By 1860, the family of Thomas Mavis had changed drastically. His father, Andrew, had died, and Thomas was the oldest son at home at 17 years old. An older brother, Abraham, who also served in the war, had left home. So Thomas was listed as the farmer in the family which consisted of his mother, Mary, and siblings: George, 14; Robert 12; Andrew, 10; and Ira, 8. It had to be no small task for a seventeen year old.
Yet, just a few years later, in September, 1862, Thomas enlisted at Toledo into Company F, 111th Ohio Infantry.
Several other Farmer boys were in this regiment, including Lew Bowker and Harry Sweet. An active unit, it spent the first year of its three year term in Tennessee, but soon enough were sent on the path to Georgia and all the battles on the way through Atlanta. Near the end of his term, on June 1, 1865, Thomas was promoted to Corporal. He mustered out on June 27, 1865, at Salisbury, North Carolina.
Thomas (Huston) Mavis (Huston/Husted was his mother's maiden name) married Agnes Ross in 1863, and together they had nine children, according to their reporting on the censuses. By 1900, five were living. Thomas lived in and farmed his whole life in Farmer Township. He was not yet sixty years old when he died on March 11, 1903.
 |
| Farmer Cemetery |
Agnes lived on in their home, but by January 16, 1913, the first note of some problem was found. The Hicksville Tribune reported in the Farmer social column:
"Agnes Mavis fell last Thursday and injured her head. Her daughter, Mrs. Newell Snyder and family, will move in with her and take care of her."
By the 1920 census taken in the summer, Agnes, 80, lived with her daughter, Minnie Doud and husband, Neal, and daughter, Gladys, 14. Minnie was named the guardian of Agnes, an imbecile, noted one paper. In other words, Agnes had drifted into dementia. She died that same year on December 17 and was buried with her husband in the Farmer Cemetery.
Looking in on the family history.living in Torrington Wyoming now.
ReplyDelete