Mrs. Albert Riggs is Mary Elizabeth Pennoyer (Penoyer or Pennover), daughter of Jacob and Martha (Scott) Pennoyer of Montgomery and Newburgh, Orange County, New York. Mary was the second wife of Albert Riggs (1815-1899), whom she married on 8 Sept. 1840 in New York State. In the 1921 obituary of her son Albert Jr., Mary is called "Mary Elizabeth Pennover," which is a somewhat rare variant spelling of the name "Pennoyer" or "Penoyer." In the 1925 death certificate of her daughter Martha, Mary is called "Mary Elizabeth Penoyer." The 1878 Whitney Genealogy and the 1901 Riggs Genealogy call her "Mary Paneer," which is one of the several variant spellings of "Penoyer." The family of Jacob Pennoyer usually spelled their name with two "n"s, however.
Mary and her husband Albert Riggs lived at first in New York, later moving to Illinois, where they lived successively in Chicago, Chenoa, Godfrey, and finally Chicago again. Mary's younger sister Martha Jane (Pennoyer) Colwell also came to Illinois, settling in Aurora, Kane County, with her second husband Clark Brown Colwell. (Another younger sister of Mary, Ann (Pennoyer) Shurden, settled in Janesville, Wisconsin, with her husband John and their children.) An article in the Alton Evening Telegraph, 15 Aug. 1882, says Martha, then living in Aurora, came down to Godfrey, Illinois, to visit her sister Mary at a Riggs family reunion on Friday, 11 Aug. 1882 (though the article spells her married name as "Mrs. C. B. Caldwell" instead of "Colwell" -- "Caldwell" was the original spelling of that family's surname).
Published obituary, Alton Evening Telegraph, 16 May 1908, page 2:
"Mrs. Mary E. Riggs, widow of Albert Riggs, Sr., a former resident of Godfrey, but for many years a resident of Chicago, died at her home at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, May 10th. after a short illness. Aged 89 years, Mrs. Riggs was born in Newburg, Orange county, N.Y. November 2nd. 1815 (sic), and was married to Albert Riggs in 1837 (sic). She, with her husband and family, removed to Chicago in the early '50s (sic) and has resided there ever since, with the exception of a few years spent at Godfrey, Ill. Deceased was a Christian in every sense of the word, kind and motherly to everyone and making friends whereever she went. She was a member of he (sic) third Presbyterian church of Chicago at the time of her death. She is survived by two sons, C. S. Riggs, of Chicago and Albert Riggs of Murrayville, and three daughters, Mrs. M. E. Lownsberry and Mrs. P. C. Ulrich of Aurora and Mrs. P. A. Walters of Upper Alton.
"The funeral took place at Godfrey Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. The remarks of Rev. Cotton, pastor of Godfrey church, were an eloquent eulogy of a good woman, whose life work had been faithfullly accomplished and well finished, with all her duties done to the best of her ability. She was laid to rest beneath beautiful floral offerings."
Mary's date of birth is uncertain. Her gravestone says she was born in 1819, but her obituary says she was born 2 Nov. 1815, and the 1900 U.S. Census says she was born Nov. 1817. Other censuses indicate that she was born circa 1818 or circa 1821. The obituary's stated birthdate is probably a typo for "2 Nov. 1818," which is the precise date indicated by her death certificate, which says she died at the age of 89 years, 6 months, and 8 days. "1819" is presumably an error of arithmetic of the tombstone engraver (1908 - 89 = 1819).
Her death certificate says "Mary E. Riggs" died at or about 1:30 p.m. on 10 May 1908 at 212 Seminary Ave., Aurora, Illinois, and was buried in Godfrey Cemetery on 12 May 1908. The cause of death was "exhaustion," the result of the contributory cause of complication of "senile typhoid," from which she had been suffering for 14 days. The certificate also says she was born in "Newburg," New York, and had lived in Illinois for 40 years (presumably an estimate or guess, as the true length of time was about 50 years).
Mary and her husband Albert Riggs lived at first in New York, later moving to Illinois, where they lived successively in Chicago, Chenoa, Godfrey, and finally Chicago again. Mary's younger sister Martha Jane (Pennoyer) Colwell also came to Illinois, settling in Aurora, Kane County, with her second husband Clark Brown Colwell. (Another younger sister of Mary, Ann (Pennoyer) Shurden, settled in Janesville, Wisconsin, with her husband John and their children.) An article in the Alton Evening Telegraph, 15 Aug. 1882, says Martha, then living in Aurora, came down to Godfrey, Illinois, to visit her sister Mary at a Riggs family reunion on Friday, 11 Aug. 1882 (though the article spells her married name as "Mrs. C. B. Caldwell" instead of "Colwell" -- "Caldwell" was the original spelling of that family's surname).
Published obituary, Alton Evening Telegraph, 16 May 1908, page 2:
"Mrs. Mary E. Riggs, widow of Albert Riggs, Sr., a former resident of Godfrey, but for many years a resident of Chicago, died at her home at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, May 10th. after a short illness. Aged 89 years, Mrs. Riggs was born in Newburg, Orange county, N.Y. November 2nd. 1815 (sic), and was married to Albert Riggs in 1837 (sic). She, with her husband and family, removed to Chicago in the early '50s (sic) and has resided there ever since, with the exception of a few years spent at Godfrey, Ill. Deceased was a Christian in every sense of the word, kind and motherly to everyone and making friends whereever she went. She was a member of he (sic) third Presbyterian church of Chicago at the time of her death. She is survived by two sons, C. S. Riggs, of Chicago and Albert Riggs of Murrayville, and three daughters, Mrs. M. E. Lownsberry and Mrs. P. C. Ulrich of Aurora and Mrs. P. A. Walters of Upper Alton.
"The funeral took place at Godfrey Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. The remarks of Rev. Cotton, pastor of Godfrey church, were an eloquent eulogy of a good woman, whose life work had been faithfullly accomplished and well finished, with all her duties done to the best of her ability. She was laid to rest beneath beautiful floral offerings."
Mary's date of birth is uncertain. Her gravestone says she was born in 1819, but her obituary says she was born 2 Nov. 1815, and the 1900 U.S. Census says she was born Nov. 1817. Other censuses indicate that she was born circa 1818 or circa 1821. The obituary's stated birthdate is probably a typo for "2 Nov. 1818," which is the precise date indicated by her death certificate, which says she died at the age of 89 years, 6 months, and 8 days. "1819" is presumably an error of arithmetic of the tombstone engraver (1908 - 89 = 1819).
Her death certificate says "Mary E. Riggs" died at or about 1:30 p.m. on 10 May 1908 at 212 Seminary Ave., Aurora, Illinois, and was buried in Godfrey Cemetery on 12 May 1908. The cause of death was "exhaustion," the result of the contributory cause of complication of "senile typhoid," from which she had been suffering for 14 days. The certificate also says she was born in "Newburg," New York, and had lived in Illinois for 40 years (presumably an estimate or guess, as the true length of time was about 50 years).
Mrs. Albert Riggs is Mary Elizabeth Pennoyer (Penoyer or Pennover), daughter of Jacob and Martha (Scott) Pennoyer of Montgomery and Newburgh, Orange County, New York. Mary was the second wife of Albert Riggs (1815-1899), whom she married on 8 Sept. 1840 in New York State. In the 1921 obituary of her son Albert Jr., Mary is called "Mary Elizabeth Pennover," which is a somewhat rare variant spelling of the name "Pennoyer" or "Penoyer." In the 1925 death certificate of her daughter Martha, Mary is called "Mary Elizabeth Penoyer." The 1878 Whitney Genealogy and the 1901 Riggs Genealogy call her "Mary Paneer," which is one of the several variant spellings of "Penoyer." The family of Jacob Pennoyer usually spelled their name with two "n"s, however.
Mary and her husband Albert Riggs lived at first in New York, later moving to Illinois, where they lived successively in Chicago, Chenoa, Godfrey, and finally Chicago again. Mary's younger sister Martha Jane (Pennoyer) Colwell also came to Illinois, settling in Aurora, Kane County, with her second husband Clark Brown Colwell. (Another younger sister of Mary, Ann (Pennoyer) Shurden, settled in Janesville, Wisconsin, with her husband John and their children.) An article in the Alton Evening Telegraph, 15 Aug. 1882, says Martha, then living in Aurora, came down to Godfrey, Illinois, to visit her sister Mary at a Riggs family reunion on Friday, 11 Aug. 1882 (though the article spells her married name as "Mrs. C. B. Caldwell" instead of "Colwell" -- "Caldwell" was the original spelling of that family's surname).
Published obituary, Alton Evening Telegraph, 16 May 1908, page 2:
"Mrs. Mary E. Riggs, widow of Albert Riggs, Sr., a former resident of Godfrey, but for many years a resident of Chicago, died at her home at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, May 10th. after a short illness. Aged 89 years, Mrs. Riggs was born in Newburg, Orange county, N.Y. November 2nd. 1815 (sic), and was married to Albert Riggs in 1837 (sic). She, with her husband and family, removed to Chicago in the early '50s (sic) and has resided there ever since, with the exception of a few years spent at Godfrey, Ill. Deceased was a Christian in every sense of the word, kind and motherly to everyone and making friends whereever she went. She was a member of he (sic) third Presbyterian church of Chicago at the time of her death. She is survived by two sons, C. S. Riggs, of Chicago and Albert Riggs of Murrayville, and three daughters, Mrs. M. E. Lownsberry and Mrs. P. C. Ulrich of Aurora and Mrs. P. A. Walters of Upper Alton.
"The funeral took place at Godfrey Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. The remarks of Rev. Cotton, pastor of Godfrey church, were an eloquent eulogy of a good woman, whose life work had been faithfullly accomplished and well finished, with all her duties done to the best of her ability. She was laid to rest beneath beautiful floral offerings."
Mary's date of birth is uncertain. Her gravestone says she was born in 1819, but her obituary says she was born 2 Nov. 1815, and the 1900 U.S. Census says she was born Nov. 1817. Other censuses indicate that she was born circa 1818 or circa 1821. The obituary's stated birthdate is probably a typo for "2 Nov. 1818," which is the precise date indicated by her death certificate, which says she died at the age of 89 years, 6 months, and 8 days. "1819" is presumably an error of arithmetic of the tombstone engraver (1908 - 89 = 1819).
Her death certificate says "Mary E. Riggs" died at or about 1:30 p.m. on 10 May 1908 at 212 Seminary Ave., Aurora, Illinois, and was buried in Godfrey Cemetery on 12 May 1908. The cause of death was "exhaustion," the result of the contributory cause of complication of "senile typhoid," from which she had been suffering for 14 days. The certificate also says she was born in "Newburg," New York, and had lived in Illinois for 40 years (presumably an estimate or guess, as the true length of time was about 50 years).
Mary and her husband Albert Riggs lived at first in New York, later moving to Illinois, where they lived successively in Chicago, Chenoa, Godfrey, and finally Chicago again. Mary's younger sister Martha Jane (Pennoyer) Colwell also came to Illinois, settling in Aurora, Kane County, with her second husband Clark Brown Colwell. (Another younger sister of Mary, Ann (Pennoyer) Shurden, settled in Janesville, Wisconsin, with her husband John and their children.) An article in the Alton Evening Telegraph, 15 Aug. 1882, says Martha, then living in Aurora, came down to Godfrey, Illinois, to visit her sister Mary at a Riggs family reunion on Friday, 11 Aug. 1882 (though the article spells her married name as "Mrs. C. B. Caldwell" instead of "Colwell" -- "Caldwell" was the original spelling of that family's surname).
Published obituary, Alton Evening Telegraph, 16 May 1908, page 2:
"Mrs. Mary E. Riggs, widow of Albert Riggs, Sr., a former resident of Godfrey, but for many years a resident of Chicago, died at her home at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, May 10th. after a short illness. Aged 89 years, Mrs. Riggs was born in Newburg, Orange county, N.Y. November 2nd. 1815 (sic), and was married to Albert Riggs in 1837 (sic). She, with her husband and family, removed to Chicago in the early '50s (sic) and has resided there ever since, with the exception of a few years spent at Godfrey, Ill. Deceased was a Christian in every sense of the word, kind and motherly to everyone and making friends whereever she went. She was a member of he (sic) third Presbyterian church of Chicago at the time of her death. She is survived by two sons, C. S. Riggs, of Chicago and Albert Riggs of Murrayville, and three daughters, Mrs. M. E. Lownsberry and Mrs. P. C. Ulrich of Aurora and Mrs. P. A. Walters of Upper Alton.
"The funeral took place at Godfrey Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. The remarks of Rev. Cotton, pastor of Godfrey church, were an eloquent eulogy of a good woman, whose life work had been faithfullly accomplished and well finished, with all her duties done to the best of her ability. She was laid to rest beneath beautiful floral offerings."
Mary's date of birth is uncertain. Her gravestone says she was born in 1819, but her obituary says she was born 2 Nov. 1815, and the 1900 U.S. Census says she was born Nov. 1817. Other censuses indicate that she was born circa 1818 or circa 1821. The obituary's stated birthdate is probably a typo for "2 Nov. 1818," which is the precise date indicated by her death certificate, which says she died at the age of 89 years, 6 months, and 8 days. "1819" is presumably an error of arithmetic of the tombstone engraver (1908 - 89 = 1819).
Her death certificate says "Mary E. Riggs" died at or about 1:30 p.m. on 10 May 1908 at 212 Seminary Ave., Aurora, Illinois, and was buried in Godfrey Cemetery on 12 May 1908. The cause of death was "exhaustion," the result of the contributory cause of complication of "senile typhoid," from which she had been suffering for 14 days. The certificate also says she was born in "Newburg," New York, and had lived in Illinois for 40 years (presumably an estimate or guess, as the true length of time was about 50 years).
Inscription
MRS. ALBERT
RIGGS
1819-1908
Family Members
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