My grandfather's oldest brother was William Newton Carey, who was born 28 Jul 1865 in Ohio,1 and may have died in either 1925 or 1927 in Santa Monica, California.2 His wife's maiden name was Mary Elizabeth Sager. Will and Mary were married 29 Oct 1905, only a few days after she was divorced from Glen Albert Keef. The census takers listed Uncle Will as a "broom maker" in 1900 and a "florist" in 1920.
Will and Mary didn't have any children. The 1921 obituary of his father, David Clark Carey, mentions that Will was living in Urbana, Ohio, at the time.
Will's obituary is taken from a clipping whose date and origin are unknown:
DEATH OF BROTHER OF LOCAL RESIDENT
Mr. W. N. Carey, brother of the Rev. G. Edward Carey of 2344 W. Thirty-first street [Los Angeles], passed away at 12 o'clock Tuesday2 while submitting to an operation for hernia at the Roosevelt hospital.
Mr. Carey's home was in Santa Monica where he was well and favorably known. Surviving him are the wife, a brother, S. W. Carey of Santa Monica, two sisters living at Urbana, Ohio, a brother, Rev. C. J. Carey of Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and the Rev. Carey of Thirty-first street. Funeral services will be conducted from the Mundenhall Funeral Home, Santa Monica, Saturday at 2 P. M.
Lucy Newton? In the 1920 census, Will and Mary were enumerated at 201 Bloomfield Avenue in Urbana, which was David's former address and which was next door to where my grandparents and their children were living at the time. Along with them was an 84-year-old widow, Lucy Thomas, who is listed as an aunt.
An inquiry by another researcher, Sandi Evilsizer Koscak, prompted my investigation of just who Lucy was. She would appear to be the Lucy Hoy who was listed in the 1880 census as a "friend" in the same household as 6-month-old Mary Sager in Salem township. Lucy died 16 Jun 1922 at the Urbana address and is buried in Oak Dale cemetery, where a lot of my Carey relatives are also interred. Her death certificate lists her age at death as "82y 8m 27d".
Mary Carey was the daughter of Andrew and Sarah (Hoy) Sager. She was born 27 Nov 1879 in Salem township. There were several hundred people with the Sager and Hoy surnames in Ohio at the time of the 1880 census, including several little girls named Mary Sager who were born within a few days of Aunt Mary. Information which Sandi found in Lucy and Sarah's death certificates suggests that these two women were indeed sisters and that Lucy was therefore listed correctly as an aunt in the 1920 census.
Further research by Sandi turned up the marriage record of a 20-year-old Mary Sagers, the daughter of Andrew and Mary (Hoey) Sagers, and a 24-year-old Bert Albert Keef, 22 September 1900 in Urbana. There was a Keef family living in Salem township at the time, with a son, Glen E., who seems to be the same person as Mary's first husband. Sandi was also able to locate the record of Mary's divorce in the Champaign County Domestic Relation Records 1808-1939, compiled by Pat Stickley, CCGS, which listed, on page 103, the 14 Sep 1905 suit of Mary E Keefe vs. Glen Albert Keefe for divorce as a habitual drunk. The divorce was granted; her name was restored to Mary E Sager. Glenn E. Keef died 6 April 1911, not quite 35 years of age, and is buried in Oak Dale Cemetery in Urbana.
I've been unable to locate any information on Mary's whereabouts after Uncle Will's death. Did she stay in California, or return to Ohio? Did she remarry? When and where did she die? These are still mysteries.