Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



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Perry Burton Wood Mays and Grace Lillian Liddicoat


Husband Perry Burton Wood Mays 1 2 

           Born: 3 Jun 1870 - Freedom, Rockland Twp, Venango Co, PA 1 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 2 Sep 1961 - Erie, Erie Co, PA 2
         Buried:  - Mill Village Cemetery, Mill Village, LeBoeuf Twp, Erie Co, PA


         Father: John Woods Mays (1826-1899) 1 3 4
         Mother: Mary Ann Melat (1832-1926) 5


       Marriage: 15 Jul 1891 - Jamestown, Chautauqua Co, NY 2

Wife Grace Lillian Liddicoat 2 6 

           Born: 1 Oct 1872 - Rockdale Twp, Crawford Co, PA 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 21 Dec 1926 2
         Buried:  - Mill Village Cemetery, Mill Village, LeBoeuf Twp, Erie Co, PA

Children
1 F Cecil Liddicoat Mays 2 7 

           Born: 28 Jun 1892 - Pennsylvania 2
     Christened: 
           Died: Oct 1970 - ? Cambridge Springs, Crawford Co, PA 2
         Buried:  - Mill Village Cemetery, Mill Village, LeBoeuf Twp, Erie Co, PA

         Spouse: Guy Blaine Runnels (1884-1977) 2 7
           Marr: 28 Jun 1938 2

2 M Harold Perry Mays 2 

           Born: 23 Feb 1894 - Mill Village, LeBoeuf Twp, Erie Co, PA 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 16 Apr 1932 8
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Helen Lydia Sizer (1895-1990) 7 8
           Marr: 26 Jun 1917 - Belfast, Allegany Co, NY 7

3 F Hazel Lucy Mays 2 

           Born: 4 Apr 1896 - Mill Village, LeBoeuf Twp, Erie Co, PA 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 29 Aug 1973 - Augusta, Kennebec Co, ME 9
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Lloyd Leighton Walden (1894-1948) 7 8
           Marr: 17 May 1920 8

4 F Bonnie Lovisa Mays 2 

           Born: 9 Sep 1897 - Mill Village, LeBoeuf Twp, Erie Co, PA 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 21 Apr 1988 - ? Corry, Erie Co, PA 10
         Buried:  - Mill Village Cemetery, Mill Village, LeBoeuf Twp, Erie Co, PA

         Spouse: Charles Herbert Waterhouse (1897-Aft 1991) 8
           Marr: 17 Jun 1919 8

5 M Bruce Murray Mays 2 

           Born: 10 Jul 1907 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 4 Oct 1921 2 7
         Buried:  - Mill Village Cemetery, Mill Village, LeBoeuf Twp, Erie Co, PA

         Spouse: Did Not Marry

General Notes: Husband - Perry Burton Wood Mays


Perry Burton Wood Mays contracted diphtheria in September, 1881. His mother, Mary Ann (Melat) Mays, thought that he was close to death, so she summoned her sons, John Byron, and Simeon Prescott, home to see Perry. As a result Perry's brothers contract diphtheria and died, but Perry survived.
In between the pages of the Mays-Melat Bible, in the section, "DEATH" on a small piece of paper was the following message: probably penned by Mary Ann (Melat) Mays, John Byron's and Simeon Prescott's mother:
We miss thee, boys, we miss thee,
Our home is not the same.
But in heaven we hope to meet thee,
Where we shall never part again.

Unk newspaper,
Death Takes Mill Village Farmer
Mr. Perry B. Mays of Mill Village Pa., passed away. September 2, 1961. He was born at Freedom, Venango, Co., Pa., June 3, 1870 and came to Erie County, Pa., the day he was a year old together with his parents and 3 brothers and 1 sister, all of whom preced­ed him in death.
They located at what was known as "Mays Old Mill" on French Creek one mile west of Mill Village.
On July 15, 1891 he was married to Grace Liddicoat who passed a­way December 21, 1926.
To them were born 5 children, Cecil now Mrs. Guy Runnels, Har­old, who died in 1932, Mrs. Hazel Welden, of Madison, Wisconsin, Bonnie, now Mrs. Chas. Water­house of Corry, Pa., and Bruce who died in 1920.
Mr. Mays was a miller and continued running "Mays Mill" until 1910 when he together with his family moved to Mill Village, where for a while he ran what was known as the Farmers Mill.
Besides his 3 daughters, he leaves 9 grandchildren and 18 great grand­children.
Funeral services were held at Mussers Funeral Home, Union City, and remains were laid to rest be­side his wife and son in Mill Village Cemetery.

General Notes: Wife - Grace Lillian Liddicoat


Unk newspaper,
TWO MILL VILLAGE WOMEN PASS TO THEIR REWARD
Mrs. Grace L. Mays Died Dec. 21; Mrs. Mary M. Mays Dec. 23.
Grace Liddicoat Mays, whose death occurred at the Corry Hospital on December 21, 1926, where she had undergone a serious operation, had been a patient sufferer for a number of years.
Grace Liddicoat was born on October 1, 1872, in Rockdale Township, Crawford county, Pa., and on July 15, 1891, was united in marriage to Perry B. Mays and to them were born five children: Cecil L., at home, Harold P., of Clifton, N. J., Hazel Walden of Painassul??, ??., Bonnie Waterhouse of Cambridge Springs and Bruce, who passed away October 4, 1921.
Besides her husband and children she is survived by five sisters and two brothers, Mrs. Lucy Obert of Union City, Mrs. Co??? Bower, of Springboro, R. F. D., Mrs. Georgie Brown of Cambridge Springs, R. F. D., Mrs. Blanche Smith of Union City, R. F. D., Mrs. Daisy Taylor, Union City, R. F. D., Mr. Will Liddicoat, Saegertown, R. F. D., and Bruce Liddicoat of Cassadaga, N. Y.
The funeral services were held at the late home near Mill Village, Friday, December 24, at 2:30 conducted by Mrs. Florence Giliespie, of Erie.
The remains were laid to rest by the side of her son Bruce in Mill Village cemetery.
She was a faithful wife and kind and loving mother, a great lover of flowers and will be greatly missed by all who knew her.
The many beautiful floral tributes surrounding her spoke of the love and esteem in which she was held by her many friends.

GRACE LILLIAN (LIDDICOAT) MAYS
A remembrance by her daughter, Hazel Lucy (Mays) Walden
"My mother was a small woman not much over five feet tall. She had brown hair and blue eyes and a marvelous sense of humor. Her father was an Englishman and from him she inherited a sturdy character and a deep-rooted courage. Her mother was a Connecticut Yankee. From her she drew an ingenuity in "making things do." She was reared on a farm and never quite got over her love for growing things.
"Married at eighteen she had come to the mill full of the enthusiasm of life. It was "big adventure" when the first summer brought a rare June flood that swept the countryside leaving her "growing things" laying over and covered with silt.
"She was my father's right hand. If he cut down a tree, she took her end of the cross-cut saw. When the lawn wore out from too much padding of feet over it, she helped to cut sod from the pasture, roll it, and transfer it to the front of the house where three huge sugar maples defied anything to grow in their heavy shade -- but "it will look nice for a little while, she said.
"She always did the milking -- a job "beneath the dignity" of a miller. She cooked the meals for the crews who helped with the repairs on the dam, race, or mill. She was sometimes spunky, but more times she was jolly. She could shoulder a bag of corn, hold it as it gradually emptied into the sheller. She could operate the mill. She could row a boat, but she didn't like to fish. She collected bills for my father. She could keep house and churn and quilt, knit, sew and crochet. She could spank the children and did when they needed it, which they often did. She could harness and drive the horse.
"When our butchering was done in the fall, she helped to cut the meat and pack it into brine. In summer she picked and preserved wild berries. In October she made apple butter in a huge copper kettle hung over a fire outdoors. Constantly she watched children from the millrace and the boats...
"Her courage was boundless. When my sister, Bonnie, was still a young baby, she suffered much from toothache, and one afternoon she decided to end all that pain. She drove to the doctor's office and sat in his chair while he extracted thirteen teeth without novacaine, came home and got supper for ten hired men...
"She had ambition. She wanted each of her children to have an education. If my father needed extra help at the mill, and mentioned that Harold should stay home from school to help, my mother would put on her "wampus-jacket" and checkered sunbonnet and take over at the mill to help my father. She sacked and piled the grain, watched the hoppers, took a hand at picking burrs -- and Harold went to school.
"During one winter, my father had an attack of appendicitis. He was very ill and confined to his bed for two weeks. My mother did not hesitate but took over all the work at the mill -- it was buckwheat season and long hours 'way into the night she worked while she also managed to care for my father. She was tireless. She was good-natured. She was magnificent!"

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Sources

1 D. Kipp Melat, The Melat Family 1799 - 1989 (Franklin, PA: Self-published, 1989), Pg 12.

2 D. Kipp Melat, The Melat Family 1799 - 1989 (Franklin, PA: Self-published, 1989), Pg 31.

3 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 1028.

4 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 843, 854.

5 D. Kipp Melat, The Melat Family 1799 - 1989 (Franklin, PA: Self-published, 1989), Pg 4.

6 Cassandra S. W. Beckman, The Descendants of Thomas Washington and Henrietta (Myers) Mays in America 1786 - 1991 (Blue Mounds, WI: Self-published, 1991), Pg 27.

7 Cassandra S. W. Beckman, The Descendants of Thomas Washington and Henrietta (Myers) Mays in America 1786 - 1991 (Blue Mounds, WI: Self-published, 1991), Pg 179.

8 D. Kipp Melat, The Melat Family 1799 - 1989 (Franklin, PA: Self-published, 1989), Pg 54.

9 Cassandra S. W. Beckman, The Descendants of Thomas Washington and Henrietta (Myers) Mays in America 1786 - 1991 (Blue Mounds, WI: Self-published, 1991), Pg 194.

10 Cassandra S. W. Beckman, The Descendants of Thomas Washington and Henrietta (Myers) Mays in America 1786 - 1991 (Blue Mounds, WI: Self-published, 1991), Pg 204.

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