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a.
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Note: hia on June 11, 1906, and the record showed no prior trips to The
United States. The 1906 image shows she was met by her brother, John Vizzard,
and she had arrived with a cousin, Mary Walsh, who also was met by John. Her
age at that time would have been 18, and not 16. As it turns out, it was a
sister that was supposed to have come to America in 1904, but she was sick at
the time and would not have been allowed into the country. So, Mary Elizabeth
used her identity to enter, and it was a subsequent trip that shows the first
record of her entry. The children used to take turns going back to the homeland
in order to sign the property registry in order to keep their property rights.
---------------------------------
Name: Mary Eliza Vizzard
Arrival Date: 11 Jun 1906
Age: 17 Years
Estimated birth year: abt 1889
Gender: Female
Ethnic Background: Irish
Port of Departure: Queenstown, Ireland
Ship Name: Westernland
Port of Arrival: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Friend's Name: John Vizzard
Last Residence: Kiltimagh
Microfilm Roll Number: T840_52
Source Citation: Roll: T840_52; Line: 8.
---------------------------------
Another record shows her arrival at the Port of Philadelphia aboard
the Haverford, which departed Cork(Queenstown)Ireland on the 12th of
October, 1911, and was surely one of these trips back "home".
---------------------------------
Note:
Siblings
Thomas Vizzard b. 9 Dec 1878 married B. Walsh b. 11 Jan 1885 on 7 Mar 1905
Harry Vizzard b. 1 Sep 1886
John Vizzard b. 11 Dec 1883 d. Dec 1912
Katie Vizzard b. 2 Feb 1886
Mary Vizzard b. 7 Aug 1888
Norah Vizzard b.4 Aug 1890
Patrick Vizzard b.7 Mar 1893
James Vizzard b. 10 Jul 1895
Mary McCue Vizzard [Mother] died 23 Mar 1901
John Vizzard [Father] died Dec 1908
Source: Photocopy of original list from family.
---------------------------------
1910 United States Federal Census 26 Apr 1910
4060 Parkside Avenue
Name: Mary Vizzard
Age in 1910: 20
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1890
Birthplace: Ireland
Relation to Head of House: Servant
Father's Birth Place: Ireland
Mother's Birth Place: Ireland
Home in 1910: Philadelphia Ward 24, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Marital Status: Single
Race: White
Gender: Female
Year of Immigration: 1906
Household Members:
Name Age
Leon Mary 33
Sarah Mary 26
John D Mary 2
Mary Muldowney 26 [servant]
Mary Vizzard 20 [servant]
Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 24, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Roll: T624_1397; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 503; Image: 983.
---------------------------------
Married:
Thomas Benjamin Jones on November 25, 1914 at St. Columbas Church in Philadelphia, PA.
Marriage license number 320960.
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1920 United States Federal Census 9 Jan 1920
121 Clanton Avenue
Name: Mary Elizabeth Jones
Home in 1920: Montgomery Ward 7, Montgomery, Alabama
Age: 31 years
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1889
Birthplace: Ireland
Relation to Head of House: Wife
Spouse's Name: Thomas B
Father's Birth Place: Ireland
Mother's Birth Place: Ireland
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Sex: Female
Year of Immigration: 1910
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Household Members:
Name Age
Thomas B Jones 43
Mary Elizabeth Jones 31
Mary Kathryn Jones 4
Thomas B Jones 1-6/12
Sarah T Jones 69
Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Montgomery Ward 7, Montgomery, Alabama;
Roll: T625_36; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 111; Image: 493.
---------------------------------
1930 United States Federal Census 3 Apr 1930
410 Maryland Street
Name: Elizabeth Jones
Home in 1930: Montgomery, Montgomery, Alabama
Age: 40
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1890
Relation to Head of House: Wife
Spouse's Name: T B
Rent/home value: Rent
Age at first marriage: 26
Household Members:
Name Age
T B Jones 52
Elizabeth Jones 40
Kathrine Jones 14
Thomas Jones 12
Dorothy Jones 10
Edna Jones 7
John Jones 5
Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Montgomery, Montgomery, Alabama;
Roll: 43; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 21; Image: 837.0.
---------------------------------
Social Security Death Index:
Name Birth Death Last Residence Last Benefit SS Number Issued
MARY JONES 07 Aug 1888 Apr 1975 36105 (Montgomery, Montgomery, AL) (none specified) 418-86-6685 Alabama
---------------------------------
Buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Montgomery, AL next to her husband, Thomas Benjamin Jones, Sr.
---------------------------------
Recollections of Mary Elizabeth (Vizzard) Jones
By her granddaughter Mary Eileen (Sagan) Reilly
Mamaw was a part of my daily life until we left Montgomery when I was nine to move north to "Yankee land." Almost every summer day I had made at least one excursion around the block to the home she and Boppa occupied with Aunt Kat, Uncle Carroll and cousins Carroll, Mary Anne, Mikey, and Rickie (no Baby Sister then). As a baby I had lived in that house too while Daddy was overseas and until Momma and Daddy got their own place.
The house had a huge pecan tree in the front and we simultaneously shelled and ate them all year long. I was quite old before it dawned on me that most people did not have pecans in virtually every dish of their diet. In the back was an old pear tree that provided a similar all pervasive food. My father (your Boppa Joe) also remembers a fig tree, but probably only so he could make "fig leaf" jokes.
Boppa's garage was in the backyard and it was filled with color. He was a house painter and famous for his ability to apply gold foil to re-leaf surfaces. He had previously done the dome of the State Capitol in downtown Montgomery and a portion of the altar St. Andrews Catholic Church. He was a gruff, taciturn man who always had candy for me and from whom I felt complete love and approval until I painted his car. I was truly innocent of any but good intentions that day, wishing to spread the lovely colors of the garage onto my beloved Boppa's ugly black car. I will never quite forget the sound he made as he came out the backdoor and saw my proud accomplishment.
Mamaw's love was also a constant in my life. She was a tiny little woman with corkscrew white curls and a bustling manner with which she firmly directed her grandchildren. She allowed me to dress up in her wedding dress and her unbelievably beautiful white satin shoes with little roses on them. Cousin Carroll could usually be enlisted as my personal maid (complete with bandana on his little baldish head). To leave my house around the corner, with its three demanding younger siblings (no Jennifer yet), and enter into the world of white satin and fantasy was the kind of marvelous trip to an alternative universe with which every child should be blessed. There was also magic - if I were lucky, Mamaw would "summon" (a gentle knock outside his hole) her spider and I could watch her feed him live flies in the corner of the front porch.
Generosity was such a part of Mamaw's nature. Daddy reported that she'd often tuck $5 in his pocket and tell him to take Edna out for a movie and an Orange Crush. She and Boppa would baby sit. After my visits to Georgia Street, she would often send something home with me to share with my family and I can remember her quietly waylaying elderly blacks (coloreds at the time) with the respectful "Uncle, can you use this?" and slipping a rolled up dollar in his hand.
Mamaw had come to this country from Kiltimagh in County Mayo, Ireland. Her sister Katie was already here in Philadelphia, working as a maid for a wealthy family. Great Aunt Katie was always spoken of as the one who "hid the boys from the Blacks and Tans" just as home was always "County Mayo God help us!" Mamaw was born in 1888, the fifth of eight children, of whom at least four ended up in this country thanks to Great Aunt Katie. Her brothers and sisters were Thomas, Harry, John, Katie, Norah, Pakie (Patrick) and James. Her mother died in 1901; her father in 1908. The name Vizzard was an unusual one for County Mayo, being French in origin. Supposedly a French sea captain (read deckhand) lost his heart to a pretty ancestor and a new line was formed. When Boppa Joe and your grandmother Edna visited Kiltimagh for their 40th anniversary they found a cousin of the Vizzards.
Mamaw met Thomas Benjamin Jones on a trip south, I believe accompanied by her sister Katie. He was immediately smitten, but she refused his proposal as he was "not of the faith". He showed up months later in Philadelphia to repeat his proposal, and was "of the faith" having received religious instruction in the interim. My mother remembers he was older than the fathers of her friends (about 36 when he was married), but was always there, quietly carting them from activity to activity or opening his home to busy groups of young people. When they were first married his mother, Sarah Temperance Grant Jones (family legend is that she was a relative of US Grant) lived with them. She was very demanding and unappreciative of Mamaw's efforts (even when she was bedridden and would let only Mamaw empty the bedpan!) My Aunt Kat told me that one day a man came to the door and introduced himself as Boppa's older brother. He worked on the railroad and said he had heard of Mamaw's care for his mother and that she had done enough! He insisted that his "cows of sisters" could do their part (this according to Aunt Kat) and that day moved his mother and her possessions to one of the sister's farms. Mamaw and Boppa got their bed back. Later Sarah applied for and received a Confederate widow's pension and times were easier.
Mamaw and Boppa had six children: Aunt Kat, Uncle Tommy, Aunt Dot, Mama, Uncle John and Uncle Jimmy. Altogether they had 25 grandchildren (I may have forgotten one of Uncle Jimmy's) and I have no idea how many great-grandchildren. I hope that many of my generation still cherish the memories of sitting at her side as she recounted Seamus O'Brien or Wee Willie Reilly and have shared those poems with their children. One of my best memories of her (why are most of my memories food related?) is watching her get ready for her bridge parties. The card tables would be set up in the beautiful, high ceiling dining room with the massive Empire mahogany furniture (Aunt Kate was an antique dealer), and the most beautiful food would come out. Almost every item had the "kiss" of pears or pecan, of course, except for the petit fours which looked to me like the most beautiful doll cakes. I think I was disappointed when I finally tasted one and found it good, but not remarkable. It was years later that I thought of what the little Irish girl from Kiltimagh had accomplished to become the esteemed Mrs. Jones of Montgomery Catholic society. As she got older, Mamaw's humor, and maybe the Irish rebel in her soul, came more to the surface. She salted her speech with what would become family commonplaces such as "dodo on a stick" or the "little pee pee room", and developed a propensity for singing loud rousing hymns over any conversations she didn't want to hear. God I hope I go out that way!
Note:
Note:
According to Mary Elizabeth herself, she came to America at age 16.
The first record I have been able to locate was her arrival at the Port of
Philadelp
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