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Mary Virginia
'Jennie' |
Mary Virginia "Jennie" (Minerd) Collins Hill Mathews was born on May 12, 1886 in Barbour or Taylor County, WV, the daughter of Henry C. and Sarah Catherine (Croston) Minerd.
She was married at least three times, but it is not known whether she had any children.
On Dec. 15, 1902, Jennie wed her first husband, James Collins (Sept. 6, 1879-1968), a native of Barbour County. She was age 16, and he 22, at the time. The ceremony was performed by Rev. A. Law Ireland at the Methodist Episcopal Church parsonage in Philippi. James is believed to have been the son of Noah and Roseanna (Newman) Collins.
By 1910, when the federal census was taken, Jennie was marked as "married" but living apart from her husband. Her dwelling was next to her parents' home. She generated income that year as a wash woman, and her cousin Jacob W. "Jake" Miner boarded under her roof.
Jennie's marriage ended, and James' fate is unknown. James is known to have re-married in 1915 to Maudie R. (Mayle) Collins and to have remained in Philippi.
Using the name "Minard," Jennie wed again on April 4, 1915, to Henry Hill (1897- ? ), a native of Harrison County, WV. She was 11 years older than her husband. His fate after that is unknown.
By 1920, the second marriage had dissolved, and Jennie had moved to Lathrop, Athens County, OH. She began to cohabitate with her future third spouse, farmer Charles Edward "Ed" Mathews (July 9, 1876-1944), the son of Richard and Mary (Crober/Coker/Harris) Mathews of Gallia County, OH.
Edward was of stout build and medium height. During World War I, when registering for the military draft during World War I, he had disclosed that he was residing in Lathrop, Athens County, OH, and that he was a miner for Black Diamond Coal Company. The registration clerk wrote on his card that "This man is a loafer and nuisance in general. Just began at the mine this week."
When the federal census enumeration was made in 1920, the pair dwelled in Barbourville, Knox County, KY, where in 1920 Charles earned income as a saw filer in a hickory wood operation.
They returned to Ohio and tied the knot on Nov. 9, 1921, by the hand of justice of the peace Pearl W. Helwig. On her Athens County marriage license application, Jennie spelled her full name as "Mary Virginia Minerd."
The Mathewses made their home in Sharpsburg, Bern Township, Athens County, OH. Their homeplace was near to where her uncle Jacob Minerd Jr. and aunt Susanna Mayle Woody and many cousins had settled in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
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Mount Hermon Church and Cemetery, Bern Township, Athens County, OH |
Jennie suffered from cancer of the uterus, and died at the age of 53, possibly on her birthday, May 12, 1939. She was laid to rest in the Mount Hermon Cemetery in Athens County. Her grave apparently is not marked, as efforts to find and photograph it by the founder of this website, in September 2015, were not successful.
Ed outlived Jennie by five years and remained in Bern Township. Circa 1940, census records show him having no occupation. He suffered from diabetes and it led to a life-threatening gangrene of his left foot, which resulted in the amputation of his left leg. He did not recover from the surgery, and died at age 67 on May 6, 1944. He also was buried at Mount Hermon. The informant on his death certificate was John Mathews of Sharpsburg. On the death certificate, Ed's "color or race" was marked as
"colored."
Jennie's 1st husband
Jennie's first husband, James Collins, remained in Philippi and spent the balance of his life as a farmer. Burdened with "aortic stenosis" at the age of 88, where the heart valve narrows or stiffens, layered with bronchitis and pulmonary emphysema, he was admitted to Broaddus Hospital. There, he succumbed to the spectre of death on Feb. 5, 1968. His funeral was conducted by Rev. Dr. J. Franklin Peoples of the Methodist Church on Chestnut Ridge. Interment was in Norris Cemetery. Years later, when Peoples published his autobiography The Bright Side of the Mountain, he included James' name in a list of "Funerals Preached in Barbour County" that appears in the back of the volume. During his 32-year tenure in Chestnut Ridge, from 1959 to 1991, Peoples recorded 320 deaths and preached at 168 funerals, including more than 35 of Jennie's extended Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor family. Peoples also performed 550 marriages, 1,200 baptisms and 850 baby dedications in the community.
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