“This is a dear spot to me”, she wrote.
On the back of the accompanying photo is written, “This is a dear spot to me.” It was written by Mary Virginia (Nay) Tucker, known to most Shinnston townspeople in the early 1900’s simply as “Aunt Mamie.” The photo shows the decorated graves of three people dearly loved by Aunt Mamie: her only daughter, her husband, and her only son. They each died during the month of May in the years 1904,1906, and 1908, respectively.
Laura F. Tucker, the daughter, married Clarence Anderson in 1901. The marriage was short-lived and ended with Laura going back home to her parents. Sometime during the year 1903, she developed consumption, more commonly known today as Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
She lived with the loathsome disease for nearly a year and died from it in the early morning hours of May 22nd, 1904. She was 24 years old.
Benjamin Fleming “Flem” Tucker was one of several barbers in Shinnston during the turn of the
twentieth century. He had previously been engaged in the mercantile business in Shinnston, but
decided being a barber better suited his interests. He and ‘Aunt Mamie’ married on January 2 nd , 1878.
I’m sure it was a cold snowy day because I have a newspaper article which mentions that a large group of their friends gathered into a bobsled and headed to the home of William Perry Fortney, at Teverbaugh (near Four States), to be wed. Fortney was a well-known evangelist and member of the Christian Church, but was also Aunt Mamie’s maternal uncle. Flem and Mamie made their home along lower Walnut Street on property now marked by an open lot behind the Shinnston Volunteer Fire Department.
Soon after his daughter Laura’s death, Flem developed something once commonly known
as dropsy, but is today referred to as edema. Edema is the swelling of bodily tissues due to excess fluid build-up and contributes to heart failure. He suffered with the illness for nearly two years, being forced to give up his trade as a barber and often became confined to his bed. He died at his home on May 2nd, 1906 at the age of 45.
For the following two years, it was just Aunt Mamie and her son, Floyd F., who, while living at home, joined the footsteps of his father and became a barber. He worked for Harper Shinn at his barbershop, which was located along the east side of Pike Street, between Walnut and Main Streets. Like his sister, Floyd too, developed pulmonary tuberculosis and succumbed to the illness on May 12th, 1908, joining his sister and father at the grave lots shown here.
He was 25 years old.
Aunt Mamie continued on with life and it was said would often be seen walking the streets in one of her
long handmade dresses, carrying a basket with flowers . After her son’s death, she kept her house and
lived alone for six years at which time she moved in with her brother, Oliver L. Nay. She remained in
good health for most of her life, attended the old Methodist Protestant Church on Main Street (the
building now houses Warriors Chapel), was baptized in the river, and became loved by everyone in
town. She eventually became known as the oldest resident in Shinnston and died in 1944 at the age of
88, having outlived her children and husband for over 37 years.
Although the accompanying image is almost not recognizable by most people, the Tucker family graves
are located in the Shinnston Cemetery and lie close to Rt 19, across from Lincoln High School’s parking
lot. All of the meadow in the background is now filled with headstones. Up until the last decade or so,
Aunt Mamie’s foot stone continued to be decorated each May by the late Betty (Shreves) Barnes, who
was a great grandniece of Aunt Mamie. And that is this month’s ‘story behind the photo’.