Ancestor Archives: Mary Jane Ellis (1866-1936)

by Rocky Macy

I would like to begin this profile of one of my maternal great-grandmothers, Mary Jane ELLIS SREAVES, by sharing a beautiful remembrance that one of her granddaughters wrote sometime during the mid-1980’s.  That writer, my first cousin , once removed – Mary SREAVES CLOTFELTER of Monett, Missouri - submitted her tribute to the literary magazine at Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri, where it received the “Gold Quill Award” for the best submission from a member of the community.  I used it with Mary Clotfelter’s permission in my newspaper genealogy column, “Rootbound in the Hills,” on June 28, 1988, and in this blog nearly twenty years later that on April 11, 2008.   Now, nearly thirteen more years have passed and here it is again!  Please enjoy!

 "Made from Scratch"

by Mary SREAVES CLOTFELTER

Since I have been appointed to help compile a "centennial cookbook," I remember my widowed paternal grandmother who was a "scratch cook," and wish I had her recipe for horehound candy. Beginning with the leaves of the horehound plants that grew beside her chicken house, she produced pieces of medicinal cough candy which became the forerunner of today's molded cough drops.

Then there was her smothered chicken, which she served when her large family returned home for big pot-luck family dinners on Sunday. Since Grandma hatched her own eggs, she had a surplus of roosters, and they, one by one, became the main dish for those special occasions. Hen's were granted a reprieve because they were destined to become layers of eggs for breakfast, ingredients for the good sorghum cakes Grandma made, and, most importantly, farm income.

Most young roosters are elusive birds and prone to making erratic turns and skids, sometimes becoming airborne when pursued. This made capture difficult for a grandmother past her prime. As a result, Grandma had a "chicken catcher," a long bamboo fishing pole with a wire noose attached at the end. With the aid of this contraption, the target rooster never lived to crow another morning, but did utter a few squawks when he was beheaded. This, of course, was the beginning of Grandma's smothered chicken, a real meat stretcher of tender fowl covered with some sort of steaming cream gravy and seasoned with a pinch of this and that. I wish I knew the spices she used.

I also remember the rich blackberry jelly Grandma made from berries she foraged, scratch by scratch, from her rocky hillsides. This delicacy, combined with sweet cream butter churned daily, spread atop a warm slice of her fresh sourdough bread, was a treat to be remembered by her grandchildren, and then passed on! Her house always had a lingering smell of all the good things she had cooked from scratch on her old wood stove.

Now as I reminisce, I realize Grandma was a real "made from scratch" pioneer filled with fortitude and grit. Perhaps it was passed down to her from her ancestors, the earliest settlers of Nantucket Island, and the other hardy folks, including native Americans, who had added to her gene pool along the way. Then there was the circumstance of providence which had helped to give her a preserving spirit.

I wish my children and their children had known this gentle, brave lady, Mary Jane SREAVES, who chose to spend her remaining years on her wilderness land and face the thorns of life. Now owned by the Missouri Department of Conservation and the people of Missouri, it has been set aside as a natural history area.

Little did Grandma know that the last residents of her land would be the wild things, but I think some of her Indian heritage would cause her to be pleased. The wild plum thickets drop their overripe fruit on the ground, the blueberries stain the mouths of the creatures who relish them, and the blackberry brambles cover the old paths and encroach upon the abandoned garden. Daffodils mark the edge of Grandma's long-ago yard, and the sweet smell of her lilacs permeates the springtime air.

 

 

Mary Jane ELLIS was born in Huntsville, Madison County, Arkansas, on October 12, 1866, the daughter of William J. ELLIS and Matilda J. COOK.    She married Alexander SREAVES on January 15, 1888 in Arkansas.  Mary Jane passed away at the home of her daughter, Ethel, in Newton County, Missouri, on March 15, 1936, at the age of sixty-nine.
 
Mary Jane’s life can basically be divided into two parts:  the Arkansas half and the Missouri half.   Up until sometime in her thirty-fifth year she lived in and around the small community of Huntsville, Arkansas.  She was born in Huntsville, and that is where she and Alex began their married life and started their family.  But something serious and unexpected happened in 1901, reportedly a conflict with a neighbor, that caused the SREAVES’ family to suddenly pack up and head north to Missouri.  They settled in McDonald County, the southwest corner county of Missouri, where Mary Jane and Alex were destined to live out the rest of their days.
 
Five children were born to Mary Jane and Alex while they were living in and around Huntsville, Arkansas:  Daniel Alexander  (1888-1972)  (my grandfather), William “Jess” (1890-1956) (Mary Clotfelter’s father), Ira “Jackson” (1892-1928), Ethel May (1895-1982), and Fannie Matilda (1898-1990).  After settling in Missouri, the couple had two more children:  Alice Christine (1902-1944), and Lula Elizabeth (1904-1983).
 
All of the children grew up and married local people with the exceptions of Jackson who was born with a heart defect and never married, and Alice Christine who married Henning G. Anderson and moved with him back to his home state of Nebraska.  Henning was a cousin of Harry B. Anderson who married Alice’s oldest sister, Ethel.
 
Of the other children, Daniel Alexander married (1) Nancy Jane “Sis” ROARK (my grandmother, whom he outlived), and 2.  Martha Adeline THOMPSON ROARK;  Jess married Lula Mae ANDERTON;  Fannie Matilda married Andrew “Joe” ULMER;  and, Lula Elizabeth married Wesley “Wess” Robert KELLEY.
 
More than eighty years after the family came to Missouri in two covered wagons, daughter Fannie wrote about the trip and their early years in McDonald County.  Her  brief family history was published in this blog on February 1, 2021. Fannie’s account says that the family moved in two covered wagons, with the second being handled by Mary Jane’s younger brother, Tommy ELLIS.  She said that they camped out three nights before arriving at their new home in McDonald County.
 
One of my favorite story’s in Fannie’s account is when her mother, Mary Jane, left a basket of eggs sitting atop her sewing machine, and the family’s pet raccoon got into the eggs and began throwing them on the floor.  She said “Mama whipped the raccoon!” Her recollections of those early days in Missouri also describe other animals that played important roles in the family – like their dogs and horses.
 
Although it is unclear how much formal education Mary Jane had, entries in the US Census indicate that both she and Alex could read and write.   Education appeared to be valued in their household.  My grandfather, Dan SREAVES attended a one-room school before the family left Arkansas, and Fannie’s family history makes references to schools the kids attended in Missouri.  At one point she said “we all finished school at Hart” and then she went on to describe it as being a two-room school with grades one-through-four in one room and grades five-through-eight in the other.  While the SREAVES boys went on to farm, two of the girls, Ethel and Alice became school teachers, and Lula ran a successful business with her husband.
 
Alex passed away in April of 1927 and Mary Jane continued to live on their farm for almost nine years before she died.  Family stories indicate that she worked hard during that time taking care of the place as well as the necessary livestock such as her pair of work horses, Dolly and Ribbon, both mares.  My mother related that her father, Dan SREAVES, bought Dolly and Ribbon after the death of his mother.   Granddad SREAVES wanted to make sure that his mother’s horses were never mistreated, and he never let anyone else work them except himself.  Mom said that each of the mares, Dolly and Ribbon, had a colt while her dad owned them.  Granddad SREAVES kept his mother’s horses until they died.

Although I never met Mary Jane ELLIS SREAVES, I know what she looked like because a large oval framed photograph of her always hung on the wall in my grandfather's house.  His wife, Nancy Jane "Sis" had it made from a small photo of his mother, and she gave it to my granddad at a big surprise birthday party that was attended by much of the community.  It was one of his treasures.
 
As mentioned earlier, Mary Jane ELLIS SREAVES passed away at the home of her daughter, Ethel, just across the line in Newton County, Missouri, on March 15, 1936.  It is likely that Ethel provided the information which follows, but it is odd that the obituary failed to mention Mary Jane's son, Jackson, who had preceded his parents in death, and two of her daughters who were still living at the time of their mother’s death:  Fannie and Alice.  Those omissions were likely the fault of the newspaper.
 
This obituary was taken from the “Miami News Record” of Miami, Oklahoma, dated Wednesday, March 18, 1936 – page five:

 

“Death of Mrs. Sreaves

 

“Mrs. Mary Jane Sreaves 69 years old, died March 15 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Harry Anderson, on Swars Prairie.  Besides Mrs. Anderson, she is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Wes Kelley, and two sons, Dan and Jesse Sreaves, all of the Swars Prairie community.  Funeral services will be held at the Swars Pairie Methodist Church, conducted by the pastor, the Rev. G.M. Foster of Seneca. Burial will be in the Swars Prairie Cemetery under the direction of Buzzard Undertakers.”

Another true pioneer had been laid to rest. 

(Note:  While many of the SREAVES attended church at the Swars Prairie Methodist, almost all of the ones who remained on Swars Prairie appear to be buried at the Swars Prairie Baptist Church cemetery, including Alex and Mary SREAVES.  The cemetery at the Baptist Church seems to function as the primary cemetery for the residents of that community, regardless of their church affiliation.)