Heirology

Ancestors

Mary Jane Lawrence

1837-1915 · Philadelphia PA
Born 1837, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died 1915
Father: Michael Lawrence
Mother: Catharine Sweitzer
Children include Harry

Mary Jane Lawrence was born in Philadelphia about 1834, the seventh of the eleven children of Michael Lawrence, a butcher, and Catharine Sweitzer. A family account gives her birthday as 29 October 1834. Her death certificate gives 29 October 1837 and names her father as John W. Lawrence, a name that appears in no other record of the family.

In 1850 she was seventeen and living with her parents in the 1st Ward of Spring Garden, on the northern edge of the city. Her brothers Albert, George and Hiram and her sisters Eliza and Emma were at home. Her father kept a beer saloon on Ridge Road besides his trade and had served as a captain of the watch. He died in 1856 and her mother the next year.

She married Thomas Reynolds Evans about 1853, according to a family account. They had three children: Annie, Harry and Catharine. Thomas worked for many years as a clerk and rose through the Philadelphia Custom House.

She lost her son and her husband within sixteen months. Harry died suddenly in the family house at 1812 Fairmount Avenue in December 1891, at thirty-six. Thomas died there the same way in April 1893.

Mary Jane lived another twenty-two years as a widow. At the end she lived at 1727 North 19th Street. For five years she had a cancer of the right breast, and she died of it at eleven in the morning on 4 September 1915. Her daughter, Mrs. A. E. Heilman, gave the details for the certificate. The Inquirer notice read: "EVANS. Sept. 4, 1915. MARY J., widow of Thomas R. Evans. Relatives and friends are invited to attend funeral services, at late residence, 1727 N. 19th st., Tuesday, at 2 P. M. precisely. Interment private."

She was buried on 7 September 1915 at Mount Vernon Cemetery, beside her husband and her son. Her name was cut on her husband's stone: MARY JANE LAWRENCE / WIFE OF / THOMAS R. EVANS / DIED SEPT. 4TH 1915. Below it is the name of her grandson Horace E. Heilman, 1886 - 1936, under the words THE SILENT REAPER.

Parents

Michael Lawrence 1797-1856

Catharine Sweitzer (1801-1857)

Children

Harry L. Evans 1855-1891

Sources

Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 December 1891, death notices; clipping on Find a Grave memorial 84150346, added by James Harry Lawrence.
Find a Grave, memorial 84150264, gravestone photograph added by James Harry Lawrence, 28 January 2012.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, certificate of death, file no. 91035, registered no. 19307; image on Find a Grave memorial 84150264, added by James Harry Lawrence.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 6 September 1915, p. 7, death notices; clipping on Find a Grave memorial 84150264, added by James Harry Lawrence.
United States Census 1880, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, ED 222, NARA T9 roll 1173; FamilySearch ark 1:1:MWJ8-LJ7.
Pennsylvania certificate of death, file no. 91035, registered no. 19307, 1915; Philadelphia Inquirer, 6 September 1915, p. 7, death notice; Find a Grave memorial 84150264, photographs added by James Harry Lawrence; United States Census 1880, Philadelphia, ED 222, NARA T9 roll 1173, household of Thomas R. Evans (FamilySearch ark 1:1:MWJ8-LJ7).
Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 December 1891. Clipping from Find a Grave, memorial 84150346, added by James Harry Lawrence.
Mount Vernon Cemetery, Philadelphia. Photograph from Find a Grave, memorial 84150346, added by James Harry Lawrence.
Mount Vernon Cemetery, Philadelphia, lot A312. Photograph from Find a Grave, memorial 84150146, added by James Harry Lawrence.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Certificate of Death, file no. 91035, registered no. 19307. Image from Find a Grave, memorial 84150264, added by James Harry Lawrence.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 6 September 1915, page 7. Clipping from Find a Grave, memorial 84150264, added by James Harry Lawrence.
United States Census, 1850, Spring Garden ward 1, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, NARA M432. FamilySearch, ark:/61903/1:1:M4C2-KTX.
Pennsylvania certificate of death, file no. 91035, registered no. 19307, 4 September 1915; death notice, Philadelphia Inquirer, 6 September 1915; gravestone, Mount Vernon Cemetery; death notice of her son Harry L. Evans, December 1891; Find a Grave memorial 84150264; 1850 United States census, Spring Garden ward 1, Philadelphia (FamilySearch ark 61903/1:1:M4C2-KTX)

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Cite: Heirology, "Mary Jane Lawrence (1837-1915)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/mary-jane-lawrence-1837-1915-99fee6.