Mary Vandiver Foreman
Birth 1764
Hampshire County, West Virginia, USA
Death 1835 (aged 70–71)
Ralls County, Missouri, USA
Mary was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Lewis Vandiver of Hampshire County VA. At the time when Benjamin and Mary were moving to Ralls County their son James died (1822). James was newly married and his wife wished her part of the estate but the family was scattered, half in Missouri and half in Virginia. So she sued the entire family and all their names are listed in the probate record. It is the first probate record filed in Ralls County. Mary was living there with James and another son at the time of his death but her husband was finalizing business in Berkeley County VA. Most of the family arrived in Ralls County 1824. One stayed behind and daughter Elizabeth arrived in Ralls County several years later.
Her last legal paper was in 1835 when she gave a bequest to a granddaughter, Zerelda Strode.
The first record of the family's presence in Ralls County was building a mill near the Salt River ca 1816.
Benjamin and Mary were researched by Vandiver researchers in the book the Vandivers of the Show Me State
by Doris Gleason. Doris' infomation was correct and good research but there is more available now than there was then. The information now is much more complete.
Mary's children with Benjamin Foreman of Virginia, listed in the probate record, were:
Elizabeth, married Benjamin Ellis in Virginia
Joseph, married Juliana Iseminger in Maryland
William, married Anna Dent in Ohio
Mary, married John Bennett in Virginia
Benjamin Jr., married Mary Bowling in Missouri
James, married Mary See in Missouri
Margaret
Thomas, married Mississippi Casterline in Ohio
Nancy, married Jeremiah Strode Jr. in Missouri
Mary was 45 when their youngest child was born, and most likely past childbearing for anyone born at a later date. The children she had with her husband Benjamin were all named in the probate record and all sued by James' wife.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/153439319/mary-foreman
