Tombstone Tuesday: Margaretta Shankle Space

Second great-grandmother, Margaretta Ann Shankle, was a pioneer in every sense of the word.

The second child of the eleven known children of Jacob Shankle and Rachel Click, Margaretta (aka Margaret) was born 17 April 1828 in Pennsylvania. The family is known to have been living in New Bethlehem, Clarion county, PA, by 1842. Margaret married Zephaniah Space on 19 Nov 1847 and by the early 1850's Margaret and Zeph emigrated to northern Wisconsin with their two children, Allen Zephaniah and Sarah Etta, settling in the village of Jenny on the shores of the Wisconsin River.

Zephaniah and Margaret ran one of the early boarding houses before building one of the first hotels which they named "The Clarion House." For unknown reasons, the name was changed afterwards to "The Eagle House." Land and court documents show the couple preferred to sign their names as 'Z. Space" and "M.A. Space." As the logging industry began to expand in this area of the state, relatives on both sides of the the family relocated to Jenny, now known as the city of Merrill. While some remained for a short time or a 'season', many put down roots and settled in what eventually became Lincoln county. Two of Margaret's sisters, Catherine and Sarah, both called Jenny home but only Sarah remained a resident. Catherine's daughter, Sarah Etta Frazier, and two nephews, Oscar Luzerne Frazier and William Marvin Andrew Frazier all made Jenny their permanent home.

Margaret and Zephaniah were granted a divorce on 16 April 1877, the day before Margaret's 49th birthday after almost 30 years of marriage. As part of the settlement, Margaret became the sole owner of The Eagle House as well as the title to a number of land purchases she had made over the years; enough to have a subdivision named "M.A. Space" as well as prime land along the Wisconsin River. Following the death of her daughter in 1903, Margaret amended her will to include the directive that upon her death, the land along the Wisconsin River would be sold and given to her granddaughters as they would need to have money of their own "apart from their husbands."

Money Margaret had received as part of her inheritance from her father was used to purchase land in north central Iowa, where Margaret, son Allen and his family relocated in the late 1880's until 1894 when the family returned to northern Wisconsin. While Margaret no longer had a home in Merrill, she divided her time between her two nephews, Allen and Nancy's home in Langlade county, as well as numerous trips to visit daughter Sarah Etta McCord, now living in the territory of Arizona, as well as lengthy trips back to Clarion county, PA.

Margaret died at the home of Allen and Nancy on 27 Nov 1904.

Copyright (c) 2010 Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski