PollySmith

A Tribute to Aunt Polly Smith

There are some members of families that for one reason or another never marry. There have no children to visit their grave or to tell their family stories from long ago. Yet they've earned their moment in life, too.

A remarkable woman, Aunt Polly! First she was "Aunt Polly" to my Grandmother, Minnie Sara Smith, then "Aunt Polly" to my Mother, Evelyn. As a young child I knew her as "my Aunt Polly", never realizing how ,many years and how many family members she served as Aunt.

She began to practice her avocation of Aunt among her brother William's children The photos of her shopping and traveling with my Grand-ma Minnie is evidence she took her role seriously. Aunt Polly is on the far right, back. Her niece, Minnie Sara Smith,

b. 1882, stands in front of her. The smallest child, in front right is my mother, Evelyn Elizabeth Warfield., b. 1906, dau. of Minnie Sarah, great grand niece of Aunt Polly.

Photo taken in Providence RI. about 1909

Aunt Polly, first left in the top row, was Mary Jane Smith. She came to the USA about 1873, She was shunned by her fiancee, after having a cancerous breast removed. She made a trip to Rhode Island to visit her brother and restore her spirits. Believing the USA was the place to be, she never returned to England. She also never married, being either to modest or perhaps to hurt to complicate her life with another courtship.

Polly worked for many years as a telephone operator for the city of Providence.

When Minnie Sara "Smith" Warfield (see above) died in 1912. of kidney disease, Minnie's daughter, Evelyn Warfield, then 6 years old, (also see above,) went to live with Polly , who took her grandniece into her home. At the age of 65 she provided a save and loving home for Evelyn until her father remarried. Evelyn never forgot the selfless and tender care that Aunt Polly gave. When Ed Davies married Evelyn, he became very close to Aunt Polly, as did Ed and Evelyn's children when they were born. To the left is Aunt Polly, in her 80's, with my father, Ed. She was on a visit from Providence, RI..