Brief Life History of Martha Jane
When Martha Jane Shirley was born on 9 January 1849, in Lawrence, Illinois, United States, her father, Garrett Shirley, was 33 and her mother, Mary Cropper, was 24. She married Reuben J. Ard on 17 September 1878. They were the parents of at least 1 son. She lived in Illinois, United States in 1870 and Denison Township, Lawrence, Illinois, United States in 1880. She died on 23 December 1889, at the age of 40.
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Family Time Line
Sources (5)
- Martha Sherley in household of Garret Sherley, "United States Census, 1860"
- Martha Jane Shirley Ard, "Find A Grave Index"
- Jane Shirley in household of Garret Shirley, "United States Census, 1870"
Spouse and Children
Parents and Siblings
World Events (8)
1856 · The Largest Map Company in the World
William Rand opened a small printing shop in Chicago. Doing most of the work himself for the first two years he decided to hire some help. Rand Hired Andrew McNally, an Irish Immigrant, to work in his shop. After doing business with the Chicago Tribune, Rand and McNally were hired to run the Tribune's entire printing operation. Years later, Rand and McNally established Rand McNally & Co after purchasing the Tribune's printing business. They focused mainly on printing tickets, complete railroad guides and timetables for the booming railroad industry around the city. What made the company successful was the detailed maps of roadways, along with directions to certain places. Rand McNally was the first major map publisher to embrace a system of numbered highways and erected many of the roadside highway signs that have been adopted by state and federal highway authorities. The company is still making and updating the world maps that are looked at every day.
1858 · A House Divided
Abraham Lincoln's goal was to be different than the previous Senators of Illinois and voice his opinion in how he saw the State and the United States start to drift apart in the different ideology on what was right and what was wrong. Even though it would become an unsuccessful campaign strategy to win the senate seat, to this day it is one of the most famous speeches of US politics.
1861 · Simple life to Soldiers
Illinois contributed 250,000 soldiers to the Union Army, ranking it fourth in terms of the total men fighting for a single state. Troops mainly fought in the Western side of the Appalachian Mountains, but a few regiments played important roles in the East side. Several thousand Illinoisians died during the war. No major battles were fought in the state, although several towns became sites for important supply depots and navy yards. Not everyone in the state supported the war and there were calls for secession in Southern Illinois several residents. However, the movement for secession soon died after the proposal was blocked.
Name Meaning
English: habitational name from any of the places so named, such as Shirley (Warwickshire), Shirley in Millbrook (Hampshire), Shirley (Surrey), Shirley in Owston (Yorkshire), and Shirley (Derbyshire). The placenames probably derive from Old English scīr ‘bright’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’, though some may have scīr ‘district, shire’ as the initial element if they lie on a boundary; for example, the Warwickshire place lies on the Warwickshire-Worcestershire boundary. The name Shirley first appears in Ireland in the late 17th century, following the granting of lands to a Shirley family in the barony of Farney, Monaghan.
History: William Shirley (1694–1771) was born in Sussex, England, and came to MA in 1731. He rose in the colonial service, was appointed governor in 1741, and was responsible for the British capture of the French fortress of Louisbourg, Cape Breton Island, in 1745.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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