According to my notes, Mary Hay Stotler was born January 27, 1864 in Sangamon township, Piatt County, Illinois to Hiram A. Stotler (1838-1920) and Hannah (Argo) Stotler (1833-1871). Her father was from Pennsylvania and mother was from Ohio. She was their second child, but Catherine E. Stotler died in 1862 less than a year old. She had two brothers, George and John, that survived to adulthood, and a sister Jane Gregory that was born and also died in 1869.
Mary grew up in the vicinity of Mahomet, Champaign County, Illinois and Mansfield, Piatt County, Illinois. Her mother died in 1871, and her father remarried before 1880. At the time of the 1880 census the family was living in Mansfield, Illinois. This photo dates to 1883. Mary was married to John Franklin Ross on March 27, 1889 in Mansfield, Illinois. John was also a native of that area, born in Mansfield August 2, 1859. His parents came from Pennsylvania.
Mary and John had seven children from 1890 to 1906. Their first child George Adam Ross was born in Illinois May 5, 1890, but their second, Mason Hiram Ross was born in Calhoun County, Iowa April 14, 1892. John and Mary lived in Calhoun county for the rest of their lives. John died December 11, 1934 and Mary died February 15, 1959. Both were buried at Lake Creek Cemetery, Rockwell City, Calhoun, Iowa.
The connection to the Brassfield surname is their daughter Clara Ross (1897-1994) married Frank Fowlie (1892-1977). Their daughter married Elvis John Brassfield. John and Mary would be my 2nd Great Grand parents.
