Mary Willard
May 12, 1856 [Mary Willard wrote this entry.]
Monday. Cloudy day. Father & May papering all day long, they say it is pretty dull buisness, I shall have my turn at it before long. Mary made pan cakes for supper Mother sewing remodling dresses &c, Oliver has a sore in his ear it commenced Saturday & is no better, Mr Cornstalk & son called to bring back some of our sheep. Mr C. wants Ann to come over to our school which will begin on the 20th of this month, Frank writing. Mary T washing churning &c. The dining room lack [?] little of being papered, that little will be left till the border is put on, Gloomy rainy dark day again.
Frances and Mary Willard shared an incredibly close relationship as sisters and even best friends. Throughout their childhoods they spent much of their time together and even went away to school together at Milwaukee Female College. Much of Frances Willard’s childhood journal entries state the daily activities of family members and friends, but the journal excerpts about Mary Willard are consistently more engaged. This more detailed information about Mary Willard reflects the activities of Frances Willard herself, and exhibits the time shared by the sisters.
The sisters’ relationship is especially highlighted in this journal entry. Not only was Mary Willard allowed access to Frances Willard’s journal to read, but Mary wrote in the journal. Few others throughout the decades of journals wrote entries or commentaries, but Mary Willard used the journal to record her own perceptions in her sister’s notebooks. The inclusion into Frances Willard’s private materials and the active role of her sister in their contents expose the closeness of the sisters throughout their childhoods.
Mary Willard influenced Frances Willard’s childhood most of all their other family members. Mary may not have been the most obvious role model to Frances Willard, but her sisterhood and friendship impacted the decisions that Frances Willard made as a young girl and even in her career as a teacher. Together Mary and Frances Willard formed a bond that proved to Frances Willard the importance of female relationships.
June 8, 1863
On this same side of the page, in my "red Journal," one year ago tomorrow I wrote these words:
"Mary is dead."
On year ago this morning, she died. And I haven't words to write, now that this first return of that awful day has come. "Speech is silver,-silence is golden." In silence I will "think my thoughts." a letter, written to Father & Mother the lonely, heart aching pair,-shall be my Record of this day.
One of the most devastating moments in Frances Willard’s life was the death of her sister, Mary Willard. Their childhood together remained one of the first and most influential female relationships that Frances Willard formed and cherished. Mary Willard’s death left a hole in Frances Willard’s innermost circle that she tried to fill by considering her sister in her adult actions and decisions.
Growing up in Janesville, Wisconsin, Frances and Mary Willard developed a friendship that grew as they shared impactful experiences. They spent all of their days together and formed a trio of between the sisters and their mother, Mary Thompson Hill Willard, that first made Frances Willard consider their positions as women. As they grew up, Frances and Mary Willard continued to share experiences when they went away to school together in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The sisters’ relationship evolved as the girls grew older, making Mary Willard’s death a devastating loss. Mary Willard then assumed a posthumous role as an almost saint-like figure in Frances Willard’s life, thus shaping her early life in childhood, and adult influences in death.