A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Mary Eliza Wilson
Newspaper clipping (newspaper and date not identified) from Katherine Cooper's scrapbook in the John Wilson Papers (BANC MSS C-B 420, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA):
Peaceful Death of Mrs. Wakeman.
Mrs. Mary E. Wakeman, the mother of Mrs. Harry C. Cooper, died suddenly about three o'clock this morning.
Mrs. Wakeman has been living alone in her cottage at Seabright, surrounded by the flowers she loved so well, and exchanging visits almost daily with her daughter and family.
On Monday evening she dined with the Coopers and was in her usual health, though she has for many years been aware that there was some trouble with her heart, and had often said that she expected and hoped to die suddenly.
Mrs. Wakeman's death was discovered about 11 o'clock this forenoon and when a physician was called, it was his judgment that death had occurred at 3 o'clock or soon after and was caused by heart failure. As the door of the cottage was found unlocked, it is believed that the heavy shock of the powder mill explosion, which occurred about 2:45, aroused and frightened her, that she went to the door to look out and, possibly, that the shock and fright brought the end suddenly. She was lying in bed, with no evidence of struggle or suffering in her attitude or expression.
The grief and the suddenness of her loss have quite prostrated Mrs. Cooper, who was Mrs. Wakeman's only daughter, and whose three children were her only grandchildren
The deceased was the daughter of Gen. John Wilson, who was appointed by President Zachary Taylor the first naval officer of San Francisco. The family came to California in the early part of '49, when Mrs. Wakeman was a young girl, and in that city she married and became a widow. She was acquainted with nearly all the well-known Californians of early days and could relate many interesting reminiscences. She and her daughter, then Mrs. Kate Dennis, came to Santa Cruz to reside over ten years ago and a few years later Mrs. Dennis married Harry C. Cooper.
Mrs. Wakeman was a lady of genial disposition, exceedingly fond of flowers and successful in their culture, and enjoyed to the utmost her quiet life and the daily intercourse with those she loved and by whom she was beloved. Her many friends and those of the Coopers will extend sympathy to them in their bereavement.
There are questions about her birth year. In the John Wilson Papers (BANC MSS C-B 420, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA) there is a page of notes by Fred B. Rogers of dates taken from the bible of Mary Eliza (Wilson) Wakeman. It gives her birth date as 19 Apr 1836. This is consistent with ages given in the 1852 California state census and the 1880 federal census. However, in two places I have seen it said that she was 65 years old at her death (including a death notice in the San Francisco Chronicle dated 29 Sep 1897). This would make her birth in about 1832. I suppose the weight of evidence is for 1836 and the age 65 at death is wrong.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
Page generated on 31 October 2023; see http://wilsonfamilytree.org/ for further updates