Mary Vetter Low Lock 1888 - 1970 My Grandaunt on my Father's Side

Mary Vetter right with her
sister Anna

Note: This is the last of my 16 grandaunts and granduncles that I've written a biography for on this blog.

Mary was born November 2, 1888 in Chicago, Illinois when her family was living at 1328 20^th Street. She was the third daughter born to George and Katherine Vetter. Mary’s middle name Augusta is the same as their first-born daughter who was named Augusta Elizabeth. Clearly, the name Augusta had significance for George and Katherine but I have yet to figure out why – I don’t find the name among their siblings or parents or grandparents. Augusta died before Mary was born but Mary did have one older sister Kate. She was one when her sister Lizzie was born, three when Emma was born, and four when my grandmother Anna was born.

Mary was twelve when the 1900 census was taken and was attending school. That is when they were living at 409 21^st Street in Ward 10 of Chicago. She was fifteen when her mother died in 1904 shortly after the family had moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. Two of her sisters, Anna and Emma, were married when Mary was twenty. A year later when the 1910 census was taken Mary was living at 1449 Valencia Street in Los Angeles and she was working as a maid in the household of Jacob and Frieda Joseph with their two children Lillian age nine and Paul, seven.

1910 Census when Mary was living with the Joseph family

Mary was the last of the five Vetter daughters to marry on May 25, 1912. At the time she was living at 221 W. 51^st Street when she married Fred Mason Low. Fred was the son of James M. Low and Josie Lathrop of Los Angeles. He was born in Kingman, Kansas but grew up in Los Angeles. Fred’s WWI draft registration dated June 5, 1917 shows a residence at 128 Oak Street in Porterville which is in Tulare County, California. Mary and Fred had a daughter Doris in 1917 who appeared on the 1920 census when the three of them were living at 3244 Alta Avenue in Fresno, California and Fred was working as a plaster installer. They were living at the same location in 1930 and their son Leonard had joined the family. Doris was fourteen and Leonard was nine according to the census. Mary was twenty-four in 1913 when her father died.

L-R Lewis and Anna Pattillo with Mary and Fred Low

In July of 1930 Lottie and Ed Pattillo went to Fresno to visit with Mary and Fred and their children Doris and Leonard. Doris took them to Roeding Park and led a tour of the sights in Fresno while her mother and aunt Anna gossiped about their eldest sister Kate whom they did not get along with. In 1939 Lottie wrote that the Low family had plans to leave Fresno and move to Oakland.

The same foursome - Lewis, Anna, Mary and Fred

Fred died on March 12, 1964 when he was living in Alameda County, California. Three years later on August 24, 1967 Mary married for a second time to, Ernest Alvin Lock. Ernest was born in Chariton, Iowa and worked as a barber. Previously Ernest was married to Isabel Williams with whom he had three children. Mary was 78 when she married Ernest. Sadly, this marriage did not last long because Mary suffered a heart attack and died on January 13, 1970 at the age of 81. Mary is buried in Clovis Cemetery in Fresno. Ernest died in 1977 and is buried in Arbor Vitae Cemetery in Madera County with his first wife.

Anna and Mary on a picnic or camping trip

Mary and Anna ca. 1940

Anna and Mary ca. 1939

Mary and Lewis Pattillo ca. 1940

Mary's son Leonard with his wife Betty and their
son Jim

Mary's birth record 1888

Doris Low's Roosevelt High School
photo, Fresno, age 16

Ernest A Lock headstone

Mary Vetter Low Lock headstone, Clovis, California

Sources for this Post: Birth and marriage records, 1900 – 1930 censuses, FindAGrave record, BillionGraves, Anna Vetter Pattillo’s bible notes, Lottie Pattillo’s journal notes, FamilySearch and Ancestry websites.

Ed Pattillo with his cousin Doris at Roeding Park, 1938