The Journey of Mary Catherine

By Mary Graybill

Originally published on The Leaf on the Tree

Born in the early days of the Civil War, Mary Catherine came into the world in April 1862 in Wolfsville, nestled in the hills of Frederick County, Maryland. Her birth was the beginning of a life shaped by both tragedy and transformation

Her father, John would die before Mary was two years old--leaving her mother a young widow with two daughters. That early tragedy marked the beginning of Mary's story, but it did not define her.

Instead, her life unfolded as a journey of resilience, work, and change.

Threads of Work, Paths of Change

By the time Mary was a teenager, she was already working. The 1880 census lists her as a dressmaker in Jackson District, Frederick County. Sewing was a respectable trade for a young woman, offering independence and a livelihood at a time when opportunities for women were limited.

Later records show her shifting roles. In the 1900 Census, she appears as a domestic laborer in Catoctin. By 1910, she had moved to Manassas, Virginia, living in a boarding house. Whether for employment, marriage, or necessity, this move marked her first step outside her Maryland roots.

A Journey of Love, Loss and Renewal

What makes Mary's story unique is the succession of names she carried through her life. When she was just a child her mother married Josiah Kline. Mary adopted the Kline name at times to more closely connect with her half siblings.

She married a couple of times, each ending in loss.

She married James Henry Willet Williams after 1880 and they started a family in 1884 going to have three children: Stella C., Elmer Herbert, and Virginia M.

James passed in March 1896 before his daughter Virginia was born in December of that same year.

Later Mary met and Married Wallace Anthony Sonafrank after 1914. Wallace was widowed two years after his forth child was born to Barbara Margaret Hanawalt. Having come from a large family she embraced his children as though they were her own. George H, Elizabeth H, Stella B and Nancy J.

When Mary passed away in 1951, she was buried under that name at the Sams Creek Church of the Brethren Cemetery new New Windsor, Maryland.

Her gravestone reads simply "Mary C. Sonafrak." A quiet end to a life filled with change.

The Silent Strength of Her Story

Mary's paper trail is incomplete--like so many women of the 19th century, her story glimpsed mostly through census records and shifting surnames.

Yet her strength is evident in the very fact that she endured. She lived through:

The Civil War and its aftermath

Reconstruction

Two World Wars

The Great Depression

She watched her mother remarry and raise a second family. She remained close to her sister, Laura Anna, who would live until 1947. In fact, Laura's obituary listed Mary as a surviving sister--still alive at age 85.

This acknowledgement speaks volumes: Mary, despite her moves and named changes remained rooted in her family.

Remembering Mary Catherine

Mary Catherine’s story is one of movement and endurance. She worked, she adapted, she married, and she carried forward the legacy of both the Marker and Kline families.

Her life reminds us that not all stories are neatly tied together in documents or headlines. Some live on in quiet resilience, in the ties of family, and in the memories preserved in gravestones and census lines.

Like her mother before her, Mary endured.

And in doing so, she left a legacy of strength.

Next in the Series: Laura Anna Marker - The Matriarch of many generations