Two months after Edith's birth in 1881, her mother died. Fortunately, Edith's maternal grandparents, who had moved to Michigan to be near their daughter, Emma and her family, adopted baby Edith and took good care of her. Edith's father, Cyrus, had Edith's three older brothers to tend to. Carrie Dickinson, Edith's older sister, was already married and lived in Denver, Colorado.
Before 1897, Cyrus had moved to Denver. So, Edith, at age 16, in 1897, boarded a train and left for Denver, also. She wanted to be near her dad and sister. She obtained a job, working for a seamstress, who seemed to be living next door to the family Edith was living with in Denver, in the 1900 census. (I have to think that this is where and how Edith learned to make such tiny stitches in the quilts that she made.)
Edith was happy in Denver at her job and meeting the friends of Cyrus and Carrie. She fell in love with John Stewart, Cyrus' friend, and they married on the 25th of December in 1901. It didn't matter to Edith that John was 30 years older than she was. She knew that he loved her and needed her. Their first daughter, Mildred, was born in September 1902. At an interview I had with Mildred sometime in the 1990s, she said, "Dorothy Louise was born October 12, 1904. My father died May 15, 1904, six months before Dorothy was born."
One of Edith's brothers had a resort in Northern Michigan where I believe Edith felt that she could be useful and helpful and could provide her daughters with a good place to be brought up. She found a nice church nearby and this is where she met Luke Hyman, the son of the minister.
Some time later, Luke proposed to Edith, saying that he would be a good father to her daughters and would like her to be his wife. She said "Yes". See the words of the Marriage Certificate below:
"Certification of Marriage of Mr. Luke Hyman of Atwood, Michigan and Mrs. Edith A. Stewart of Ellsworth, Michigan on Tuesday, 11 Sep, 1906 at the home of Luke Hyman, Reverend G.W. Hyman officiating. Witnesses: Mr. & Mrs John Docter"
There is almost too much for me to write about Edith because she was a lovable, determined, and ambitious person. She was my husband's only grandmother that he knew, and he loved and admired her greatly. She made a point of visiting her family in Akron, Ohio as often as she could. And she certainly welcomed all of her relatives to visit her in Detroit, where she lived near her daughter, Dorothy and family, in Edith's later years.
Cancer was the cause of her death in 1943. Her grave is at the White Chapel Cemetery in Birmingham, Oakland, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.
EDITH ANN DICKINSON
BORN: 8 Mar 1881 in Evergreen, Montcalm, MI
MARRIED: 1) 25 Dec 1901 in Denver, Arapahoe, CO 2) 11 Sep 1906 in Atwood, MI
DIED: 3 Jul 1943 in Detroit, Wayne, MI
BURIED: White Chapel Cemetery in Birmingham, Oakland, MI
SOURCES:Federal Censuses of 1880-1940; Interviews with Mildred and Robert C. Shepard; Benoni Dickinson Book by Mrs. Elden Elsch; Certificates of Death, Birth, and Marriages; Mildred's scrapbooks and photographs.
