Sunday, February 7, 2010

Obituary of Mary McCrea

From the Flint Journal, printed 10 April 1928:


McCrea--Mary McCrea, 39 years old, died yesterday at 674 Neff-rd, Grosse Pointe, of tuberculosis, following an illness of three years. She was born in Roscommon-co, Mich., the daughter of James B. and Isabelle [Cameron] McCrea. She was a member of the Presbyterian church in Superior, Wis. She leaves her father, of Flint; two brothers, James E. McCrea, of Johnson City, Pa., and Duncan C. McCrea, of Detroit; four sisters, Adelia and Jessie, of Grosse Pointe; Mrs. Beltz, of Chicago, and Mrs. L. A. Monroe, of Superior, Wis.

She (Mary McCrea) was buried in Gracelawn Cemetery, Flint, Genesee Co., Michigan, with my great-grandmother, Anna Cameron (who was Mary's aunt). Anna did not want to return to rural Arenac County, MI, where she was born and where she married Donald Cameron, even to be buried there with him (Donald). Actually Anna was buried with Mary, since Mary died first.

Mary McCrea's obituary provided several clues to me. I didn't know that her sister Ellen was married to a Mr. Beltz and that she lived in Chicago before she married a Mr. Audley. Nor did I know that Adelia & Jessie lived in Grosse Pointe (although I knew that they had lived in nearby Detroit). I also did not know that James E. McCrea lived in Pennsylvania, before he moved out west.

3 comments:

Joan said...

I really search for obits and newspaper articles, especially the older ones. The greatest "tidbits" are just "tossed out" like seed to hungry birds.

BTW, Anna is intriguing --- I'll be interested to see how her story unfolds.

Joan said...

I had been meaning to tell you about the Cameron slogan that I used in the I Dinna Hear The Voices. The Cameron slogan is "The Sons of the Hound Come for Flesh." I always liked the images the slogan brought to mind, and used the variation of "The sons of the hound came for meat" which has a more fierce beat.

When I realized your Cameron connection,I thought you might be interested in that little tidbit --- or perhaps you knew it, in that case, just know that I really liked the sounds of the slogan.

PalmsRV said...

Joan,

I "dinna" know about the Cameron slogan!! I can visualize the Highlanders with that.

Mary McCrea's obituary was one that I specifically went looking for, but many of the obits I've found and am posting at "Detour Through History" are obits that are found on the same page as the one I targeted and didn't want to throw away or bury (pun intended) the other obits on the page that was copied.

Here's hoping some "hungry birds" like those obits ("seeds").

Thanks for such thoughtful posts.

Cathy