PART II - Finding Mary Corley
We spent time in Louisiana MO which was the location of this photo of Mary Corley as well as several other family members and friends (the information about the town and studio where pictures were taken was on the back of the original photos that we have). Based on the name and address of the photography studio (photo taken in Lousiana MO, S.A. rice & Bro’s, Photograph & Portrait Gallery, N.W. Cor. Third & Georgia Sts) we found the location of the building in Louisiana. It was thrilling to know that the very streets we walked on had been visited by these relatives in the 1860s/1870s/1880s. This photo of Mary Corley Crider was taken in the late 1860s or early 1870s I believe.
Mary died in 1884. After her death, her husband James Crider "bonded" their three children out to different families. We have been unable to find what happened to James Crider.
Our next stop was to Troy, county seat of Lincoln County. This is where the township of Millwood was located which was listed as the home of James and Mary Crider and children in 1870/1880 census, as well as Kate Corley Kimler, husband Claudius and children. Here we found some truly fantastic information in the deed records. We had previously found a reference to Henry Corley in the Mudd family history book. He also married a woman from the Mudd family, Rose Ellen Mudd. Form page 982: “In a letter dated 6-5-1856 from {Judge} Henry T. Mudd to his future wife Mary D. O’Brien, he stated: ‘Mr. Corley, who by the bye is one of our best men will be married to Rose Ellen Mudd, daughter of John L. Mudd. I have a high regard and opinion for them both and believe it will be a good match. Henry Corley, husband of Rose Ellen Mudd, was born in Carracloughan Co., Monoghan, Ireland and emigrated to Pennsylvania and thence to Millwood, Mo. He was a wheelwright in Millwood, Mo. in his early days.”
So, both Criders and Corleys married into the Mudd family, as did some of their children!
We had wondered how Mary, Kate and John Corley had ended up in Millwood, MO from Scaneateles New York. The first record we found in a deed book was the sale of property from Henry Corley to Thomas Corley! So indeed, we found a connection and the likely reason they were in Millwood. Henry Corley was born in the same county in Ireland as Thomas Corley. I have tried to find out something about Carracloughan but haven’t been able to yet. I will continue searching. We are thinking perhaps they might have been cousins, but hope to confirm their relationship at some point in further research.
In subsequent searches of the deed books, we found several records showing transfer of land from Thomas Corley to Mary Crider and Kate Kimler (Mary’s sister), as well as others. I am currently “digesting” – rather, interpreting these deeds now, though I believe we must have missed records because the information seems to be incomplete as to the many transfers of land. We especially wanted to find out what happened to the land owned by Mary Crider and whether or not James Crider ended up with it. We found a plat map that shows the location of the property and it does have J. Crider owning the land at some point.
There is a genealogical society in Troy that was only open on Thursday and Saturday. We were there on Tuesday/Wednesday and I called the number for the person to see if it was possible for them to open it on Wednesday (it was not). However the woman asked who we were researching and when I told her Mary Crider and Kate Kimler, she gave me the name and number of a woman who had done research on the Kimlers. I then called her, Alice Foster, who was the granddaughter of Claudius Kimler (Kate Corley was his first wife) and his second wife (Alice Kimler). Alice Foster told me that she knew right where Mary Crider and Kate Kimler were buried in the Sulphur Lick Cemetery about halfway between Troy and Millwood. She also gave me the name and number of Enid Barnes, who was a great-granddaughter of Claudius and Kate Corley Kimler. Enid lives in St Louis and we had a wonderful conversation about all the research we each had done. She did not know much information about the Corley’s and we are exchanged pictures and information to help fill in the blanks we each have.
We were able to find Mary and Kate’s graves and actually placed some flowers on them. Mary died in 1884 at age 43 and Kate died in 1885 at the age of 35. Their graves were side by side, among several other Kimlers, including Claudius and two of Kate’s sons who died young and under mysterious circumstances, so I have been told. It was so rewarding to find these graves and know that the sisters rested together.
Picture of Tom Crider at tombstones of Mary Corley Crider and Kate Corley Kimler.
We found the land that belonged to the Corleys, Criders, and Kimlers (two different sections of land). We located plats describing the locations of the land and drove past each of them. One section of land was about 120 acres and the other was 196 acres. The 196 acres were the location where the James and Mary Corley family and the Claudius and Kate Kimler families were listed sequentially in the 1880 census.
We also went to the St Alphonsus Cemetery at Millwood where Ann Marie Crider and hers and Dayton Crider’s son Enoch were buried, as well as Henry and Rose Ellen Corley (died 1899 and 1928 respectively). Curiously Henry and Rose Ellen’s stone was new and we would like to know who had it put there (another thread to follow!).
We also traveled to Jefferson City, state capital, and found a couple of other references – one a record of James Crider’s service in the Civil War, another a record of Henry Corley’s Civil War service, as well as a deed that we had missed in Lincoln County and plat locations of the property. We then went to the state historical museum at the University of Missouri in Columbia and found newpaper articles concerning the deaths of Mary Crider, Kate Kimler, Rose Ellen Corley, and Claudius Kimler.
I am continuing research into the “bonding” out of James and Mary’s children (Clarence, Tom and Lilly) after her death in 1884. Clarence Tom Crider (Tom’s grandfather) was very unhappy in the home in which he was placed and ultimately committed suicide when Tom’s father (Hugh Tom Crider) was 3-4 years old. I found a reference to Guardian and Curator Bonds for the period 1875-1902 that are available at the Missouri State Archives but requested research by e-mail to see if there is any reference to Clarence, John and Lilly Crider and the answer was negative. There is more work to be done!
I'll have another post later about more history of Mary Corley and a mystery we would love to be able to solve!
Following is a copy of the obituary of Rose Ellen Corley, referred to in comment 4 below:
19 comments:
I am the great great grandson of Henry Corley and Rose Ellen "Toza" Mudd. The couple had eight children. My grandfather was Joseph B. Corley who graduated as a medical doctor from Missouri Medical College in 1888(a precursor to Washington U School of Medicine) and practiced for 30 years in Indian Creek. His brother H. Norbert Corley was also an MD and practiced for many years in St Paul Mo before re-locating to Webster Groves Mo where he served as President of the St Louis Medical Society. A third son, John L. Corley graduated from Univ of Notre Dame Law School in 1902 and was a prominent attorney and real estate developer in St Louis County. The fourth son Thomas Emmett vanished from sight after getting kicked out of Notre Dame for fighting. One of the daughters, Rose Ann became Mother Eusebia of the Ursuline Order and lived for years at their convent in Arcadia Mo. Daughter Clemence married leo Hayden and lived for decades in St. Paul, Mo.,as dairy farmers. The final daughter, Mary Rose, married Frances L. O'Hanlon of Lincoln Co and moved with him to Sherman TX. The headstone at the cemetery is not new. It is made of granite and ages extremely well. Rose Ellen died in St Louis in 1928 and was buried in Indian Creek next to Henry who died in 1899. She was 94 yrs old. That is when the headstone went up. Two doctors, a lawyer, a mother superior! Quite a proud brood for such humble backgrounds.
I have a picture of Henry and Rose Ellen Corley's tombstone which we found at the St Alphonsus Cemetery near Millwood MO. I haven't found any reference to where Indian Creek is. Was this area also known as Indian Creek? I also have an obituary for Rose Ellen and other information from the Oct 19, 1928 edition of the Troy Free Press. If you are interested, I could scan and either post or e-mail. Also, do you have any information on the background of Henry Corley? We would love to be able to make the connection between him and Thomas Corley, my husband's ancestor.
shirley--I've got a pic of the headstone, but I don't have the obituary for Rose Ellen. My father, who is 99 yrs old, told me she was "the meanest woman I ever met!" I think he was exaggerating! My e-mail is kmsbears@aol.com. Thank you. Monty Corley
Monty - I scanned the page from the Troy Free Press and e-mailed it to you and will post it on this site. There are several references on that page to Mrs Henry Corley or Mrs Rose Ellen Corley. Unfortunately on the left hand column I had punched a hole on the page that took out the "Mrs", referring to Mrs Henry Corley! Interesting that your father thought she was the "meanest woman" - she sure had a lot of people coming to her funeral!
I wonder about a longevity gene in the Corley's. My father-in-law who was Henry Corley's grandson, lived to 99 years and 3 months; his son is now in his 80s, my husband is 77. Thomas Corley lived to be 74 I believe.
Do you live in Missouri? We live in Oklahoma City. Have you ever found anything out about Henry Corley? We think he may have been a brother or cousin of my husband's great-grandfather (Thomas Corley) and would love to find out more (Thomas bought land from Henry in Lincoln County MO in 1857). We visited Castleblaney Ireland in 1984 and found the home where Thomas had lived before he left for the U.S. If we find their connection I can send you a copy of the picture I took of the home. I love trying to solve these old mysteries!
Shirly, I am the great great granddaughter of Henry and Rose Ellen Corley. My grandparents were John Louis Corley and Beulah Hayes Corley. John Louis and Beulah had five sons and three daughters. My mother is Irene Corely Behan, the youngest of their daughters. She is 88 years old and the only surviving sibling. My mother adored her father and I have heard her speak of Uncle Norbert and Mother Eusebia. I recently met a cousin of hers who I believe was the granddaughter of Norbert. My mother's sister, Rosemary, had done a lot of geneaology work on the Corley family and I will pass this information to her son. My mother's other sister, Adrian, passed away two years ago at the age of 90. She was a Loretto nun living in El Paso, TX.
Thank you for this information! In the event your Aunt Rosemary or her son have any information on the ancestry of Henry Corley, I would definitely appreciate the information. I keep searching for the relationship between your ancestor Henry and my husband's great-great-grandfather Thomas Corley. Hopefully someday we will find it!
Shirley--Henry Corley was born in 1823 in Caracloghan Hamlet, Clontibret Parish, County Monaghan. His father was Patrick Corley, a flax grower who held a 14 acre lease from his landlord, the Viscount Templeton. Henry arrived in the US on May 25, 1848, in the port of New York City on the sailing ship Andrew Foster. The existent records in NY and Missouri certainly tie together Thomas and Henry, but we're also not sure of their relationship. Patrick Corley had an elder son, Bernard, who inherited his leasehold, and the Corleys continue to show up through the 19the century in Monaghan. Henry died in 1899 in Millwood Mo at age 76. It turns out that the previously mentioned Emmet Corley actually graduated from the Univ of Mo Law School in 1901. Something must have happened to him because his 1950 death certificate in Tulska OK lists his occupation as "odd jobs". My grandmother traveled by train from St Louis at age 74 to Tulsa and retrieved Emmet. His funeral was in the same establishment where Norbert had his wake in 1954. Emmet was buried at Millwood Mo.
to both Behana and Shirley--I live in Winnetka, Il, a northern Chicago suburb. Behana--I found your grandfather in the 1902 Notre Dame Law School directory. Did you know that he was in the "Fabricare Hall of Fame"? Your grandfather John was my grandfather Joseph B.'s brother. My e-mail is kmsbears@aol.com. My full name is John Monty Corley, but I go by Monty. Hope to hear from you.
Shirley--I looked up Corracloghan, where Henry Corley lived, and it is a tiny hamlet right outside of Castleblaney. Do you have a picture of Thomas Corley's house? In the 1852 Griffith's Survey of Monaghan, there was only one Corley household living in the area. I would think it would be probable that Henry and Thomas were brothers. The search goes on!
I have posted pictures of the Corley home near Castleblaney under a new post titled "Corley Home in Castleblaney Ireland".
I am Thomas Wayne Corley, Jr.
son of Thomas Wayne Corley DOB 1928
son of Wright Corley DOB 1910
son of Rufus Wright Corley DOB 1855
I am Adrienne Marie Regina Corley Johnson, daughter of Richard Adrian and Lucille Lyons Corley. Richard was the second youngest of John Louis and Beulah Madeline Hayes. All of this is quite interesting. My father died at age 69 and he was the oldest of the men in his family including his father.
I have for a long time been interested in family history and wonder what anyone knows about my father and his brothers.
I forgot to say that I have a copy of the Mudd family history book as well as a few other documents such as my grandmother's will (Beulah) and some things related to the insurance company of John L. Corley.
adrienne
Henry Norbert born 3-26-1868 and Thomas Emmet born 7-16-1873 were children of Rose Ellen (Toza) and Henry Corley (married 10-14-1856 in Millwood, MO.
adrienne
I don't have any information but I just wanted to say how awesome this is read. I am the granddaughter of Richard and Lucille Corley. I have done a lot of research with my aunt Adrienne trying to put some pieces of the puzzle together. Thank you!
Emily, thank you for your comment. I hope you find as much pleasure in genealogy research as I do!
Good evening. I am Mary-Corinne Teresa Corley. I am the sister of Adrienne Corley who posted above, and the aunt of Emily. I am so glad to have found this site. I had incorrect ideas of where some of these people lived or were born and this site is wonderful. I can be reached at ccorleyjd@gmail.com. My father was Richard, son of John Louis Corley.
Mary-Corinne - thanks so much for writing. I am really glad you found this information. I am trying to find the relationship between Henry Corley, whom I think must be your ancestor, and my husband's, Thomas Corley (father of Mary Corley Crider). If you ever run across anything on that I would really appreciate it!
I have not been doing much research or writing later. Your post has encouraged me to do more! So if I run across anything new I will be sure and post it.
Thanks - Shirley Crider
I have not done any research but if anyone in my family comes across a connection between Henry and Thomas, I will certainly let you know.
Corinne
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