Mattie Elizabeth Young

Parents: John Zachariah "Zed" Young, Elizabeth J. Owens
Birth: November 22, 1869
Marriage: About 1892 to Henry W. Marcus. Laura was around 22 or 23, and Henry was about 30. They had two children: Leila and Laura.
Death: May 16, 1915

I couldn't really find much information on Mattie Young. I did find one census record for both before and after she married Henry Marcus, which each have interesting information on them.

Mattie was the oldest of her siblings; she must have been expected to help out a lot with the house. From what I've read about how age-order affects the psychology of an individual, oldest children tend to try to be examples, are more likely to be perfectionists, and feel more responsible for things that need to get done. This makes sense, because in order for her family to be successful, they needed her help to get all the work done around the house and farm. Th 1880 census lists Mattie's father's occupation as "farm labor" -- I'm not sure if that means he worked on his own farm or on someone else's farm. I imagine that as the first child, Mattie's name was picked out long before her birth, unlike her younger sister Julia (listed as "infant" in the 1880 census).

By 1900, Mattie and Henry had been married for 8 years (according to the census taker, anyway). When they married, Henry already had a son, Ivy, so Mattie started out married life with the extra challenge of having a child already part of the family.

Mattie was only 45 when she passed away in 1915.

1880 Census Cedar Creek Township, Lancaster, SC

1900 Census DeKalb Township (in or near Camden), Kershaw, SC