MARY E. McCONNAHA

Mary Elizabeth McConnaha departed from this life on Dec. 28, 1933 at the home of her son, Robert E., seven miles west of Herman. A year ago she was stricken with an attack of pneumonia, and although she recovered, a complication of diseases followed which resulted in her death.

Mrs. McConnaha was born in Shenango Co., Penn. March 2, 1845, being at the time of her death 88 years, 9 months and 26 days of age. When she was two years of age the family set out for the west, and after a journey of three weeks arrived at Port Huron, Ia., a boat landing on the Mississippi river. From there they traveled by ox team to Washington, Iowa where they resided six years. The family then moved to Page Co., Iowa. Later the family moved to Rock Bluff, Nebraska about 1860. At that time Rock Bluff was the metropolis of Nebraska, and had a population of about one hundred inhabitants. There Mrs. McConnaha, the daughter of John Latta, was married to John McConnaha on Sept. 25, 1862.

They then departed for Pennsylvania where they resided for a period of two years. They then returned to Nebraska where they settled on a farm in Cass Co. At that time there was no settler between them and the Rocky Mountains five hundred miles away They continued residence in Cass Co. until 1892. During this period her husband was given a permit to practice medicine and built up an extensive practice, although continuing to maintain residence on a farm.

In 1892 Mrs. McCannaha came to Washington Co., Nebraska where Dr. McConnaha purchased a farm near the New England school six miles west of Herman. He continued his medical practice. In 1897 they moved to Blair in order to give the younger children school advantages. They returned to the farm for a year and then sold out and moved to New Bloomfield, Missouri where Dr. McConnaha died March 7, 1920.

After the home was broken up, Mrs. McConnaha resided at various places with her children and had been in Washington co. over a year when she died.

Funeral services were held at noon, and interment was made in the Mt. Pleasant cemetery near Nehawka, Nebr. on Sunday.

Mrs. McConnaha leaves the following immediate relatives to mourn her going: one sister, Mrs. Margaret Cain, Oakland, Oregon; three daughters, Mrs. Allen Barker, Gordon, Nebr; Mrs. Wenzel Whitman, Gordon, Nebr.; and Mrs. E. C. Van Valin, College Springs, Iowa; four sons, J. Elmer McConnaha, Denver, Colo.; Ernest C. McConnaha, Harrington, Nebr.; Robert E. McConnaha, Herman, Nebr.; and Earle F. McConnaha, St. Louis, Missouri; twenty grandchildren and twenty one great grandchildren.

Three children preceded her in death, Jennie and Jessie, twins who died in their infancy in 1866, and J. Everett who died at the age of 10 years in 1884.

In early life Mrs. McConnaha became a member of the Presbyterian church, but finding no church of that denomination near on the western frontier, she became affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church.

She was a devoted mother, quiet in her living, yet always ready to offer herself freely to the sick and the afflicted. All of her acquaintances loved her and feel in her going a sense of loss.

She was a true frontier woman and pioneer and saw and took part in the movements which transformed Iowa and Nebraska from a trackless prairie to the closely settled modern farming community of today.

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

FindaGrave # 23733368