Edith Mae Wilson

b. 7/30/1901 or 02 or 03 in Owego, NY? (according to Aunt Edie and Aunt Helen Devore)
b. 7/4/1897 in Horseheads, NY (according to copy of death certificate - I have copy)
d. 4/28/1936 - Waverly General Hospital (according to Aunt Edie)
d. 4/28/1937 - Murray Nursing Home, Owego NY (according to death certificate)
buried 5/1/1937 - Elmira, NY - Woodlawn Cemetery (according to death certificate & Woodlawn records)

Husband - 1st. Ralph Petrie - 2nd. Luther Burr Kirkendall
Father - William Wilson (I believe he had a brother Eugene - not sure)
Mother - Louella (Luella) Conklin

Siblings - Mable - Minnie - Kathlyn - Etta - Dorothy - Helen - Jeanette - Margaret - Clarence - George

Please ... If you are the ancestors of the above siblings and have information you can share with me about Edith Wilson's family I would be very grateful. I cannot find anything in my searches and to make it worse I don't even know her parents correct names.

What I know about Edith..

She was born in Horseheads, NY.

1917 - Edith M. Wilson can be found in the 1917 Elmira Directory living at 468 E Water and is an employee of C & K Laundry.
Others living at this residence include: Arthur Buckley, (i have a theory about this possibly being her step-father but much research to be done on this), her sister Mabel J who has the same employer and her brother George. This directory only shows those in employment.

According to George Wilson's WWI draft registration card it shows him living at this address along with a wife and child.
According to Clarence Wilson's WWI draft registration card it shows him also as living at this address along with a wife. (I was always told that Clarence never married... need to find more info on this)

1920 - Census shows: Wilson, Helen age 19, Dorothy age 14, Kathlyn age 12 living as boarder with Arthur Buckley and his wife Luella age 50 ( I believe this might be their mother Luella remarried) - Broad St., Southport township, Chemung Co., NY
(Years ago Aunt Edie told me that Edith Wilson's mother's name was Sophia Conklin ... then years later she told me she never said that but that her name was Luella Conklin) {Either this Luella is indeed Edith's mother or she may have been a family that they all lived with for one reason or another and they regarded her as mother}{much investigation is needed on this}

She was first married to a man named Ralph PETRIE, who, I was told, died of a broken neck. They had 3 children.
Then she married my grandfather and they had 5 children (see Luther), my father being the youngest.

She died when my father was 2 1/2 years old so he never knew much about her. My father states that he can remember as a small child almost 2 years old, watching them carry his mother out on a stretcher and putting her in a vehicle. He thought it was a purple vehicle and that he never saw her again. My aunt states that she died at Waverly General Hospital. My grandfather Luther always told that Minnie (her sister) sold her body to Science. It was stated that she died of Cancer and whatever remains there were of her were buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, NY. I remember when I was a small child going to that cemetery and my parents looking for information in the old records. They supposedly found her recorded as being buried on top of another grave. I do not know now who's grave it is. There is no marker for her. I found her recorded buried at Woodlawn at the Tri-County Geneology Website on 5/1/37
UPDATE: 7/29/04 - according to her death certificate she died April 28, 1937 at the Murray Nursing Home in Owego. Her residence at the time was in the town of Tioga, Tioga Co., NY. They had lived there 2 months. Unfortunately her father is listed as "Unknown" Wilson and mother is "Unknown" so I did not find anything out about her family. She died of cancer after suffering for 3 years. Her body was taken to C.L.Davis & Son, Undertaker Lic. No. 4664 in Elmira, NY. We have to wonder about Luther's story of her body being sold to Science and we begin wonder if her body is actually in Woodlawn Cemetery or did they bury an empty box.

I was told that for a while Edith's brother George moved in to help with the children after her death. My aunt states that also for a while a woman whom she believes to be named Martha MENDINGHALL from Harrisburg, PA area also came to stay and take care of the kids. When she left the children were all split and taken to different places to live until such time that they grew older and my aunt could take care of them. Then my grandfather gathered them all up and moved them to live on the Russell KENDRICK farm in Mansfield, RD3, PA with him.

My Aunt recalls a midwife named Julia EVENING, delivered both my dad and my uncle at their home in Barton, NY.

Part of a letter from my Great Aunt Helen "Wilson" Devore dated Feb 14, 1971: "My sister Edith (Wilson) would be 71 this coming July 30th. She was born 1900 and Luther was 15 years older." {now I have Edith born someplace from 1897 - 1903... }

If you can help me please ... email me

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