“When there is a Will” is the phrase for this week which make me want to write about Mary Florence White Boyer.

Mary Florence White Boyer was my second Great Grandmother. She was the daughter of William C. White and Phoebe Johnson.  She was born on September 4, 1860 in Thetford Center, Michigan.  She married Austin Levi Boyer on October 14, 1882 in Clio, Michigan.

This is a Boyer Family Gathering which likely took place in the fall of 1907. I wish I knew what the gathering was but I do not.  It appears the be all the Boyer children of Valentine and his wife, Nancy (Leet) Boyer and their families.

I can pin point the approximate year for several reasons.  Austin Boyer is standing on the porch at the top of the stairs with his daughter Mae Eveleen.  Mary Florence is standing to the right of her husband on the porch.   Austin Boyer died on the farm of a heart attack on May 27, 1908.  Mae Eveleen is my Great Grandmother. She has three children at the time of this photo. She is holding her third son, Wallace(1907), my Grandmother Lillian(1905) is standing in front of her and Lester(1903) her oldest son is standing in front of Mae on the steps below her.

At the time of his death, Austin and Mary Florence, owned a florist and green houses where they grew flowers which they sold out of a truck.  What does a widow do when she loses her husband in 1908 and has two young sons, Glenn who was twelve and Austin Rex who was six….?  “When there is a will” ….there is a way.  For the first four years after Austin’s death, Mary Florence continued to run the florist. It is my belief that at this time that George Stephen and Mae E. (Boyer) Losee assisted Mary Florence with the green houses and the florist.

Tragically, Mae Eveleen Boyer Losee died in February 13, 1914 of what appeared to have been a heart attack.  This must have been another huge blow to Mary Florence.  She had lost a son, Henry in 1901, her husband in 1908 and her daughter in 1914.

Mae Eveleen and Stephen Losee had five children ;  Lester (1903), Lillian (1905), Wallace (1907), Mary Florence (1911), Ernest (1913).   Mary Florence sold the florist and the greenhouses. She moved to Flint where she bought a boarding house.  She lived in several places in Flint but in 1915, she is living at 1339 Orchard.  She has all of Mae’s youngest children living with her.  Lester is living with his father and they lived in Gladwin where George Stephen had bought a farm.

“Where there is a will ” … there surely is a way….

By the 1920 Federal Census, Mae’s daughters, Lillian and Florence, are living full time with their Grandmother, Mary Florence. I have learned that this was very common for adolescent daughters of widowers to be raised by their Grandmothers.  Ernest lived for many years with Mary Florence  but by the 1920 Federal Census he was living with his father and his new wife, Pearl.  George and Pearl Delude married in 1918 when George  returned to Flint. He is working for the Auto Industry and it appears that Lester and his stepson, Gerald Delude are working there too.  A thirteen year old Wallace states that he is a Newsboy who delivers the daily newspapers while still attending school. (I thought it was awesome that he proudly stated that he was a “Newsboy” at thirteen.)

My Grandmother, Lillian,  would spend the rest of her adolescence living at Grandma Mary Florence’s Boarding house.  Lillian married Everett Smith on August 28,1923.  They had their first daughter, Lucile on October 29.1924.  Lillian and Everett had my father Harold Smith on August 30, 1928.

Mary Florence never learned to drive but she navigated the city of Flint by walking along the interurban train lines.  Lillian and Everett lived on Term Street in Burton, Michigan  and one of the interurban lines ran directly behind their neighborhood which Mary Florence used to visit her Granddaughter.  On the morning of September 8, 1928, Mary Florence set out to visit Lillian and Everett.  She would be meeting her newest Great Grandchild  Harold Smith for the first time.  Mary Florence was struck and killed by a train before arriving at her Granddaughter’s house.

For a woman in the early 1900 to remain independent after the death of her husband, is quite an achievement.  She ran a florist, greenhouses, boarding houses and raised grandchildren all alone.  That to me says ” When there is a will, there is a way!”.

Happy Hunting,

Jan

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