Mary Beatrice (Hawkins) Wylie, 1896-1993
MARY BEATRICE (HAWKINS) WYLIE was born 28 October
1896 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to parents Alfred William Hawkins and
Eleanor Virginia (Smith) Hawkins,[1]
and died on 20 March 1993 in Darby, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. She married Russell Grant Wylie on 3 March
1915 at the 18th St Methodist Episcopal Church,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when she was 18 years old – it was the first
marriage for both of them.[2]
Mary was confirmed on 25 February 1912 at the age of 15 at the Holy Comforter Chapel of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 3rd & Pine Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[3] She was religious her whole life, going to church most Sundays until she was physically unable. Mary was also called Mamie during her lifetime – her marriage license application actually used this nickname – and her grandchildren all knew her as Nan.[4] She grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with her parents and two brothers, one of whom passed when she was only 13 years old.[5]
When Mary and Russell got married, Mary
noted that she was working as a stenographer at the time.[6] She gave birth just six months after the
wedding; for many years she didn’t tell anyone the month she got married so
that she could avoid the stigma of being pregnant before marriage. Their daughter Laura, that “6-month baby,”
didn’t know about this family secret until after Mary passed in 1993, when she
found her parents’ marriage certificate.[7]
When Russell passed in 1949, Mary pleaded
with her oldest child Laura and her family to move in with her to help with
expenses. Laura and William
“supplemented [Mary’s] income by providing groceries and portions of all
household expenses.”[8] Mary’s granddaughter Laura (daughter of Laura
Anna (Wylie) Oldham and William John Oldham) remembers the time this way:
“Nan was the Queen - didn't work
and always had to be taken care of by family.
She was a good person and loved the grandkids - but fought with my
mother OFTEN when they lived together!”[9]
Laura and William lived with Mary for about ten years, before Laura’s doctor said that she needed to move out – Mary’s regimented schedule and controlling nature were causing Laura to have a ‘nervous breakdown.’[10] After Laura and William moved out, Mary downsized her living space to a small, two-bedroom ranch row home in Primos, Pennsylvania, where she lived until she broke her hip in about 1988.
My memories of “Nan”:
I was fortunate that Nan was alive
until I was in my early 30s, so I got to know her well. During the late
1960s, I (along with sister Donna and brother Chuck) would walk to Nan's house
after school while our mom worked at a law firm in 69th Street; we would watch
General Hospital (soap opera) and she would make us "horse's heads,"
which were essentially root beer floats.
She also used to tell us that Pocahontas was one of our ancestors (this
story probably goes back to her grandfather named John Smith). Nan never learned how to drive; she depended
on her family to get her to the supermarket and for other errands when
needed. I always thought of her as a
"lady" - very proper, always dressed up, fingernails done and makeup
on.
When Mary fell in her home and broke her
hip, she never recovered enough to walk again, so her family moved her into
Little Flower Nursing Home in Darby, Pennsylvania. I ended up buying her small, two-bedroom
ranch row home in 1988, and owned that home for 10 years. It was a great connection to her.
Mary died on 20 March 1993 of congestive
heart failure and coronary artery disease at the age of 96.[11] She is interred at the Fernwood Cemetery
Mausoleum, Yeadon, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, next to her husband.[12] Mary (aka Mamie or Nan) and Russell
(aka Poppy) left a legacy of four children and 13 grandchildren.
[1]. City of Philadelphia
(Pennsylvania) Department of Records, Vital Statistics, birth certificate, Mary
Beatrice Hawkins, 29 Oct 1896, dated 11 January 1972, certificate no. 101176
(copy of original held by family). A
later amended birth record shows a birth date of 28 October 1896: City of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania)
Department of Records, Vital Statistics, Affidavit to Amend Birth Record, Mary
Beatrice Hawkins, no 99264, changing birth date to 28 October 1896 (copy of original held by family).
[2]. Philadelphia
County, Pennsylvania, Affidavit of Applicant for Marriage License, file no.
324636 (1915), for Russell Wylie ad Mamie Hawkins; Family History Library Film
004287435; image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6LFQ-77L : viewed 13 December 2020), images
1853-1860.
[3]. Holy
Comforter Chapel of the St. Peter's Church (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania),
"Church Records, 1904-1944," Confirmations, page 168, Mary Beatrice
Hawkins; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2451/images/40355_267215-00051 : viewed 25 November 2020), image 52.
[5]. 1900 U.S.
census, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Philadelphia, ward 26,
enumeration district (ED) 641, sheet 10B, dwelling 208, family 213, Alfred
Hawkins; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4115212_00693 : viewed 8 November 2020), image 20.
1910 U.S. census, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, population schedule,
Philadelphia, ward 26, enumeration district (ED) 0596, sheet 9B, dwelling 192,
family 194, Alfred W. Hawkins; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4449315_00375 : viewed 16 October 2020), images 18-19.
Headstone, Mt. Moriah Cemetery, Edward R Hawkins, b. 13 August 1892,
d. 13 January 1910, photo taken by Dawn Vanderwolf, 2019.
[7]. Karen L.
Hartley, "Life History Paper," based on interview of Laura Anna
(Wylie) Oldham, 24 June 2004, supplied by author to Dawn Vanderwolf on 4 March
2021, p.1.
[9]. Laura Eleanor
(Oldham) Andrews interview by author, 29 July 2020, document in author’s
files. Laura is the oldest child of
William John Oldham Jr and Laura Anna (Wylie) Oldham, and granddaughter of
Russell Grant Wylie.
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