Miss Mollie

Miss Mollie was the second wife of my grandfather, Mallie Devotion Hill. I have looked high and low to find out anything about her, but all I knew was her name – Mollie Polk. There seemed to be no such person in any search I made.
I remember her as a tiny, frail lady who smiled and gave lots of hugs. She made my grandfather’s life comfortable and happy for a while. His first wife, Sophronia Mae Curlee, died in 1935, and he raised all his children alone. My father, Lonnie Clinton Hill Sr, told stories of how all the older children worked on the farm and did many outside chores while he, being the baby of the family, took care of the house and cooked the meals. In fact, when he and my mother, Clara Geneva Wilson, married, he taught her how to cook. She was the baby of her family and she was babied so didn’t know the first thing about keeping house.
Meanwhile, I was assisting someone in Charlotte NC in obtaining obituaries from the Richland County Public LIbrary in Columbia SC. We talked back and forth and found we had some ancestors in common. Finally yesterday she said she wanted to take a break from the obituaries and start getting ready for Christmas. On a whim, since my father’s family is from Anson, Stanly and Union counties, I asked her if she would look for Miss Mollie. To my amazement, she found her!! (Thanks, Jean!)  With just the information I gave her, she called the Charlotte NC library and told the librarian who she was looking for – Mollie Polk. The librarian was able to find an obituary and a death certificate for – Mary Jane Polk. So my Miss Mollie is Mary Jane.
Armed with the information she sent me, I was able to find Miss Mollie. Here is one of the records.

North Carolina Board of Health
Certificate of Death

 Filed Dec 5, 1956
Place of Death: Union Co – Marshville
Died at home on Rt 2
Name of Deceased: Mary Jane Hill   Date of death: Nov 25 1956
Female, white, widowed, Date of birth: 23 March 1882 Age at death: 74y8m2d
Occupation: Domestic   Birthplace: Union County NC
Father’s Name: James Rushing    Mother’s Name: Mary Mullis Name of Husband: MD Hill
Informant: Judge Polk, Marshville NC
Immediate cause of death: Acute Lymphatic Leukemia
Interval between onset and death: 3 months
Treated by M D: 1/24/56 – 11/25/56
C T Poole? M D  Marshville NC 11/27/56
Burial 11/26/56 Pleasant Grove Primitive Baptist Church Union Co. NC
Date received by local reg. 12/3/56 BJP
Funeral Director: McEwen Funeral Home Monroe NC

Miss Mollie was married three times – my grandfather was her third husband. Her first husband was James M Long and her second was Henry Wilson Polk.

More to come on Miss Mollie in a later post.