Mary Augusta Dill was born May 13, 1855 in Oxford, Butler County, Ohio. On January 6, 1876, Mary Augusta Dill married John Thomas Conlin in Muscatine, Iowa. Mary Dill Conlin died on January 4, 1936 in Seneca, Kansas.
Mary Augusta Dill was the oldest of two daughters born to Dr. Solomon Dill and Elizabeth Jane Fowler. Shortly after Mary's birth, the family moved to Toddtown in Louisa County, Iowa, where her father was the town's doctor. Mary was about 6 years of age when the family moved again to nearby Fredonia, Iowa.
In 1869, when Mary was 14 years old, her mother died. Two years later, her father remarried and she gained 3 young step-siblings. According to a family story, Mary's new stepmother sent Mary and her sister Laura to live with their aunt, Hannah Fowler VanDyke, who also lived in Fredonia.
On January 6, 1876, Mary Augusta Dill, age 20, married John Thomas Conlin, son of James Conlin and Bridget McManemon, in Muscatine, Iowa. John lived in the adjoining county and it is not known how the two met, whether they attended school together or if John met Mary on a visit to see the doctor, Mary's dad.
Mary and John had 8 known children:
- James Solomon Conlin
- Laura Conlin
- John Edward “Ed” Conlin
- Charles Franklin Conlin
- Ella May Conlin
- Olive May Conlin
- William Garrett Conlin
- Mary Elizabeth Conlin
Mary and John's oldest son, James Solomon, was born in the year of their marriage and named after his two grandfathers, James Conlin and Solomon Dill. A daughter Laura was born 3 years later.
By 1880 Mary and John and their two young children moved west to Holt Township, Taylor County, Iowa. In 1880 John bought land in Oneida, Nemaha County, Kansas and in 1882, the family moved to Oneida where John and Mary would spend the rest of their lives. Shortly after the move, their daughter Laura died of flux.
Mary gave birth to John in 1883, followed by Charles, then Ella. Ella died less than a year after her birth. Olive was born in 1889, William in 1892, and finally Mary in 1895.
The Conlins raised their family in Oneida. After the children married and moved away, Mary and John's house was the family gathering place during summers and holidays. Grandma Mary usually was busy baking donuts, which, according to a family story, “she wouldn't give to a grandchild until he first did an Irish jig for her, while her daughters and daughters-in-law sat in the big kitchen visiting.”
After John's death in 1932, Mary continued to live in Oneida. The day after Christmas in 1935, Mary visited her daughter Olive in nearby Seneca, Kansas and while there, suffered a stroke. She died in Seneca about a week later at the age of 80. Mary was buried in the Oneida Cemetery with her husband.
Genealogical Research and Life Sketch completed: 10 July 2020
Sources:
"United States Census, 1860", database with images, Mary A Dill in entry for Solomon Dill, 1860.
"United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch, Mary Dell in entry for Sol Dell, 1870.
"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch , Mary Conlin in household of John Conlin, Holt, Taylor, Iowa, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
"Iowa State Census, 1885," database with images, FamilySearch, Taylor > Holt > image 23 of 30; State Historical Society, Des Moines.
"Kansas State Census, 1895", database with images, FamilySearch, Mary Conlin in entry for John Conlin, 1895.
"United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch, Mary A Canlin in household of John Canlin, Gilman Township Oneida, Nemaha, Kansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 115, sheet 3A, family 52, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,492.
"United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch, Mary A Conlin in household of John T Conlin, Gilman, Nemaha, Kansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 115, sheet 8A, family 12, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 450; FHL microfilm 1,374,463.
"United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch, Mary Conlin in entry for John Conlin, 1920.
"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch, Mary A Conlin in household of John T Conlin, Oneida, Nemaha, Kansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 6, sheet 2B, line 80, family 57, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 713; FHL microfilm 2,340,448.
"Iowa, County Marriages, 1838-1934," database, FamilySearch, John T. Conlon and Mary A. Dill, 06 Jan 1876, Muscatine, Muscatine, Iowa, United States; citing reference Vol C p 104, county courthouses, Iowa; FHL microfilm 1,003,361.
"Kansas Births and Christenings, 1818-1936", database, FamilySearch, Mary Augustine Dill Conlin in entry for Charles Franklin Conlin, 1886.
"Nebraska Marriages, 1855-1995", database, FamilySearch, Augusta Dill in entry for Chas F Conlin or Conklin, 1914.
"Kansas, Births and Baptisms, 1811-1940", database, FamilySearch, Mary Agusta Pill in entry for Olive Conlin, 1889.
“Conlin, John Thomas”, obituary, Seneca Times, Seneca, Kansas, July 13, 1932.
“Mrs. John Conlin”, obituary, Courier Tribune, Seneca, Kansas, January 9, 1936.
