Mahala Mathews (b. July 04, 1819, d. November 13, 1889)
Mahala Mathews was born July 04, 1819 in Indiana240, and died November 13, 1889 in Grant County, Wisconsin. She married (1) Hiram Miles on January 17, 1837 in Jefferson, Washington Twnshp, Clinton Co., Indiana.
Notes for Mahala Mathews: OBITUARY-From: Bruce Harville [mail to:beharville@hotmail.com] Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 11:27 PM To: jeagan@charter.net; Lea Harville Morgan Subject: The death of Mahala
Mrs. Mahala Harville.
Died in Lacrosse November the 13th, 1889, of general debilities. Mrs. Mahala Harville, wife of William Harville, aged 68 years.
Deceased came to this county, from Indiana, about the year 1843, then the wife of Hiram Miles, who died a few years. After leaving her with a family of five small children, J. W. Miles, of Lancaster, and three girls, Martha, of Platteville, Sarah Scheloe, of Millville, and Elizabeth Beeten, of Bloomington. After battling along with the hard time of this country at that time for a few years, she married Wm. Harville. Five children blessed this Union: Alfred Harville, of Nebraska, Mary Conley, of Washington, Ty., James Harville, of Hazelton, Emma Sherman, of La Crosse and Geo. Harville, of Glen Haven. Her husband went west some few years ago to see one of his children, and died, leaving her again a widow. She went to La Crosse to visit her daughter Emma, where she died, having made her home with George for the last few years.
More About Mahala Mathews: Date born 2: Abt. 1821 Moved: 1843, Hiram and Mahala Miles family move from Indiana to Grant County, Wisconsin. Residence: 1870, Millville, Grant, Wisconsin.240
More About Mahala Mathews and Hiram Miles: Death of one spouse: 1846, Hiram passed away.. Family Relocation: 1843, Hiram and Mahala Miles family move from Clinton Co., Indiana, to Grant County, Wisconsin. Hiram would pass away three years later.. Marriage: January 17, 1837, Jefferson, Washington Twnshp, Clinton Co., Indiana.
Marriage Notes for Mahala Mathews and Hiram Miles: Mahala Mathews was first married in 1937 in Jefferson, Iowa, to Hiram Miles. To this union were born five children: John Wallace, 1837; William Henry, 1839; Sarah Ann, 1841; Martha Jane, 1843; and Elizabeth Susan, in 1845. At some point between 1837 and 1845, the family had moved from Jefferson, Iowa, to Grant County, Wisconsin. Hiram passed away in 1846 and is buried in Lancaster, Grant County, Wisconsin. A year later, 1847, she married William Harville.
More About Mahala Mathews and <Unnamed>: Divorce 1: 1873, William deserted the family who were living in Millville Township, Grant County, Wisconsin, selling the livestock, taking the money and moving to Sulphur Springs, Kansas.. Divorce 2: 1878, Mahala received a divorce from William. He was not present and did not contest the divorce request.. Marriage: June 24, 1847, Grant County, Wisconsin.
Marriage Notes for Mahala Mathews and <Unnamed>: 1850 Unites States Federal Census Home in 1850: District 24, Grant County, Wisconsin Household Members: Name Age William Harville 46 (Head of House hold) Mahala Harville 33 (Wife) William Harville 17 (Son of William, Sr. step-son of Mahala) Elizabeth Harville 13 (Daughter of William; step-daughter of Mahala) Caroline Harville 9 (Daughter of William; step-daughter of Mahala) Elizabeth Harville 4 (Daughter of Mahala; step-daughter of William) Mary E Harvillel 2 (Daughter of William; step-daughter of Mahala) Thomas B Harville 0 (First child born to William and Mahala) James Butler 40 (Hired hand)
1860 United States Federal Census Home in 1860: Wyalusing Twnshp, Grant County, Wisconsin Household Members: Name Age William Harville 54 Mahala Harville 39 Thomas R Harville 10 Alfred S Harville 8 James M Harville 6 Nancy E Harville 4 George W Harville 1 Elizabeth Miles 14 (Elizabeth is daughter of Mahala and first husband Hiram Miles, m. 1837, Jefferson, Indiana)
1870 United States Federal Census Home in 1870 Millville Twnshp, Grant County, Wisconsin Household Members: Name Age William Harvill 66 Mahala Harvill 51 Alfred T Harvill 17 James M Harvill 16 Emeline Harvill 14 George W Harvill 11
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ To my Harville relatives:
I recently sent you some information that I'd collected about the history of the Harville family, particularly my great-great-grandfather, William, who migrated to Wisconsin from Illinois in the early 1840's. I had included some speculation that he had deserted his family around 1873, went to live in New York State with a daughter from his first marriage, and then went with her and her two oldest sons who were homesteading in Cloud County, Kansas, in 1879, where he appears on the census in 1880. Meanwhile back in Wisconsin, his wife Mahala was granted a divorce in 1878.
(By the way, if you cherish a belief that your ancestors, without exception, were pillars of the community who led blameless lives, sacrificing to provide for their families, you may not want to read the rest of this email.)
To refresh your memory a bit more, William married Mahala Mathews Miles in 1847, after both were widowed with several children, and together they had at least five more children, one of which was James, father of Thomas, who married Grace Jackson and had six children - Clifford, Carroll, Lois, Ida, Arthur (Ted) and Earle. James was also the father of my Great-uncle Jim, who married Bernice. This should let all of you receiving this email establish your personal link to William.
I visited the Grant County historical archives yesterday in Platteville and located the Circuit Court records for the 1800's, including all the paperwork that was prepared in connection with the divorce of Mahala and William. Bear in mind that in 1878, William would have been about 74 years old, Mahala 58 [in the testimony it says she was born on July 4th, 1819], and they would have been married for 30 years. In the file there is the original testimony, handwritten by the referee, given by Mahala and three of her sons - James, Alfred and George - about the circumstances that led to the divorce. I thought you might be interested in a sample of what they had to say:
"To the Circuit Court of Grant County Wisconsin: Mahala Harville, Alfred Harville, James Harville and Geroge Harville witnesses on behalf of the plaintiff in the above entitled action being duly sworn by and before the referee, by the Court appointed to take and report the testimony on behalf of the plaintiff in this action, to testify the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in said action each testify as follows:"
[The testimony is quite similar for each of them. This is Alfred's:]
"My name is Alfred T. Harville. I am a son of the parties to this suit and I reside in Millville Grant County, Wisconsins. My mother now lives and has for about nine years lived in said Millville. During the season of 1873 my father went away and left my mother; he said he was going to Kansas [Some of the other testimony says specifically Sulphur Springs, Kansas and indicates that he still lived there]. He told me when he went away that maybe he would come back some time but he has since written to me that he never will come back. My mother was always a faithful, hard working and industrious wife and always treated my father kindly and affectionately. My father & mother lived together as husband and wife all the time since I can remember previous to September 1873 except for about six month some twelve years ago when they separated but after about six month lived together again. He had no cause for leaving my mother in 1873 when he did leave. He has never been back since 1873. My father sold every thing on the place before he went away [one of the other testimonies indicates that this was a span of horses, a cow and some hogs, and that he took all the proceeds from these sales with him to Kansas]. My mother was sick in bed when he left. He did hardly any thing for two or three years before going away. My age is 26 years. Alfred T. Harville [his signature was written by the scribe, with an "X" in the middle, notated "his mark". From the signatures on these testimonies, it looks like George signed his own, but James and Alfred just signed X's noted as "his mark." Mahala's signature was her own, but comprised rather childlike individual letters, as though she had once learned to make the alphabet and then memorized the order of the letters in her name.] Subscribed and swore to this February 9, 1878 before me. R. A. Watkins, Referee."
Elsewhere in the documents it indicates that at the time the testimony was made, "there are living issue of said marriage only five children, to wit: Mary E. Harville, Alfred T. Harville, James M. Harville, Emma Withington all of whom have attained their majority and George Harville who was nineteen years old on the 19th day of last August and resides with this plaintiff."
So my speculation that William had first gone to New York to live with his daughter (from his first marriage) Amanda Banker was wrong. Apparently, it was the other way around - he went to Kansas first in 1873, then in 1879 Amanda and her two oldest sons joined him in Kansas. When Amanda died in January, 1880, (of "change of life," according to the death record, at age 45), her body was taken back to New York for burial, and then her widowed husband Ezra and all six children migrated to Kansas. By the time the 1880 census was taken in June, Ezra, his six children and his divorced father-in-law William Harville, were all living in the same household in Cloud County, Kansas. William, by the way, is listed as a "boarder" on the census.
Children of Mahala Mathews and Hiram Miles are:
Sara Ann Miles, b. August 24, 1841, Ripley County, Indiana, d. February 10, 1892, Millville Twnshp, Grant County, Wisconsin.
Elizabeth Susan Miles, b. 1845, Lancaster, Grant County, Wisconsin, d. May 20, 1907, Wyalusing Twnshp., Grant County, Wisconsin.
Children of Mahala Mathews are:
+Alfred T Harville, b. December 12, 1852, Grant County, Wisconsin241, 242, d. May 19, 1918, Bagley, Grant County, Wisconsin.
+George William Harville, b. August 1858, Millville Twnshp, Grant County, Wisconsin243, d. March 21, 1931, Grant County, Wisconsin.
Mahala Mathews (b. July 04, 1819, d. November 13, 1889)
Notes for Mahala Mathews: