Mary Ann Stewart Smart's Latter Years

In 1873, her younger sister, Sarah White (Darnall) (Martin) Smith [pictured below] died at the age of 49, leaving behind many children from her two marriages.

When Joseph Smart died, Mary was about 39 years old and had seven children to care for. William, the oldest, was not quite seventeen and the baby, Moses Jackson, wasn't quite two. A short while after loosing her husband, Mary lost her two younger daughters. Susanah died first--probably of Influenza. Jane died about a year later--probably of Cholera.

Mary's family remained close their whole lives. Most of them lived near their parents, Thomas and Rachel (Daughetee) Darnall, who maintained a home near Redmon--about two miles south and east of Brocton, Embarass Township, Edgar County, Illinois.

 In 1874, at a family gathering, Mary Ann Smart composed this poem about her sister:

While visiting Lime Springs, Iowa (close to Fillmore County, Minnesota) in 1879 at the age of 73 she signed her granddaughter Martha Ann Stewart's autograph book thusly:

"Mary Ann Stewart Darnall was my name. I was born in Clark Co., Kentucky March 20th, 1806 Married Joseph R. Smart, August 9th, 1827

Mary Ann S Smart my name is now my age was seventy three March 20th, 1879. Wrote June 1879.

My eyes are now closing to rest
My body must soon be removed
And moldering by buried in dust
No more to be... "
Mary Ann Stewart (Darnall) Smart never married again. She lived the greater part of her life--47 more years--after Joseph passed on. She didn't know how to write when younger, scribing her "X" on official documents. However, she learned how to at some point in her life.

Not much is known of her life during those 47 years, but she remained close to her children and their families.

She probably sold the land in Illinois and moved to either Wisconsin, South Dakota or Minnesota with her children. Which child she stayed with all those years is not known.

At some point, she went to Texas where she spent her later years with her son James and his family. She died there on September 18th, 1892 at the age of 88. She is buried at Ballew Cemetery nearby in Aubrey, Texas, next to her son James Moses Smart.