Maria Wolcott Wilson 1840-1890

Maria Wolcott was the daughter of Electa Griffin and her husband Chauncey Wolcott. She was born in Colchester, Vermont, March 9, 1840. Family life was centered around her Griffin grandparents, Samuel Griffin and Sylvia Bradley. Her mother, Electa, was part of a very close-knit family. --------- The marriage of Maria Wolcott and Milon Wilson is recorded in the Colchester, VT. town records on October 12, 1859. In the 1860 census the young couple is living in Colchester. By the time of the 1870 census they had moved a short distance to the town of Duxbury. The 1870 census records a family of four, listing two children, Clara and Frank.---------- In the 1880 census the family is listed in two places. One is Etna, Hardin County, Iowa. Listed are Milon and Maria as well as three children, Clara, Frank and Minnie. Maria and the children are also listed as part of her parent’s household in Colchester.--------- Surviving family letters exchanged between her mother, Electa, and her brother, Albert, then living in Utah describe the Iowa experience as being a little hard scrabble. The extended Wolcott family then moved together to Webster County, Nebraska. Centered around the towns of Cowles and Inavale we find Milon and Maria, her parents, as well as her brother Sidney and his family.------- For many years it was uncertain when and where Maria passed away. The recent recovery of her obituary published in the local newspaper the Red Cloud Chief has provided the answer. It reports her death on August 16, 1890, in Cowles, Nebraska. The obituary is also the sources of her birthdate of March 9, 1840 in Colchester. It notes her burial in the Cowles Cemetery. We have previously noted that her father, Chauncey Wolcott, was also buried in the Cowles Cemetery. I suspect that Electa is interred there also. -------------- The Red Cloud Chief provides hints that Milon Wilson became a well known businessman. After the death of his wife he remarried. He ended his life in a home for Civil War Veterans in Danville, Illinois. His death is recorded there on June 1, 1913. He is buried in the Danville National Cemetery.------------ Also found in the Red Cloud Chief is notice of the marriage between Clara Wilson, the daughter of Milon Wilson, and Charles M Myers. Their Marriage Certificate is filed in Red Cloud, Nebraska on October 1, 1889. By 1920 they are living in Pinellas County, Florida. The last record of them is the 1940 Census in Pinellas. ------------- Notice of the marriage of Minnie Wilson to W. F. Gates in Cook County, Illinois is also found in the Red Cloud Chief. The marriage of Minnie Wilson and Willey Francis Gates is recorded in Cook County, Illinois on September 11, 1889. The Red Cloud Chief also noted that Minnie had returned home for her mother’s funeral. By 1900 the couple is living in Los Angeles. Minnie is present in the 1920 census. By the time of the 1930 census her husband has remarried. Willey Gates was born March 18, 1865 in Zanesville, Ohio. He died in Los Angeles December 22, 1941. He is buried in the Grand View Memorial Park in Glendale, California.----------------- Frank Wilson married Mary Gravis November 27, 1889 In Red Cloud, Nebraska. His marriage to Vernie Saucer in found in the Hardin County, Iowa records dated October 20, 1897. The couple lived for many years in Minnesota. The 1940 census finds him in Sioux Fall, South Dakota. They are buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Sioux Falls. His headstone has a date of 1940 for his death. Her headstone has the dates 1876-1957.----------------------------------- Maria Wolcott Wilson / Electa Griffin / Samuel Griffin / Samuel Griffin / Samuel Griffin of Killingworth, CT.