Last week for I introduced one of the oldest children of William and Lucinda Ballenger - Mary Ann Ballenger who was initially identified from an article in the Boulder Daily Camera, December 1893.
The next step I took in looking for answers to my questions about Mary, was to look in the 1900 Census where I found her with her husband and 3 children. After some more census research the following timeline has been compiled.
Circa 1855 - Mary Ann is born - see 1856.
1856 - Mary Ann Ballinger is living with her parents William and Lucinda and siblings Nancy and John in Black Oak, Mahaska County, Iowa. She is one year old and listed as residing in Iowa for 0 years. Go figure. (Iowa State Census 1856 - Ancestry.com)
November 1866-February 1867 - She is listed as attending Central School in Boulder, Colorado with her sister Nancy Ballenger ("Items About Boulder's Early Schools," Boulder Genealogical Society Quarterly, February 1975).
Circa late 1870s - Mary Ann moves to the southern part of Colorado. One wonders why? (Boulder Daily Camera, 7 December 1893, front page).
1880 - A Mary Ballinger is listed in the Federal Census in Rico, Ouray County, Colorado. She is living with the Walter Higgins family. I can't be sure if this is my Mary or not. Her age is 22 putting her birth year around 1858 and her birthplace is listed as Illinois. This Mary is living in the part of Colorado that would be consistent with the Boulder Daily Camera article and at the right time. Her birth year is close. The state is not the same but close.
December 1893 - Mrs. Milton Y. Woods and her 3 children visit her sister, Mrs. Dan (Nancy Ballenger) Robinson, in Boulder. The article states that Mrs. Woods in her "girlhood" was known as Mary Ballinger. (Boulder Daily Camera, 7 December 1893, front page).
1900 - Mary A. Woods is living with her husband, Milton, and their 3 children, Blanche, Walter and Hazel in California Mesa, Montrose County, Colorado. The federal census lists Mary's birthplace as Iowa and her birthdate as August 1860 which is slightly different from the 1856 Iowa Census. It also states she is the mother of 4 children 3 of whom are living. This is consistent with the Boulder Daily Camera article in 1893 which stated she was visiting Boulder with her 3 children. The census also states Mary and Milton have been married for 18 years which gives me a time frame to go on when I look for a marriage record.
1910 - Mary, Milton and their daughter Hazel are listed in the federal census in Montrose County, Colorado. Mary does not seem to be aging properly - her age is listed as 47 which would put her birth year at about 1863. This is both Milton and Mary's first marriage and they have been married 30 years. Again she is listed as mother of 4 children 3 of whom are living.
1920 - Mary and her daughter, Hazel, are living in Ouray County, Colorado. Her age is listed as 58 and birthplace of Iowa. She is widowed according to the census. Mary works as a cook in a "mine boarding house." Hazel is a waitress in the same place.
I need to find Mary and Milton's marriage record and death certificates for both. At least now I have more clues to guide me in that search.
Copyright 2010, Michelle Goodrum
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