Mary Ann STRANGE

General Notes

Mary Ann per bio in father-in-law Ignatius' record; aka Mary

b. Washington Cty, KY (per son John V.'s 1886 Goodpeed bio; KY per John V.'sd subsequent obit, alt. b yr 1814)
m. Daviess Cty, IN est. 1834 to Hillary SPALDING
removed to Martin Cty for two years
returned to Daviess Cty
d. > 1886 and < 13 Oct 1899 (husband's obit)

from son James V.'s 1886 Goodspeed bio:

JOHN V. SPALDING, superintendent of the Poor Asylum of Daviess County, Ind., was born in Martin Conty, Ind., October 13, 1836. He was the eldest of a famly of six children born to Hillary and Mary (STRANGE) Spalding, who were natives of Washington County, Ky. They wre married in Daviess County, Ind., and lived two years in Martin County, when they returned to Daviess County, and are yet residing there. The father and mother were born about 1816 and 1814, respectively. John V. was reared on his father's farm, and secured such education as could be obtained in the subscription schools of early times. (...)

full bio at:
http://members.tripod.com/~debmurray/daviess/davbioref-11.htm

other sources: Spalding Memorial, 1850 census

Parents = Charles/Annie STRANGE b. est. 1802/1804 KY/KY?

imprisoned?

The Daviess County Democrat
Vol. 17, No. 9.
Saturday, January 19, 1884

"SIXTY. HOW DAVIESS COUNTY HAS BEEN REPRESENTED IN THE STATE PRISON SOUTH SINCE 1825."
A List of Those Convicted in Daviess County Courts from March 25, 1825, up to October 16, 1883.
Indiana State Prison South, Jeffersonville, Jan. 17, 1884.
"An even sixty of Daviess county's citizens have passed through the door that ever swings inward of the Indiana State Prison South, and of the whole number only two women's names
appears on the roles."

Strange, Mary A. Sentenced Sept. 17, 1862, for life, for murder. Pardoned Dec. 14, 1865.

source:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~koliver/DaviessCountyDemocrat_01191884.txt

Note: I think it would take the court records to clear this up. But a few notes:

It appears that Mary A. (Strange) Spalding was enumerated in the household of her husband Hillary on 14 June 1860.

The Mary A. Strange who went to prison was sentenced on 17 Sept 1862 to life imprisonment for murder. She was pardoned on 14 Dec 1865.

There is no interruption in the chain of Hillary and Mary A.'s children: Mariah b 1853 IN is the youngest child enumerated in any census.

Hillary appears to be living with the same woman (Mary b est 1808-1811 KY) in all the censuses from 1850 through 1880.

I believe that Hillary Spalding and Mary A. Strange married cca 1843, so yes, Mary A.'s legal name at the time of the 1862 sentencing would have been Mary A. Spalding. But if I were a woman convicted of murder in Indiana in 1862, I can also imagine trying/wanting to suppress my husband's name from the record.

In the 1860 census for Daviess Co., IN, I can find no other Mary or Mary A. Strange who would fit. There is a Mary E. Strange in Van Buren, Daviess b est 1853, but she would have been 9 years old at sentencing. There is a Mary J. Strange b est 1838 OH in Brown, Martin, IN, but the middle initial is off and the county is wrong: according to the Daviess County Democrat, the convicted murderess was a resident of Daviess County named Mary A. Strange.

Click here for details of Mary Ann's family with Hillary SPALDING