Mary Constance Huggins is hugely responsible for my interest in genealogy. Born near Glasgow, Scotland, in 1860 to an American father and an English mother, she was deeply attached to both nationalities. On the one hand, she passed down handwritten copies of her paternal line, making sure her children knew that William Bradford, Mayflower passenger and governor of Plymouth Colony, was her 6th great-grandfather. On the other hand, she wrote about her mother's heritage as the daughter of an English solicitor, and recorded the details of her own childhood growing up in Scotland. Her mother, Hamer Sarah Clarkson Huggins, had died when Mary Constance was seven, and her father, William Beers Huggins died in 1875. Con, as she was known, came to America in November, 1876. Several of her older brothers and sisters had already moved to America and in 1876, her half-brother Will and his wife Ozella, traveled to Scotland to bring Con and her younger brother Harry to the U.S. The four of them took the Victoria from Glasgow, stopping in Ireland along the way. They visited with Aunt Lizzie Catlin (their father's sister) in New York, then went to Mansfield, Ohio, where Con attended high school and then Ohio Central Normal School, earning a certificate to teach kindergarten in 1877. She taught kindergarten for six months, but in 1878, Will bought a sheep ranch near Emporia, Kansas and headed west. Their sister Beatrice went with Will and Ozella, and Con soon joined them.
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Mary Constance Huggins (Sprott) |
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William Huggins was about 17 years older than his half-sister, Mary Constance. |
What was a Normal School?
Ohio Central Normal School
More about Mary Constance's brothers and sisters
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