
"If my name appears in the marriage record as "Achalifla" I can only explain it by the fact that my maiden name was hard to spell and very few people spelled it correctly. The minister was never at our house until he came to marry us, though we had been to hear him preach. Mr. Malcolm and I never corresponded any before we were married and I don�t know whether he knew how to spell my maiden name or not. Yes, Mr. Malcolm got the license himself."
Abram and Mary A. Harper are buried south of the City of Beaverton in the Dale Cemetery. (This info, from Chuck Caswell who says he visited their graves there about 1938. He said that his Uncle Vern took him to see them after a fishing trip in about 1938. The stones are not there now. Her obituary confirms that she is buried there. I have searched all over Dale cemetery and have not been able to locate their stones. Checked with the current caretaker (Carl Priemer-phone in 1998: 517-435-7039) and he said he has no records that list Mary or Abram Harper and that he can't help me any further. He said he knows his records are incomplete but that is all the information that he has inherited from previous caretakers. He says he has been taking care of the cemetery since 1985. -WK)
Mary Harper's son and daughter-in-law (Bertis and Myrta) are buried in Dale Cemetery (Lot 130), as is Estella Harper (buried 1981 in lot #195 of the Randall Section, in a lot belonging to Arian Blades) and Mary Harper's great-grandson, Robert D. Knapp (Son of Vernon Knapp) and his wife Vivian.
Robert Knapp was trying to verify that Abram and Mary Harper were there also, and there is a note to that effect in the Dale Cemetery records.
Work began on the Methodist Church across the road from the Dale Cemetery on April 4, 1912. (Newspaper account from the Gladwin County Record)
Here is Mary Malcolm Harper's obituary from the Gladwin County Record, Sept 18, 1918:
Harper - Mrs. Mary Harper, who has been in declining health for several months, passed away Sept.13 at the home of her son, Bert Harper, in Beaverton. She was 85 years old. Funeral Services were held in the home Saturday. Interment in Dale Cemetery.
|
