Dress donated by granddaughter, Ruth Mustin Gilmore
“Married at Brick Meeting House, 2 Feb. 1870”
Caroline Serena Kirk was born September 16, 1846 near “Brick Meeting House”, Maryland where her parents, William Kirk and Hannah (England) Kirk owned a farm on the original Nottingham Lot #28 on Calvert Road in Cecil County, Maryland
The England and Kirk Families were early Quakers of the Nottingham Lots area. Over the years some family members were married by a magistrate, reverend or “hireling minister” and were no longer accepted as members of the Quaker faith.
Caroline married John Greer of Philadelphia on February 2, 1870. It has not been determined how they met, but they were married at the home of her father by Rev. Abraham DeWitt, a minister of the Gospel who lived in Fair Hill, District #4. By November of the same year they were living in Philadelphia and three of Caroline’s sisters were living with them.
John Greer was born in 1839 to Irish immigrant parents, William and Mary Greer who settled and married in Philadelphia in 1834. William Greer worked in manufacturing but died when John, the oldest son was seventeen years old leaving the mother Mary with a large young family.
During his lifetime John worked in the cotton, woolen and carpet manufacturing trades.
In the mid 1800’s Philadelphia became a vast manufacturing metropolis. By 1882 the greatest concentration of textile production in the nation was in Philadelphia. The introduction of the Markland power loom in 1868 helped Pennsylvania become the leader in carpet manufacture and Philadelphia was the leading city between 1870 and 1900, explaining John Greer’s occupation in the carpet manufacturing trade in the 1900 census.
Caroline and John had nine children and lived out their lives in Philadelphia. John died in 1915 and Caroline continued to live in the city with three unwed daughters who had impressive careers as a private secretary, a hospital nurse and a school teacher.
Caroline died June 9, 1943 before reaching her 97th birthday.
She was buried from the Tioga Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and rests with her husband in Woodlands Cemetery on the banks of the Schuylkill River.