On 9 February 1892, Mae married Samuel John Wright at her home in Fremont County.  He had been born 13 April 1871, in Wayne County, Iowa, the son of William Alex and Mary J. (Farnsworth) Wright.  Census records show him (as John S. Wright) in his parents’ home in Wayne County in 1880 and 1885.  According to his 1892 marriage certificate, however, he was then living in Chester, Thayer County, Nebraska.  I have found no evidence that he ever lived in Fremont County and so cannot guess how he and Mae might have become acquainted.

After marriage, Mae accompanied Sam back to his home in Thayer County, and newspaper clippings show that they were still there a year later (February 1893).  By 1896, though, they had moved to Smith County, Kansas.  The 1900 census shows them there, on a farm in Pleasant Township.  Items in Smith County newspapers show that at first Sam just rented farmland in Smith County, but by 1899 he had saved enough to buy 112 acres in Pleasant Township, and over the next few years, he purchased additional parcels in the area, including a whole quarter section (160 acres) he picked up for $278 in sheriff’s sale.  By 1904, he was farming and ranching on 360 acres in Pleasant Township, about 4 miles north of the town of Athol.

Just then, though, Mae became very ill.  Sometime around the start of 1904, apparently, she scratched one of her fingers on a rusty nail.  Smith County newspapers reported that the scratch got infected, leading to a painful rash (erysipelas) and, eventually, to what the papers described as “blood poisoning.”  The ordeal went on for months, with alternating reports of improvement and relapses.  She apparently was much better, though, by October 1904; she and Sam traveled to St. Louis that month to attend the World’s Fair.

The following spring, Sam sold off his 360 acres in Pleasant Township for $9,000 and used half of the proceeds ($4,500) to buy a smaller farm (160 acres) in Center Township, one mile east of the county seat, Smith Center.  There, once again, Mae succumbed to an injury that resulted in lengthy physical and medical complications.  In the fall of 1905, she fell down and damaged one of the bones in her right ankle, which necessitated multiple surgeries.

Mae’s injury apparently figured into her and Sam’s decision to leave Kansas and move back to Fremont County, Iowa.  There, she could be closer to family (three brothers and several cousins) and friends, and also closer to the more advanced medical facilities in Omaha.  So, just 14 months after buying his new farm in Center Township, Sam sold it.  As reported in the Smith County Journal of 8 March 1906 (p. 5), “Sam Wright loaded a car of stock and goods here last Monday morning and shipped to Sidney, Iowa, where he will live for a year and possibly longer.  This is near where Mrs. Wright’s relatives live and they will enjoy a year living among the home folks.  Her health has been very poor here for a year or more and her physician advises a change.”

A later report in the Smith County Journal (26 Apr 1906, p. 2) said, “Mrs. N. O. Nye received a letter from Mrs. Sam Wright, who left here with her husband this spring for Iowa to be gone a year in the hopes of benefiting Mrs. Wright's health.  She writes from the hospital at Omaha where she had undergone a third operation on the bones of her right limb, the one refusing to heal from the former operations.  Mrs. Wright feels greatly encouraged about regaining the use of her limb and says they are both longing to be back in sunny Kansas.”

A year and a half later, Sam echoed Mae’s sentiments in a letter to another Smith Center newspaper (Smith County Pioneer, 26 Dec 1907, p. 8):  “Are getting along very well here considering the mud and slush but still long for old Smith county and former associations.”

In spite of their reported “longing” to return to Kansas, they remained in Iowa.  Soon after arriving in Fremont County, Sam had purchased a 160-acre farm about 1 mile north of Sidney (NE¼ sec. 23), and they are shown there, in Sidney Township, in both the 1910 and 1920 censuses.  Both of those censuses also list Sam’s occupation as “farmer,” but that apparently was not his only business.  By the late 1920s, ads in Sidney newspapers began identifying Sam as the President of the Fremont County Savings Bank.

Sadly, though, it was around that time that Mae passed away, 15 January 1928.  At that time, according to her obituary, she had been suffering for 23 years, apparently referring to ongoing complications from the injury she had incurred back in Smith County in 1905.  Her death certificate listed the cause of death as chronic myocarditis.  She was buried in Sidney Cemetery, close to the graves of her father James Wilson and her sister Clara Pierce.

Mae and Sam never had any children.  None are shown in any census records, and none are mentioned in Mae’s obituary.

The 1930 census shows Sam, widowed, living in Sidney Township with his sister Mary E. Croul, who is also widowed.  In 1934, however, Sam married Miss Evaline Post (known as “Eva”) at Washington, Kansas.  She came originally from Smith Center, Kansas, and, according to the Sidney Argus Herald (1 March 1934, p. 1), “Their friendship began many years ago when both were children.”

Sam continued living on his farm in Sidney Township with his new wife, Eva, and they are both shown there in the 1940 and 1950 censuses.  Sam also continued as President of the savings bank until 1953, after which he was Chairman of the Board until about 1960, and he also served as Treasurer of the School Board for several years.

Eva died on 8 November 1957, in a hospital in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Sam took her body back to Smith Center for burial.  A puzzling note in the Sidney Argus Herald, published on 26 May 1960 (p. 12), says that Sam sold his 160 acres in Sidney Township to Charles C. Goodale for $1 and, further, that that transaction occurred on 15 November 1957 — one week after Eva died.  I have no idea who Charles Goodale was, or what his relationship was to Sam, that Sam would basically just give him the whole farm.  I also don’t understand why the transaction was not reported in the paper until 2½ year later!

Sam died 24 March 1961 and was buried in Smith Center, Kansas, next to his second wife, Eva.  A brief obituary from the Sidney Argus Herald (30 March 1961, p. 1), as posted on line, was only partly legible, but it seemed to suggest that his funeral was held in Smith Center and that various people from Sidney traveled there to attend it.  Thus it could be that Sam had moved back to Smith Center near the end of his life and that he died there.  I have not confirmed this speculation.

If you can suggest any corrections to the information above or provide any further details about the lives of Mae and Sam, please contact me at the address shown in the image below:

Thanks,      
     —Pete Martin

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