Person:Mary Devlin (15)

    Mary Ann Devlin was born March 28, 1864 in Bellevue, Jackson County, Iowa per her obituary and the Devlin Family Sheet compiled by one of her daughters. 
     In the 1870 Federal Census Page# 9,   Mary Ann and parents  are living in Bellevue Jackson County, Iowa.

Dudley Devlin, age 55, Born Ireland, Value of Real Estate 3000, Value of Personal Estate 1800, Farmer Mary Devlin, age 40 Mary Devlin, age 13, Born Iowa Elizabeth Devlin, age 11, Born Iowa Edward Devlin, age 9, Born Iowa Margaret Devlin, age 7, Born Iowa (this would be Mary Ann) James Devlin, age 6, Born Iowa Phillip Devlin, age 3, Born Iowa Nicholas Devlin, age 3, Born Iowa Sarah Devlin, age 1, Born Iowa

    In the 1880 Federal Census Mary Ann is living with her mother in Bellevue, Jackson County, Iowa. 

Mary Develn, Self, age 52, Born Luxembourg, Keeping Houe Johan Shiltz, Son, age 25,Born Iowa, Farmer, Parents born Luxembourg Philip Develn, Son, age 12, Born Iowa, Farm Laborer Nickolas Develn, Son, age 12, Born Iowa, Farm Laborer Mary Develn, Daughter, age 17, Born Iowa Sarah Develn, Daughter, age 10, Born Iowa, At Home

    On the 1900 Federal Census Jodocus, Mary,  and family are living in Dresden, Decatur County, Kansas.

Jodocus Dempewolf, Head, age 43, Born July 1856 Germany, Parents born Germany, Farmer Mary A. Dempewolf, Wife, age 37, Born March 1863 Iowa, 7 of 9 children still living, Father Born Ireland, Mother born Germany Christina Dempewolf, Daughter, age 17, Born May 1883 Iowa Lizzie Dempewolf, Daughter, age 15, Born August 1884 Iowa Rose Dempewolf, Daughter, age 12, Born March 1888 Kansas Lewy J. Dempewolf, Son, age 10, Born October 1889 Kansas Nicholas Dempewolf, Son, age 4, Born November 1895 Kansas Sarah Dempewolf, Daughter, age 3, Born March 1897 Kansas Cecelia Dempewolf, Daughter, age 10Months, Born August 1899 Kansas

    Mary Ann's grandson Merrill Geraghty remembered when she took he and his sister Marie Geraghty on the train back to see her family in Bellevue and Dubuque, Iowa around 1920. He remebered one of the relatives working at the amusement park and letting he and his sister ride. He rembered another family member missing a leg from an ice fishing accident. He remebered eating turtle soup with his grandmother on a  train stop in Iowa.
    In the 1930 Federal Census Mary is living in Indianola, Red Willow County, Nebraska with Son-in-Law; Merle Colling:

Merle W. Colling, Head, age 27, Married at age 25, Born NE

Celia T. Colling, Wife, age  29, Married at age 27, Born KS

Mary A. Dempewolf, Mother-in-Law, age 64, Widow, Born IA

       OBITUARY:  Mrs. Mary Ann Dempewolf departed this life on February 19, 1947 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. James Geraghty, in Fairbury, Nebraska. She was born in Bellevue, Iowa, the daughter of Dudley Devlin and Mary Devlin, on March 29, 1864.
    On January 21, 1881, she was united in marriage to J. D. Dempewolf at Bellevue, Iowa. In the spring of 1885, the couple with their three small children moved to Decatur, Kansas, near where the town of Dresden now stands. The trip was made to Indianola, Nebraska, the nearest railroad station at the time, then overland by wagon. The family went through all the privations and hardships of pioneer life- - among them Indian raids, prairie fires, dust storms, crop failures and depressions. Mrs. Dempewolf, with courage and fortitude, faced and overcame many of these difficulties though at times some of them seemed insurmountable.
    After spending 21 years on the homestead, the family moved to a farm near Norton, Kansas in 1905, where they spent 5 years then moving to Frankfort, Marshall County in 1910. From there they moved to a farm near Blaine, Kansas in 1913 which the family still owns.
    During those troublesome years, Mr. and Mrs. Dempewolf raised their family in the love and fear of God, directing them at all times in the ways of honesty and righteousness. There were 9 children in the family. Mary, the oldest, died at the age of 5 in 1887 and Freddy, the oldest son, passed away at the age of 11 in 1898. Mr. Dempewolf also preceded her in death on August 15, 1922, after which the mother left the farm and made her home with her children.
  Mary ann Devlin Dempewolf is buried by her husband Jodocus and mother Mary Devlin in Mt. Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Blaine, Pottawatomie County, Kansas which Christopher Sosa has visited with his grandfather, Merrill Geraghty and great grandmother Rose Dempewolf Geraghty.