Marie Antoinette Wrigley's Death Certificate

Marie Antoinette Wrigley was my grandmother's natural great-aunt. It turns out that my grandmother's natural father was living with her and her family when they were growing up (I've not yet discovered what happen to the parents -- my grandmother's natural grandparents). It's also a good lesson in why we should look at collateral lines: it is the only place so far that I have found the father's first name (John Williamson).


Note that Marie had a rough fight with cancer. Her death certificate states that "the cause of her death was...cancer, of some 5 years duration, first of the breast which was amputated by Dr. Mallard Wood. It broke out again on the left side of the neck."

Maria Williamson's Death Certificate

As part of my big breakthrough a few weeks ago, I've been able to trace my grandmother's natural ancestors back to the 1870 US census. One of the finds is my grandmother's natural great grandmother, Maria Goodale Williamson. I was able to locate her death certificate (below). This is another great find because I was stuck at the 1870 census for this line, but had noticed a similar family living in Sag Harbor, New York. According to this death certificate, that is where she was born, so that is probably the same family. Other new info: her maiden name is Goodale, her father's name is David Goodale and her mother's name is Elizabeth Paine and she was buried in Sag Harbor. Notice that Maria was born about 1820 and that both her parents are listed as being born in Sag Harbor. If this is true (and death certificates are known to have errors in this type of info), it means that this particular line of the family has been in the U.S. from at least the very early 1800s!

Oh yea, Maria died from Old Age (that's what the certificate says).