A Step Back

Mary Elizabeth Darby Wainright pictured with her six grandchildren.
Clockwise from the lower left are:  Mary Olive Hutchinson, Charles "Fred" Jones, Mary "Edith" Jones, Leslie T. Hutchinson, Thomas Harvey Hutchinson, and Leo Wainright Jones.

In Jones Family Matters, I have discussed in detail research that I did on Charles H., Rachel, and Charles' second wife, Alwilda Collins.  I've linked some of the posts. You can search by their names on the Jones Family Matters blog for more information.  But I did not fully understand the role of Rachel's mother, Mary Elizabeth Wainright Darby, my gg-grandmother. (More information is available in Jones Family Matters).

I knew that Mary Elizabeth lived with Charles, her daughter Rachel and their three children on Gladstone.  Since Rachel had consumption (tuberculosis), I'm sure that she played a major role in raising the three children. What I didn't realize was that after Rachel's death in 1892, Mary Elizabeth continued living with the children until Charles remarried Alwilda, 16 years his junior, on December 26, 1898.  Since the household wasn't big enough for two women to run, Mary Elizabeth moved out.  However, she didn't move far.

By reviewing the Cincinnati City Directories, I discovered that Mary Elizabeth moved around the corner into her own home at 405 Collins.  She continued to live there for about eight years until about 1906.  The City Directory for 1908 has her listed as 432 Shillito.  By the 1910 Census, she was living with her granddaughter, Edith Jones Hodges, in Clermont Co.

I searched out the location of Mary Elizabeth's home located at 405 Collins.  As seems to be my luck, the property was purchased for green space as part of the Columbia Towers Condos located up the hill from what had been her property.  The house on either side are still standing. Here is a picture of the front steps:

Front Steps of 405 Collins Ave.

Barge Traffic on the Ohio River from Collins Ave.
 Note railroad tracks just behind the "arrow" sign.  Gladstone Ave. is off to the left.

Since my Aunt Margaret Ann's notes mention that my grandfather (Charles Fred Jones) ran away to be a cabin boy on a boat at the age of about 14, I can't help but think about the impact that his father's remarriage had on him.  Thankfully, his grandmother was never far away.