My Mariah...

So far, I have shared the story of my 4th great grandfather,Joseph Tilley suing a possible ex slave owner for  money owed him immediately after slavery ended. Next I moved on to sharing my finds about his son's Ned ( who was an honest killer), and Frank ( town drunk and all around character).  Time to share how the daughters of Joseph & Elizabeth Tilley were up to after slavery while their brothers were engaged in their newspaper making adventures. I've decided to start with the Oldest girl, Mariah.

Let's start with what was already shared about my 3rd Great Grandmother Mariah:
Born in Arkansas around 1847,  Mariah worked for or was enslaved by a John Dent for at least 8 months as the claim her father sued for asked for  8months of labor, at $6.00 a month for a total of $48.00.  (See :Here ) ...She would have been about 18 yrs old at the time of  the lawsuit in 1865/6.  She was the oldest girl, second child.

 In the 1870 U.S. Census,  Mariah has already married my 3rd Great Grandfather, William Jackson and began her family. The oldest child is 4yrs old, so I estimate she married right after freedom and the court case in 1865-66. They would go on to have 8 children, Elizabeth,  William, Aaron, Clem, Frank, Delphia, Belfry, and Charles. While not much has been found about Mariah, I do know she lived with her nephew and later her grandchild. I also found out she ( along with her son, daughter, my 2nd gr. grandma , and her son-in-law)  had smallpox and was sent to a pest camp in 1900.

                   Springfield Missouri Republican, Friday, December 14, 1900 

It didn't take her out. In 1910, she's moved to Kansas City, Missouri to live with her sister Charlottes's son, Major Moore. I thought she died between 1910 & 1920 as I still can't find her in the 1920 Census. I later found her living with one of her grandsons back in Greene County, Missouri in 1930.  She made the Census, but died later that year on December 8, 1930 in Springfield, Missouri.  Mariah is buried next to her son Frank and his wife Liza. None of them have headstones, but a generous findagrave volunteer named Judy Young went beyond that and placed flowers where they rest so that I could see.
  

Red flower: Frank Jackson, Purple flower: Mariah's resting place, Peach flower: Liza Jackson

Missouri State University is home to a collection of some of the photos found in Mariah's Granddaughters home.  This is one of them. 

 I really think this could be Mariah, but no definitive way to prove it. It is labeled Ma Merie spinning. Anyone whose researched a Mariah knows the spelling varies from Mariah to Marie,Merie, Miriar, Mariae etc.  still..just a hunch and a long shot.  Here is a another photo from the Greene County Library  Bulletins - Black Families of the Ozarks, of that granddaughter, Stella and her siblings. Among them is my great grandad Daniel W. Yancy. I think this woman looks like the woman in the chair on the photo labeled Ma Marie, just a bit younger. Daniel W. Yancy aka "Bud" was born in 1900, Emma "Marie" was born 1902.   What do you' ll think? 

It would be torn and wrinkled over the older ladies name and the person whose head is cut off. (Can anyone make out what they say.)   I know it may be just a guess, but for now this is My Mariah in my head...