Maraman Family Reunion

The following article by Charles Hartley was originally published in The Pioneer News on 11 Jul 2024. It was based on earlier material previously located on this page.

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Sometime in the late summer or early fall of 1919, Susan Henderson Maraman gathered her family together for a group picture. Present were most of her children, their spouses and children. It may have been the last time they were all together in her lifetime as she died in June 1921.

The History Museum gained access to this photo more than a decade ago, and has received two slightly conflicting lists of names to go with it. We think we have correctly matched names to all but one face, but corrections and suggestions are welcome.

Susan, pictured in the middle wearing the dark dress (and numbered as 19 for identification), had married Charlie Mike Maraman in 1871, and together they reared nine children to adulthood, beginning with their daughter Ethel (#18 sitting beside her mother) who married James Ewing Crenshaw (#30 standing behind his wife).

Ethel and Ewing were married on 14 Oct 1908 at her parent's home, the Rev. S. P. Martin performing the ceremony. They had no children of their own, but appear to have adopted Ethel's nephew and niece, Hugo and Ollie Maraman, children of her brother Charles by his first wife, Zodie Shepherd Maraman who had died in 1911.

Ewing Crenshaw was one of two sons born to William and Martha (McKensie) Crenshaw, the brother being Ernest Crenshaw who died in 1917. Ewing was a farmer all his life, and also dabbled in real estate, owning several lots in Louisville. Ethel was left as a widow when he died in February 1932, but he left her well provided for, and made arrangements in his will for his adopted children as well.

After Ewing's death, Hugo Maraman took over the operation of the farm, and Ethel continued to live in the same place until her death in February 1962. Hugo, who we think is #1 in the photo on the bottom row, married Beatrice Shelton in 1931. At his death in 1992, he was survived by his widow, and four children: Lloyd, Leonard, Ollie and Barbara Allen.

Ewing and Ethel's adopted daughter, Ollie Lee Maraman (#12 in photo), married Jesse Calvin Boyd sometime in the mid to late 1920's, and they had a son they named Harold Calvin Boyd. Calvin and Ollie lived in their Bullitt County home until Ollie passed in November 1979, and Calvin followed the following June.

Hugo and Ollie's brother, William Irvin Maraman (#11, we think) continued to live with his father and step-mother. He married Virginia Kirby and they had a son Gerald. When William completed his World War II draft card, he indicated he was driving a Bullitt County school bus. Later he was listed as a truck driver in Louisville.

His father, Charles William Maraman (#27), following the death of his first wife, married Lille Ann Hall and they had two sons, William Russell and Edward Earl Maraman. Lillie (#21) is holding her baby, Edward (#22) who is the youngest person in the picture, having been born June 2, 1919. Seated nearby is her son William Russell Maraman (#7) who would die of influenza as a boy in 1928.

We think Edward was working as a machinist at International Harvester when he died in 1968, leaving two daughters: Glenna and Colette. His parents continued living in Bullitt County. Charles William died in 1964; Lillie lived until 1983.

Sitting on her mother's left was Eva Gertrude (#20), affectionately called Gertie, who had married Cleveland Alvin Masden in 1900. Cleve (#31), who was standing behind her in the photo, was a son of John Mackelvaney and Martha Elizabeth (Roby) Masden. He was also uncle to Woodrow Masden who worked in the school system most of his life. Cleve and Gertie apparently lost their only child early in life, as she is shown in the 1910 census with one child not living. They were a farm family out Beech Grove way. Cleve was 69 when he passed in 1948; Gertie lived to be 93.

Standing next to Cleve Masden were Howard (#32) and Emma (#33) Maraman. Howard Maraman married Emma Bowman, daughter of H. C. and Mary (Shepherd) Bowman. They had two daughters, Mary Catherine (#13), born in 1903, and Susan Ellen (#10), born two years later. Mary Catherine married James Henry Pope; Sue Ellen married George Z. Wigginton. The Popes had no children. He worked for the railroad. The Wiggintons were the parents of George Jr., Betty Ann (Robey), Sue Charles (Jones), and Mary Catherine (Harper) Wigginton.

The family was grateful to have Howard with them, and still mourned the loss of his brother David. Both men had been aboard the train in Shepherdsville on December 20, 1917 when the express train had destroyed the passenger cars, killing 49, and injuring as many more.

David and Howard were sitting near one another on the train when the crash occurred. Initially, both were thought to have been killed. Howard was laid beside the dead until someone noticed his hand move. The back of his skull was crushed. He was sent on the relief train to the hospital in Louisville where the crushed bones were removed and a silver plate put in its place. The scalp was pulled over it, and after a month he was sent home to become a walking invalid for the rest of his life.

David's widow, Wilhelmina "Minnie" (Saar) Maraman (#16) was sitting next to Ethel, with her daughter Ida (#17) in her lap. Seated near her feet was her daughter Eva Maraman (#3), and her son Charles Bernard Maraman (#6) was sitting at his grandmother's feet.

Charles married Margaret Ellen Philpot and they had two children: Donna Ray and Charles. They were a farm family, and Charles also worked for the Board of Education in maintenance. Ida Maraman married Roy Troutman, and together they operated a store on Buckman Street next to the courthouse for many years. They had two children: Peggy and Roy Gene. And Eva Maraman married Noah Whittle, and they had a son named David.

Minnie Maraman was 88 when she passed in 1977, and her children also enjoyed longevity, with Charles living 79 years, Eva 83, and Ida 88 years.

Sarah Ellen "Sallie" Maraman (#23) married Orbra Hall Masden (#34) in 1898, and they had three children: Orbra Lee (#26), Ophelia (#9) and Eugenia (#2). While Sallie was Charlie Mike and Susan's third daughter, she was the first to marry. She and Orbra lived long and productive lives into their eighties, he passing in 1958, she in 1967. Of their children, Orbra Lee married Nellie Mae Dawson who worked as a secretary for the county superintendent, while Orbra continued the family tradition of farming. Ophelia Mae remained single until late in life, and lived into the 21st century. Eugenia married Cecil Cash and they were the parents of Charles Cecil Cash. (Remember Cash's Store on Buckman Street?)

Next on our list is Grover Cleveland Maraman (#28) who was working as the agent at the railroad depot in town. He had married Mary Ella Cundiff (#24) and by this time had two children: Woodford (#5) and the baby Edna (#25) who was sitting in her mother's lap. They would later add a son, Robert, and a daughter Wilma.

Woodford Maraman married Hattie Eddington, daughter of John W. and Sudie (Hay) Eddington. When he completed his World War II registration, he was working for Gorman's Construction Company, but was listed back on the farm in 1950 where they appear to have lived out their lives.

Edna Maraman married Roscoe Waters in 1945, and by 1950 they had the first two of their children, Everett and Betty Jo. At that time they were living in the Salt River community, and Roscoe was working for an air filter company.

James Wilson Maraman (#35) was the youngest of Charlie Mike and Susan's children. He married Mary Ethel Morrison (#14) in Larue County in 1913, and by the time this picture was taken they had three children: Mildred (#4), Richard (#8) and Archie (#15), the baby in his mother's lap. They would go on to have at least five more children in the years to come.

Like many of his siblings, James was a farmer. He and Ethel lived long and fruitful lives, living into their mid to late eighties. Of their children pictured here, Mildred married Irvin Douglas Robards in 1939, and they had four children: John Douglas who died young, and Darla, Jimmy and Judy. Mildred was 87 when she passed in 2002. Richard married Beulah Hagan and they had a son named for his father, but known as Barney Maraman. Richard was the funeral director at Maraman's in Shepherdsville for more than forty years until his death in 2007. And the baby Archie would marry Norma Quinn in 1943 and have a daughter named Susan. Archie spent most of his working life as an engineer for Bell South.

And that leaves number 29. It was first suggested that the picture was taken in 1917, and that this was David Maraman; but each of the three babies pictured were born after David's death. A later suggestion was that this was Herman Crenshaw or a brother of Ewing Crenshaw (#30), but I find no connection between Herman and the Maramans, and Ewing's only brother Ernest died in 1917.

The only one of Charlie Mike and Susan's children that doesn't seem to appear in the photo is their daughter Josie who married Fred Harshfield. They did have a son named Walter who would have been about 15 at the time, and it is possible that this might be Fred, and that we've misidentified Walter as someone else; but where is Josie?

So there you have it; a large family gathering of one of the several branches of the Maramans that occupied Bullitt County a century and more ago. I hope you've enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.