The Hyphen Family Lineage

Multiple spellings for her given name have been present in the records - Mahala, Mayhala, Mahalia - but I have not yet confirmed which is correct. She and her first husband, William Black, had two children (William Wesley Black and Catherine Ann Black). Also unknown (with regards to her name) is whether Jackson is a given middle name, from another marriage, from an adoption, etc. It seems odd to see such a name as a woman's middle name, but not unheard of.

Mahala is something of a mystery, as she hasn't been well-documented in my family's history because she wasn't part of our immediate line (she and husband David F. Thomas, my fourth-great-grandfather, were 42 and 68 when they married), nor did they have children and so there was no descendancy to track. David lived nearly another twenty years, and is buried with his first wife in Jones Cemetery, Wells Cty, Indiana. Mahala lived another decade and a half, but her burial site is not currently known.

ADDENDUM: Additional information on Mahala courtesy of Jim Flack, who puzzled out Mahala's likely burial site (under her first married name, Black) in Roebuck Cemetery, Rockford, Mercer Cty, Ohio. Jim also managed to discover her maiden name, which is also Roebuck - a strong indication of family ties in that region of Ohio.

SECOND ADDENDUM: In the files of Jane Anne Thomas were a few type-written pages with information on Mahala; in the first one, her name is given as "Mahalia Jane", and her mother's maiden name was given as Staffatl in a Wells Cty, Indiana death record. Jane Anne also notes that she found records with two different marriage dates for Mahala and David F. Thomas.

Most of the rest of the two documents deal with a brief summary of Mahala's life around and after the death of David, up until her death; and a summary of some interviews with people who remembered her while she lived in Indiana, describing her physical appearance and behavior. On the first part, Jane Anne writes that Mahala had sued for divorce from David sometime prior to his death in 1903, but was listed as the attending physician at the time of his death. (David was living with his son Shalter at the end of his life; Shalter was caring for him and working both his father's farm and his own.) Shortly after David's death, Mahala appears to have claimed a share of his estate and its income, and sued the other heirs (Shalter, his brother Samson, and Clyde Mahan, David's grandson by his deceased daughter Lydia) in late May 1903. Several months later, she was appointed administrator of the estate. Shalter was awarded money from the estate for the care of his father and the work done on his father's farm, while neither Samson nor Clyde filed claims nor contested the suit.

After the suit and settlement was complete, Mahala went to live with her son William ("Bill"), who was working on the Settlemyre farm; Jane Anne writes that members of the Settlemyre family had testified on her behalf at the trial. Afterwards, she and her son purchased a house in Zanesville, Wells Cty, Indiana, where she lived until her death. Her son took her to Mercer Cty, Ohio to be buried.

The interviews all described her as a quiet, relatively shy woman who did not visit much with neighbors or other members of the community. Most of the accounts decribe her as thin, though whether she was tall or petite in stature seems to be a point of confusion. One of the interviews was with Rose (Espich) Branstrator and her daughter Ethel; Rose was a great-niece of David's, and was under the impression that David mistreated Mahala and that Mahala seemed somewhat afraid of David. (Given the accounts I've read of David's temper, along with this marriage occurring fairly late in his life, I would not find this surprising.) Most of those who were children during their experiences with Mahala (including Ethel, Ken Settlemyre, and Merle Thomas) remember her as kind and quiet -a woman who would rock them, give them cookies, and allow them to play with toys that were normally kept locked away.