Evelyn "Evie" Farley was the ninth child born to John and Evelyn Farley, around 1867 in Hodgdon, Maine. Someone entered her birth date on FindAGrave as 16 August 1867. The 16th may be correct, but the 1900 census says that she was born in August 1866 and her ages on the 1870 and 1880 censuses corroborate that date. Unfortunately, her gravestone says that she died at age 37, which would put her birth year as 1867, but I would consider her three census records more reliable.
The first record on which I've seen her appear is the 1870 census from Fort Fairfield, Maine. Her parents, their domestic servant, and their eldest child, Amanda, appear on the bottom 4 lines of this record:
Three year-old Evie (listed as "Eva") is on line 5 on the following page, along with five of her other siblings:
Her baby sister Rose (listed on this census as Rosanne or Rosanna) would also be a Raven some day.
By June 1880, most of Evie's older siblings had struck out on their own and the rest of the Farley family had moved to Woodland, Maine. The town of Woodland had only been incorporated since March 5th of that year. Evie (spelled "Evay" this time) and her family occupy lines 6–11 on the following image:
I've not seen a marriage record, but Evie likely married John E. Raven some time around 1883 as their first child, Ethel May Raven was born 5 February 1884. Many children followed: Minnie Blanche (1887), William Henry (1889), Violetta "Lettie" (1891), Ernest Edward (1894), Mattie (1896), and a stillborn girl (1899).
The 1900 census finds John, Evie and their six children living in Wade Plantation, Maine on lines 68–75 in the image below:
I see two unreconciled pieces of info here. The 1900 census says that she has given birth to six children and has six children living. Her stillborn daughter's birth certificate is evidence of not only a seventh child, but also an eighth:
John and Evie's daughter, Mattie, was born in 1896 and listed as the "sixth" child born:
It's also interesting that the 1899 stillborn record appears to have had a February 1899 date scratched out. Was that the date of the seventh child's birth? It's possible if the eighth was delivered before full-term, I suppose.
Regardless, their next and last child, Lila Alta Raven, was born in Wade Plantation in 1901. Unfortunately, the "No. of Child" field was left blank on this record.
I'm not sure of the date of this photo (please let me know if you do), but she has the look of a tired mother here!
On 17 August 1903, Evelyn passed away in Wade Plantation of myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart muscle and usually caused by a viral infection. According to the book "One Hundred & Fifteen Years in Woodland", there were several epidemics in the county at that time, including scarlet fever, Diptheria, influenza, and smallpox.
I don't have a scan of her obituary yet, but her granddaughter, Minnie Raven, had transcribed her obituary and the accompanying poem that was printed in the Aroostook Republican in 1903:
Our community was shocked by the sudden death of Mrs. John Raven at her home Monday morning, Aug. 17. She was ill only a few days, but felt from the first that she would not recover. She lacked one day of being thirty-six years old. Besides a husband and seven children she leaves a (mother?) (four?) sisters, three brothers, and many other relatives and friends (to mourn their loss.??) Being a helpful and loving mother, loving and loved by relatives and friends, her death leaves a place that can never be filled again in this life.
I used the original poem here, the one used in the obit was hard to read and differs from the original, will try later to decipher the actual lines.
Another hand is beckoning us,
Another call is given;
And glows once more with angel-steps
The path that reaches heaven.
Alone unto our Father's will
One thought hath reconciled;
That He whose love exceedeth ours
Hath taken home His child.
"Fold her, O Father in thine arms
And let her henceforth be
A messenger of love between
Our human hearts and Thee."
Still let her mild rebuking stand
Betwen us and the wrong,
And her dear memory serve to make
Our faith in goodness strong.
--Excerpt from the poem by James Greenleaf Whittier
Evie was buried in Woodland Cemetery in Woodland.
However, her husband, John Edward Raven, would later marry Rose, who was Evie's younger sister and the widow of John's brother, William. John and Rose would be buried 200 miles south in Monroe, Maine.
If you see any mistakes or know of information that isn't included here, please