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Oliver McGrew Everly |
Oliver McGrew Everly was born on April 10, 1876 in Herring near Kingwood, Preston County, WV, the son of Absalom and Sarah (Carroll) Everly.
As a bachelor, he was employed circa 1910 as a glassworker in nearby Morgantown, Monongalia County, WV.
On June 25, 1910, when he was 34 years of age, he was joined in wedlock with 23-year-old Donna Kelley (1886- ? ), the daughter of Samuel and Ansadonna "Donna" (Johnson) Kelley of Monongalia County. Performing the nuptials was Rev. Aaron M. Buchanan of the local Presbyterian church.
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| Obituary, 1946 |
They resided in a rural section of Morgantown. When the federal census enumeration was made in 1920, the pair were marked as dairy farmers.
The Morgantown Dominion News said he "operated a dairy here for many years. He was a member of the Wesley Methodist Church and of the Knights of Pythias." The 1923 History of West Virginia, Old and New says that Oliver was "a dairyman at Morgantown."
The 1930 and 1940 censuses list the couple in the Morgan District of Morgantown, with their young niece Mary Carnes living under their roof.
Grief descended upon Oliver when Donna was stricken with cancer of the rectum in about 1940. She suffered for about five-and-a-half months and toward the end suffered paralysis. Death mercifully swept her away at the age of 52 on Jan. 18, 1941, bringing to a close their marriage of 31 years. Her remains were lowered into the sacred soil of East Oak Grove Cemetery.
The widowed Oliver wedded a second time to his late wife's sister, Ilda Jane (Kelley) Headlee (April 22, 1885-1949). She had been married once before to John T. Headlee (1873-1937), son of Jeremiah and Mary Headlee, a carpenter who had been killed on Nov. 5, 1937 when struck by a passing motorist along the Lincoln Highway in North Versailles Township. Ilda brought a son to the second union, John Trippett Headlee.
The Everlys retired and moved to Collins Ferry Road in Morgantown.
Sadly, Oliver died of a heart attack at age 69 on Feb. 4, 1946. He was buried in the same plot as his father in East Oak Grove Cemetery in Morgantown.
Ilda spent her widowed years with her son in Trafford, Westmoreland County, PA, at the address of 316 Duquesne Avenue. She was burdened with hypertension and cerebral palsy of her brain. When he heart failed, she was spirited away by the spectre of death a day later on May 22, 1949. Her son John signed the Pennsylvania certificate of death. A death notice in the Pittsburgh Press only named her first husband and son. Her remains are asleep in Grandview Cemetery in North Versailles, Allegheny County, PA.
~ Stepson John Trippett Headlee ~
Stepson John Trippett Headlee (1914-1989) was born on March 9, 1914 in West Virginia.
He entered into marriage with Ethel I. Leeper (Oct. 5, 1913-1995), daughter of John Carl and Fannie (Cowan) Leeper.
John died at the age of 75 on March 31, 1989. Ethel lived for another six years and passed away in Trafford on July 26, 1995. Their ashes rest in eternal repose in Grandview Cemetery, North Versailles.
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