Hello fellow Rock family Genealogists. This is both an informative post and a query regarding Mary Elizabeth Rock, daughter of Charles Rock and Charlotte Maria Bourne, born 1875 in St Thomas, Elgin, Ontario, Canada. I have discovered in my diggings that Mary Elizabeth Rock was actually a stepdaughter of Charles Rock, and that her father's surname was likely Brown. Whether her mother was actually ever married to a Mr. Brown I have not yet determined.

[Query #1 - Does anyone know who this Mr. Brown is?]

How did I discover this? If you examine the newspapers in St Thomas, Ontario, Canada, you will find that William Charles KING married *Mary E. BROWN* in the home of Mr. ROCK on 20 Mar 1909. A few days later, on the 27th, it was reported that Mrs. W.C. KING nee Mary E. BROWN had committed bigamy and was the *step-daughter* of Charles Rock and wife of Joseph CAMPBELL. Precise documentation can be found at http://www.elginogs.ca/Home/ancestor-indexes/newspapers/st-t.... (Copying data directly from the site without prior permission breaks copyright, which is why I direct you to the site for the exact wording.)

You will find Mary Elizabeth King residing with her husband William Charles King and her son LeRoy Campbell in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa on the 1910 US Federal Census listed as Charles King, Mary King and Le Roy Campbell. On the 1925 Iowa State Census you will find Charles King is married to a woman named Minnie. Her maiden name is Minnie Bryant as far as I can tell, though I have not found documentation and I do not recall the family tree from which I extracted this information. (Perhaps the Cheney or Shumate family tree?)

Anyhow, I have found Minnie King residing in Des Moines in 1915. Clearly Charles and Minnie King married sometime between 1910 and 1915. This means that Mary Elizabeth King and Charles King divorced sometime after 1910 but before 1915. (At least, we hope this is the case, not that she committed bigamy yet again.)

Some family trees have listed Mary as having deceased in 1912 or 1913 in either Iowa or Canada, and I wish to inform future genealogists that this information is false. Mary was quite alive in 1925. In 1925 Charlotte Maria (Bourne) Rock's obituary in St Thomas newspapers mentions her daughter, *Mrs. Mary Patterson*. So we know that Mary married a Mr. Patterson sometime between 1910 and 1925.

[Query #2 - Does anyone know who this Mr. Patterson is, and when they got married?]

And finally, the Cheney Family Tree lists that Mary Elizabeth (Rock) King died in St Thomas on 5 Jan 1929. I have not seen the documentation for this, and the tree neglected to include information on her third husband so I worry that this information may not be true.

[Query #3 - When and where did Mary die?]

So in summary, Mary Elizabeth Brown was the biological daughter of Charlotte Maria (Bourne) Rock and step-daughter of Charles Rock. She married first Joseph Campbell on 7 Aug 1895 and had a son, Leroy Campbell (who appears to have been born out of wedlock two years before). On 20 Mar 1909 she married William Charles King. Sometime after 1910, she married an unknown Mr. Patterson, and died sometime after 1925.