Mary Francis Mabee [33077] ⁸⁵²

   Another name for Mary was Slavens.⁴²⁶⁷

  General Notes:

From the Maybee Society files. Not all data is verified. Say dates are estimates and are probably within 20 years. The Maybee Society keeps its data on The Master Genealogist�, and has been modified by Gary Hester?s WIT2NOTE� to form the GedCom file. This information is also available in a TMG file.

  Noted events in her life were:

• No Name, 1850, Hamilton Township, Jackson County, Ohio, USA. ⁴⁸⁸ Mary Francis Mabee appeared on the census of 1850 in the
household of William Thomas Mabee and Mary E. Haythe Hamilton
Township, Jackson County, Ohio

• No Name, 1860, Jefferson Township, Scioto County, Ohio. ¹¹⁶ Mary Francis Mabee appeared on the census of 1860 in the
household of William Thomas Mabee and Mary E. Haythe Jefferson
Township, Scioto County, Ohio

• No Name, 1880, Walnut, Wayne County, Iowa, USA. ⁴²⁶⁹ Mary Francis Mabee and Joseph Slavens appeared on the census of
1880 Walnut, Wayne County, IowaJoseph Slavens, Self, M, Male,
W, 40, Oh, Farmer, Va, NY
Mary F. Slavens, Wife, M, Female, W, 35, Oh, Keeping House, Oh,
Va
Clara F. Slavens, Dau, S, Female, W, 3, Ia, At Home, Oh, Oh
John H. Greene, Other, S, Male, W, 17, In, Farm Laborer, Tn, Tn
Della James, Niece, S, Female, W, 9, Oh, Att. School, Oh, Oh

• Anecdote, Bet 1933 and 1934, The Centerville Daily Iowegian, Centerville, Appanoose County, Iowa, USA. ⁴²⁶⁷ Mrs. Mary Slavens, 90 Years of Age, to Iowa In1866
Resident of Cincinnati Tells Story of Her Life, Starting In Her
Ohio Home
Mrs. Mary Slavens, 90 years old, of Cincinnati, has contributed
the following interesting history of her life.

I was born in Jackson County, Ohio, in 1844. Mother's maiden
name was Mary Hayth. She was born in Old Virginia. Later her
parents moved to Ohio where in 1840 she married William Maybee.
Their ages at that time were 15 and 36, respectively. To this
union eleven children were born. I was next to the oldest
child.
My parents lived on a farm adjoining Jackson town when I was
born. When I was seven years of age we moved to another farm.
Here I started to school in a frame building at the age of 7.
I was the youngest student; many were of age. We had a man for
our teacher. I lived one-fourth mile from school. There were
3-month terms a year; one in summer and one in winter. The
climate was mild. It might snow one day but would melt the
next. When I was 10 we moved to Scioto County where we had a
fine apple orchard. We lived here two years. We next moved to
a farm on a cross-roads in Jackson County. Here father built a
hotel, store and livery stable. He had a bar in the store,
over which he sold wine, whisky and brandy. Late a post office
was added. The post office still goes by the name Maybee's
post office. The above was a good investment, but father got
to drinking a little more each day in handling the liquor. He
decided he must move or become a habitual drunkard. He sold
out; we moved on a small farm which he soon sold for a supply
of groceries and dry goods. Then we moved back to Scioto
County on a peach farm where we raised over three hundred
bushels of peaches a year. We hauled them to Portsmouth, Ohio,
and received a dollar a bushel for them. I lived here until I
was married.
I first met my husband when I was only seven. He was twelve.
My father and his father had been friends when they were
younger. Father and mother and us three oldest children were
out looking at a farm one day. We stopped at the Slavens farm
for dinner. Dinner was over before Joe returned from hunting
stray cattle. When he came in I was standing at the back of
mother's chair, one arm resting on it. He later told me he
thought I was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. We didn't
meet again until I was sixteen. It was at an apple paring.
The boys peeled the apples and the girls cored them. When I
came in the man of the house who was sitting next to Joe got
and said, "I have been saving a place for you." Joe said,
"Yes, I need some one to core my apples." After the paring we
had refreshments of pie, cookies and sweet cider. Then we
played games and sang love songs. We walked home by couples.
It was two miles. Then he had to walk four miles to his home.
I had walked home from church with young men before, but from
then on I never went with anyone else. I didn't see him for
two weeks. One Sunday he and some other couples stopped to get
a drink. (They were very dry.) He came to the house to get a
cup. I got him the cup, went to the well and got them a drink.
When I started back with the cup he said, "Miss Maybee, can't
you go to church tonight." I replied I hadn't thought about it
but if these other folks were going father and mother wouldn't
care. So we went to church together. When we came home he
left me at the door but he made a date for the second following
Sunday. From this on he came into the house. He came only
every other Sunday until the last six months of our engagement
when he came every Sunday. He would come about four o'clock
and stay for supper.
At the ages of 18 and 23 we were married at my father's home in
1862, just two years after we started going together. It was
customary for the father to build a house on his farm for his
sons to bring their brides to until they could get a place of
their own. This was called the weaning house. My mother gave
me my bedding, a new bed, and part of my dishes. My father
bought us a new bureau with a mirror in it which cost twelve
dollars. My father bought us a set of silverware and my
father-in-law a set. My mother-in-law gave me a part of my
dishes and a bed from her home. My husband bought a safe,
cookstove, 40-piece cooking set, table and six chairs. My
father-in-law gave Joe a team of horses and harness yoke of
oxen, a cow and a few hogs. My father gave us a cow and some
chickens. A neighbor had given me a setting of turkey eggs
that spring, so I had some half-grown turkeys.
The weaning house had only one large room. There were two
doors and three windows in it. There was a fireplace at one
end. We raised fruit, peaches, strawberries, apples, corn,
oats and hay. We lived here until Joe went to war. We had
been married one year and one-half when a bonus of three
hundred dollars was offered to volunteers for the Civil War.
Joe joined the army; I sold our stock and lived with both of
our folks. Joe drew thirteen dollars a month. He sent it all
to me and I saved it. When he came home we had nine hundred
dollars. I got a letter from him every week. He wasn't sick
or wounded during service. Joe was in the 1st Ohio Light
Artillery, Battery L. He rode the middle horse on a cannon
wagon. He had one horse shot out from under him. One time he
and six other men were around a campfire cooking supper when a
shell lit in the fire. Two men lost one leg and another had an
arm shot off. In 1865 Joe came home. We moved back into the
weaning house.
It was one year later that we came to Iowa. Three families
came with us whom we had known a long time; James Gulford, John
Peters and Mr. Spragling. We traveled in covered wagons,
starting the 15th of September and arriving the 15th of
October. We started leading a cow but she wore out the first
day , so we sold her. We saw no Indians or highwaymen along
the way. We forded many rivers but crossed the larger ones on
ferry boats. It rained on us a part of the way. At Keokuk we
crossed the river on a steam ferry. Joe had bought our farm in
Wayne County before we started. There was a frame house and
twelve acres of broken land on this 160-acre farm. We got
one-third the corn crop that fall and Joe put up some slough
grass for our winter's feed. We bought three hogs at three
cents a pound for winter's meat. We bought a cow and six head
of sheep. It was a hard winter, Joe cut wood for our fuel.
The next year we hired a man with a yoke of oxen to break and
fence 80 acres of sod. From then on we had regular farm work.
In a few years my husband bought an adjoining 80 acres and
started feeding cattle. In 1870 the railroad was built through
Seymour. Then we shipped our cattle to Chicago each fall.
We prepared our own wool to weave our cloth. We sheared our
sheep, took the wool to the creek, washed it and dried it on
the grass. Some times people would have a "picking party."
Just invite in all the neighbors, have them stay for dinner and
pick the year's supply of wool. The we took it to Genoa to be
carded by machine. Then I would spin the wool on a wheel and
reel it into skeins. Then I would dye the wool.
Blue and black were the usual colors, but red was not uncommon.
I would twist the wool and knit the stockings, gloves and
mittens for my family. We wore wool stockings the year round
except on Sunday in the summer. We had a neighbor who had a
loom. She wove flannel material for dresses, shirts, etc.
Twill material for blankets, jean cloth for the men's trousers.
The jean was woven with a cotton chain which was bought in
town.
I had lived in Iowa one year when we took a boy three and
one-half years old to raise. John Green's father was dead and
his mother worked out. I had been here six years when I
received word that my sister was critically ill in Ohio. We
got our mail from Genoa, usually once a week. I went to Ohio
on the train from Seymour, accompanied by my brother-in-law,
John Peters and family. Two days and one night later I arrived
home to find Jeanette was dead. They were having her funeral
which I went to immediately. I remained in Ohio four weeks,
during which time I persuaded my folks to return to Iowa with
me. My sister who died left a baby girl two years old. She
came west with my folks. My father bought a farm near ours
which my brothers tended.
I had been married eight years when a girl was born to us who
died in a few hours. Six years later a second girl was born on
October 25, 1876. She was named Clara Frances. We had just
completed a new eight-room house. Dr. Hollingsworth, of
Seymour, was our doctor at the time. In two years another girl
was born, dying at birth. In the spring of 1878 my father and
mother died two weeks apart. I had two sisters and two
brothers who continued to operate the farm until one died and
the others were married, but my sister's daughter Della, came
to live with me. In 1884, John Green was married to Nancy
Harris, a neighbor's daughter. Also, in 1884, my son William
Blaine was born.
In 1885 we gave an acre of ground and three hundred dollars
toward the building of the Antioch church, which still stands
five and one-half miles south and west of Seymour. It stood
just across the road from our house. My husband took up the
subscriptions which amounted to over fifteen hundred dollars.
I had joined the church while in Ohio at the age of 14. My
husband was rather proud that our names were the same as the
Savior's parents names, Mary and Joseph. When our son was
three and one-half years old my husband died of pneumonia. He
was sick one week. Burial was made in the Tharp cemetery near
Seymour.
In the spring I had a sale which netted me $2000. I lived on
the farm three years, then sold it for $23 an acre. I moved to
Alllerton with $900. At that time I received back pension of
$300 and $12.50 a month for me and my children. I lived here
six years. My daughter Clara married Fred Mathers. One child
was born to them named Reva. I sold my place in Allerton and
moved to Niffin. I bought a home and here I attended the depot
and hung a warning light on the railroad track. For this I
received $10 a month. I stayed here six years, sold the place
and bought a farm four miles northwest of Cincinnati. I
remained here until William was 20. My daughter and her child
lived with me. We traded our farm for two houses and lots in
Cincinnati, one which I still own. We kept one cow and one
team which William used to haul coal with. We had lived here
one year when William went to barber school in Kansas City, Mo.
He traded his team and wagon for a barber shop in Cincinnati,
where he still lives.
When William was 27 he and Rhoda Bowen were united in marriage.
Their children were six boys, Joe, William, Charles, Kenneth,
Thomas and Donald. My daughter died in 1920. I lived in the
same house in Cincinnati until I became disabled in 1931. I
now live with my son, grandson and granddaughter by turns. I
draw a pension of $45 a month, and am enjoying comparatively
good health though I am in a wheelchair because of a broken hip
suffered January a year ago.

Mary married Joseph Slavens [32375] [MRIN: 551607314] on 22 Sep 1862 in the William Mabee's house, , Jackson County, Ohio, USA ⁸⁵².^,4267 (Joseph Slavens [32375] was born in 1839 in Ohio,⁴²⁶⁷ died on 5 Mar 1888 ⁴²⁶⁷ and was buried in Tharp Cemetery, Walnut Township, Wayne County, Iowa, USA ⁴²⁶⁷.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Census, 1880, Walnut, Wayne County, Iowa, USA. ⁴²⁶⁹ Joseph Slavens, Self, M, Male, W, 40, Oh, Farmer, Va, NY
Mary F. Slavens, Wife, M, Female, W, 35, Oh, Keeping House, Oh,
Va
Clara F. Slavens, Dau, S, Female, W, 3, Ia, At Home, Oh, Oh
John H. Greene, Other, S, Male, W, 17, In, Farm Laborer, Tn, Tn
Della James, Niece, S, Female, W, 9, Oh, Att. School, Oh, Oh