Mary Jane Quickel (maiden name: Axe) was born on February 2, 1833, in New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania to Adam Axe and Jane McKenzie. The family eventually moved to York, Pennsylvania, she received her early education there. Her father died sometime before 1850. She married John A. Quickel around 1853, and their son Henry was born around 1857. The family lived in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and her husband worked as a carpenter and watchman. By 1860, they owned $600 of real estate, and a decade later, their wealth had grown to $1,500 of real estate and $300 of personal property.

 

She and her husband may have separated in the 1870s. She and her son moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1872, while John apparently lived in Conewago, Pennsylvania. Mary Jane was a member of the Market Square Presbyterian Church and taught Sunday School there for many years.

 

Her husband died in 1888, and she applied for a widow’s pension two years later. She remained in Harrisburg, and sometime in the 1890s, a woman named Ida E. Marshall moved into the house as a “boarder” and “companion.” The two women lived together until at least 1910. Mary Jane’s health began deteriorating in the late 1910s, and she died of myocarditis in Harrisburg on April 5, 1922.

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