Fresh Start
I’ll be following the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks prompts this year from Amy Johnson Crow’s website (Find the description and how to sign up to get the prompts HERE). The first prompt is Fresh Start. I’ve chosen my great grandmother Jennie (Shingledecker) Mohney to write about for fresh start.
Jennie was born in 1890 in Schoolcraft, Michigan. Her parents were William and Nettie Mae Shingledecker. She was the 2nd child of four. She married John Ray Mohney when she was 18 years old. They had their first child before the end of that year. By the 1920 Census the family had moved to South Dakota and included 4 more children. Jennie was still in South Dakota during the South Dakota state census of 1925 and she had 3 more children by that date.
Things were not going great in the family as her husband had taken on a mistress. He had two children with the woman while still living with Jennie. Things must have come to light sometime in 1925 or early 1926 because Jennie was back in Michigan with the birth of her youngest daughter, Beatrice (my grandmother).
From her son Carl’s obituary I found out that John Ray actually moved the family back to Michigan, but then ended up leaving the family (to go back to his mistress). It must have been difficult to lose her husband that way. One way that she made it work was to tell people that her husband had died. All records I’ve found so far show Jennie as a widow. These include census records from 1930 and 1940 as well as marriage records for her children.
Jennie wasn’t alone in handling this fresh start. Her older children definitely helped out. Not only did she have her oldest daughters to help out, it seems she fostered a spirit of working hard in her children. In her son Carl’s obituary it notes that he taught his children “”The Mohney Way”: value hard work and do things right the first time.” I imagine that was more something he learned from his mother, Jennie, as she was the one who raised Carl alone for most of his childhood. While I get calling it the Mohney Way because his last name was Mohney, but I would have called it the Shingledecker Way, as his mom was the one who taught him hard work and sticking with those who matter most.
I don’t know much about her life overall, but I know Jennie was a hard worker. She raised 9 children who all grew to be hard working adults. She spent her later years with her children’s families, including visiting her daughter May’s family home in Charlevoix, Michigan.
Jennie (Shingledecker) Mohney was a hard working woman who raised 9 children. I am grateful for her determination to care for her children even through the heartache of losing her husband the way she did. I’m glad my grandmother had such a strong woman role model in her life because she ended up making a good impression on my mother who made a good impression on me. I am forever grateful for her. She truly made the most of her fresh start away from her husband.
Sources:
Birth – (birth record says Jane Shingledecker, but all records after this say Jennie) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGHR-973V?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LC7G-42J
Marriage – https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FCJ5-X8Y?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LC7G-42J
1910 Census – https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ML52-SV6?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LC7G-42J
1920 Census – https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6NB-MWP?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LC7G-42J
1930 Census – https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQB6-SWS?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LC7G-42J
1940 Census – https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4LB-8PL?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LC7G-42J
2 records of her children’s wedding certificates show John Ray Mohney as deceased – https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNLH-WFM?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LC7G-42J
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3LK-VQ4?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LC7G-42J
On Their Shoulders 