Mary (Heath) Chichester (1811 - 1891)

Born 3 Oct 1811 in Troy (Rensselaer County), New York

Ancestors

Wife of Ira Chichester — married 30 Sep 1828 (to 1875) in Schoharie County, New York

Descendants

Died 5 Oct 1891 at age 80 in Grand Traverse County, Michigan

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Biography

Mary "Polly" Heath married Ira Chichester on September 30, 1828. Their marriage produced seven children: Eli Chichester (1829 to 1876); Levi Chichester (1830 to 1914); Mary Catherine (Chichester) Fewless (1832 to 1907); Van Rennselaer Chichester (1834 to 1864); Elizabeth Chichester (born in 1838); Martha Maria (Chichester) Olmstead (1840 to 1923); and Cyrus Chichester (1842 to 1862).

In tracking their birth dates and places, it seems the first years were spent at Albany County in eastern New York. By 1832, the family had relocated to Erie County in the western portion of the state. By 1840, the family had moved to Ohio. Ira's "Findagrave" page indicates that Ira had a debilitating incident in 1842 while at Wayne County Ohio. Where they lived during his convalescence is unclear. The children then would have been 13, 12, 10, 8, 4, 2, and newborn.

The "Family Search" record loses track of Ira and Mary until the 1870 census. By then, the eldest two children had married in Indiana (in the first half of the 1850s). Some of the rest married in Williams and Henry counties in northwest Ohio. There is indication of Ira and Mary having moved to Williams County.

In "Findagrave," we find that on March 22 Mar,1861, their son Cyrus had purchased a 40-acre farm near Stryker, Ohio. He died the next year. Polly filed for a survivor's pension. Part of her statement reads, "her said son, upon whom she was in part, almost wholly dependent for support, having left no widow or minor child under sixteen years of age surviving, declarant makes this application for a pension."

The farm was deeded to Ira Chichester by Cyrus' brothers and sisters sometime in 1863. However, the income from it was not sufficient to meet expenses and according to John and Elizabeth Betts, "it left less than $25 all total to apply to the support of said Polly and Ira Chichester, and from the time of the death of said Cyrus Chichester, [they] lived on the charity of neighbors."

In 1868 a mortgage foreclosure drove them from their farm. In April, 1869, they moved to Miami County Indiana, and in October 1870 they moved again, to Mecosta County, Michigan.

The 1870 census gives proof that Ira (age 65) and "Polly" (age 58) were living in the household of their eldest offspring, Eli, at Pipe Creek Township in Miami County, Indiana. Perhaps at the urging of Ira and Mary's daughter, Mary Catherine, the elders of Eli's household relocated to Mecosta County, Michigan where Ira died in 1875, followed by Eli a year later. They died at the same town. Ira is buried at Stanwood in Mecosta County. Perhaps Eli is, too.

Polly filed a claim for survivor pension and stayed in Michigan. In support of the claim, friends John and Elizabeth Betts filed filed a document on July 6, 1876, stating that they saw Ira and Polly Chichester nearly every day when they were living in Williams County Ohio, and that they had no means of support other than their son, Cyrus. Polly is on the 1883 list of pensioners in Stanwood. She later moved nearer to her daughter. Polly, her daughter, and son-in-law died and are buried at Kingsley in Grand Traverse County.

Eli's wife returned to Peru, Indiana where their family members had settled.

Sources

"Family Search" engine.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38769957/mary-chichester

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36950602/ira-chichester