Ashley, Edith (Mrs. Granville J.), 1885-1923

ASHLEY, ASHELY, MULVEY

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 4/15/2017 at 09:37:22

From the Rock Valley Bee, March 2, 1923:

Mrs. William Mulvey was called to Mason City the latter part of last week by the death of her daughter, Mrs. Edith Ashley, who leaves a family of small children who have need of a mother's care. Mrs. Ashley lived in Rock Valley the greater part of her life and will be remembered here by a number of people who extend sympathy to the bereaved ones in their great sorrow. We are not in possession of further particulars.

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From the Rock Valley Bee, March 16, 1923:

DEATH OF MOTHER AND TWINS

The following from the Mason City Globe-Gazette is an account of the death of Mrs. Edith Ashley, daughter of Mrs. Wm. Mulvey of Rock Valley, and twin babies, which occurred a few days ago at their home in Mason City.

"The second death in the Granville Ashley home within two days occurred this morning when an infant son, one of the twins born Tuesday, succumbed. The mother died early Wednesday morning. The other twin, a boy, is not expected to live through the day.

"Funeral services for the deceased members of the family will be held at McAuley funeral parlors at 2:30 o'clock Monday afternoon. Dr. J. F. Boyse, pastor of the First M. E. church, of which Mrs. Ashley was a member, will officiate. Burial will be in Elwood [i.e., Elmwood] cemetery.

"Mrs. Ashley was 37 years old on Nov. 26, 1922. She was married at Rock Valley, Nov. 10, 1910, to Granville Ashley. The couple came to Mason City 13 years ago. Three daughters are left to comfort their bereaved father. They are Hazel, Dorothy and Virginia.

"Her mother, three sisters, Mrs. Harold Schafer, Spirit Lake, Mrs. Charles Kirschner of Pocatello, Idaho, and Jessie of Greybull, Wyoming and three brothers: Marion Mulvey and Harry Mulvey, both of Rock Valley, and William Mulvey of Los Angeles, California."

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An article on her wedding in the Rock Valley Bee, November 18, 1910 shows her being married to G. J. Ashley of Mason City. "She is pleasing in her manner and makes friends wherever she goes. For some time she attended business college in Mason City and for the past two years has been working as a stenographer for a firm there. The groom is a fireman on the Milwaukee road between Sanborn and McGregor."

The 1920 U.S. census for Mason City has Grandville J. Ashley (33), born Tennessee, a cement plant laborer; wife Edith (34), born Iowa; and daughters Hazel (8), Dorothy (6), and Virginia (3-1/2).

The WPA Iowa Graves Registration Survey has Ashely, Edith V., b. 1885, d. 1923, buried Elmwood Cemetery, Mason City.

A search on Ancestry.com for Granville J. Ashley, born about 1886 in Tennessee, finds some subsequent data about the family. It is not evident that he ever remarried. In 1930 he is still in Mason City, the head repairman at a cement plant, boarding with Harry W. Meeker and family along with daughters Hazel and Virginia. He was not found in the 1940 census. He registered for the World War II draft as Granville Junius Ashley, born Jan. 15, 1886, address in Mason City but mailing address Chicago, no employment or wife's name given. He died June 5, 1950, place not given.