Photo from book by Jody Allen
I feel sure I would have liked Delia. She was a strong and remarkable woman.
She had a rough start. She lost her mother before she was seven years old. She lost her father when she was eleven. A few years later her 2nd step-mother remarried and they moved from her home on the farm in Jerseyville to the city- East St. Louis. We don't know if Delia stayed with her step-mother or was raised by a guardian, whom Mary Fahey paid to care for her. We don't know what Delia's relationship was with her half-sister, Maggie Allen, but we can guess that Maggie, who tragically died of typhoid fever in 1889, was her mother's favorite. But when she turned 18, Delia moved out on her own. On August 20, 1879, she married John Aylward at St. Francis Xavier Church in Jerseyville.
John Richard Aylward was a handsome young man, whose parents had also come from Ireland. He was a car mechanic- an exciting occupation in those early days of automobiles. Later in his life, he would work as a brick mason.
The young couple soon started a family. Their first son, born in 1882, was named Francis Thomas (after both their fathers) and called "Frank." There would be seven children; Frank, Mary Ellen "Ella," James Francis, Katherine Agnes "Kate," John Richard, Margaret Lydia, and Cecilia Elizabeth born in 1897. They lived on Maple Avenue in Jerseyville.
At some point in his life, John Aylward began to struggle with alcoholism. The newspaper story below, tells the sad tale of his final days.
A later biography tells how Julia survived with seven children after the death of her husband.
"When Mr. Aylward died, Mrs. Aylward was left with a family of children. In order to comfortably support them she entered upon an unusual line of work for one of her sex, paper hanging, and was so successful in it that by 1915 she was one of the leading inside decorators of Jerseyville and vicinity. She is a lady of remarkable force of character and ability, and is held in the very highest esteem by all who have the honor of her acquaintance, for they appreciate the determination and pluck that is required to enable her to enter what was then regarded as exclusively a man's field, and to "make good" at her work, and to all times command respect and confidence."
Source: Biographies from the History of Jersey County, 1919 Oscar Brown Hamilton
In 1910, Delia was 48 years old, living in Jerseyville and renting a house on 618 East Carpenter Street. Three of her children, John 18, Margaret 16, and Cecilia 13, were still living with her.
Year: 1910; Census Place: Jerseyville Ward 3, Jersey, Illinois; Roll: T624_295; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 0052; FHL microfilm: 1374308
In 1930, she was 69 years old, and living at 306 Maple Ave. with her daughter Katie Aylward Atchison and her family.
Year: 1930; Census Place: Jerseyville, Jersey, Illinois; Roll: 522; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 0008; Image: 119.0; FHL microfilm: 2340257
In 1940, she was 78 years old, and living at 719 East Carpenter Street. Her 47 year old son, John, was living with her and working on a project with the W.P.A. This census tells us that, like many women of her time, Delia never went to school past the sixth grade.
Year: 1940; Census Place: Jerseyville, Jersey, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00817; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 42-8
Yet, orphaned and widowed, in a time when women were not expected to have a career, she began and built a flourishing business while raising seven children. Three of her sons served in World War I.
Delia passed away at age 92, on October 12, 1953. She was buried next to her husband, John, in the Saint Francis Xavier Cemetery in Jerseyville.
Delia Allen Aylward's children were:
Francis Thomas "Frank" b Sept 10, 1882. Frank served in WWI. He died April 13, 1957 and is buried at St. Francis.
Mary Ellen "Ella" b Jan 19, 1884, married Clarence A. Hughes in 1904 but was widowed by 1920. Ella lived at 407 Maple Ave. in Jerseyville. She died Jan 28, 1976 and is buried at St. Francis.
James Francis- b Dec 2, 1886, helped his mother with painting and paper hanging in her business. He served as a cook in the 110th mortar battery, 60th Field Artillery Brigade, 35th Div. in WWI. He died Feb 8, 1948 and is buried at St. Francis.
Katherine Agnes "Kate" b April 5, 1889, married William H. Atchison in 1908. William was a barber in Jerseyville. They lived next door to Ella at 409 Maple Ave. Kate died March 14, 1977 and is buried at St. Francis.
John b Aug 23, 1891, worked on an ambulance in Co. 334 during WWI. In 1940 he was living with Delia at 719 East Carpenter street in Jerseyville. He died Jan 15, 1968 and is buried at St. Francis.
Margaret Lydia b June 12, 1894, married Harry Oakes Taylor in 1915. They lived in Nameoki, East St. Louis, Madison, Illinois. Margaret died March 30, 1981.
Cecilia b March 23, 1897 married Earl Birkenmayer, a farmer in Jerseyville. Cecilia died Oct 31, 1986 and is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Jerseyville.
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