Luella's Grandmother

Stepping backward into the family of Luella Taylor Waddell, I return to her grandmother, Mary A. Garner, who was living in the Taylor household in Orange, New Jersey in 1900. Mary was born on 16 March 1830 in Corydon, Harrison County, Indiana. She was the daughter of John Bence and Elizabeth Miller, and her middle initial A stood for Adeline.

Ancestry. 1850 US Census, Harrison County, Indiana.

Mary Adeline wed river merchant Powhattan M. Garner on 3 October 1850 in Harrison County, Indiana. He regularly traveled on river boats along the Ohio River, between Indiana, Illinois and St. Louis. Powhatten was struck by cholera while in St. Louis, and died there on 10 August 1866. Following the death of her husband, Mary supported herself and her four children as a seamstress in Corydon, Harrison County, Indiana.

Ancestry. 1870 US Census, Corydon, Indiana.

Powhatten and Mary had the following children:

- William M. Garner, 1851-1897

- Charles E. Garner, 1853-1915

- Ella Garner Taylor, 1857-1930

- Cora Garner, 1858-1891

By 1880, Mary had relocated the family to New York. The family appears in the 1880 US Census at 19 East 12th Street in Manhattan. I don't know yet what prompted her move from Indiana to New York, if she was following other family or work opportunities.

Ancestry. 1880 US Census, Manhattan, NY.

Mary appears in several entries of the US City Directory for New York City between 1882-1894. Her children prospered in New York. Daughter Ella married Thomas J. Taylor in 1880. 

Mary died on 17 March 1907 in New York, and is buried next to her husband in New Albany, Indiana.