Tripp Families of North America
Mary Elizabeth Gatewood
1839 - 1905 (65 years)-
Name Mary Elizabeth Gatewood Birth 03 Nov 1839 Indiana, USA 
Gender Female Death 16 Mar 1905 Genoa, Nance, Nebraska, USA Burial Valley View Cem., Genoa, Vance County, Nebraska Person ID I342223143008 Tripp Family Genealogical Website
Father Richardson Hunt Gatewood, b. 06 Jun 1791, Georgia, USA d. 01 Sep 1870, Mahaska County, Iowa, USA (Age 79 years) Mother Olive Ann Broyles, b. 18 Aug 1817, Mercer County, Kentucky, United States of America d. Dec 1866, Mahaska County, Iowa, USA (Age 49 years) Marriage 13 Apr 1837 Family ID F22015 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 1 James Henry Snelson, b. 11 Jan 1836, Illinois, USA d. 09 Oct 1878, Harrison, Jewel County, Kansas (Age 42 years) Marriage 22 Feb 1862 Children 1. William Jasper Snelson, b. 11 Dec 1862, White Oak, Mahaska County, Iowa d. 18622. Florence Jane Snelson, b. 11 Dec 1862, White Oak, Mahaska County, Iowa d. 1962 (Age 99 years)3. Edmond Clemont Snelson, b. 09 Jun 1863, White Oak, Mahaska County, Iowa d. 18634. John Woodford Snelson, b. 26 Nov 1864, Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa d. 04 Sep 1946, Blue Lick, Clark County, Indiana (Age 81 years)5. James Henry Snelson, Junior, b. 08 Nov 1866, Oskaloosa, Iowa d. 15 Sep 1955 (Age 88 years)6. William Francis Snelson, b. 10 May 1869 7. Ella Adella Snelson, b. 03 May 1870, Marengo, Iowa County, Iowa d. 07 Feb 1968, Troutdale, Multnomah, Oregon, USA (Age 97 years)8. Andrew Jackson (Jack) Snelson, b. 15 Apr 1872, Mahaska County, Iowa, USA d. Dec 1941 (Age 69 years)9. Lula May Snelson, b. 29 May 1873 d. 08 Jan 1967, Lexington, Dawson County (Age 93 years)10. Hattie Dulcina Snelson, b. 24 Feb 1875 d. 02 Aug 1876 (Age 1 year) 11. Olive Anna Snelson, b. 16 Sep 1876 d. 13 Apr 1965 (Age 88 years) Family ID F4653 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 2 Riley Children 1. Thomas Riley Family ID F22042 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 3 Richard H Simmons Family ID F22041 Group Sheet | Family Chart
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Mary Elizabeth Gatewood
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Notes - Mary Elizabeth Gatewood Snelson, was the wife of my 2nd Granduncle, James Henry Snelson. She was therefore my 2nd Grandaunt by marriage. She was the Grandaunt of Orville and Wilbur Wright, who flew the first airplane almost 900 feet in 59 secondnds at Kitty Hawk, South Carolina, on December 16, 1903. My grandfather played with Orvile and Wilbur Wright brothers when he was a young child living near Oskaloosa, Iowa. The Wright brothers made their first flight one day after Grandpa Tripp's 32nd birthday. Mary Elizabeth Gatewood Snelson was tough! She married a couple of times after her husband, James Henry Snelson died. They had a homestead farm in northern Jewel County Kansas, which was just south of Superior, Nebraska. She married a Mr. Fitzsimmons and a Mr. Riley. None of the marriages lasted more than a few months or a year or two. They threatened her in various matters, one put her in the buggy and then frightened the horses so they ran, upset the buggy. She survived. Another time the nut on the wheel was removed and another "run-away," she survived. Another time her life was threatened if she didn't deed the property over, but the pluckey, spirited Mary Elizabeth did not budge. She rid herself of each of the greedy lechers. A Hank Peterson even tried to help one of the would be leachers by trying to trick Mary into signing over the deed to him with a promise to give her some money in a few days, but to no avail, she wasn't easily fooled. She d divorced the first and scared to death the other, Ella Snelson Sabin said, she did not really know what happened to the other one. Around 1900 she moved to Genoa, Nebraska, bought a home and her son Jackson lived with her till he married. Laterr, before her death, she deeded the farm to a Dr. Davis in Genoa to pay her medical bill. She had been quite ill for a few years, and in 1905 she passed away, buried in Genoa Cemetery, I think she would have been fun to know, says my third cousin Annie June Meese Hofmann, of Holdredge, Nebraska.