Mary Parker is my second great grandmother. Mary was born 7 Jan 1839 in Ramsey Township, Lanark County, Upper Canada.¹ She was the 5th of 11 known children of Patrick Parker and Mary Murphy, emigrants from Ireland. Her family moved west to Blanshard Township, Perth County, Canada West. Mary is recorded living there in the 1851 census of Canada, which was taken 11 Jan 1852.² In 1859, her family emigrated again, and Mary is recorded living near North Andover, Wisconsin in the 1860 U.S. Census.³

On 22 Jul 1864, Mary Parker married William Dennis Ryan in Potosi, Wisconsin.⁴ The family had a farm near North Andover, where Mary is recorded in the 1870 U.S. Census.⁵ William and Mary had 6 children: Alice, Frances, Mary, Julia, Laura, and Leo. However, shortly after Leo’s birth in 1874, Mary contract typhoid fever, which led to her death on 23 Feb 1875.⁶ Mary’s remains are buried in St. John’s Cemetery, east of Patch Grove, Wisconsin.⁷

The featured image was found in the belongings of my great grand aunt, Frances Weiss, Mary Parker’s granddaughter. Someone inscribed “Mary Parker” on the back.

1. St John the Baptist Church (Perth, Ontario). “Register of Marriages, Baptisms & Burials [1833-1839]”, page 203, item 11, baptism of Mary, daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Murphy; FHL microfilm 5077541 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TR7-JDG?i=110 : accessed 7 Jan 2022)
2. “Census of 1851”, database & images, Library and Archives Canada (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1851/Pages/item.aspx?itemid=1107803 : accessed 7 Jan 2022), entry for Mary Parker (age 13), Blanchard [Blanshard], Perth County, Canada West.
3. 1860 U.S. Census, Grant County, Wisconsin, population schedule, Glen Haven township, page 73, dwelling 572, family 552; digital image, Ancestry.com, “1860 United States Federal Census” (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7667/images/4298904_00185 : accessed 7 Jan 2023).
4. “Registrations of Marriages, 1836-1907”, Wisconsin Historical Society, Grant County, volume 3, page 248, marriage of William Ryan and Mary Parker.
5. 1870 U.S. Census, Grant County, Wisconsin, population schedule, Glen Haven township, page 18, dwelling 122, family 128; digital image, Ancestry.com, “1870 United States Federal Census” (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4268461_00301 : accessed 7 Jan 2023).
6. “Wisconsin, U.S., Death Records, 1959-2004”, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61483/images/47735_00030-02526 : accessed 7 Jan 2023), death register image, entry for Mary Ryan, stamped 02526. Note: the death register in these records and at the Wisconsin Historical Society is a clerk’s copy sent to the state years after Mary Ryan’s death. The date differs by three days from that on her grave marker.
7. St. John Cemetery (Grant County, Wisconsin; 1.25 miles east of the village of Patch Grove), Mary Ryan marker, personally photographed 2 Jun 2011. Note: Mary Parker Ryan’s marker denotes her date of death as 20 Feb 1875. The date differs from her death record by three days.