Person:Eliza McKee (2)

Notes from Vicki Young Albu; about Eliza McKee Derr: I think Eliza McKee was born in Pike Co, Ohio. When Eliza was about 15 (in 1873) her mother died, leaving her to care for her younger brothers and sisters. Her father remarried and had several more children. Eliza took in her younger sister after her marriage to Davis Stanton Derr. (This info from Edna Kunz ca. 1990)

In marriage records of Hardin, Ohio was found proof of her marriage to Stanton Derr. She was only sixteen according to the record, so her father James McKee "appeared in open court" to consent to the issuance of a marriage license on 3 February 1875. They were married on 6 February 1875 by Urias Hoyt, minister. Find out which church her was affiliated with. (Note that her obituary said their marriage was in 1877, perhaps to hide the fact that she married so young.) One strange fact is that in the court record, Eliza is mentioned both times as "Louisa." Eliza's sister Lula/Louisa would have been only 9 years old at the time. I presume this is an error? Or was Eliza actually called Louisa? (Edna was certain that Lula was Louisa.) Another unresolved question is Eliza's true age. In the 1870 census her age is given as 8, meaning she would have been born about 1862, making her only 12 at the time of her marriage. Her birth date is given as 1859 (obituary) and 1858 (death certificate, B. Derr, informant) in other cases. Eliza's parents were married in April 1859, and birth record was found for an older sister, Nancy, so if they were born before their parents married, it may have affected how they reported their ages.

In the early years of her marriage they farmed in Ohio. Edna Hoover Kunz recalls a story that Eliza lost one child by miscarriage when Davis, her husband, was away and there was an emergency. Eliza had tried to ride the horse into town. The 1900 census of Wood Co, Ohio enumerated Eliza and her husband "Stanton" with their two living children; it said they had had six.

Eliza was a member of the Bloomdale Presbyterian Church, according to her obituary in the "South St. Paul Daily Reporter."

My note: Eliza died in the house at 946-16th ave. no. in SSP. That's the house I grew up in and never knew that until I got her death certificate years later.

Edna Hoover Kunz told me that Eliza once won a pair of shoes from a downtown St. Paul shoestore because she had the smallest feet of anyone who entered the contest.

Eliza and Davis owned their own home on 1st Avenue South in South St. Paul. Edna Hoover Kunz remembers sleeping upstairs in the house, where it was very cold, and standing over the grate where the heat rose. They house must have been on the east side of the street near the woods and the hill; she said something about people making a lot of noise and throwing their coal down there(?).

Edna said in later years that Stephen Curry built a house for them at 946 16th Avenue North. (Stephen Curry was their son Leonard's father-in-law.)

Eliza McKee Derr died at age 68 at her home in South Park. She had been in failing health for ten years and had been confined to bed for six weeks. A private funeral was held at her home.