In the will of her father, Thomas Harrison Baker, Mary W. Perry is described as the widow of John Perry, and is acknowledged as her father's "natural daughter" (i.e. illegitimate). (There is no indication in the will of the identity of Mary's mother.)
From census records, one can presume that John Perry was the son of Sarah L. Perry, with whom Mary was enumerated from 1850 to 1880 and, further, that John had probably died before 1850. However, in the 1880 census—the first census to give relationships between individual household members—Sarah and Mary are identified as mother and daughter. In addition, both are listed as "single", rather than the expected "widowed" for both. While specific census records quite often have anomalies, Mary is also listed as single in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses. (With Sarah's death in 1899, the 1880 census is the last extant census in which she was enumerated.) All this suggests that perhaps the John Perry of Thomas H. Baker's will may have been a polite invention, and that Sarah Perry was Mary's actual mother.
Mary died at the age of 91, almost twenty years after Sarah had died at the same age.
From census records, one can presume that John Perry was the son of Sarah L. Perry, with whom Mary was enumerated from 1850 to 1880 and, further, that John had probably died before 1850. However, in the 1880 census—the first census to give relationships between individual household members—Sarah and Mary are identified as mother and daughter. In addition, both are listed as "single", rather than the expected "widowed" for both. While specific census records quite often have anomalies, Mary is also listed as single in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses. (With Sarah's death in 1899, the 1880 census is the last extant census in which she was enumerated.) All this suggests that perhaps the John Perry of Thomas H. Baker's will may have been a polite invention, and that Sarah Perry was Mary's actual mother.
Mary died at the age of 91, almost twenty years after Sarah had died at the same age.
In the will of her father, Thomas Harrison Baker, Mary W. Perry is described as the widow of John Perry, and is acknowledged as her father's "natural daughter" (i.e. illegitimate). (There is no indication in the will of the identity of Mary's mother.)
From census records, one can presume that John Perry was the son of Sarah L. Perry, with whom Mary was enumerated from 1850 to 1880 and, further, that John had probably died before 1850. However, in the 1880 census—the first census to give relationships between individual household members—Sarah and Mary are identified as mother and daughter. In addition, both are listed as "single", rather than the expected "widowed" for both. While specific census records quite often have anomalies, Mary is also listed as single in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses. (With Sarah's death in 1899, the 1880 census is the last extant census in which she was enumerated.) All this suggests that perhaps the John Perry of Thomas H. Baker's will may have been a polite invention, and that Sarah Perry was Mary's actual mother.
Mary died at the age of 91, almost twenty years after Sarah had died at the same age.
From census records, one can presume that John Perry was the son of Sarah L. Perry, with whom Mary was enumerated from 1850 to 1880 and, further, that John had probably died before 1850. However, in the 1880 census—the first census to give relationships between individual household members—Sarah and Mary are identified as mother and daughter. In addition, both are listed as "single", rather than the expected "widowed" for both. While specific census records quite often have anomalies, Mary is also listed as single in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses. (With Sarah's death in 1899, the 1880 census is the last extant census in which she was enumerated.) All this suggests that perhaps the John Perry of Thomas H. Baker's will may have been a polite invention, and that Sarah Perry was Mary's actual mother.
Mary died at the age of 91, almost twenty years after Sarah had died at the same age.
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