Through Her Eyes Thursday: Mathilda Steffen Pearce

**Disclaimer ~ Having technical difficulties as you are starting your blog post is never a good thing! There is not much that can be done when the internet is down.

So, although this is a "Through Her Eyes Thursday" post, it is being brought to on Friday, February 14th (AKA Valentine's Day). Today, I would like to show some love to this lovely lady, my maternal grandmother,  Mathilda (Tillie) Steffen Pearce.

Mathilda C. Steffen

Growing Up on a Iowa Farm

She was born Mathilda C. Steffen on May 10, 1910 in Luxemburg, Dubuque County, Iowa. Although she was named Mathilda, she was just "Tillie" to all who knew and loved her.

As one of the oldest daughters in a large family growing up in the early 1920's, Tillie spent much of her childhood helping to care for her younger siblings. As was common with girls in those days, she was taken out of school after the 8th grade to help her mother.

Love and Family

In her late 20's, Tillie would travel to the outskirts of the Chicago area with her younger sister, Alice. There, in Kendall County, both Tillie and Alice would find husbands and start raising families.

Tillie met and married Gerald H. Pearce on 24 November 1937. Gerald had been a widower with a grown daughter named Elnora, and a couple of grandchildren. 

Gerald and Mathilda Pearce

Gerald and Tillie would also have two children of their own. My mother, Kathleen, and uncle, James, joined the family in 1938 and 1943.

My Grandma "Tillie" & my mom, Kathy,
on Mom's First Communion.

Cooking and Kitchens

Grandma was a wonderful cook, and was well-known in Yorkville for her kitchen skills. According to my mother, she catered many meals during her lifetime. At one point, she also was a kitchen manager in a local restaurant, also.

Grandma Tillie

 

At home, in the kitchen

She was ahead of her time in many ways, also. Throughout the 1950's, it was not that common for married women to be working outside the home. Grandma did much of the catering while married to my grandfather. 

And she continued working after his death in 1959. My mother and uncle were only 21 and 17 at the time. My mom would be married within 1 1/2 years and move 300 miles away to  southeastern Indiana.

As a widow at 49 years old, she had to become quite independent in taking care of herself and her home.

She would also drive herself and her sister, Alice, on car trips back to Iowa to visit their siblings. They took several of these car trips until their health eventually prevented them.

Grandma with three of her sisters.
L-R:  Catherine, Alice, Tillie and Florence

When house maintenance became too much in later years, my grandmother sold her house and moved herself into a senior citizen home. Here, she really enjoyed visiting with her friends, playing bingo and cards...and even taking a trip out to Vegas!

She cherished her family and her grandchildren. My Uncle Jim stayed in the Kendall County area, and he would visit Grandma often with his two kids. My family lived in southeastern Indiana, and many trips were made back and forth to see each other.

My Memories

She loved playing games with us children! I couldn't even recall how many times Yahtzee or a deck of cards were already setting on the dining room table awaiting her arrival!

Mathilda (Tillie) Steffen Pearce passed away on August 27, 1991. I have so many fantastic memories of this wonderful woman! I was only 21 years old when she passed away, and hadn't even begun to realize all that she had taught me.

Almost thirty years later, I may have forgotten the little bit of her childhood German she taught me. But, I remember everything else! Be strong. Take care of yourself. Cherish your family. Have fun!

These last photos are of the Grandma Pearce that I treasure. This is how I will remember her always.

Tillie Pearce

Grandma Pearce and
Grandma Schrader

My mom, Kathy Schrader and
Grandma Pearce

Through Her Eyes Thursday~Elizabeth Weaver Sparks

First in a new Thursday Genealogy Prompt

This is the first in a new genealogy blogging prompt called Through Her Eyes Thursday. 

In the past, the history books rarely, if ever, mentioned women. The census didn't even give them their names until 1850. In any newspaper articles or the like, their names where always listed as ~Mrs. John Doe~ never as Anne Doe.

So, to bring the attention to where it rightly deserves, many bloggers have chosen to join me to shine a light on their stories.

I begin by sharing my story of Elizabeth Weaver Sparks

Elizabeth (Weaver) Sparks
Photo courtesy of http://sparksfamilyassn.org/

Elizabeth Weaver was born a few years before the Revolutionary War on December 1st, 1772  in New Holland, Lancaster County, British Colonial America. She was raised in the Mennonite religion, as her maternal 2x-great grandfather, Hans Herr, is rumored to have been the first Mennonite Bishop in Colonial America. Her paternal grandfather, George Weaver, along with two of his brothers, received land from William Penn himself.

The daughter of George Weaver and Frances Brechbuhl (Brackbill, Brachbuhl) was raised in Lancaster County until her father's death. Elizabeth was around the age of 10 or 11 at the time of his death. Her mother moved the family to Virginia, and continued raising them in the Mennonite religion.

Elizabeth Charts Her Own Path

According to her obituary in The Western Christian Advocate, Elizabeth and three other women, decided to go listen to a circuit-riding Methodist preacher. Their minds were all turned by what they heard; and they became baptized at the following month's meeting.

Elizabeth Weaver's heart was also turned by him. On August 8, 1793, she married that circuit-riding preacher by the name of Elijah Sparks.

A Family of Her Own

Her oldest child, Hamlet Sparks, is born ca. 1796. He is her only child to be born in Virginia.

With a move to Kentucky in 1798, Elijah started practicing law and they had two more children: Norval (1800) & Eliza Ann (1803) In 1806, they moved across the Ohio River to Dearborn County, Indiana Territory, where Elizabeth's two brothers were already living. Here, Elizabeth would give birth to three more children: Green (1808), Helen (1812) and America Columbia (ca. 1814-15).

By 1814, Elizabeth was raising six children. Her husband had just become Judge  of the Third Circuit Court of the Indiana Territory. He would have travelled quite extensively in this position due to the sparsely-populated area.

On Her Own

On a trip back east, Elijah passed away on April 30, 1815. The children were ages 3-19 at his death. Elizabeth's mother had moved out to the area, and her brothers also lived nearby. Although she was now a widow with young children at home, she had family nearby to be able to lean on for support.

The obituary in the Western Christian Advocate mentions that Elizabeth never married again, and turned her attention to her church. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lawrenceburg for 58 years.

Hamline United Methodist Church
Lawrenceburg, IN
(Source: Wikipedia)

Her last years

For a woman that was born before the Revolutionary War, it is amazing that I have a photo of Elizabeth. However, it is just as amazing to be able to report that a 91-year-old Elizabeth did her part during the Civil War by assisting in making clothes for the Union soldiers.

A year later would find Elizabeth on her deathbed. The church being so important to Elizabeth, I would like to include a quote from her obituary. "She never failed to do her part in paying her pastor's salary. On her death-bed she gave him some money, stating at the same time she would not likely live to see the next ensuing quarterly meeting."

Elizabeth (Weaver) Sparks died on March 13, 1864 in the home of her son, Hamlet, in Moores Hill, Dearborn County, Indiana.

Sources:

• The Western Christian Advocate; Methodist publication. [Issue dated 3 January 1866, p. 6, Col. 1]

• http://sparksfamilyassn.org/