I think I misspoke yesterday when I said that George Alberty had the saddest life of any of the children of John Alberty and Susannah Douthit. I hadn’t yet researched the family of his younger sister, Mary.

Mary Alberty was born 1851 and died between 4 May 1004 and the 1910 census, most likely in Arkansas. When Mary reached adulthood, the Civil War had decimated the male population and she married George Riley Stites on 10 June 1868 in Barry County, Missouri.

She had lost her father in 1861, when she was only 10 years old. Her mother had married Isaac Sturgell in September 1867 and the family was uprooted and moved from Van Buren, Newton County to Isaac’s home in Barry County. That marriage was quite contentious, based on the divorce records so it may not be a coincidence that just nine months later, at the age of 17, she married George, who was 11 years her senior.

In addition to marrying a much older man, George left Missouri and settled in Carroll County, Arkansas, which then took Mary 30 miles away from home, which was a long way back in the 1800s, far from her mother and her siblings.

In 1880, George and Mary are enumerated with five children, four daughters and one son. However, by 1900, Mary reported having given birth to thirteen children, but only FOUR were still living. Their oldest child, Susie, was living with them, as was her husband, J. Frank Cunningham, and several grandchildren. Daughter Clemmie was also at home and they had a number of boarders in the house.

However, Mary next lost her husband, George, a Missouri Union Civil War veteran, who died in 1904 and is buried at Moreland Cemetery, in Carroll County. He has a military headstone, but no dates are on it. No other Stites family members have gravestones in that cemetery, but still might be buried there, lost to time.

On 4 May 1904, Mary applied for, and received a widow’s pension for George’s military service. Her application number is 805484 and certificate number (WC) is 582754. I have been unable to find this pension record, other than the index card, so have no further information.

Mary died after the May 1910 census when she was living in Grant, Stone, Missouri with Clemmie Brittain, who was divorced. Mary still stated that she has four living children.

Neither has been found in 1920. However, there is a Clemmie Britton who married George W. Murrey in November 1910 in Rogers County, OK, where many of Mary’s family had migrated. That Clemmie was born c1887. George’s trail is a dead end, as he was not found in Oklahoma in the 1910 census.

1910 Census of Grant Twp., Stone, Missouri

I can only account for six of the children of George and Mary Stites and, aside from Susie and Clemmie, I have not been able to determine which other two children were living in 1900.

Children:

1. Susan Elizabeth, born November 1869; died after 1900; married J. Frank Cunningham, 1 March 1890, Carroll County, Arkansas. Frank was 20 years older than Susan.
2. George W., born c1871; died after 1880
3. Mary E., born c1873; died after 1880
4. Sarah A., born c1876; died after 1880
5. Prudie L., born c1878, died after 1880
6. Clemmie, born August 1888; married Homer Edward Brittain, 24 February 1907, Carroll County, Arkansas, but they soon divorced and had no children together. He married (2) Irene Ogle, 24 March 1912, Carroll County, Arksansas.

George Riley Stites and Mary Alberty may have descendants if anyone can ever figure out which four children were still living in 1910. The Cunningham family can’t be found in that census and Clemmie had no children. Susan Stites Cunningham had at least 3 children, but that leaves two other siblings who likely had families.