Who was Maria/Mary/Mami Katharine/Elizabeth Sherer/Benedict Hawkins?
When I began researching my family history I had been told by my uncle that my great grandmother was Mary Elizabeth Benedict (aka Maime Sherer) Hawkins. I also had a death certificate for Mary E. Hawkins, born 1 Mar 1870, died 17 Nov 1935, naming her father as Benedict Sherer from Switzerland and her mother as Mary Meehan from Ireland. I also had my grandfather's baptism and marriage certificates naming his mother as Mary Benedict. No one knew why two different maiden names were given for Mary until we found the answer in her father's Civil War pension file.
Mary's father had come to the US during the Civil War and after the war he settled in Poughkeepsie. At the time he didn't have a good command of English and as often happened with foreigners who didn't speak much English, the locals began to call him John. When they learned that Benedict and Sherer were in his name, they used various combinations of John, Benedict and Sherer but most common was John Benedict.
Mary was known by both Mary and Mami both by those who knew her and in official records, but there was no record of her being known by the name Maria. However, also in Benedict's pension file was a record of Mary's baptism and according to this record, she was actually named Maria Katharine.
Assuming her death certificate was correct, it wouldn't be surprising if she was named after her mother and whether she was called Mary or Mami would also be easily explained as simple variants. But as it turns out, her death certificate was wrong. The information was likely provided by her son (Benjamin Franklin Hawkins, aka Robert Hawkins) during a very stressful time and instead of giving his own mother's maiden name he gave his wife's mother's maiden name! Mary's mother was actually Bridget Cain/Kane. So Mary wasn't named after her mother and either Mary or Mami could still be a nickname for Maria but why would a Swiss man and an Irish woman name their daughter Maria and then call her Mary?
Any answer to this is necessarily conjecture as it is unlikely any evidence can be uncovered but there is some evidence that can at least contribute to our musing on it. Information in Benedict's pension file and communication with a cousin in Ireland revealed that Bridget had been married in Ireland before coming to America. (More on Bridget in another post.)
From her first marriage Bridget had 2 children (as far as we know), both daughters. Her oldest daughter was named Mary. Although Mary remained in Ireland and England, her younger sister, Winifred, married in England and moved to the US the following year. So it is possible that Bridget wanted her first daughter with Benedict to be Mary but whether out of concern for possible legal complications or simply concern that her first daughter might also move to America, she decided to use a variant of the name.
So, all of this leaves us with either evidence or speculation about where Mary's different first names and different surnames come from. But I've yet to find any explanation as to where the middle name of Elizabeth came from. It was the middle name known to her family and the initial used by her in her signature but not the middle name given her at her baptism.
Mary's father had come to the US during the Civil War and after the war he settled in Poughkeepsie. At the time he didn't have a good command of English and as often happened with foreigners who didn't speak much English, the locals began to call him John. When they learned that Benedict and Sherer were in his name, they used various combinations of John, Benedict and Sherer but most common was John Benedict.
Mary was known by both Mary and Mami both by those who knew her and in official records, but there was no record of her being known by the name Maria. However, also in Benedict's pension file was a record of Mary's baptism and according to this record, she was actually named Maria Katharine.
Assuming her death certificate was correct, it wouldn't be surprising if she was named after her mother and whether she was called Mary or Mami would also be easily explained as simple variants. But as it turns out, her death certificate was wrong. The information was likely provided by her son (Benjamin Franklin Hawkins, aka Robert Hawkins) during a very stressful time and instead of giving his own mother's maiden name he gave his wife's mother's maiden name! Mary's mother was actually Bridget Cain/Kane. So Mary wasn't named after her mother and either Mary or Mami could still be a nickname for Maria but why would a Swiss man and an Irish woman name their daughter Maria and then call her Mary?
Any answer to this is necessarily conjecture as it is unlikely any evidence can be uncovered but there is some evidence that can at least contribute to our musing on it. Information in Benedict's pension file and communication with a cousin in Ireland revealed that Bridget had been married in Ireland before coming to America. (More on Bridget in another post.)
From her first marriage Bridget had 2 children (as far as we know), both daughters. Her oldest daughter was named Mary. Although Mary remained in Ireland and England, her younger sister, Winifred, married in England and moved to the US the following year. So it is possible that Bridget wanted her first daughter with Benedict to be Mary but whether out of concern for possible legal complications or simply concern that her first daughter might also move to America, she decided to use a variant of the name.
So, all of this leaves us with either evidence or speculation about where Mary's different first names and different surnames come from. But I've yet to find any explanation as to where the middle name of Elizabeth came from. It was the middle name known to her family and the initial used by her in her signature but not the middle name given her at her baptism.
Mary's siblings seem to be a bit easier to follow. Her brother John may have remained single. In 1910 he was 43 and single, and living with his parents, Benedict & Bridget. A single 73 year old John Sherer also appears in the 1940 census in Brooklyn but I can’t confirm that he is the same person. Their sister, Margaret (Maggie) Sherer married Joseph Hilbert (or Helbert) and they had 3 children, Irene, Mary Ann, and Maggie. Benedict had said in his deposition found in his pension file that Margaret was very ill at the time in Oct 1900. By 2 Nov 1901 Joseph had remarried so Margaret must have died during that year (Oct 1900 – Nov 1901).
In the 1900 census it is reported that Bridget Sherer has 5 children living of the 6 she had. The children she had with Benedict were all living in America -- John is living with Benedict & Bridget, Mary is living with her own family (John Hawkins), and Margaret is living with her own family (Joseph Hilbert). Her daughter Winifred Sharkey is also living in America with her own family (James Daugherty), and her daughter Mary Sharkey is living in England with her own family (Pat Cunningham). No record has been found for another child so it is unclear if there was another child or if the census information is incorrect.
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