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Mary 'Louisa' (McMurray) Leslie |
Mary "Louisa" (McMurray) Leslie was born on April 16, 1859 in London, Madison County, OH, the daughter of Alexander Blaine "Alex" and Mary (Houser) McMurray Jr.
At the age of 11, in 1870, and age 21 in 1880, she resided with her parents and siblings in Deer Creek Township, Madison County. The 1880 census-taker marked her occupation as "help at home."
She when named in her father's profile in the 1883 book History of Madison County.
On Jan. 28, 1885, now 25 years of age, Louisa entered into marriage with Cyrus C. "C.C." Leslie (Aug. 1860- ? ), an immigrant from England who had come to America at the age of 3. The nuptials were performed by Rev. Jacob Martin. On the couple's marriage license, they requested that it not be announced publicly.
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| Springfield's fountain square |
The pair did not reproduce.
When the federal census enumeration was made in 1900, the Leslies resided in Springfield, Clark County, OH, where Cyrus was employed as a teacher. Their address was 39 West Mulberry Street. They are known to have hosted her niece Ruth Carter in August 1905 and the wedding nuptials of her sister Florence to Foster West on Christmas Eve 1905. At the death of her father in 1906, they traveled to attend the funeral, and Louisa was named in his estate as an heir. Nieces Edna and Ruth Carter visited in June 1906.
Cyrus changed occupations during the decade of the 1900s and in 1910 was employed as a lawyer in the real estate field in Springfield. His travels took him to such places as Wapakoneta, OH and Detroit and Fremont, MI. A fruit farm he had purchased in Fremont was sold in 1908 to a group of friends with the names Clidence, Steele and Borger, and they all dubbed themselves the "Michigan Farmers." As of 1908, Cyrus renewed his teaching certificate, but he continued to work in real estate and in April 1913 was local agent for the "Michigan Exhibit," an overnight trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula shown by the Western Land Securities Company of St. Paul, MN. The exhibit featured an exhibition of farm produce, with guests receiving maps and folders describing acreage which they could buy.
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The Leslies' address in 1917 was 20½ South Fountain Avenue, and in March 1917 he advertised that he was selling a 40-acre farm, "one of the best in the county," and that he would accept property as partial payment. They made news in 1918 when legal action was taken against them to foreclose on their mortgage, apparently in debt of more than $2,300 to the Springfield Building and Loan Association and the Merchants and Mechanics Savings and Loan Association.
Cyrus was charged with the crime of embezzlement in February 1920, with a hearing held in police court. Then in July 1920, the county court ruled that he and W.E. Larcum were in default of a $640.60 IOU owed to Charles Schindler.
After that time, Cyrus disappears from view. He was never again named in any Springfield newspaper articles, and no record of his death has been found in Ohio. His fate remains a mystery.
Louisa remained in Springfield for the balance of her life, and may have found herself in difficult financial straits. In April 1924, she advertised the upcoming sale of "extraordinary high grade household goods" at her 125 West Liberty Street home. The items she was offering started with a walnut Sterling upright piano, "positively first class." Others included a three-piece parlor suite, oak chairs, combination bookcase and writing desk, walnut office table, hall tree, velvet couch, eight rocking chairs, 14-foot dining room table "like new," three-piece walnut bedroom suite, a "dandy" large size Diamond Garland gas heater and more. She also planned to sell a host of rugs, eight-day clock, lace curtains, copper wash boiler, 50-lb. mattress, large Bible and "all kinds other books," fancy dishes and on and on.
She spent her final years in Springfield's Ohio Masonic Home. Suffering from chronic kidney disease and diabetes, under the name "Mary Leslie," she died at the age of 70 on Jan. 6, 1929. Burial was in the Home Cemetery. Masonic officials who provided information for her death certificate gave her birthdate as Nov. 6, 1858 and could not furnish the names of her parents.
Copyright © 2004, 2007, 2008, 2022, 2023 Mark A. Miner