MARY BELLE RICE
MCDONALD
Signatures in Funeral Memorial Book
17 April 1944
By: Janie Martin Whitty
Mary
Belle Rice, my Great-Grandmother was the direct descendant of two pioneer
families of Springfield, Clark County, Ohio.
She was born Feb. 27 1856 in Springfield, the daughter of Alonzo Rice
(son of Edward & Lucy Poole Rice) and Mary Ellen Ault (daughter of Adam and
Maria Drew Alt). She married Wesley
McDonald (son of Robert McDonald) in Springfield on 20 Dec 1877. Rice
Street in Springfield was named after this line of Rices. Alonzo and his mother, Lucy, and brother,
Harrison are listed in the 1852 City Directory, all living at the same address.
Wesley
McDonald is listed in the 1890-91 Springfield City Directory, his occupation
being “knife finisher”. For the next 17
years, the family moved to St. Mary’s,Auglaize County, OH where they raised
their family of Fred, Arthur and Flora Belle McDonald. Wesley was an Engineer
during this time for the St. Mary’s Resevoir.
Fred married Ethel Bell and lived in Springfield. Arthur married May McIntire, daughter of
B.L. McIntire a clothing merchant in St. Mary’s. The family returned to Springfield, OH where Wesley retired. Their daughter, Flora Belle married Arthur
Lester Foley, son of Charles W. Foley and a descendant of the first Foley’s to
settle in Clark County, having come from Hamshire County, West Virginia (at
that time still part of Virginia) beginning around 1800. Arthur’s mother was Charles Foley’s first wife, Anna Toland, who died of Typhoid
Fever in 1893 leaving two young sons.
Mary
Belle Rice McDonald lived to the age of 88.
She died in Springfield April 17, 1944.
Her daughter Flora Belle had the signature book from her mother’s
funeral among her belongings she left when she died in Pensacola, Florida in
1975 at the home of her daughter, Barbara Lou Foley Martin. Many of the signatures were family members
and my research into my family ancestry has revealed some of the kinships that
brought them to the funeral. I will
continue to update this list as new facts are uncovered as further research
continues. Note that the denotation “M/M” indicates “Mr. And Mrs.”. An asterisk next to a name indicates it is
probably a relative but I have not discovered the exact link yet.
|
Name |
relationship |
To Whom Related |
other known facts |
|
M/M Walter Kerin |
|
|
|
|
M/M Mrs. Charles Keesecker |
|
|
|
|
M/M
E. L. Gainous & daughter (Errol
Gainous) |
brother
of the wife of 1st cousin. |
Arthur
Foley |
Errol’s
sister, Esther Gainous, married Arthur’s 1st Cousin, Wilson
Stewart Foley, |
|
M/M
LeRoy Byerman |
|
|
|
|
Walter
Finch |
|
|
|
|
M/M
W.S. Foley (Wilson
Stewart Foley and wife,
Esther Gainous) |
Wilson
Stewart 1st Cousin |
Arthur
Foley |
Stewart was the son of Wilson Gard Foley,
Arthur’s Uncle. |
|
Norma
Ann Foley |
1st
Cousin, once removed |
Arthur
Foley |
Daughter
of Wilson Stewart Foley. She later
married Alan Budd. |
|
M/M
P. O. Rice (Pearl
O. Rice and Wife,
Cassie LaMarr) |
Cousin |
Mary
Belle Rice |
Pearl
O. Rice was the son of Horace and Cora Rice.
I am not sure who Horace was the son of…..but one of the Rices |
|
Mrs.
Luther France |
|
|
|
|
M/M
Fred W. Brewer |
|
|
|
|
Lois
H. E. Fishbaugh |
|
|
|
|
M/M
Frank Meighen (Frank
& Dorothy Rice Meighen) |
Dorothy
– 1st cousin, once removed |
Mary
Belle Rice |
Dorothy
was the daughter of William Elmer Rice, son of William & Matilda Goudy
Rice – a brother of Alonzo Rice |
|
Reuseely |
|
|
|
|
M/M
H. H. Richards |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Henry Woosley |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
R. A. Heusou |
|
|
|
|
Minnie
Mills |
|
|
|
|
Mary
Howards |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
R. Allender |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Viola Spahn |
|
|
|
|
M/M
R.W. Gainous & Bobby (Robert) |
Brother
of the wife of the 1st Cousin |
Arthur
Foley |
Robert’s
sister, Esther married Arthur’s 1st cousin Wilson Stewart Foley |
|
Mr.
And Mrs. M. J. Melchi &
Nancy |
|
|
|
|
M/M
C. W. Toland (Clarence
Toland & Irene Bentzel) |
1st
cousin to both Nephew
of both |
Arthur
Foley & Flora
McDonald Mary
Belle Rice and Anna
Toland |
Clarence
was the son of Arthur’s Uncle, Charles M. Toland (Anna’s brother). He
was also Mary Belle’s nephew, the son of her sister Maria Ellen Rice. |
|
M/M
W. G. Jacobs |
|
|
|
|
M/M
O. M. Lower |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Margaurite Watterson |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Mabel Potts |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
L. L. Circle |
|
|
|
|
Mr.
L. L. Circle |
|
|
|
|
M/M
Harry Caldwell |
|
|
|
|
Marjorie
Chenoweth |
|
|
|
|
Ann
Brennan |
|
|
|
|
Edith
L. Mitchell |
|
|
|
|
M/M
W. R. Patterson |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
John J. O’Connor (Grace
Gridley O’Connor) |
1st
cousin |
Arthur
Foley |
Grace
was the daughter of Walter and Lilla Maud Foley Gridley(Art’s Aunt). Lilla was the sister of Charles W. Foley,
Arthur’s father. |
|
M/M
J. W. Hansell |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Ross Seely |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
W. E. Cooksey |
|
|
|
|
O.
C. Lokcinski |
|
|
|
|
Frank
G. Hennessey |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Audrey Robison (Yoakum?) |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.Pearl
Robison (Thacker) |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Emily Coberly |
Grandniece |
Mary
Belle Rice |
Emily
was the daughter of William A. Rice,
son of Adam Rice, son of Alonzo Rice. |
|
Mrs.
Devella Rice |
Wife
of the nephew, William A. Rice |
Mary
Belle Rice |
William
A. Rice was a grandson of Alonzo Rice.
William died in 1935 (see Rice obits) |
|
Nell
& Grant Toland |
Grant
was 1st Cousin of BOTH Arthur Foley and his wife Flo McDonald
Foley |
Arthur
Lester Foley And Flora
Belle McDonald |
Son
of Charles Toland..See Comments at the end of table re: Foley/McDonald Ties |
|
Mrs.
Robert Hayes |
|
|
|
|
Blanche
McCoy |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Mary Harsbarger |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Mayme Douglass |
Niece |
Mary
Belle McDonald |
Mayme
Byrd Douglass was the daughter of Mary Belle’s sister, Lucy J. Rice &
Caleb Byrd |
|
Mrs.
T. C. Kilbury (Nell) |
Cousin |
Flora
Belle McDonald |
See
Mayme Douglass Will comments |
|
Mrs.
Wm. Letherolf |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Loren D. Burr |
|
|
|
|
Bessie
Merritt |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Gus Harm |
|
|
|
|
M/M
W. B. Toland (Wilbur) |
1st
cousin, once removed to both |
Arthur
Foley & his wife, Flora McDonald |
Wilbur
was the son of Clarence W. Toland, Art & Flo’s lst cousin – see
Foley/McDonald Ties comment at the end. |
|
Mrs.
Jesse Fink |
|
|
Mabel J. Fink (maiden name: Young) |
|
Mrs.
Donald Ream |
|
|
|
|
Mrs.
Ann Simons |
|
|
|
ENDNOTES:
Arthur Foley married Flora Belle McDonald in Springfield, OH on 12 Dec 1911.
Arthur Foley was the son of Charles W. Foley & Anna Toland. Anna died in 1893 leaving two sons. Charles Foley married again in Dec 1894, to Bertha McDonald, the daughter of Wesley McDonald and HIS first wife (name unknown) who died when Bertha was 8 years old. Wesley married second Mary Belle Rice and they had Flora Belle McDonald. This meant that Bertha, Wesley’s daughter was Flora’s half sister while they were growing up. When Flora Belle McDonald married Arthur Foley, whose step-mother Bertha Foley was also Flora’s half sister, this made Bertha Flora’s Step-Mother-in-law as well.
To
make things a little more complicated, this family had other ties. The Sister of Mary Belle Rice and the aunt
of Flora Belle McDonald, Maria Ellen Rice, married Charles M. Toland, the
brother of Anna Toland, Arthur Foley’s mother.
Charles M. Toland was Arthur’s uncle and Ellen Rice, Flora’s aunt.
A copy of a will made by a Mayme Douglass dated 11 Nov 1955, names her cousin Flo Foley as a heir to her estate, along with some other cousins (Nellie Kilbury, and Cora Drumm).