Died in Florida

Mrs. Catherine M. Mays, of Peru, Passes away.

Many of our readers will remember the family of Capt. Samuel Mays, who moved to Kingston from South Carolina just after the war and lived here till 1875. The following account of the death of Mrs. Mays, which we copy from the Tampa, Fla., Daily Times of March 21 st, will be read with sadness by her friends in this county:

“Late in the afternoon of Wednesday, March 14 th, there passed away at her home in Peru, Mrs. Catherine M. Mays, the wife of Samuel E. Mays, one of Hillsborough county’s most esteemed and highly respected citizens. She was 57 years old and a devout, earnest Christian, a member of the Baptist church. Her death was the result of a severe attack of grip, from which she could not rally in her invalid condition. She is the mother of J. F. Mays, of this city, and S. E. Mays, of Plant City. The times joins the many friends of the family in expressions of sympathy and condolence.

“The subject of this sketch was one of six children born to Rev. Matthew Moseley, an eminent Baptist divine in his day.

“Catherine Mosely was born March 29 th, 1836, at the home of her aunt, Mrs. Kitty Toombs, the mother of Gen. Robert Toombs, of Georgia.

“Many years of her early life were spent at the home of the Toombs family and her cousin Robert became almost a brother to her in affection. As she grew up she developed into an extremely beautiful and clever woman. Possessed of a mind much above the ordinary and reared in refinement and luxury, she acquired the friendship and esteem of many eminent people who loved to visit the home of General Toombs in ante-bellum days.

“She was married in 1857 to Samuel E. Mays, of Pendleton, S. C. She presided over a refined home until the civil war came in 1861. Her husband went to the front and then the strong-minded woman took entire charge of her husband’s large property, which she managed with signal skill and ability until Appomattox came and ended the war, and her soldier husband came home to start life anew under new conditions.

“In the year 1875 Samuel E. Mays, shorn of much of his property, came to Florida in search of health and a congenial climate. For eighteen years his devoted wife has accommodated herself to change of fortune and shown the best attributes of a noble and patient character,

She leaves several sons and one daughter to mourn the loss of a noble Christian mother.

The bereaved husband, Capt. S. E. Mays, resides upon his large orange grove property at Peru, Fla.