Martha Fisher Downey
B: 04/17/1848 ∙ Texarkana, Bowie, Texas, USA D: Age 31, 07/19/1879 ∙ Texarkana, Bowie, Texas, USA
Martha was Ada's mother. She died leaving several young children in the care of her husband, James Spear. James remarried to Ellen Jones, then they had several more children. Ellen resented raising her step-children and caused unhappiness in that family. Ada and her brother, Scott Spear left home as teenagers as a result. Apparantley the girls in the family could not read or write because Ada and her sister, Eudora, were not able to read or write. Cousin Isabel Tucker Friend told me that the girls were abused. James and Ellen moved to Glendale, California after Ada moved to Oklahoma.
Aunt Audra had this painting in her living room in Tishomingo (along with a feather bed). She and her siblings said that Martha was part Indian, tribe unknown.
