Mary Ann (Eskew) Blair Carter (1927)

BARROWS, BLAIR, BROOK, CARTER, ESKEW, EWICK, GARMON, GILLOGLY, PETERSON, SIMPSON, BARROWS

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson
Date: 7/21/2004 at 17:24:55

The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, June 9, 1927

Mrs. Mary Carter, the last surviving member of the group of Kentuckians that came to Madison county in 1861, died early Wednesday morning, June 8th, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. C. C. Ewick. "Aunt Mary" Carter, as she was familiarly known, has been in poor health for several months.

Mrs. Carter came with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eskew, and settled in eastern part of the county at Brush Ridge. She was married to James Blair who died in 1874. In 1875 she was married to B. F. Carter, who died in 1916. She has many acquaintances over the county.

Funeral services are being held this afternoon at the Blair Chapel church, at 2 o'clock, and burial will be in the church cemetery.
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The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, June 23, 1927
Page 7

Mary Ann Eskew, daughter of John and Sarah Eskew, was born in Adair county, Kentucky, January 24th, 1836, and passed away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Jennie Ewick, in Winterset, Iowa, June 7th, 1927, aged 91 years, 4 months and 13 days. She was married to James Blair, November 12th, 1857. Six children were born to them, all of whom died in infancy. Mr. Blair departed this life June 17th, 1874. On October 10th, 1875, she was united in marriage to B. F. Carter. Two daughters were born to this union, Mrs. Jennie Ewick of Winterset, and Mrs. Zilpah Gillogly, who passed away in 1921. Together with her own children, she raised and tenderly cared for three stepchildren: Queenie Blair and Harriet and William Carter.

She was converted in Adair county, Kentucky, in her childhood, and became a member of the United Brethren church, of which she was a faithful member until death.

She spent the days of her childhood and young womanhood in her Kentucky home surrounded by the beautiful hills and valleys of the Cumberland.

She came to Madison county, Iowa, in June, 1860, with a company of relatives and friends numbering 50 or 60, consisting of the families of Blairs, Breedings, Carters, Hugharts and Turks. They came in covered wagons, camping by the way-side. They settled in South township in the wooded section along Middle River and Clanton Creek, known as Brush Ridge, and there she made her home for 50 years. She then with her husband moved to Patterson where she lived until the death of Mr. Carter, which occurred December 17th, 1916.

Since then she has made her home with her daughter in Winterset. She had been a helpless invalid for over two years, and has been lovingly and tenderly cared for by this devoted daughter.

She was indeed a pioneer of this county, and cheerfully accepted the hardships of pioneer life. She possessed a beautiful Christian character and a personality of charm which made her beloved by every one who had the pleasures of her acquaintance. She was noted for her hospitality. Her home was open to all who needed shelter.

In those early days of the “Circuit Rider,” her house was the preacher’s home, and many of them can testify to her generous service in ministering to their wants. It was largely through her service and influence and that of her husband, that the Blair Chapel church grew and became an inspiration for good in that community. It still stands as a memorial to the faithful members of his early life. She was an unselfish, consecrated worker and through the long years has given of her time, energy and means, and with unquestionable reservations has poured out her life in service to the Christ she loved. She projected influences into the lives of the great number of young people that she touched through the years, which will multiply as the years come and go. They will never forget Aunt Mary, for no one who watched that luminous countenance as she led in prayer or made her appeal to them, can ever forget it. Her radiant Christian presence will be a sacred, precious memory through all the years, and she being dead will yet speak.

She leaves to her loved ones the legacy of an untarnished motherhood and a pure and beautiful character. She leaves her daughter, Mrs. Jennie Ewick, her son-in-law C. Ewick; two granddaughters, Mrs. Mary Peterson, and Mrs. Blanche Brook; two great granddaughters, Betty Jean, and Doris Mae Peterson, five step children, Queenie Blair of Ahey, Illinois, Gifford Carter of Des Moines, Henry Carter of Kansas City, Missouri, Mrs. Mollie Simpson, Goodland, Kansas, Mrs. Harriet Barrows of this county; a step daughter-in-law, Mrs. Mintie Carter of Kansas City, Kansas; one sister, Mrs. Ellen Garmon; many nieces and nephews, and a host of friends to await a reunion in the land of Eternal Day. We shall miss her, but we are comforted in the knowledge that she is forever at rest.

Funeral services were held Thursday, June 9th, at 2 o’clock from Blair Chapel, conducted by Rev. W. F. Cronk, state superintendant of the United Brethren church, and her body was laid to rest beneath the flowers in Blair Chapel cemetery, near her old home to await the Resurrection morn.
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The Winterset News
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, June 9, 1927
Page 1, Column 7

Mrs. Mary A. Carter

Mrs. Mary A. Carter, the widow of B. F. Carter, one of the aged residents of the county, died at the home fo her daughter, Mrs. C. C. Ewick, early Wednesday morning. She had been an invalid for ten years and over two years ago fell, breaking her hip. She had been able to sit up and retained her faculties until almost the last.

Mrs. Carter was the last member of the colony which reached Madison county from Kentucky June 6, 1860, and settled near Patterson. Fifty years Mr. and Mrs. Carter lived on the home place three and one-half miles from Patterson, in the Blair Chapel neighborhood, later moving to town where they spent three or four years. The death of Mr. Carter occurred ten years ago and most of the time since Mrs. Carter has spent at the Ewick home.

Surviving are Mrs. Ewick and her half-sisters, Mrs. J. D. Barrows, Mrs. Nellie Simpson, of Goodman, Kansas; and two half-brothers, J. H. Carter of Goodman, Kansas, and George Carter, of Des Moines.

Funeral services were held this afternoon at two o’clock, at Blair Chapel, conducted by the Rev. W. F. Cronk, of Afton, and interment will be made in the church cemetery.

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