ROMANCING THE GLOBE

The true-life story of Mary Jane Ridington Bottrall and her many surnames weaves through the lives of the Women of Winfield like a thread, binding generations together. She was a wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, sister-in-law, and friend. Her journey is one of love, loss, resilience, and reinvention.

As the saying goes, it is best to start at the beginning. But in Mary Jane’s case, her story begins long before she was even born.

Around 1840 in Cornwall, England, a young man named William Richards Symons found himself deeply in love with Rosina Symons Ridington. Whether he was her first cousin, suitor, or a hopeful “wannabe,” one thing was clear—he wanted to marry her. For reasons lost to time, Rosina refused his proposal. William’s response was both peculiar and prophetic: “Then I will wait for your daughter.”

At the time of this declaration, William was 19, and Rosina was just 17. Only months later, Rosina married Charles Bottrall on August 2, 1840, still barely more than a girl. Was it a love match, a matter of necessity, or simply fate intervening? There is no evidence to suggest urgency, but the timing does raise eyebrows.

Meanwhile, what was William doing while waiting for Mary Jane to grow up? In 1851, he was training as an Assistant Land & Mineral Surveyor under his uncle, Robert Symons, in Truro, Cornwall. Was he still pining for Rosina’s unborn daughter? Perhaps not. By 1861, William was recorded as a visitor in his uncle James R. Symons’ home in Gwinear, Cornwall. Curiously, the census listed him as married, yet no wife was in sight. Had he taken a wife and lost her? Or was this merely an error? The mystery lingers, unresolved but intriguing.

On May 4, 1864, Mary Jane, now a young woman of twenty, married William Richards Symons, the man who had sworn to wait for her. Unlike many women of her time, Mary Jane had received an exceptional education, made possible by a wealthy and generous aunt. She was not only well-read but also astonishingly fluent in seven languages. It was a remarkable feat for a young woman in the 19th century, positioning her as a well-bred lady fit for a comfortable life.

William, by then a successful civil engineer and businessman, was 46 years old. Shortly after their marriage, between 1865 and late 1866, the couple immigrated to Pottsville, Pennsylvania, possibly prompted by the devastating Copper Crash in Cornwall. By this time, their first child, Daisy, had been born, and William’s career in mining engineering was flourishing. The 1870 and 1880 U.S. censuses show the family living in Pottsville with three boarders and servants—an indicator of their affluence.

Despite their prosperity, tragedy struck repeatedly. Mary Jane and William had 12 children, yet only four survived past the age of 18. The grief of losing so many children must have weighed heavily on Mary Jane, though history remains silent on how she coped with such immense loss.

As in many tragic tales, just when stability seemed assured, fate intervened. On February 6, 1888, disaster struck. William was involved in a horrific train accident. Initial reports claimed he had been killed. Then, miraculously, he was found alive—only to succumb later to a deadly strep infection acquired during his recovery. After decades of hard work and resilience, his life ended in cruel irony.

In his will, William left everything to his beloved wife, including their home and extensive real estate holdings. However, there was one caveat: upon her death or remarriage, all assets were to be divided among their surviving children.

So, what became of Mary Jane? At 43, she was a strikingly attractive widow, both in appearance and financial standing. In an era when women could not vote and had few rights of their own, she now held power and wealth. But was she prepared to make her own choices, or had she spent too many years following the paths laid out for her?

The trials ahead would test her in ways she could not yet imagine.