| Description |
: |
*****+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+++~~~~~MCCORMICK~~~~~+++~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+*****
On letter writing, "...the humane art, which owes its origins to the love of friends" - Virginia Woolf
Mary Jane McCormick Belanger, the second oldest of the Thomas and Rose Anna "Rose" McCormick family, was the younger sister of Louise Theresa McCormick McCarthy and the older sister of Roseanna "Anna" McCormick Ruggles. The three sisters had nine brothers as well. Their mother, who was born Rose Anna Ray to Joseph and Mary Jane Keating Ray of Chemung County, New York, had married Thomas McCormick, a native of Ireland, in Chemung or Steuben County, New York in about 1845.
In 1855, 39...
Read More
|
*****+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+++~~~~~MCCORMICK~~~~~+++~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+*****
On letter writing, "...the humane art, which owes its origins to the love of friends" - Virginia Woolf
Mary Jane McCormick Belanger, the second oldest of the Thomas and Rose Anna "Rose" McCormick family, was the younger sister of Louise Theresa McCormick McCarthy and the older sister of Roseanna "Anna" McCormick Ruggles. The three sisters had nine brothers as well. Their mother, who was born Rose Anna Ray to Joseph and Mary Jane Keating Ray of Chemung County, New York, had married Thomas McCormick, a native of Ireland, in Chemung or Steuben County, New York in about 1845.
In 1855, 39 year old Tom and 26 year old Rose McCormick put their first seven children on a wagon, and made their way from the wooded valleys of rural New York to the fertile open fields of southern Wisconsin. It is hard to imagine the sheer physical strength and dogged determination that it would have taken to make such a long journey with so many small children, the oldest being a 9 year old girl. The young couple may have been accompanied by Rose's Ray parents and six younger Ray siblings, who ranged in age from 9 to 24.
Little Mary Jane McCormick was 6 or 7 years old. Her older sister Louise Theresa was 9 or 10. Their uncle Charles C. Ray was 9 or 10 as well, and their aunt Sarah Ray was about 12.
One little girl on the wagon, Mary Jane, would live to see the age of 91, outliving three of her adult children who died in their 50's, many nieces and nephews, and all eleven of her McCormick siblings except one brother, Alphonsus McCormick. Her aunt Sarah would live to the age of 95.
When she was 17, as the Civil War came to an end in 1865, Mary Jane married Frank Belanger in Wisconsin Rapids. The Belanger family was French Canadian. Her older sister Louise had married a Canadian-born Irishman (John McCarthy) in Wisconsin Rapids just 3 years earlier.
The two sisters, Louise and Mary Jane, had many children with corresponding ages. Mary Jane stopped at 6, having her last baby at age 31. Louise continued on to have 12, her last arriving when Louise was 45-46 years old. All 18 children were raised in Wood County, Wisconsin between 1865 and 1900. The youngest McCormick sister, Anna, married and moved with her husband Q. Ruggles, parents Tom and Rose McCormick, and several brothers to Waubansee County, in northeastern Kansas just west of Topeka, by 1880.
Frank Belanger Sr. for some reason is not present in the 1880 census with his family. Mary Jane was just 31-32 years old at the time, with 6 children age 14 and under. Her younger brother Emmett McCormick, in his early 20's, was living with the family, probably to assist his sister during Frank's absence. Most of Emmett's 8 brothers had moved with their parents Tom and Rose to Kansas by 1880, so it would appear that Emmett was selected to be the one who stayed behind to help Mary Jane. Emmett would later move to Montana, where he worked for his first cousins in a growing cattle ranching business, these cousins being the sons of his uncle James McCormick, who was an older brother of his father Tom.
It is possible that Frank Belanger Sr., lured by stories of lucrative mining, ranching, farming, and other mercantile opportunities in the West and elsewhere, left his family as early as 1880, to work, buy land, and establish a new homeplace. This would clearly explain why Mary had no more children after 1879. Indeed Frank and Mary appear to have lived separately for years, and may have never resumed living together at all, as Frank does not appear in the 1880 census or any census thereafter, while Mary is shown living with adult children.
In 1890, the Centralia, Wisconsin newspaper published a small revealing story concerning Frank, saying that he had returned to town "white-haired" after a 10 year absence, and that he had been living for a decade in the country of Panama, in Central America. According to other small newspaper stories, in his long absence, Mary Jane had opened her own dressmaking shop in Wisconsin Rapids, presumably to support the family.
According to Mary Jane's obituary, Frank Sr. lived until about 1914. Despite this mention, Frank's actual death may have occurred before 1904-5, when Mary Jane (according to her obituary) permanently moved from Wisconsin Rapids to Billings, Montana. In fact, in an 1897 article, the Centralia, Wisconsin newspaper described Frank as being partially paralyzed from a stroke. He had left the hospital where he had been residing, and his 27 year old married daughter Edith Belanger Brooks had brought him to her home to care for him.
Mary Jane and Frank Belanger Sr had the following children in Wisconsin Rapids :
Frank Belanger b. 1866, d. 1921. Died at age 55 in Wisconsin.
Louisa Belanger b. 1868, d. 1943. Died at age 75 in Los Angeles, where she was living with her second husband (Mrs. Edw. Lynch/Mrs. Wm. Rider). Louisa had lived most of her life in Wisconsin Rapids, where her only child, an eight year old boy, died of an illness in 1899. Her first husband died, and she moved to Montana and California with her second husband.
Edith Belanger b. 1870. (Mrs. Hall L. Brooks) Censuses indicate that Edith had no surviving children. In 1905, Edith and Hall are in their own rented home. Hall is a lumberman. In the 1910 census, Edith 40 and her husband Hall 46 are living in a boarding house in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. By 1920 they are living in rented house with three other adults, one man and two single women. Edith is 49, Hall is a wholesale lumberman, age 55. No records of either of them after this. Edith, age 52, is still living in Tomahawk in January 1932 when her mother comes from Montana for a visit. Edith died before her mother's passing in 1939, the third premature death among the six siblings.
Estella Belanger b. 1872. Lived in Billings, MT, then Libby, MT. By 1920, 48 year old Stella was living in Los Angeles with her only child, Portus Jr. age 20, who had fought in World War I. In 1929, Portus Jr., a smelter engineer, married in Montana. By 1930, Stella had been listed in city phone directories through the 1920's, and she was still living alone in Los Angeles at age 58 (Mrs. Portus Baxter, Sr.). Stella died in 1955 at the age of 83, perhaps the longest lived of her siblings, but not attaining the longevity of her pioneer mother Mary Jane. Where she died is unknown, but she is buried next to her husband Dr. Portus Baxter, Sr. in Montana. Whether the couple was separated or divorced remains a mystery in 2012. Grandchildren are unknown in 2012.
Sevarre William Belanger b. 1875, d. 1932. Died at age 56 in Billings, leaving one son age 22. By the age of 24 in 1899, he had worked for 10 years as a pharmacy clerk in Centralia/Wisconsin Rapids, WI. He had gone to Superior and passed the state boards for pharmacy, and decided to move to Billings, Montana to work in his brother-in-law's pharmacy. He was so highly thought of in town that many prominent townsmen threw him a grand going away party on Thursday December 7, 1899, complete with a sumptuous meal, speeches, and the presentation to him of a small diamond ring, and a rousing song at the end.
John Charles Belanger b. 1879. Still living at age 63 in Billings in 1942.
Louisa, Edith, and Stella Belanger were the exact same ages as their McCarthy first cousins, Ella, Hattie, Nettie, and Lizzie McCarthy. These girls no doubt all knew each other well growing up in Wisconsin Rapids.
Despite their father Frank's absence throughout their growing up years, the Belanger children were clearly well educated, some continuing studies beyond high school. This would seem to indicate that their mother Mary Jane was literate and educated as well. Mary Jane was apparently also an outgoing and creative woman, who, according to newspaper stories, traveled to Chicago in search of the latest fashions which she then copied for her dress shop in Wisconsin Rapids.
On October 31, 1891, 21 year old Edith Belanger married Hall L. Brooks in Wisconsin Rapids in a Catholic ceremony. It is unknown if Edith and Hall had any children. It appears that the couple remained in Wisconsin, living in the town of Tomahawk or Milwaukee. When and where Edith died is a mystery, but she did die before her mother Mary Jane's passing at age 91 in 1939.
After serving as a soldier, and living in Superior, Wisconsin where he graduated from pharmacy school, Severe Belanger moved to Billings, Montana in 1899-1900. His older sister Stella was already living there with her physician husband and new baby. There were also other McCormick relatives in Montana, as grandfather Tom McCormick (he died in Kansas in 1892) had a brother in Rexville, New York named James, who had 8 sons and 1 daughter, 7 of whom had moved to Montana. Severe's younger brother John C. Belanger lived in Wisconsin after 1900, as a young single man, but eventually also moved to Montana, and married there. Severe and John C. each had only one child, both sons named John. Their oldest brother Frank stayed in Wisconsin, and never married.
Of the three Belanger sisters, two lived in Montana, one from her young womanhood on, and one later in middle age. Stella, like her younger brother Severe, ended up in Montana early. She became a teacher in Wisconsin, and then took a position teaching on the Crow Indian reservation outside of Billings. On the reservation, Stella met and became engaged to a doctor, Dr. Portus Baxter. The couple held their wedding in Wisconsin Rapids, in the home of Mary McCormick Belanger, but then permanently settled in Billings. They had their only child, a son Portus Baxter Jr., in 1899. Stella's older sister Louisa stayed in Wisconsin Rapids and married attorney and lumber kingpin Edward Lynch. The couple lived in one of the best homes in town, and had only one child, a son named Guy. Sadly, around 1900, little Guy died at the age of just 8, after an unspecified illness of 5 weeks duration. Louisa and Edward continued on alone, and Edward died at some point, possibly in the early 1920's, leaving Louisa a widow, perhaps a wealthy one. Louisa remarried, to William "Will" Douglas Rider, and the couple lived for an unknown time period in Chicago, and later in Montana. Both Stella and Louisa and ended up living in Los Angeles, California. Stella is there by 1920 with her 20 year old son Portus Jr., but no sign of her husband, who seems to have remained in Montana. Stella is still in Los Angeles in 1930, now alone in a rental unit at the age of 58. Louisa died in Los Angeles in 1943, prior to her husband Will who was still with her, leaving no children. She was 75 years old, and she and husband Will were living in an apartment building at the time of her passing.
After losing her estranged husband Frank Sr., and her little grandson Guy Lynch (who seemed to be the one and only grandchild she had in Wisconsin), family matriarch Mary Jane relocated from Wisconsin Rapids to Montana around 1904-05 at age 56-57, probably because she had two small grandsons there. However, Mary Jane continued to travel widely, visiting her far-flung children and other relatives. Between 1905 and 1935, she returned to both Wisconsin and Kansas to visit her McCormick sisters and brothers, and her Wisconsin Rapids offspring : her oldest son Frank Jr., and daughters Edith Brooks and Louisa Lynch-Rider. Mary Jane even made it all the way to Los Angeles, California, residing there in the summer of 1930 at age 82, with her daughter and son-in-law Louisa and Will Rider.
Mary Jane's tough-as-nails mother, Roseanna Ray McCormick, who had come to Montana to live for a time (maybe for several years, after 1900), died in Wisconsin Rapids in 1907 at age 78, in the home of Mary Jane's older sister Louise McCormick McCarthy. Louise then died there herself in the same home in 1916 at age 70, of possible stomach cancer and stroke complications. Among the three women, Roseanne lost three offspring (Patrick Frederick-age 9 in 1868, John, and Arthur-age 34 in 1905) before she died, Louise lost one of her twelve the same year she died (Laura-age 38 in 1916), and Mary Jane lost three of her six adult children (Frank, Severe, and Edith) before she died in early 1939.
The oldest Belanger sibling, Frank Jr., died prematurely of heart disease at age 55 in 1921, unmarried and living in Milwaukee, Tomahawk, or Wisconsin Rapids, WI. His sister Edith also died somewhere in Wisconsin in an unknown year, but prior to 1939, when she would have been 69.
Severe, who operated a drugstore for many years called Belanger & Jones in Billings, Montana, also died prematurely, at age 56 in 1932, seven years before the passing of his mother Mary Jane. He left behind a son John V. Belanger, who was probably born between 1902 and 1915.
Mary Jane McCormick Belanger died in Montana in 1939, at the age of 91. She was buried in Mountview Cemetery, Billings, Montana, her third state of residence in her lifetime, where she had lived for 35 years. Right near or next to Mary Jane's gravesite, is the resting place of her youngest brother, Frederick Arthur McCormick, who had moved to Billings from Kansas, and then died young and unmarried there when he was killed by a train in 1905, predeceasing his mother Rose who was living in Billings at the time. Also in the same cemetery, are the burial sites of Mary Jane's first cousins (through her uncle James McCormick of New York), the McCormick brothers Frank, Robert, and Paul, and their wives and some of their offspring. The sites for Frank and his family are located very near to Mary Jane and Arthur.
Mary Jane was the last of the 12 children of Thomas and Rose Ray McCormick. Mary Jane was also the very last survivor of all the McCormick first cousins (grown offspring of brothers James and Thomas McCormick) in Montana. The family's last direct connection to Ireland was Mary Jane's older first cousin Mary McCormick McKinley, who had been born in Ballycastle, Antrim, northern Ireland in 1830, and died in Billings, Montana in 1917. Back in Wisconsin Rapids, the 12 middle-aged McCarthy children of Mary Jane's oldest sibling Louise McCormick McCarthy all died in rapid succession and prematurely -- by 1944, eleven of the 12 were deceased, with only the youngest (George McCarthy) left.
Between 1932 when Mary Jane's son Severe died in Billings, and her own passing in 1939, her family circle was quite small. Mary Jane may have spent time in both Los Angeles and Billings. She lost her third adult child when her married but childless daughter Edith died in Wisconsin sometime before 1939. Mary Jane's immediate family then consisted of Severe's grown son John, her childless daughter Louisa (age 64, in Los Angeles), her daughter Stella (also in Los Angeles living alone) and Stella's 32 year old son Portus who may have moved back to Montana and married, her son John, 52, and his 11 year old son John, several wives of her deceased male McCormick first cousins, Cora McCormick (the 62 year old daughter of her mother's younger sister Mary Jane Ray McCormick, and also simultaneously the daughter of her deceased first cousin Hugh), and Cora's two brothers Will and Fred McCormick who both lived outside of Billings. Cora was a school principle in Billings and never married. Fred was a farmer in Hysham, Montana, and had several grown children. Will died of a suicide in 1936, in Colstrip, Montana, near Billings, at the age of 65, having lost his business fortune in the Depression.
Mary Jane had four grandchildren (and possibly some great grandchildren), including the deceased Lynch son Guy, and the 3 who survived: Portus Baxter Jr. b. 1899, John V. (or B.) Belanger b.apprx 1910, and John S. Belanger b. 1920-21. This youngest grandson John S. was 18 years old when his grandmother Mary Jane died in 1939. He died in Los Angeles, California in 2005, one hundred and fifty years after his grandmother had traveled by oxen-powered wagon from New York to Wisconsin, with probably only one good pair of shoes and her favorite doll.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grand Rapids Tribune
December 14, 1895
_____________________
Last Saturday witnessed a football contest at the fair grounds between the teams of John Belanger and Edward McCarthy to decide which could rightfully claim the junior championship of the Howe High school. The game was hotly contested, both teams doing good work. The score was 8 to 4, in favor of McCarthy. (Note : Edward and John were first cousins, born in 1881 and 1879, so they were 14.5 and 16 years old.)
Grand Rapids Tribune
July 28 1900
_____________________
Edward Lynch returned last Wednesday evening from a three weeks visit at Billings, Mont. Mrs. Lynch (Louisa Belanger) who accompanied him there, will remain a few weeks longer, the guest of her sister, Mrs. Dr. Baxter (Stella Belanger). While in Montana, Mr. and Mrs. Lynch visited Yellowstone Park, reporting a most enjoyable time.
1900-02
Mrs. M.J. Belanger, fashionable dressmaker of Grand Rapids, departed the first of the week for Chicago to remain about two weeks for the purpose of familiarizing herself with the latest styles in the art of dressmaking.
Grand Rapids Tribune
August 20 1902
______________________
Mrs. M. J. Belanger and Mrs. (Stella) Portus Baxter, who have been spending a few days in Chicago, returned home on Saturday.
1905 Wisconsin Census
______________________
Mary Jane Belanger (age 56), head of household, a dressmaker, is living in Milwaukee with a son John C. Belanger (age 26), a telephone company solicitor, and a daughter Edith Brooks (age 36).
1920 U.S. Federal Census
______________________
Mary Jane Belanger (age 71), living in Yellowstone County, Montana, is listed as a farmer, and the co-owner of a truck farm in a sugar beet farming region. Living with her are her youngest child John C. Belanger (age 40) and his German-born wife Mary M., who may have been pregnant with John S. Belanger by summer 1920.
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
Oct 12, 1920
______________________
Mrs. Mary J. Belanger of Billings, Mont. arrived Saturday evening and is the houseguest of Mrs. J. Hamm 5th St. south.
Saturday May 28, 1927
______________________
Mr. and Mrs. William Douglas Rider of Chicago are weekend guests at the home of Mrs. Anna Clancy. Mrs. Rider (born Louisa Belanger) was formerly Mrs. Edward Lynch of this city (Wisconsin Rapids).
Spring/Summer 1930 U.S. Federal Census
______________________________________
Mary Jane Belanger, age 82, is living in Los Angeles with her daughter, Mrs. (Louisa) Will Rider, and Mr. Will Rider.
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
Monday September 29, 1930
________________________
Mrs. Mary (McCormick) Belanger of Tomahawk was a visitor in the home of her aunt, Mrs. Sarah (Ray) Hamilton, last week. (NOTE: Aunt Sarah Ann was the younger sister of Mary Jane's mother Roseanna Ray. In 1930 when they visited, Sarah was 87 years old, and Mary Jane was 82 years old. Sarah lived for six more years. Her younger brother Charles Ray had just died in 1928 at age 82, leaving Sarah the last of her birth family. Sarah and Mary Jane were the last living people to have known Joseph and Mary Jane Keating Ray well, so the entire knowledge base of both the Ray and Keating families died with these two grand old gals.)
Saturday September 19, 1931
________________________
Mrs. F. Belanger and son John left Tuesday evening for a visit with her people at St. Mary, Kansas. She will be absent about 4 weeks. (NOTE: Mary Jane had McCormick brothers living in Waubansee County, Kansas since 1880.)
January 23, 1932
________________________
Mrs. (Edith) Hall L. Brooks of Tomahawk arrived in the city on Tuesday for a short visit with her mother Mrs. M. J. Belanger on Oak Street. (Note: Oak Street was associated for years with the McCarthy family of Mary Jane Belanger's sister, Louise McCarthy. Possibly one of Mary Jane's McCarthy nieces or nephews still owned a home on Oak in 1932. Louise had died in 1916, and several of her adult children had died prematurely, including two daughters in the 1920's.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obituary for MARY MCCORMICK BELANGER
state of Montana
The Billings Gazette
Tuesday February 14, 1939
Mrs. Mary Jane Belanger, 91, died at her home, 804 North Broadway, at 3:40 pm Monday following a brief illness. Death was caused by the infirmities due to her advanced age.
She was born Jan 2, 1848 at Rexville, New York, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McCormick. When she was 6 years old, the family moved to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and later to Wood County, Wisconsin. (Note: this is the only record of the fact that Mary Jane and her parents and siblings lived in Sheboygan when the family first moved from New York in 1854-55.) She married Frank Belanger at Grand Rapids, Wisconsin (now Wisconsin Rapids) in 1865. Mr. Belanger died about 25 years ago.
Mrs. Belanger came to Billings in 1904 and had resided here since. She was a member of the Catholic Church.
She is survived by a son, John C. Belanger of Billings; two daughters, Mrs. Stella M. Baxter of Libby and Mrs. Will Rider of Los Angeles, Cal; a brother Alphonsus McCormick of Texas, and two grandchildren.
(NOTE: There should be 3 grandchildren. John V. Belanger, son of Severe, was alive in 1932 when Severe died, and John S. Belanger, son of John C., was 9 years old in the 1930 census. The third grandchild was Portus Baxter Jr. It is unknown if one of the three had died by 1939, or whether Mary Jane's obituary was in error.)
A devotional service will be held at 7: 30 pm Tuesday at the Smith chapel. Requiem mass will be celebrated at 9 am Wednesday at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Burial will be in Mountview cemetery.
|
