When Alex married Miss Kate, he had a son, Edgar, in his twenties, and Miss Kate had a daughter, Ella, who was approaching adulthood. Edgar and Ella were married on October 6, 1876; this case of father and son marrying mother and daughter gave rise to very complicated kinships in succeeding generations. For example, the five children of Edgar and Ella were the natural grandchildren of both Alex and Miss Kate; however, their parents were not a result of that union. In 1894, death tragically struck the Emerson family again; Ella, Edgar’s wife and the mother of five children, died.

It seems that Miss Kate was the stabilizing influence during this time of crisis. According to the 1880 census, Edgar Emerson’s family and Alexander’s family were living in the same household. This situation seems to have continued after the deaths of Alexander and Ella. In the 1900 census, Miss Kate is listed as the head of the household with her three children and Edgar’s younger children; two of the older children were employed in other residences as “household servants.” By 1900, almost all of the Emerson family had returned to Gloucester County.

The following is the obituary from the Gloucester Gazette, December 1, 1921:

IN MEMORIAM

Mrs. Mary Catherine Emerson

The death angel passed through the neighborhood Friday, Oct. 28, 1921, and took away our dear mother, Catherine, aged 81 years. She was sick only a few days. Nothing could be done for her. God saw fit to take her to him in a better place. She leaves one daughter, Mrs. Gary Groom, of Portsmouth, and one son, Mr. Joshua Emerson, of Gloucester. Her husband and two other children had gone on before. Nothing that she could do for the comfort and happiness of her loved one was beyond her readiness to perform.

Her funeral services were conducted by Rev. H. L. Corr, Tuesday afternoon, and she was laid to rest in Beech Grove Cemetery.
By the ones who loved her,
Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Emerson
Almondsville,Va.