Archibald Hill and Mary Howes

Archibald Hill had several wives. One of them, Mary House or Howes, was listed in NewFamilySearch with a birth date but not a death date. The Utah State Archives has death certificates, so I checked to see if she died in Utah, which she did. Here is her death certificate. She was 74 years old and died of "myocarditis acute" and "abscessed teeth." (Take good care of your teeth! If you don't, it can lead to or complicate heart problems.)

Mary's maiden name is spelled "House" on her death certificate but "Howes" on earlier records in England and "Howse" on her migration record, so I have used the earliest spelling, "Howes."

I added Mary's death and burial information to NewFamilySearch, complete with citation. The death certificate lists her father's name, which should help trace Mary and her family. She did not have any children, so her husband's descendants from his other wives should make sure that her immediate family's temple work is done.

(If someone wants to do the work, make sure you identify the correct family in England with the father Jervis or Jarvis Howes and a mother who died before Mary left England, and please document all the information you add to NewFamilySearch. Identifying her family is a bit of a challenge, but certainly not impossible.)

Another Guest Post: Eminent Women: Isabell Romney Platt and Charlotte von Schiller

The next post in the Eminent Women series is about Isabell Hill Romney Platt. Isabell was the daughter of Miles Park Romney and Hannah Hood Hill Romney.

Hannah Hood Hill Romney was the sister of Rebecca Hood Hill Pettit. The two sisters were close their entire lives and despite great distances, they were able to spend a good amount of time with each other. After Hannah left Mexico, she lived with Rebecca a couple of times. I wish we had their correspondence!

Isabell Hill Romney Platt was named after her grandmother, Isabell(a) Hood Hill. To connect her to our family line, Isabell was the first cousin of Mary Isabell Pettit Green. Isabell Romney Platt's children were second cousins to our great-grandmother, Lucile Green Glade.

And I'm sure by now everyone is dying to know, during this curious election season, how all these people are connected to the presumptive Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.

Miles Park Romney was a polygamist. He had five wives and thirty children. His first wife was Hannah Hood Hill. Isabell Hill Romney was Miles and Hannah's first child, born while Miles was in England on a mission. One of Isabell's younger brothers, Gaskell, also a son of Hannah Hill Romney, is Mitt Romney's grandfather. This makes Mitt Romney a third cousin of grandma Beverly. (And now you know.)

So, head over to Keepapitchinin to read about Isabell Hill Romney Platt, and the woman whose temple work she did.