The Pioneering Buser Family:Information about Mary Catherine Buser
Mary Catherine Buser (b. 08 Sep 1831, d. 20 Mar 1917)
Notes for Mary Catherine Buser:
Taken from "Pioneer Buser Families and Their Descendants"written by Kenneth K. and Mildred Buser
Mary Catherine Buser was born in Maryland on September 8, 1831. She made the trip via covered wagon from Frederick County over the old National Road to Xenia , Ohio. It is doubtful if she ever actually remembered much about the ordeal since she was only two years old at the time. She grew into a tall and erect young woman who enjoyed the dances and parties of the area, where she met Benjamin T. Farber, a struggling young cobbler who, orphaned at nine years of age, was helping support four brothers and one sister.
They were married on October 25, 1848 in Xenia, by the Reverend Henry Willard of the German Reformed Church. Due to the fact that Mary was only 17 years old it was necessary for her father to give his consent. The records show that he did. The young couple went to housekeeping in only one room, likely close to the cobbler shop. But they had hardly gotten settled when Benjamin took off for the gold fields of California with of other 49ers.
In a letter written on October 7, 1947, Fannie Farber Wolff, the daughter of the Farbers, tells that when her father returned from the gold fields he brought considerable gold. A portion of it he had made into five gold rings which he presented to his bride of only a few months. Mary wore these rings alternately because they had been made without alloy and each one became so thin that they were almost wire-like and cut her fingers. In later life they were given one to each of her five children.
Benjamin did not go back to his cobbler's bench after California. Instead he started making bricks and constructing houses in Xenia. He was very successful at this and many homes still stand which he built before the turn of the century.
In 1872 they purchased a lot at 660 South Detroit Street in Xenia, where he built their permanent home. The bricks for the house were formed of clay on the back side of the lot and were also burned there. It was a large house situated on the front of the lot near the sidewalk, and consisted of eight rooms sixteen feet square, four up and four down, connected by a beautiful solid cherry staircase leading up from a hall eight feed wide. The kitchen and pantry were in addition to the other rooms. Itwas occupied until 1917, when it was purchased from the estate by Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Fenney, a prominent attorney in Xenia. This writer and Mrs. Buser, were received very courteously by the Fenneys who took much time to show us the house and talk about it . He stood on the front porch, runs all around the front and down the south side, and pointed out houses Mr. Farber had built that could be seen from there. There were several, mostly constructed of brick, as with the elegant old home in which we were welcomed.
Benjamin passed away December 22, 1901 and was buried in Woodland Cemetery at Xenia. Mary lived in the old home until March 20, 1917, when she died at the age of 85 years, 6 months and 11 days. She was laid to rest beside her husband in Woodlawn Cemetery. (There is a difference in the names of the cemeteries where they are buried, perhaps Mr. Kenneth misunderstood or simply misspelled it.)
1910 Census Xenia Township, Xenia City, Greene County, Ohio, April 18,1910
South Detroit St. 660 146 147 Farber, Mary A. Head F W 78 WD2 2 MD VA MD English Occupation None Yes Yes No Own Free House
Farber, Anna M. Daughter F W 44 S OH VA MD English None Yes Ys No
More About Mary Catherine Buser:
Burial: Unknown, Woodland Cemetery, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio.
More About Mary Catherine Buser and Benjamin T. Farber:
Marriage: 25 Oct 1848, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio.
Children of Mary Catherine Buser and Benjamin T. Farber are:
- Alwilda Farber, b. 1849, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio, d. 1850, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio.
- +John C. Farber, b. 1852, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio, d. date unknown.
- +James H. Farber, b. 1853, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio, d. 21 Mar 1964, Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio.
- Infant 1 Farber, b. 1854, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio, d. 1854, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio.
- Benjamin T. Farber, Jr., b. 1856, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio, d. 1859, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio.
- Infant 2 Farber, b. 1860, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio, d. 1860, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio.
- Anna M. Farber, b. 1861, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio, d. 1921, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio.
- +Fannie Belle Farber, b. 1865, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio, d. 1948, Xenia, Greene County, Ohio.