McConoughey

Mary Stevenson McConoughey

This portrait is Mary McConoughey, the first wife of Curtis McConoughey and the mother of Belle McConoughey.  She died a few days after Belle was born in West Salem, Ohio on February 8, 1897.  Her father, James Stevenson served as the Post Master in West Salem and she was the assistant until her first marriage.  She married Forest McBride 20 August 1891, but he died the following year on March 14, 1892.  She married Curtis McConoughey 1 June 1893.   Their first child was Merle, who was born on 10 December 1894.  Belle, was born on 8 February 1897.  Mary died from complications from the birth on 14 February 1897.  

Mary’s father was James Stevenson and her mother was Hannah Reed.  James was born in Canada, but we have little information on his family other than from his census record which indicates that his father was born in England and his mother was born in Ireland.  James served as a Postmaster in West Salem, OH, and  Mary served as his assistant Post Master.  James died on December 30, 1894.

An interesting question for genealogists is to learn more about James Stevenson.  So far, no information has been found about where he was born in Canada or his parents.

Dora, Curtis McConoughey with Belle

This picture is of Dora Miller who Curtis married after Mary died, Curtis McConoughey, and Belle Strong.  Curtis worked for his entire life for  railroad companies

.  At one time he was the station master at Lodi, Ohio.  He lived first at West Salem, where Merle and Belle were born and then moved to Lodi.  Curtis was born and raised on a farm, in or near Solon, OH.  He loved hunting and was a gun collector and known to keep a loaded .38 under his pillow where he slept.  

When he was station master, he carried sums of money home from his work.  One night he noted that he was being followed as he walked home.  That night, a prowler came onto his porch and was in the process of breaking in.  Curtis and his neighbor were waiting for this prowler as he and a neighbor were watching.  He shot at the prowler from the second story window overlooking the front door and wounded him.  Curtis and his neighbor chased the prowler through a nearby woods but did not catch him.  

Curtis was over 6 ft. tall and was heavy set.  After retirement, he lived in Lodi with Dora.  As a child, I normally stayed with them for a week each summer.  Curtis would take out his pocket knife, cut off a branch of a tree and make a toy for me.  They kept chickens in a small coop and fenced in area.  One chore was to gather the eggs and feed the chickens.  

Dora, my grandmother was a great gardener and always had an abundance of flowers in the garden at the rear of their large lot and in smaller beds surrounding the house.  They also kept a vegetable garden.  The house and yard were maintained to perfection.  They took great pride in the yard and garden.

After retirement, Curtis attempted to supplement his retirement income by selling devices such as an oddly designed lawnmower and a fire retardant.  

Curtis owned a 1934 V-8 Ford, the first V-8 that Ford produced.  He was quite proud of the car, as it was the same model as Bonnie and Clyde’s car.  He noted that even with dozens of bullet holes after Bonnie and Clyde had been ambushed by the posse made up of Louisiana and Texas police, the car was still capable of running.  

Curtis and Dora lived in a nice 2 story frame house with a large wrap around porch about 1/2 mile from downtown Lodi.  The house was on a large lot surrounded by an interesting collection of trees, including blue spruce, catalpa, and hardwoods.  There was a small barn, used as a garage, and utility space for gardening and other tools.  There was a small chicken house for layer hens beside the garage.  In the back of the lot was a producing gas well that was tapped for heating the house.  

A hospital was located between the house that the Lodi square.  McConoughey’s normally rented out the front bedroom to one or two nurses, who could then walk to the hospital.  

About a year after Curtis died, Dora sold the house and car, moving to a smaller house one block from the Lodi square.