Mary Louisa Steele1,2,3,4,5

#45, b. 29 October 1876, d. 30 December 1960
Father*Thomas Steele4,3,6 b. 29 Jun 1840, d. 23 May 1918
Mother*Hannah Matilda Mineard4,3,6,7 b. 2 Jan 1837, d. 20 Feb 1921
Mary Louisa Steele|b. 29 Oct 1876\nd. 30 Dec 1960|p22.htm|Thomas Steele|b. 29 Jun 1840\nd. 23 May 1918|p27.htm|Hannah Matilda Mineard|b. 2 Jan 1837\nd. 20 Feb 1921|p28.htm|James Steele||p32.htm||||Edward Mineard|b. c 1810\nd. 20 Aug 1879|p33.htm|Sarah Cox|b. 11 Jul 1812\nd. 10 Feb 1871|p316.htm|
ChartsEdith Woodley Bailey Family Tree
RelationshipMother of Edith Bertha Woodley.
Name Variation Mary Louisa Steele was also known as May Steele.6,8,9 
Birth*She was born on 29 October 1876 at Torquay, Devon, England.4,10,11,12,1,3,6,8,9,13 
(with Parents) Census1881FedForeignShe appeared on the 1881 Federal Census of Frant, Sussex, England in the household of her parents, Thomas Steele and Hannah Matilda Mineard.3 
Occupation*She was a corset maker's apprentice on 5 April 1891 at London, England, probably in her parents' corset-making business.6 
(with Parents) Census1891FedForeignShe appeared on the 1891 Federal Census of London Marylebone, England in the household of her parents, Thomas Steele and Hannah Matilda Mineard.6 
Census1901FedForeign*She appeared on the 1901 Federal Census of Harwich St. Nicholas, Essex, England at 6 Vansittart Street, enumerated 31 March 1901, as a boarder in the home of Hilda Layton, a fellow officer in the Salvation Army.8 
OccupationShe was a lieutenant in the Salvation Army on 31 March 1901 at Essex, England.8 
NoteOn 11 August 1902 she received mail c/o Capt Gale, Salvation Army, Crediton, Devon.14 
(Witness) ResidenceIn July 1903 Mary Louisa Steele received mail at the home of William Percy Lott and Mabel Adeline Steele, her brother -in-law and sister, at 64 Beulah Rd., Thornton Heath, Surrey, England.15,16,17 
(Witness) ResidenceIn August 1903 Mary Louisa Steele received mail at the home of William Edward T. Jenner and Beatrice Bertha Steele, her brother -in-law and sister, at Swan's Brook, Chiddingly, Sussex, England.18,19 
Ed/Other*Circa 1904, Mary Louisa Steele completed homeopathic midwife training with C.M.B. and General certifications, the equivalent of today's RN designation, at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Marylebone Road, London, England. She was receiving mail at the hospital in May and June, 1904. Midwives were trained to tell if things were normal in the birth, and she told the story that during one birth, a woman was having particular trouble, and after examining her Mary was convinced the unbilical cord was wrapped around the child's neck and called the doctor to come. He credited her with saving the baby's life, and she was always proud of that.20,21,22,23 
(Witness) ResidenceOn 15 March 1906 Mary Louisa Steele received mail at the home of William Percy Lott and Mabel Adeline Steele, her brother-in-law and sister, at 64 Beulah Rd., Thornton Heath, London, Surrey, England.24 
(with Parents) ResidenceOn 23 April 1906, Mary Louisa Steele received mail at Acadia, Moretonhampstead, Devon, England, at the home of her parents, Thomas Steele and Hannah Matilda Mineard.25 
NoteBetween May 1906 and October 1906, Mary Louisa Steele received mail at General Hospital, Nottingham, England.26,27,28 
Residence*She lived before October 1910 at 148 Richmond Road, Montpelier, Bristol, Somerset, England, where she was working as a nurse and midwife.22,29,23 
Psgr List*Mary sailed from Bristol, England on the Royal Edward, arriving at Quebec City, Quebec, Canada on 6 October 1910. The next day she went on to Montreal.9 
Marriage*She married William Woodley, son of Samuel Sheares Woodley and Elizabeth Ann Stanleick, on 7 October 1910 at Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They had met in the Salvation Army in England before William emigrated (they later became disenchanted with it, and at the time of their marriage they considered themselves Anglican). On the day Mary was to arrive in Montreal from England, William went to meet the boat but was told by dock workers that it wouldn't be in for several hours, so he went off for a while. About an hour later the ship did arrive, and after everyone had been unloaded, Mary was left alone on the dock with her trunk. She decided that if William didn't show up within a certain amount of time she'd buy passage to Toronto and work in the hospital there. Luckily, William returned before she left, and he was mortified that this had all happened. They were married the same day in Montreal and took a hotel room for the night.29,23,1,2,9,13,5 
NoteFollowing her marriage, Mary no longer practiced nursing, but she told her daughter Edith that when she (Edith) was born, she sent for a midwife, who proceeded to sit across the room and not help, and Mary had to call out to her "Oh nurse, the baby is here!"23,10,12,30 
ResidenceShe and William Woodley lived in 1911 at 614 Gladstone, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.31 
Census1911FedForeign*She and William Woodley appeared on the 1911 Federal Census of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, at 614 Gladstone, Wellington Ward, enumerated 1 June 1911. William had life insurance worth $1500, for which he had paid $46.50 during the previous year.32 
ResidenceShe and William Woodley lived in November 1911 at 296 LeBreton Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.33,5 
Daughter*Mary and William's daughter Kathleen Mary was born on 5 November 1911 at 296 LeBreton Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 
ResidenceShe and William Woodley lived in 1912 at 296 Le Breton Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Their children Kathleen Mary lived with them.34 
BaptismMary was baptized on 24 November 1912 at Ottawa Christadelphian Ecclesia, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.10 
ResidenceShe and William Woodley lived in 1913 at 227 Arlington Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Their daughter Kathleen Mary lived with them.35,2 
DaughterMary and William's daughter Edith Bertha was born on 1 November 1913 at 227 Arlington Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 
ResidenceShe and William Woodley lived in 1914 at 227 Arlington Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Their children Kathleen Mary and Edith Bertha lived with them.36 
ResidenceShe and William Woodley lived in 1915 at 227 Arlington Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Their children Kathleen Mary and Edith Bertha lived with them.37 
ResidenceShe and William Woodley lived in 1916 at 227 Arlington Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Their children Edith Bertha and Kathleen Mary lived with them.38 
Son*Mary and William's son William Robert was born on 14 November 1918 at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 
ResidenceMary and William lived on 1 October 1920 at Quyon, Quebec, Canada. They lived there a total of about a year while William completed a job to shut down an unoccupied (military?) building. Their children Kathleen Mary, William Robert and Edith Bertha lived with them.12,39,40 
Description*On 1 October 1920, Mary Louisa Steele was described as 5' 2" with blue eyes, dark brown hair, fair complexion, round face with scars on her left cheek, medium forehead and mouth and chin, and a straight nose.12 
Psgr ListShe and the three children, Kathleen Mary Woodley, Edith Bertha Woodley and Dr. William Robert Woodley, sailed aboard the Melita out of Montreal, Canada, and docked on 11 October 1920 at Liverpool, England.13 
(Witness) DeathShe was present at and reported the death of her mother Hannah Matilda Mineard on 20 February 1921 at Swansbrook, Hellingly, East Sussex, England.23,7 
Psgr ListShe and the three children, Edith Bertha Woodley, Kathleen Mary Woodley and Dr. William Robert Woodley, arrived back in Canada aboard the Metagama out of Liverpool, which docked on 10 June 1921 at Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.30 
ResidenceShe and William Woodley lived in 1922 on Lisgar Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Their children Edith Bertha, Kathleen Mary and William Robert lived with them. They lived there for less than a year surrounding the time Kathleen died (June, 1922).40 
ResidenceFollowing Kathleen's death in 1922, William and Mary purchased land in the Lindenlea section of Ottawa and William built the house at 1 Ridgeway Avenue. They were in residence by 1923. He and Mary lived there until she entered the hospital about 1957, and William lived there until he died, at home, in 1964.41,39,40,42 
NoteBetween 1928 and 1946, Mary Louisa Steele and William Woodley purchased five lots on Skeleton Island at Blue Sea Lake, Messines, Quebec, Canada. In 1927 William hand-built the first cottage on the island and the family enlarged and maintained it until the land was sold in the 1990s.43 
(Witness) MarriageShe and William Woodley hosted the wedding of Howard Louis Bailey and Edith Bertha Woodley on 31 August 1940 at 1 Ridgeway Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,40,54 
IllnessShe was ill with rheumatic fever and temporary deafness in February 1948 at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The druggist who treated her for the rheumatic fever used sodium salicyate, which brought on the deafness as well as nausea and slurred speech. She was thereafter treated by Dr. Mount and then by her son, Dr. Robert Woodley.55 
Illness*She was ill with dementia between 1957 and 1960 at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, By early 1957 she was already aware that there were problems with her mind and wrote about the struggle to remain "rational".23,56 
Death*She died in the terminal wing of a Catholic Hospital on 30 December 1960 at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, at age 84. She had been in the hospital with dementia for about three years.57,39,58 
Burial*She was buried in section C, range 2, grave 11 at Beechwood Cemetary, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She shares a headstone with William Woodley and their daughter Kathleen Mary Woodley.57,1 
Notes*Mary was raised in the Church of England, spent time in the early 1900s in the Salvation Army (where she met William Woodley), then returned briefly to Anglicanism until she was baptized into the Ottawa Christadelphian ecclesia in 1912. She remained in the Christadelphian faith for the rest of her life and was a familiar figure along with William at various Bible schools in Canada and the United States.58,23,32,59,14,10 

Family

William Woodley b. 19 Sep 1883, d. 8 Jan 1964
Children

Citations:

  1. [S215] Photograph of Gravestone of William Woodley, Mary Louisa [Steele] Woodley, and Kathleen Mary Woodley.
  2. [S372] Edith Bertha Woodley, Certificate of Birth #B14992, Index 1913-7-380 (Original registration 9 Nov 1913; this copy 29 June 1936).
  3. [S399] Census of 1881 for England and Wales, population schedule, Household of Thomas Steele, 3 Nevill Place, Frant, Sussex, folio 63, page 1. RG11/1049.
  4. [S25] Mary Louisa Steele entry, Certified Copy of Birth Record (Certified copy 2 September 1910).
  5. [S666] Ontario, Canada Births, 1869-1911 , Entry for Kathleen Mary Woodley, Ottawa, Carleton County, 1911, page 478, #016656 (image 459), Ontario Archives microfilm MS929-218.
  6. [S400] Census of 1891 for England and Wales, population schedule, Household of Thomas Steele, 38 Upper Berkeley Street, London Marylebone, Folio 73, page 35, #280.
  7. [S416] Hannah Matilda Steele, Certified Copy of an Entry of Death 1921, March Quarter, Hailsham District, Vol 2b, p. 147, #419; certified copy #DYB 009765 (Original date 21 Feb 1921; this copy 25 April 2006).
  8. [S419] Census of 1901 for England and Wales, population schedule, Household of Hilda Layton, 6 Vansittart St., Harwich St. Nicholas, Essex, household 175, district 4, page 27, folio 18, RG13:1699.
  9. [S614] Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935, online www.ancestry.com, Entry for Miss May Steele, Royal Edward, arrived 6 Oct 1910, Quebec, Quebec, passenger manifest page 4, roll T-4772, image 102.
  10. [S65] Membership Ottawa Ecclesia, 13 January 1935.
  11. [S72] Passport of Mrs. Mary Louisa Woodley (nee Steele).
  12. [S73] Passport of Mrs. William Woodley [Mary Louisa Steele].
  13. [S624] UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, online www.ancestry.com, Entries for Woodley: Mary, Kathleen, Edith, and William, Melita, Canadian Pacific Ocean Services, departed Montreal, Canada, arrived 11 October 1920, Liverpool, England, passenger manifest page 23, BT26/674/68.
  14. [S250] Letter, Thomas Steele to Mary Louisa Steele, 11 August 1902.
  15. [S251] Letter, Thomas and Hannah Steele to Mary Louisa Steele, 7 July 1903.
  16. [S257] Letter, E. M. [Earle (unknown last name)] to Mary Louisa Steele, 22 July 1903.
  17. [S258] Letter, E. M. [Earle (unknown last name)] to Mary Louisa Steele, 28 July 1903.
  18. [S248] Letter, Archibald Stanley Steele to Miss Steele, 5 August 1903.
  19. [S249] Letter, Archibald Stanley Steele to Miss Steele (probably Mary Louisa Steele), 7 August 1903.
  20. [S252] Letter, Thomas Steele to Mary Louisa Steele, 4 May 1904.
  21. [S264] Letter, unknown author to Mary Louisa Steele, 24 June 1904.
  22. [S107] Mary Louisa Steele, Business Card, Collection of Margaret M. Bailey.
  23. [S78] Interview, Edith Woodley Bailey, 10 July 1997.
  24. [S260] Letter, Earle [illegible last name] to Mary Louisa Steele, 15 March 1906.
  25. [S261] Letter, William Woodley to Mary Louisa Steele, 23 April 1906.
  26. [S262] Letter, H. L. to Mary Louisa Steele, 7 May 1906.
  27. [S265] Letter, unknown author to Mary Louisa Steele, 18 September 1906.
  28. [S263] Letter, Lulu to Mary Louisa Steele, 26 October 1906.
  29. [S64] Woodley/Steele Marriage Certificate, October 7, 1910. Collection of Margaret M. Bailey, Sparta, New Jersey.
  30. [S614] Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935, online www.ancestry.com, Entries for Woodley (W [wife?], Edith Bertha, Kathleen Mary, William Robert), Metagama, arrived 10 June 1921, Quebec, Quebec, passenger manifest page 5, roll T-14713, image 60.
  31. [S585] Ottawa City Directory 1911, online http://ia310102.us.archive.org/3/items/…, p. 781.
  32. [S463] Census of 1911 for Canada, population schedule, Household of William Woodley, 614 Gladstone, Wellington Ward, Ottawa, Ontario, dwelling 135, household 135, district 105, sub-district 50.
  33. [S82] Letter, Stuart to William Woodley, November 1911.
  34. [S581] Ottawa City Directory 1912, online http://ia310115.us.archive.org/0/items/…, p. 102, 832.
  35. [S583] Ottawa City Directory 1913, online http://ia310106.us.archive.org/2/items/…, p. 841.
  36. [S586] Ottawa City Directory 1914, online http://ia310121.us.archive.org/3/items/…, p. 38, 899.
  37. [S584] Ottawa City Directory 1915, online http://ia310111.us.archive.org/2/items/…, p. 40, 901.
  38. [S587] Ottawa City Directory 1916, online http://ia300236.us.archive.org/3/items/…, p. 40, 924.
  39. [S521] Edith Bertha Woodley Bailey - Notes and Recollections of Her Life.
  40. [S580] Interview, Edith Woodley Bailey, 18 June 2001.
  41. [S344] Letter, William Woodley to Edith Woodley Bailey, 28 February 1948.
  42. [S582] Ottawa City Directory 1923, online http://ia310133.us.archive.org/3/items/…, p. 839.
  43. [S218] History of ownership of Blue Sea Lake lots, August 2, 1990 Collection of Margaret M. Bailey.
  44. [S20] Certificate, Howard Lewis [sic] Bailey and Edith Bertha Woodley marriage of 31 August 1940.
  45. [S21] Certificate of Marriage Bailey/Woodley Registration.
  46. [S190] Letter, Edith Bertha Woodley to Margaret Elizabeth Bailey, 27 August 1940.
  47. [S231] Interview, Edith Woodley Bailey, 29 September 1999.
  48. [S359] HLB Will, Collection of Margaret M. Bailey, p. 316 (stamped number of page 1).
  49. [S371] Invitation to Wedding of Howard Louis Bailey and Edith Bertha Woodley, 31 August 1940.
  50. [S375] Howard Louis Bailey Correspondence.
  51. [S447] "To Wed in Ottawa (Howard Louis Bailey and Edith Bertha Woodley)."
  52. [S448] Howard Louis Bailey, Certificate of Death (July 25, 1995).
  53. [S129] Interview, Edith Woodley Bailey, July 1996.
  54. [S640] Edith Bertha Woodley, Certificate of Naturalization.
  55. [S344] Letter, William Woodley to Edith Woodley Bailey, 28 February 1948, page 4.
  56. [S385] Letter, Mary Steele Woodley to Edith Woodley Bailey, 17 May 1957.
  57. [S66] Mary Steele Woodley, Memorial Record, January 3, 1961, Collection of Margaret M. Bailey.
  58. [S349] Personal knowledge of Margaret May Bailey.
  59. [S255] Letter, Archibald Stanley Steele to Mary Louisa Steele, undated.
  60. [S62] Letters, Henry Bowkett to Edith Woodley Bailey, 27 April and 19 May 1964.
  61. [S96] Interview, Edith Woodley Bailey, undated.
  62. [S103] William Woodley will, Collection of Margaret M. Bailey.
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