Alice McSherry’s teaching certificate introduces more insights into her life.
Note that the envelope it was mailed in has no address other than Shanes Crossing. Yes, in a small town, everyone was known, right?
A bit more digging led me to a brief history of Shanes Crossing, originally a trading village with Natives. It was renamed Rockford in 1890, in part by the postal service to avoid confusion. An earlier Orphan George blog post has a photo of her parents’ jewelry and millinery store in Rockford.
Mercer County sits along the Indiana border, as does Van Wert County, just to the north. Both figure prominently in the genealogy around Joshua Hodson’s arrival and his activity as a young father.
Both counties are north of Montgomery County, where much of the action eventually shifts.
For now, I’m uncertain exactly where she taught, although she did board for a while at the home of Joshua Hodson’s future first wife, Josephine Jones, one of her best friends.
Death following a second childbirth then thickened the plot.
Certificate and envelope, courtesy of Vivian Meek Bibler.
Orphan George 