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Mt. Hope Pioneer Cemetery ~ Mary Catherine Geer
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Geer, Mary Catherine
LAST: Geer FIRST: Mary MID: Catherine
GENDER: F MAIDEN NAME: Willard TITLE: Mrs.
BORN: 5 Aug 1819 DIED: 9 June 1898 BURIED: 
OCCUPATION:  
BIRTH PLACE:  Ohio
DEATH PLACE: Waldo Hills, Marion Co., Oregon
NOTES: 
MARRIAGE - 8 Jan 1937 in Madison Co., Ohio (see Ralph C. Geer obit)
1850 OH CENSUS - Mary C. Ceer, age 31, b. Ohio, is enumerated with Ralp [sic] Geer, age 34, occupation farmer, b. Connecticut, along with Calvin, age 13, b. Ohio, Florence, age 11, b. Ohio, Samantha, age 8, b. Illinois, and Byington, age 5, b. Illinois. Also enumerated with the family are Mary Fry, age 23, b. New York, Amos Culver, age 32, b. Ohio, and Abner Willard, age 73, b. Ohio.
BIOGRAPHICAL (Source - Davidson, Loretta Miller, Colvers and Kin in Oregon, Medford, Oregon, 1988): "Next of the clan to arrive was Ralph C. Geer, who had married Mary Catherine Willard, daughter of Hulda Colver and Abner Spencer Willard. Hulda was a daughter of David Colver, Sr., a son of Nathaniel. Ralph’s father Joseph and other members of the Geer family left Illinois in June 1847 and joined a wagon train captained by Joel Palmer. They followed the Old Oregon Trail across the Cascades, over the Barlow Trail. Ralph took up a claim near Silverton in the Waldo Hills, settled September 13, 1848".
NOTE: Photo of Ralph and Mary courtesy of Vesper Geer Rose.
OBITUARY: 
Died – Geer – At the family home in the Waldo Hills, Thursday Evening, June 9, 1893, Mrs. Mary Catherine Geer, relict of the late Ralph Cary Geer, aged 79 years.
Mrs. Geer was one of the early pioneers of Oregon, having resided in the Willamette Valley for 51 years. She was a tender and loving mother and her loss will be mourned by a large circle of friends. She leaves the following children: Cal Geer, L.B. Geer, Mrs. Mary M. Starmer, and Mrs. Samantha Bowers. She was an aunt of Hon. T.T. Geer, governor-elect of Oregon, and a grandmother of Homer C. Davenport, the famous artist of the New York Journal. Besides these there are many collateral kinsmen and kinswomen to grieve because of her death.
As we bow our heads in reverence above the venerable dead, memory carries us back along the pathway of a beautiful and glorious life, full of kind words and tender deeds.
Grandma Geer was one of those rare mortals whose Christianity consisted in example more than precept, in works more than words. To do good, to do more for others than she would have others do for her, to suffer rather than burden, or add cares to those about her, was her chief work in life.
During her last sickness and suffering she was more solicitous of those about her. She was gentle and tender as the symphonies and melodies of the music of the masters and constant and true as the ivy that entwines the oak.
All the bursting buds all the fair and fragrant flowers that are heaped upon her grave tonight are tokens and emblems of the jeweled words and golden deeds that she scattered along the journey of a long and loving life.
Silverton Appeal 11 Jun 1898 2:3.
INSCRIPTION: 
Mary C.
Geer
Born
August 5, 1819
Died
June 9, 1898
[south face of monument shared with R. C.]

West Face of Monument:
"Crossed the plains
In 1847, from Knox
Co., Ill."
East Face of Monument:
"Settled in the
Waldo Hills, where
they resided until
their death."
SOURCES: 
Hellie, Mader & Rickey
Saucy
Davidson, Loretta Miller, Colvers and Kin in Oregon
1850 OR CENSUS (Marion Co., FA #753)
SA 11 Jun 1898 2:3
SECTION: A LOT:   
IMAGES:
           
 
 

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