Amanda Virginia (Funk) Pierce, 1859-1923
AMANDA VIRGINIA (FUNK) PIERCE was born in Conowingo, Maryland,
on 3 January 1859 to parents Samuel S. and Mary Ann (Schultz) Funk.[1] She grew up in Manor Township, Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, living with her parents and three sisters Elizabeth,
Susan and Clara.[2] On 30 December 1875, when Amanda was just
days shy of turning 17 years old, she married Charles H. Pierce at the Oxford
Circuit Methodist Episcopal Church in Chester County, Pennsylvania.[3] About ten months later, she gave birth to the
first of her nine children.
The family bible documents the children born to Amanda and
Charles Pierce[4]:
Amanda delivered a child every two to three years over a
span of 20 years. Only one child, her
second, named Mildred, didn’t live to adulthood. Mildred died on 30 January 1879 at just 5
days old.[5]
Amanda supported her husband and family with what was likely
the typical housewife duties on a farm – cleaning, cooking, raising the
children, and working the farm. A farmer’s wife in this time period had a very long
day. An anonymous writer described her day:
Rise at 4am, dress and comb hair, start a fire in the
kitchen stove. Sweep the floors, cook breakfast. Strain the milk that husband
got, fill his dinner pail. Let out the cattle, take the horse to the spring,
turn out the sheep, feed the hogs, turn out the chickens and give them food and
water – all before 6:30am. Make the beds, straighten up the living room, get
something to eat while cleaning up the kitchen. Get the children washed, do the
churning, weed the garden until 11:30am. Have a cold dinner, put out feed and
water for the chickens, continue the garden work until 4pm. Prepare supper, get
the horse, sheep, cows, hogs and chickens in and fed for the night, which takes
until 8pm. Eat supper with the family, put the children to bed (husband also
goes to bed), wash dishes, prep breakfast for the next day, then retire for the
night around 9pm.[6]
Helen Dodd, in her book “The Healthful Farmhouse,” describes
the life this way:[7]
Her life, however, was turned upside-down when on 19 March
1902 her husband Charles committed suicide (occurring just four months after
both of her parents died). At that time,
Amanda had 8 children, aged 5 to 25 years old, with no spouse or parents to
lean on.
Charles did not own the land that he farmed, and died
without a will, so the Maryland estate rules that kicked in laid out how the
property was to be distributed:
·
After payment of debts, fees and commissions,
the widow receives 1/3 of the property value
·
The children divide the remaining 2/3 evenly
among themselves
·
If a child has already passed, and there are
children by that child, these children divide up their parent’s share[8]
The personal property owned by Charles was sold, and Amanda received
her $263.90 (along with $150 for the support of her four minor children), and moved
to 6055 Upland Street in Philadelphia sometime before 1910. She lived there with five of her daughters
(two of whom were already widowed), her son, Warren, and a grandson. [9]
In 1912, Amanda must have gotten to a
financially-comfortable place, because she was able to lend her daughter Helen
and son-in-law Howard Ragan $2,000 that they used to purchase a farm, “part of
tract called ‘Dividing’ in the 8th election district of Cecil County, adjoining
lands of David Brown, George Gillespie and others, about 90 acres.”[10] Two years later, another $2,000 was loaned to
Helen and Howard for “land in the Village of Conowingo in the 8th election
district of Cecil County.”[11]
On 14 March 1923, Amanda died of cardiac dropsy at the home
of her daughter Grace (Pierce) Terry in Rising Sun, Maryland. She is interred in Brookview Cemetery in
Rising Sun, alongside her husband.[12]
Amanda’s estate was administered by her daughter Grace
(Pierce) Terry, which was agreed to by all of her children. She left no will, so the laws of the state
decreed that all of the children were to split the estate equally. Her personal estate was valued at $4,042.32,
which consisted of cash in the bank and her pocket book, and two notes owed to
her by two of her daughters. Daughter
Edith owed her $300, and daughter Maud owed her $400 – it is not known what
these debts were for. Expenses against
the estate totaled $796.02, and included those for state taxes, accountant
commission, notices of her death, funeral expenses (including $15 to dig the
grave and $100 for the tombstone), medical expenses, and groceries.[13]
[1] For birth date and place, see Maryland, Certificate of
Death no. 3467 (1923), Amanda Virginia Pierce; Maryland State Archives, series
S1177, microfilm SE43-3551. For parents,
see 1860 U.S. census, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, population schedule,
Manor Township, p. 2, dwelling 8, family 8, Samuel Funk household; NARA
microfilm M653, roll 1124; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7667/images/4289734_00403 : viewed 23 Nov 2020), image 2 AND 1870 U.S.
census, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Manor Township,
Millersville post office, district 226, p. 100, dwelling 643, family 658,
Samuel Funk household; NARA microfilm M593, roll 1357;
image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4278589_00233 : viewed 23 Nov 2020), image 68. For Mary Ann’s maiden name see death
certificates for two of Amanda’s siblings:
Elizabeth A. Pratt (1922); Maine State Archives, Cultural Building,
Augusta; 1908-1922 Vital Records, Roll Number: 45; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1962/images/31515_204130-10950 : viewed 12 May 2022), image 37 AND
Pennsylvania, Certificate of Death no. 17767 (1928), Clara H. Siple; Department
of Health, Vital Statistics, New Castle; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5164/images/42342_2421406274_0876-00291 : viewed 12 May 2022), image 291.
[2] 1870 U.S. census, Samuel Funk household.
[3] Oxford Circuit Methodist Episcopal Church (Oxford,
Chester Country, Pennsylvania), "Marriage Record," for Chas H. Pierce
and Amanda Funk (1875); image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2451/images/40355_267284-00273 : viewed 13 Dec 2020), image 183.
[4] Pierce Bible Records, 1876 - 1980, loose
"Births" page from unknown bible; image copy in author's records,
Winter Springs, Florida.
[5]
Pierce Bible Records, 1876 - 1980, loose
"Deaths" page from unknown bible; image copy in author's records,
Winter Springs, Florida.
[6]
Holt, Hamilton, ed. (1906) The Life Stories of
Undistinguished Americans as Told by Themselves. New York: James Pott &
Co. pp. 154-157.
[7] Dodd, Helen. (1911) The Healthful Farmhouse: by a
Farmer’s Wife. 2nd ed. Boston: Whitcomb & Barrows. p. 2.
[8]
Maryland State Archives, “Understanding Maryland
Record Inheritance of Property,” MSA website (http://guide.msa.maryland.gov/pages/viewer.aspx?page=inheritanceproperty : viewed 20 June 2022).
[9] 1910 U.S. census, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
population schedule, Philadelphia, ward 40, enumeration district (ED) 1035,
sheet 13A, dwelling 212, family 219, Amanda V. Pierce household; NARA microfilm
T624, roll 1410; image, Ancestry
(https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4449776_00743 : viewed 23 Nov 2020), images 25-26.
[10] Cecil County, Maryland, Circuit Court Land Records,
Book 11, Clerk CK, Liber 3, pp. 554-556; Mortgage of Amanda V. Pierce from
Howard B. Ragan & wife, 23 March 1912; Maryland State Archives, microfilm
CR25349; image, MDLANDREC.NET ( https://mdlandrec.net/main/dsp_inventories.cfm?CID=CE&sch=4&srtyp=I : viewed 26 March 2022).
[11] Cecil County, Maryland, Circuit Court Land Records,
Book 11, Clerk CK, Liber 9, pp. 239-241; Mortgage of Amanda V. Pierce from
Howard B. Ragan & wife, 28 December 1914; Maryland State Archives,
microfilm CR25349; image, MDLANDREC.NET ( https://mdlandrec.net/main/dsp_inventories.cfm?CID=CE&sch=4&srtyp=I : viewed 26 March 2022).
[12] See Maryland, Certificate of Death no. 3467 (1923),
Amanda Virginia Pierce; Maryland State Archives, series S1177, microfilm
SE43-3551 AND ALSO "Mrs. Amanda V. Pierce," The Midland Journal
(Rising Sun, Maryland), 16 March 1923, p.11, col.1; image, Newspapers.com
(https://www.newspapers.com/image/665398418 : viewed 15 April 2022).
[13] Cecil County, Maryland, Orphan's Court Register of
Wills, Estate Papers for Amanda V. Pierce, Estate no. 1923-76; images, FamilySearch
(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6Q8S-5XW
: viewed 9 April 2022), images 1-18.
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