Fannie
(Minerd) Jeffries-Cross
(1873- ? )
Fannie
(Minerd) Jeffries-Cross was born on Feb. 3, 1873 in Fayette County, PA, the daughter
of William and Sara Elizabeth (Whoolery) Minerd.
In March 1892, Fannie married Hugh J. Jeffries ( ? - ? ). They had one daughter, Mary Jeffries.
As a young man, in 1889, Hugh had suffered a painful accident at the Lemont coke works, as reported by the Uniontown Genius of Liberty:
His foot was caught by the flange of a wheel on a coke car and a deep gash cut from the toe to the heel. His would was dressed by Dr. P.F. Smith, who says he is getting along well, but that it will [be] many days before he will be able for work. This annoys Hugh very much, as he is at present the sole support of his mother and a large family.
Coke ovens at Lemont, where Hugh Jeffries labored
The Jeffries lived in a three-room, furnished house with his parents at Ferguson Station near Dunbar, Fayette County. The marriage only lasted a short time. The following April, said the Connellsville Weekly Courier, Hugh "left home and has since refused to live with his wife or support either her or their only child."
By 1900, Fannie and daughter Mary had moved into her parents' home in South Union Twp., along with her widowed siblings Mary Ann Crayton-Cross, Jennie Herrington-Worrick and James 'William' Minerd. She worked to support herself and her daughter.
Fannie was granted a divorce in 1905. The following year, on Dec. 4, 1906, she married widower John M. Cross (1857- ? ), the son of John and Mary Cross. He was a "stationery engineer" who was age 49 and living in nearby Washington County, PA. Fannie was age 33 at the time.
Fannie
must have remained close to her sisters Jennie and Sarah, as they had a
photograph portrait taken together. The photograph, in the form of a penny
postcard, is seen here -- Fannie stands at left, with Jennie at center
and Sarah at right.
It's thought that John was the same "John Madison Cross" whose brother Haley Patrick Cross was married to Fannie's sister Mary Ann.
In 1930, Fannie lived at Richeyville, Washington County and in 1933 lived at Centerville, Washington County. The fates of Fannie and John after that are unknown.
Circa 1943, at the time Fannie's sister Sarah Crawford died in Uniontown, Fannie was mentioned in the newspaper obituary, and residing at Daisytown, Washington County.
[Note -- A few tidbits are known of the Cross genealogy. John's father was a coal miner and was a minister for more than 40 years in the Dunkard Baptist Church. As of 1839, the parents resided at Mt. Savage, Allegany County, MD. By July 1860, the mother was dead but the father resided at Winchester, near Alliance, Stark County, OH, though in that particular month he was holding Dunkard camp meetings in Elk Lick Twp., Somerset County, PA. The father later went to Iowa and died there in about 1879 in Marshal Town.]
Copyright © 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007 Mark A. Miner