I was born Miriam Ardith Hartigan in Norfolk, NE, daughter of Stuart Hartigan and Edith Isaacs Hartigan in 1934. At the age of six my parents separated and divorced, and my mother and I moved to So. Illinois where she was born and grew up. My dad was the son of Thomas Hartigan and Jesse Geary Hartigan and my mother was the daughter of Willis Allen (Cooper) Isaacs and Mamie Alice Watson Isaacs, though a typed birth certificate from Vermilion Co., Illinois lists her as Dora Alice Watson, daughter of Obediah Watson and Emma Catherine Elliott Watson. I don't think they had typewriters when my grandmother was born, so I have been wondering what the original document looked like where they got their information to type one up and send to me. I have the divorce papers of my grandparents and they state her name as Mamie. I have her death certificate and it states her name as Mamie, (my mother, her daughter) gave that information. Her tombstone says Mamie. I have a document where she purchased some land that has her name as Mamie. I do not believe my mother ever knew that her name was Dora, if that is the case.

My mother married young at the age of 15, to a Homer Skillion, age 18. I do not know when that union ended but there were no children. She married my dad, Stuart, in 1930 and they divorced in 1941, I was their only child. She married a Benjamin Earl Aldridge in 1942 and had one son by him.

My dad married Eva Beach in 1942 and the marriage lasted until his death in 1979. They had two children, a son and a daughter.

Thomas Hartigan and Jesse Geary Hartigan had three children that grew to maturity. Paul Douglas Hartigan who married Mary Cary, Stuart who married my mom and Eva, Leola Edmona Hartigan who married Lyle Barnhardt. To this union also were born Azella and James who died very young, Azella about 6 years old and James about 6 months old.

My grandmother Mamie never remarried and my mother was her only child, she did have a son who died at birth in 1903. My grandfather Willis (Cooper) remarried,Delia Moore, and had a son who died of a motor vehicle accident in his 20s.