Mary's Autograph Book - Part 1

I generally research a person and then share it here. This time I will take you along with me. I've peeked ahead and have some great finds...But wait...Let's start here:

Recently I discovered this autograph book from the early 1880's. I came upon it in a local antique store and it beckoned me to open it. Mary Hill. This is the name on the first page. Flipping through the pages I see them addressed to Mary or Mollie. So, it belonged to Mary "Mollie" Hill.

It has a lot of signatures of early day county residents, noted by the city name. So I bought it. Today I spent a few hours with it. I read through the names and began my search for Mary.

Mary Hill. A common name. So, back to the book. Reading through the names a little slower I see this:

Hutchinson, Kans
Dear Mollie
Your ever,
affectionate brother,
S. W. Hill
April 24 / 81

Okay, now I have a sibling name to work with. Back to the census. In the 1880 Lincoln Township, Reno County, Kansas Federal Census I find the following family:

B. F. Swander, 32, OH
Catherine, 41, OH, wife
Jessie C., 7, OH, dau
Daisy, 4, OH, dau
Otto F., 8/12, KS, son
Hill, Samuel, 23, OH, step son
Hill, Mary, 18, OH, step dau

Now we have something to work with. My next step will be to locate Mary Hill in as many federal and state census as I can and work from there. I'll share that in part 2.

Until then: using the search form on Ancestry.com I entered the following:

Mary Hill
"Lived in" - Reno County, Kansas, USA
"Mother" - Catherine

I narrowed the results to the "Family Trees" and was presented with this:

Clicking on the tree revealed several Reno County, Kansas census as residence. Could it be that easy?

A quick check in the Reno County marriage records revealed the following marriage:

Mary A., 30 to Roberson Bramwell, 26 on 11/16/1887 at the home of B. F. Swander. Aha! Her step father.

Jumping ahead I checked the local cemetery records and found Mary Bramwell still resides here in Hutchinson in the silent city of Fairview Cemetery and that I visited her grave...back in 2006 when I photographed the cemetery.

What else will I find? Stay tuned.