Miriam Isabella Livsey.
From the Coalville Times, September
28, 1906:
“Funeral services were held Tuesday
afternoon at the Stake House over the remains of Mrs. Arthur Marshall, daughter
of James Livsey, and a former resident of East Coalville. The speakers were Alma Eldredge and Wm. E.
Chappell. Interment in city cemetery. We were unable to learn the cause of her
death.”
This requires clarification. Much clarification. The daughter of James Livsey was the first
wife of Arthur Marshall, Mary Ann Livsey.
Mary died apparently between December 15 and December 22, 1895. This is according to the Salt Lake Herald
dated December 20, 1895, a Friday, and reads as follows:
The past week has been a severe on
in that two homes were made wretched indeed—where husband and children were
called to part with their wife and mother.
Early in the week, the wife of Arthur Marshall died, leaving a husband
and four little children, the oldest not being more than six years old, the youngest
a babe. Kind friends are seeing to their
care and comfort.
The youngest, the babe listed above
was born December 4, 1895 and died November 1, 1896.
Miriam’s husband, Richard Dixon died
May 1, 1900 in the Scofield Mine Disaster at Winter Quarters. Miriam and Arthur married April 8, 1903 in
Salt Lake City. Miriam died September
22, 1906 per her headstone. Arthur died February
29, 1932 in Glendale, California. He
shows up on the census there in 1930 with his sons Albert 39, Joseph 37 and
William 35. Mary Ann is also listed at
60 years of age but I don’t know why because as mentioned above, she died in
1895. I assume the census is in error
here.
More clarification is needed on the
death certificate for Miriam. Her
headstone says that she died on September 22, 1906. Her death certificate says that she died on
September 29, 1906. Both of these days
are on a Saturday so it looks like Isabella got the Saturdays mixed up. I go with the headstone here as mentioned
above in the newspaper article that has Miriam as died and buried by September
28, 1906. This is verified further by an
article in the Salt Lake Herald on September 28, 1906. Of course this relies in part on information
from the Coalville Times. This article
reads as follows:
“COALVILLE
NOTES.
Coalville, Sept. 27.—The funeral
services over the remains of Mrs. Arthur Marshall were held here yesterday at
the tabernacle. At the time of her death
she was a resident of Salt Lake County, but was born and spent most of her life
in Coalville. She was brought here for
burial and was laid to rest beside her former husband, Richard Dickson, who met
his death in the Scofield disaster.”
The surname in the article here is
spelled wrong of course. The surname is
correctly spelled Dixon. Now let us look
at the information on the death certificate.
I should say death certificates.
I just found out that there are two death certificates. We will look at both of them. The first death certificate was reported by
her husband Arthur Marshall. This is the
one I just discovered. Arthur’s
reporting is accurate. He has the
correct death date, September 22.
Arthur’s report also has the physician’s signature and information. The cause of death for this certificate is pneumonia. Cold and anesthesia are contributory. Miriam was in the St Marks Hospital for 4
days. She was attended by the physician,
H. N. Mayo, for 7 days, September 16 to September 22. She died at 7 pm.
The second death certificate for
Miriam was reported by her mother Isabella.
Isabella’s report has the date of death as September 29, 1906. This is obviously erroneous. There is no physician’s statement on the
report made by Isabella. The burial is
listed as October 2, 1906. This is also
erroneous. But both of these days are on
a Tuesday. Both newspaper accounts, the
headstone and the death certificate record registered by her husband Arthur all
have September 22, 1906 as the death date.
The date of birth for Miriam on Isabella’s certificate is also
erroneous. The day may be correct,
April, 28, but the year is 1906. The age
is correct on both certificates given the date of birth. Arthur lists April 18, 1876 as birth date, and
30 years, 5 months and 18 days as age.
Isabella lists April 28, 1906 but 30 years, 5 months and 1 day. She has September 29, 1906 as the death date
so if the year was correct as 1876 then the age would be correct. One glaring discrepancy is the cause of death
listed on Isabella’s report. Isabella lists
a gallstone operation as the cause of death and being 7 months pregnant as
contributory. There is no other evidence
for a pregnancy that I know of but it seems that a mother would know these
things.
Let me summarize. Miriam was married twice. The second marriage was to the husband, Arthur
Marshall, of her full cousin Mary Ann
Livsey. This was the second marriage for
both of them. Miriam’s father is Thomas
Livsey and her mother is Isabella Pilkington.
There were two birth certificates registered for Miriam. Arthur’s is spelled as Marian, Isabella’s is
spelled as Mariam. The death date is
sometimes listed as September 29, 1906.
Now we know why this is and that it is incorrect.
These relatives did what they needed
to do to live. My heart goes out to
them. Everyone has a story. This clears up some of the mystery of these
ancestors. They are not direct line
ancestors of mine but they still have a story.
The impact of the Scofield Mine disaster is still being felt and we,
today, cannot possibly know the full impact that it had on our relatives though
we do feel some of their pain.
Nicholas J. Curtis
February 9, 2016
Salt Lake Herald, September 28, 1906, page 7.
