As we learned previously, Richard and Jane Archdale Wray, who settled on English Prairie, had six children: Edith, the firstborn, who was the subject of last week’s story, and siblings Marion Mary, Helen “Nellie”, Emma Matilda, an infant boy who died, and Archdale. Here we cover the lives of three sisters: Marion, Nellie & Emma. Hold on tight or take notes…it can get confusing!
Marion Mary was the second child born in 1852. Like the rest of her family, she was involved in the county fair and was Superintendent of the “Domestic Manufacture and Fancy Work” section when she was highly commended in 1870 for her work organizing a massive display of rag rugs, quilts, embroidery, hair work, bead work and much, much more. She married Willis GOODRICH, a railroad engineer, on October 26, 1878, in Danville, Illinois. She died young at age 37, leaving Willis to raise their three daughters: Henrietta, Alice and Ethel. Marion was buried in the Wray family cemetery but only the base of her headstone remains with GOODRICH carved on it.
Helen “Nellie” was born in 1854. On Christmas Eve 1878, two months after Marion’s wedding, she married John C. GOODRICH, brother to Willis Goodrich, and he was also a railroad engineer. The sisters lived by each other in Danville (along with their sister Edith Robinson who was also married to a railroad engineer). All three sisters were pregnant in 1879. Nellie’s daughter, Inez, was born just two months after Marion’s daughter, Henrietta. And Edith’s son, Harry, was born three months later in March 1880.
But dark clouds were gathering over this domestic bliss, for on Friday, April 23, 1880, Nellie died of “consumption” [TB] at the age of 24. Nellie had been a public-school teacher in Richmond and was very popular, loved by all who knew her. The Wray family had the heartfelt sympathy of the whole community. Nellie’s body was brought back on the Saturday evening train and the funeral services, largely attended, were held at the family home the next day. She was buried in the family cemetery. Her mother-in-law moved in with her husband to help with little Inez. Inez also died young at age 17 and was buried next to her mother.
Emma Matilda was born in 1856. As a young woman, she loved to draw and paint and exhibited her work at the county fair. She married John Edward GOODRICH at age 38. (John was 39 and this was his second marriage.) But this Goodrich was from Missouri doesn’t appear to be related to the other Goodrich brothers…and he was a farmer. They moved to Iowa where their first son, Richard Wray, (named after his grandpa who died two years earlier), was born in 1893. Their second son, Zebulon Edward was born three years later. In 1906 the family lived in the Town of Yorkton in Saskatchewan, Canada. Son Zebulon fought in WWI, died in 1969, and is buried in Ontario, Canada. No record of where Emma & John are buried can be found.
Next week, we’ll learn about the sisters’ brother, Archdale, and a mystery man named William Wray.
Story by Laura Frumet
|