Mary Jane German 1831-1871; Hattie and Mary Etta Howard

Mary Jane German was the oldest child of Zachariah German and Mary (Polly) Chamberlain.  She was born in Delaware County, NY in 1831 and died on September 12, 1871.  She is buried in the Upper Prattsville cemetery as Mary Jane Haner.

Mary Jane's first husband was (John?) Willson Howard.  They were married before the 1855 census (where Polly is shown as living with them for 3 months); they were living next to Polly in Prattsville at the time of the 1860 census with their daughters Harriet (Hattie) age 4 and Mary Etta, age 1.   

The 1865 census shows her as widowed with two children, and living with her mother, Polly:

According to the Vital Records of the Reformed Dutch Church of Prattsville, on May 5, 1868 Mrs. Mary Jane Howard married George H. Hayner, both of Prattsville.

The 1870 census shows Mary J Haner living with George Haner and daughters Hattie (age 13) and Maryell (age 11) in Gilboa, NY, which is 9 miles north of Prattsville.  She also had a 10 month old daughter named Cora, who also appears in the 1875 census with George Haner in Prattsville, along with children from his first (Caroline) and third (Elizabeth) marriages. 

The Upper Prattsville cemetery contains this group of gravestones:

Caroline, w/o George Haner, d. December 29, 1866, aged 29y10m25d
Carrie, d/o George and Caroline Haner, d. February 8, 1867, aged 1m2d 
Mary Jane, w/o George Haner, d. September 12, 1871, in the 40th year of her age

It appears that George Haner married Mary Jane in 1868 after the death of his first wife and infant daughter in late 1866 and early 1867, and that Mary Jane died in 1871.  This explains why Mary Jane's daughters with Willson Howard were living with their grandmother Polly in 1874 and why Polly wrote to her son Samuel about bringing the girls (Samuel's nieces) to Nebraska to live. Samuel's first wife had just died in March, so Polly wrote: "I hope and pray that you and your children will prosper in your bereavement.":

Polly German's 1874 letters to her son Samuel

Notice the reference to Wallace and Aunt Betsey, who appear immediately below Polly's household in the 1865 census above.  Betsey was almost certainly Polly's sister, Wallace McDaniels appears in Samuel Germain's household in the 1880 census, and Polly died in Athens, Richardson County, NE in 1878.  

While it's certain the Polly and Wallace made it out to Nebraska, until August 2014 we hadn't found a trace of Hattie or Mary Etta. Now we may have found Mary Jane's daughter Mary Etta in the marriage records of Pawnee City, Pawnee County, NE.  This is the closest county courthouse to Samuel Germain's land in Richardson County.  

On February 19, 1881 a Mary E. Howard married Charles F. Houser; Mary Howard said she was 22 years old and born in New York.  She gave her father's name as John W. Howard and left the maiden name of her mother blank: 

Mary Etta Howard's Marriage License and Certificate?

We haven't found any other candidates for this Mary E Howard in the local 1870 or 1880 censuses*, increasing the likelihood that this Mary E Howard is Polly German's granddaughter and Mary Jane German's daughter from her first husband Willson Howard.  On the other hand, Mary Etta should have known her mother's name, she was 12 or 13 years old when her mother died.  

It's worth noting that this Mary E. Howard named one of her daughters "Mary Jane"...perhaps after her mother, Mary Jane German.

Since we've been unable to find Willson Howard in New York after the 1860 census, it may be that he was actually John W Howard...a new search to be pursued.

*Richardson County, NE, Pawnee County NE and Nemaha County, KS.