Mary Jane Vincent

Well look at me go……..I found another long lost family member!

There are so many Mary Jane Vincents in the family it all gets confusing but today I talk about the one in my direct line.  Joshua Vincent & Hannah Treen – my 5x grandparents - had 12 children that we know of – two of them named Mary Jane. 

courtesy of Murray Sands

The first little one was born in 1849 and unfortunately, died 1854 - she was buried at Wentworth Cemetery in Nova Scotia

Then in June of 1854, they had another baby girl and they re-used the name …..this Mary Jane was annoying in soooo many ways…

In 2011 I found her on the 1871 & 1881 censuses and I found her marriage to a Mariner named Christopher McLean.  They had 3 children but only one lived.  Lillas died in 1873 and Susan died in 1876 and then there was Henrietta.  Mary, Christopher & Henrietta were dead ends after the 1881 census. 

Then in 2012 I found Henrietta living as Ada - she was Henry Ada on the 1881 census and most trees have her simply as Ada.  She had married Anton Nymoen and they were living in Tacoma, yet I still couldn't find Mary & Christopher.  Another year later and I found that Ada & Anton had one daughter, Nelda and that she had married Alonzo Nigh and had 2 children of their own.

And now in August 2017, as I revisit my tree from the beginning ~~ and after a week a scouring, toying with variations, and mulling over bits and pieces ~ ~ I struck gold!

It all started with a tree on ancestry which stated that Christopher had retired to British Columbia - this makes sense because I had been wondering how Ada would have ended up in Washington by herself - it wasn't a common thing for children, girls especially, to venture off alone.  

I am not sure if British Columbia is true or not because I could not find any records there so I decided to just search for them in Tacoma where their only living daughter was living with her husband & child.

Lo & behold......I found Mary, widowed, living in Tacoma in 1899 - so I now know Christoper died before 1899 - if I were a betting person, I would say he died in Washington rather than BC but only a record would confirm that.  

Regardless, the discovery was Amaze-Balls because it led to me finding her final resting spot!  It turns out Mary Jane remarried 2 ~ count em ~ 2 more times!! 

She first remarried to a Charles Borcher in 1908 at Tacoma, then in 1915 she married a third time to Simeon Rumbaugh and she died in 1919 in Orting, WA!!!  

courtesy of Mike Webb - Find A Grave

 Yippee to me again - tenacity pays off!!!